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Linksys E3000 High Performance Wireless-N Router The Linksys E3000 high performance wireless-N router is a powerful dual-band Wireless-N router optimized for wireless entertainment. Connect your Blu-ray players, DVRs, and gaming consoles, and enjoy the smoother and faster HD video streaming and wireless gaming performance that simultaneous dual-band technology enables. A built-in USB port and UPnP AV media server let you share files over your network, as well as stream media content to an Xbox 360, PS3, or other compatible device. Plus, included Cisco Connect software gets you set up in a few simple steps and offers powerful tools for managing your wireless network. The Router lets you access the Internet via a wireless connection or through one of its four switched Gigabit Ethernet ports. With the built‑in Storage Link, you can easily add gigabytes of storage space onto your network using USB 2.0 hard drives, or plug in a USB flash disk to access your portable data files. The E3000’s built-in media server streams music, video and photos from an attached storage device to any UPnP‑compatible media adapter or player. A variety of security features help to protect your data and your privacy while you are online. Security features include Wi‑Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) security which provides encryption for data on your wireless network, a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall to block unwanted access to your Router, and Network Address Translation (NAT) technology to protect and allow your entire network to access the Internet using a single Internet IP address. In addition, you can connect computers or devices to this router by giving them local access (Computers and Devices option)or Guest Access (Guest Access option). Computers and Devices with local access will have access to the Internet and to other devices (shared computers and printers, etc) on your local network, whereas guest Access allows you to provide guests visiting your home with Internet access only. For more wireless bandwidth, the Router can create two simultaneous yet separate Wireless-N networks (dual-band technology), one using the 5 GHz band and one using the 2.4 GHz band. For example, use the Wireless-N 2.4 GHz network to surf, e-mail, and print while keeping the less crowded, Wireless-N 5 GHz network free for time‑sensitive traffic like music, gaming, and high‑definition video. Setup and use of the Router is easy using Cisco Connect, the software that is installed when you run the included CD. Advanced configuration of the Router is available through the provided browser‑based utility. Important Specifications: Device type:
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If you are interested, check out more about this wireless-N router here! User reviews on www.amazon.com: Perfect router for home user Jerry L. Bobo II "06GSXR1000" (Moore, OK) April 18, 2010
PROS: Overall, I am very pleased with this router. I have a fairly extensive home network system (3 desktops and 2 laptops [using a mix of 32-bit WinXP and 64-bit Win 7 Ultimate] a wireless TiVo Premier (the new Series 4 HD one), a wireless LG BD590 blu-ray player, and my wife and I each have a iPhone 3GS). This router handles all this beautifully. All my streaming, downloading etc is flawless and all my devices talk to the router and each other without any connectivity drops etc. BASIC set-up of the router was very easy (for all my devices) and ANY average user should not have any trouble getting everything connected and talking to the router and each other. For the average user, having a basic/average network at home, this is the router for you! A more advanced user (like myself) may find some areas/features a little lacking
CONS: The biggest issues I have with this router: 1) we still get the same old web interface that LinkSys has had for years and years. while it is a VERY effective interface for accessing the router, I was hoping for something a little less cumbersome and more quick to respond to changes etc (this is where the competition is excelling!). And any more than basic router changes you make, will generally eliminate you being able to use the "Cisco Connect" program (this is a basic, average user software interface for making very basic router changes). Even merely changing the SSID and password that is created when you install the router will negate Cisco Connect. For me, not a big deal, since I an a fairly advanced user and know what advanced changes I want to make and don't care about Cisco Connect anyway. But for the basic/average user, this might cause some trouble for them. 2) the unit is poorly designed when it comes to heat dissipation. The router has no "feet" to raise it off the surface it sits on and it does get hot. I eliminated this issue by going to Home Depot and buying four rubber bottle stoppers (think black, rubber, wine bottle corks). They are down the nuts and bolts aisle and cost $1.29 each. They are about 3/4" tall and I use them as "feet" and keep the router stable. They raise my router just high enough to allow heat dissipation under the unit to keep it as cool as my old WRT54G - just warm now, definitely not hot. Try this, well worth the $5 or so. 3) Not really an issue, but a little annoying: it is flat, but wide, so it takes up a lot of "real estate". I have a very large L-shaped hutch/desk/cabinet combo, so I have plenty of room to spare - just wanted to mention to you - could be a problem for some. This wide, flat design does lend itself to collect dust - never a good thing for an always on electronic device. 4)the FTP is slow. Even after exhaustive settings changes, testing the changes and doing more changes has, so far, not really improved this. If anyone has figured this out, let me know! I have NOT used the media server portion of the router. Don't really need to because of my TiVo and blu-ray player --they have their own media servers that perform wonderfully, so just no need to enable and set-up the E3000's media server. Nor do I have a PS3 or XBox, so I can't comment on those uses either. I have read both pros and cons at other sites for PS3/XBox use - check those out for more information. Hope this helps! Enjoy the router if you get one. well worth your money. Good, but not great R. Fraik (USA) April 17, 2010
The include Cisco Connect software is awful! Unfortunately you must use it if you want to setup a guest WiFi account (limited to 10 users), a feature not available through the web interface. The Cisco Connect configurator is incapable of syncing with any "advanced" setting made through the web interface. forcing you to use stupid password rules and other assumptions enforced when you use the software. Additionally the out-of-box setup CD-ROM application failed for me due to a non-expired DHCP lease from my broadband modem, ultimately requiring a modem rest to give up the old lease. The Linksys error screen suggested unplugging my modem for two minutes. Well, my Comcast broadband modem also provides phone service and has an internal battery, so unplugging for a few minutes would do nothing. Some users may become frustrated with such poorly thought through trouble shooting advice. Another annoyance is there seems no way to change the assigned "server" name. If you are familiar with the WRT54g series, the E3000 will seem very familiar. If you are less than network inclined and think you may use Cisco Connect, be prepared for a few tech support calls. For those interested in using the web interface out of the box; the default IP is 192.168.1.1 on the LAN ports. Default user name/password: admin/admin. Despite my gripes the wireless speed makes up for the short comings which may some day be fixed in a firmware update. Cisco connect Jason (Chicago) May 2, 2010
There are only 4 things inside the box when you first get it. The router, setup disk, Ethernet cable, and power brick. There is no instruction manual I don't really think you need one the instructions are on the setup disk. First you have to run the CD first than follow the on screen instructions. It just basically tells you the timing for when they want you to plug in a connection and diagnose if it is working and installs the Cisco Connect program. YOU CAN USE THE CISCO CONNECT PROGRAM AND THE ADVANCE SETTINGS . I have looked online from reviews from both amazon and other websites and the major complaint is that you can't use both but you CAN. I have experimented a little bit with the advanced settings (also accessible through 192.168.1.1) that you can access through the cisco connect program under router settings. So far from the changes I made, the only setting that you can not change in the advanced settings, that will disable the cisco connect program is the settings for the 2.4 GHz wireless settings either the Network Name (SSID) or the passphrase. You can change the settings for the 5 GHz and can still access Cisco Connect. The reason why so many people want to change the SSID is because the Cisco Connect program assign you a silly random name, mines was quickdolphin for example. I think that might be the main cause of some of the bad reviews. If You want to change the 2.4 GHz SSID and still be able to use both cisco connect and the advance settings change it only through the cisco connect program under Router settings/ Personalize there you can change the router name and password after that change whatever you want in the advance settings. If at any time you cannot access the cisco connect program than you can just reset the router and just go through the installation CD again. You can turn off the guest access and the parental control is there if you need it in the cisco connect. This router can do amazing speeds. Works great and blazing fast! Dr Pennypacker April 10, 2010
Everything looks the same as my old wrt54g router which was creeping on its way to the old age home and who's signal would die every time I'd fire up the microwave. Easy setup, blazing speeds, setup port forwarding for my xbox 360, port forwarding for my air video server to stream DVR video to my iPhone and iPad, turned on firewall and made sure VPN pass thru was enabled. Set a password on router to change from default. Setup DHCP to have a 7 day lease. We have almost a completely wireless house. A blackberry, iPhone, iPad, xbox360, netbook, 2 laptops, HTPC, Hp Printer and a desktop. Everything is hooked up wireless except the desktop. Setup the 5ghz with a unique SSID and password and connected the xbox360. Tested a 1080i streaming video from xbox live, worked flawlessly. Tried to hook the HTPC into the 5ghz but could not due to an issue with the pc's NIC (probably with a driver, I'll mess with it later). Put the iPad on the 5ghz and it hooked in flawlessly and streamed video like a champ. Everything else went on the the 2.4ghz band. Setup the same SSID and password that I used on my old linksys and then unplugged the old router. Everything hopped right over to the new one. Speed seems better on everything. The UnPnP feature resolved some issues I had between xbox and getting media off other pcs. Tested VPN pass thru to make sure I could connect back to work network. Only thing I have not tried is the Storage server option. Definately a solid router so far. Linksys E3000 Draft N router; late April 2010 William P. Kincy "ThinkPad user" (Scottsdale Az) April 28, 2010
The Cisco Connect basically doesn't work, so either be prepared to accept its simple minded approach (which includes an unsecured guest acct and a security system with a password that is complicated enough that it requires writing down, which of course negates completely its value as a password once put on paper) or be prepared to take the same steps you have always taken to set up your Linksys routers. Like most of the other reviewers I found the tried and true 192.168.1.1 url and manual setup the best way to get this up and running. Actually for intellectual exercise I decided to reset the router and reset the 192.168.1.1 to factory defaults and try and use Cisco Connect to clear out the unsecured guest acct that the goofus software had installed. Interestingly enough the Cisco Connect wouldn't work the second time either. Even worse it apparently set a new password and where it had previously given me this password so I could manually set up the router it wouldn't do that again. So I can't set it up manually. Therefor it goes back to Amazon. A shame as it isn't Amazon's fault that Linksys can't build a router interface that works. So I will edit this review to what it deserves....a zero. New edit a day later. Not being one to give up, I went to my favorite technical support forum (Google) and saw that a hard reset of the router requires a 30 second depression of the reset button, not 5 sec as I originally thought. After uninstalling the Cisco Connect software from both puters and doing a second but this time ultimately a successful hard reset of the router, I tried the Cisco Connect software for the 3rd time. (admittedly this was some 5 hours into my install attempt, so I gotta admit I was not thrilled at that point, but I kept going). This time the CC software worked. It actually moved from screen to screen and didn't freeze up. In fact at the last screen, which apparently I nor many of the other reviewers had ever reached, the CC software does give you the option of resetting the SSID and the password as well as the password of the guest acct which you can decide to use or not use. These simple changes made through the CC software will not keep you (or so they say) from using the CC software in the future. That part is claimed by Linksys, but I am very reluctant to change anything else now that it appears to be working and working well. So I will reedit the rating to 3 stars but will still leave setup rated at 1 star. Thank you for bearing with my tale of woe and ultimately successful installation Return to top of "Linksys E3000 High Performance Wireless-N Router"!!
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