When we initially examined the Linksys E1200 shortly after it was released, it was clearly one of the finest wireless routers available at the time of our review. Because it has been replaced numerous times since then, we no longer suggest it, unless you are wanting to run an ultra-basic PC setup on an extremely old home computer. It’s just not capable of handling more contemporary connections, and if you try to combine it with one of today’s best laptops, for example, you’ll be left feeling let down. We’ve updated our review to reflect this, as well as the score assigned, however, we’ve left a summary of the most important features intact for your convenience.
Linksys N300 Wi-Fi Wireless Router with Linksys Connect Including Parental Controls & Advanced Settings (E1200)
$23.16
13 used from $17.00
Features
- Enjoy the benefits of Wireless-N300 (802.11n) in your home ideal for surfing the web, emailing and printing wirelessly
- Connect your computers, wireless printers, smartphones, and other wireless devices at up to 300 Mbps transfer speed
- Enjoy broad wireless coverage provided by MIMO antenna technology
- Use four Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) ports to directly connect wired devices
- Keep your network protected with customizable security settings, including WPA/WPA2 Personal and SPI firewall protection
The Linksys E1200 features five Ethernet ports, one of which is dedicated to internet connection and the rest of which are used to connect customers to a local area network (LAN). Modern wireless routers are compliant with IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi standards and have a theoretical data capacity of 300Mbps or higher, while most are capable of significantly higher speeds. In comparison to the preceding 802.11g protocol, which had a theoretical speed of 54Mbps, wireless n offered speeds of up to 300Mbps. In addition, because wireless n is backward-compatibility compatible with wireless G, wireless G clients can establish connections to a Wi-Fi network that is enabled by the Linksys E1200. When a wireless g client connects to the router, it will only be able to access the 20MHz channel, which will result in a theoretical data throughput of 150Mbps, despite the fact that the router supports multiple streams.
However, one disadvantage is that the router can only function at 2.4GHz and does not have a 5GHz output, which would allow for quicker data transfer over greater distances. As a result, it is quite restricted when compared to most contemporary routers.
The E1200 wireless router, which retails for around $30, is an excellent budget-friendly wireless router choice. An 802.11ac router should be purchased without hesitation if you do not have a budget constraint. For those seeking a cost-effective solution, the Linksys E1200 should suffice, especially if your network infrastructure is outdated.
Parents have a great lot of particular control over how and when their children may use the internet thanks to the E1200 home wireless router from Cisco. It is possible to restrict internet access at all times or never, as well as during specified periods of day or night, such as school evenings or weekends. Parents may also input the names of certain websites that they want to restrict access to.
Features
In terms of the frequency range, the Linksys E1200 is a single-band Wireless-N router that operates solely on the 2.4GHz band. The sole distinguishing feature is guest networking, which is useful when you want to share your Internet connection with others but doesn’t want them to be able to access your local resources, such as files or printers. The guest networking function of the router allows for a maximum of 10 clients, which is a small number but sufficient for the router’s intended users.
The E1200, like the rest of the E series, is equipped with a straightforward yet effective parental control and content-filtering system. This feature, which you can control using Cisco Connect or the Web interface, allows you to modify and restrict the way a specific machine on the network connects to the Internet in order to meet your needs. In addition, you may access the Programs & Gaming function using the router’s Web-based interface, which allows you to configure port forwarding and triggering for certain applications, such as gaming, remote desktop, FTP, and HTTP servers, among others. As an added bonus, you may give static IP addresses to specific machines on your network, making port forwarding much more relevant and simple to implement. If you need to establish a virtual private network (VPN), an FTP access point, or a remote desktop connection to a specific machine on the network, the information provided above will be useful and easy.
The Linksys E1200, like the vast majority of current routers, is capable of supporting all wireless encryption protocols, including WEP, WPA-Personal, and WPA-Enterprise. You may use a VPN client to connect to your workplace over a VPN connection since the router enables VPN pass-through for all existing VPN protocols, including IPsec, L2TP, and PPTP, and the router supports all of them.
Performance
When it comes to performance, the Linksys E1200 doesn’t have much to brag about. With customers only 15 feet away, the router was one of the slowest of the current Wireless-N routers we’ve tested, averaging just 35.7Mbps on average when utilized with clients in close proximity. When we extended the distance to 100 feet, this statistic plummeted to a pitifully low 6.4Mbps, which was unacceptable. Please keep in mind that this simply indicates that the router will struggle to cope with high levels of local network traffic. If all you want is to share Internet access, this should not be an issue because the majority of Internet connections are still far slower than the speed that the router can provide.
We also discovered that the E1200’s wireless range is quite limited, measuring just around 175 feet at the maximum and that the router should be utilized within 100 feet or less of the router in order for the signal to be strong enough. It passed our 48-hour stress test, in which it was required to transport large amounts of data back and forth between customers while staying within that range. It didn’t disconnect even once over the entire process.
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