Well, now having the need for a wireless N network I did a bit of research into which router I should buy. After reading so many positive reviews, I kept teetering on whether or not I should try this one out... especially since I hadn't heard of the company and the price point was so low. Eventually I figured "what could it hurt" and ordered it. I immediately got an email from the company thanking me for the order which included the support information if needed. That was a nice touch.
The bottom line is that I'm VERY glad I ordered this. Set up was a breeze if you follow the very simple instructions to the letter. I was up and running in minutes.
My other concern was how well it would sing with my Cisco Wireless N Bridge(The Cisco-Linksys WET610N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter)in my living room which is notoriously finicky with non-Cisco product integration. I'm very pleased to report that it immediately started communicating once set up, and has been rock solid for 3 days streaming Hi Def 720p and 1080p video. The signal strength is fantastic and has out performed other routers I have owned in the past. Time will tell how it holds up over the long run. I will update this post if anything goes awry.
Finally as icing on the cake, the router just looks cool. Thats always a happy bonus!
The only negative I could find is that the tech support line isn't 24 hours. Seeing as how I didn't need it, I suppose that really isn't a negative in the truest sense.
I'm a heavy Amazon user who doesn't even write reviews yet felt compelled to for this gem. A Great product, at a great price, and easy set up. Who could ask for more? Medialink - Wireless N Router - 802.11n - 150 Mbps - 2.4 Ghz - NEW Design w/ Internal Antenna
I have to admit I was nervous about buying something that doesn't have a huge name behind it. I've dealt with plenty of routers in my time and some of them are so confusing to configure, and caused so many headaches. When I opened the box I was greeted by a small, light-weight, sleek looking box...I have to say that I was really excited about the internal antenna, those old parallel antenna were the worst thing to look at. Being the typical computer guy I am I didn't really read through the directions, I just grabbed it and plugged it in. I reset the modem, then reset the router (by power cycling, not the reset button on the back) and.......it worked. I logged into the web interface and set up the Wifi security, grabbed my laptop to connect to it and.....it worked.
The wireless N is a thing of beauty for someone that has been stuck with G for so long, it's fast and has great coverage, I was able to get a stronger signal outside than before.
The web interface is very nicely laid out and there are a ton of features
Pros:
Quick setup
very nice looking
lights are not too bright, even though there are a lot of them
internal antenna
affordable
Cons:
no Gig ports
included cat5 cable could be a little longer.
things to note:
I didn't use the included setup disc
I have cable internet and use an older Linksys cable modem.
I was a little hesitant to order this router since there was no other review, but the price was lower than other wireless G routers, so I thought I would give this N router a try. So far, I am glad I did. I am writing this review from my laptop using the wireless connection right now.
PROS:
-Price (paid $[...] on 10/2/2010)
-Easy setup. The wired connection was instant, all I had to do was plug the cables. The wireless connection was also a breeze and took two minutes with the included CD wizard.
-Speed! My local network connection is 100Mbps, so I selected this router which is slightly faster (150Mbps wireless / 100Mbps wired) in order to avoid bottlenecks. I am getting download speeds ~0.9 MBytes / second wired and ~ 1.1MBbytes / second wireless with this router, i.e. as fast as I was getting when plugged directly to the network.
-Streams movies without problems.
CONS:
No problems so far. If you like solving problems you may be disappointed.
I have had this router for less than a day, which is not long enough to know if it is stable, but so far so good. I have not tried VOIP yet, but I will update if any problems arise.
UPDATE: VOIP works without problems too. I have had the router for 5 days and still no problems. It performs so well, I have almost forgotten it is there.
As a networking/server techy geek type I thought that the over emphasis on following directions was a little much and I felt a little like there might be something new that I would miss if I treated this like any other router but fortunately that was a misconception.
This sucker is almost as sexy as it looks in the pics. It works exactly as you'd expect. It performs better than one might hope.
If you're using a cable modem definitely don't forget to reboot it disconnected & give it a chance to get fully "booted" and running before plugging in & starting up the router but...
Though the web based interface isn't too overly fancy: this is a great router that just plain works and has all the features a geek wants with the ease of use of a router anyone can use while being exactly what it should be, set it & forget it.
It's sad that these days the over priced, less reliable routers are so popular. Even as a geek I don't want to reinstall my own OS on these things. I want all of my equipment online. I don't want a router I can install linux on, I want one with a "louder" signal in my apartment than all of my neighbors poorly configured, channel hogging routers.
My two iPhones, iPad, desktop, server, friend's smartphones, laptop, xBox, printer and everything else can FINALLY all play nice on the same network without having to mess with wifi settings or reset the router.
I've only had it for a week but if it lasts longer performing like this than any of these more expensive & less reliable name-brand junk routers I'll stick with this brand.
Side-note: A bandwidth test from my iPhone while on this router performed over 1Mbit/s faster than previously and almost as much faster than my high-end commercial hardware based wifi network at the office.
To recap: I hope this has a long MTBF because I'm happy, regaining my sanity and saved critical dollars at the perfect price of about $40.'
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