pilchard's Full Review: Linksys WRT610N Wireless Router
The Linksys WRT610N at the time of this writing is the current top of the line Linksys (by Cisco) home router. It features a 4 port gigabit LAN and a single gigabit WAN connection. The unit is made of high gloss black plastic, and shaped a bit like a saucer. There is no fan and it is very quiet (as there are no moving parts).
This router has a USB 2 port, which allows the addition of storage devices. More on this later.
In addition to being a gigabit device (which is near the top of the line for most homes) the WRT610N supports Wireless N and is a dual band wireless device. This means it has two separately powered wireless bands (essentially antennas) it supports wireless A, B, G, and N. It will support virtually any wireless card made in the past decade.
For wireless security the WRT610 supports WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA enterprise, WPA2 enterprise, and Radius. Under WPA there is support for TKIP or AES. While LEAP support seems to be missing, most home security possibilities are supported.
The unit comes in a typical Linksys by Cisco no frills box, opening you'll find the router, power supply, CD and short ethernet cable (CAT5e about 2' long). For the most part this device is plug and play. All Linksys routers start with a home IP of 192.168.1.1. All default to DHCP enabled. which means it is easy to replace any existing Linksys router with this one.
I didn't use the CD, as my preference is to avoid adding clutter to my desktop OS. Every time I buy a new product it wants to install something, and often they want to auto-start. I've gotten in the habit of not installing product CD software unless necessary. In the case of this Linksys device it isn't necessary. The address defaults, and passwords are linksys standard (default password is admin).
When going to the main page, it becomes painfully obvious that Linksys hasn't done much of anything to update its routers web appearance for many years. The main page looks like the main page from a WRT54GS (with some extra options).
While the appearance is the same as other Linksys routers, and that makes this device look dated, it is also an advantage in that set up is like all the older routers too. It is easy to manually set this router up. Mine was fully operational in less than 5 minutes (mostly due to my need to double check the wireless configuration which I did manually).
After basic set up, I verified by the link lights that my router was talking gigabit to my LAN, and that it was talking gigabit to my cable modem. My old router didn't support gigabit, and I wanted an end to end gigabit capability. While my providers download speeds aren't beyond fast ethernet, I thought being gigabit ready wouldn't hurt.
To my surprise when running speed tests, my reported speeds were almost double that of my prior router. This was unexpected, and why I'm giving this router such a two star review (instead of a one star). I don't understand why, or how, but my speeds are significantly higher with this router. My cable modem is a Motorola SB6120. My praise for this router could be a bit misplaced as my older router could just have been holding me back. I wasn't expecting a large bump in speed. My ISP is Comcast HSI and I'm using the basic tier.
The above were the good, now for some of the bad. My old router (a Linksys WRTSL54GS) supported a USB connection also, and I installed a version of Tomato on it which provided NAS (for those who don't know NAS is Network Attached Storage ... these are usually hard drives accessible via a network) to my LAN via a USB notebook drive attached to the routers USB port. This worked well for many months without any problems.
My WRT610N supposedly has support for NAS on the LAN from USB attached devices. However I've been unable to get it to work. Not only doesn't it work, but on reboot my router hangs if there is a hard drive plugged into my USB port. As such with a USB drive, there is no recovery from a power failure for example. This has resulted in my no longer using NAS attached to my router. It is a major flaw, and Linksys should have fixed this problem long ago.
Due to the failure of this device to properly support NAS devices, I can't give the router a fully positive review. My expectation is eventually this will be rectified by Linksys with a firmware update. Though this router has been out for a while now, and Linksys hasn't done anything to fix it.
My next negative, isn't one from direct personal experience, but instead from reading many forums. This router has many quality assurance problems when constructed. There are many posts by people claiming it doesn't have good wireless range, or that it runs too hot. My particular unit has excellent range and does not run hot. When purchasing this router if your unit runs hot, or has limited wireless range (after you've updated to the current firmware from the Linksys site) then return it, you've got a lemon.
Aside from the usual routing, web serving, NAS, and other features. Linksys has decided to add two optional new software pieces to work with (compliment?) the WRT610N. These would be Network Magic, and Home Defender. These are optional, a short free trial is offered with the device. In my experience it is best to download Network Magic from the Linksys site if you wish to try it as the version will be current.
Network Magic seems to have several goals. The first is to make network management easier on a LAN. To help facilitate sharing of information between users. It also presents a beautiful map of your local network. I was impressed by the network map. If you don't know how to share folders, how to map a network drive, or have a network printer but don't know how to deploy it for your users then Network Magic can help.
Unfortunately Network Magic has bugs, and at least one of the bugs I found was a deal breaker. On install, Network Magic told me it had a firmware update for my router. It installed the update, which turned out to be older firmware, which had the effect of disabling Network Magic. It is tough to recommend a product that self destructs.
Aside from helping with sharing and LAN access, Network Magic can enable schedules for controlled PC's (there is a Apple option of MAC's). This would let you set limits by time for specific PC's which have Network Magic installed on them.
Network Magic also works to help enable and facilitate Home Defender, which is either based on or is a part of Trend Micro's product line. Home Defender lets parents set access restrictions (or no restrictions as the parent decides) for PC's. There are age based restrictions (young children, older kids, early teen, late teen, adult) alternatively you can choose to block a PC by a class of site. For example you can block gambling sites, or social networking sites, or advertising sites. Aside from setting limits on individual PC's with Network Magic installed, you can also set a global restriction at the router which is the default for any device on your family.
It all sounded good, and I gave it a try. Home Defender does seem to block sites as advertised, and the schedule does work. Unfortunately as a result of activating this product, PC web page load times were very slow. Looking up a site took forever (the browser would hang after you clicked on a site or entered a site). While speed tests didn't show a problem, the problem was very clear when just surfing internet.
Network Magic can send daily, weekly or monthly reports about internet usage by device with Network Magic installed. It can show websites visited, and amount of time spent on each site. Network Magic also has the ability to take regular screen-shots at a user defined interval and forward them in email to the person who set it up. Norton Internet Security 2009, AVG, and SuperAntiSpyWare did not detect this screen shot program when active. I was a bit surprised that our security systems didn't notice something was really invading privacy.
Due to the problems with loading web pages, the very short trial period, concerns about privacy, and a nag screen that didn't wait a second to start pushing all users to subscribe ... I can't recommend this product. With the latest firmware update, the Linksys WRT610N can enable or disable Home Defender at the router. Network Magic seems to be fluff that expands beyond the boundary of just the router and doesn't appear to have a router setting to enable or disable.
Finally there is the cost. Network Magic is a Cisco product and costs $50, but the nag screen always offers a 20% discount to $40. Upgrades are not free, when I google there are complaints about this. So its lifetime, until there is an upgrade, then it costs more to continue to get support. Aside from a beautiful LAN screen, Network Magic didn't impress me much.
Home Defender, seems to slow down DNS (Domain Name Service) lookup, this is the process where a router converts a name (like http://www.epinions.com) to an IP address (like 64.74.210.45). This helps make internet work, I believe Home Defender is intercepting DNS requests and vetting them to see if they meet the criteria established for a particular PC or for the router. The effect is to slow web surfing down considerably.
Home Defender has a longer term trial offer, but costs $60 per year. Home Defender comes with a 4 user Trend Micro anti virus subscription. While Network Magic costs $40 and works on up to 8 PC's. The offers and products aren't in sync. Worse if you dual boot, say Windows XP to Windows 7 or Windows Vista, each OS counts as an install. Eventually Cisco may work out some of the problems with this product, and it could work better. For now, it adds about $100 to the cost of the router, and has a negative effect on web browsing speed.
I would only recommend Network Magic and Home Defender if you had kids and didn't know how else to prevent them from going to dangerous websites. For some people, who are less technical these may be good products.
In summary, this is a fast router with a dated web interface. It fully supports gigabit connections, and has great wireless capability and wireless security features. Build quality seems inconsistent. Firmware updates seem slow to be released and do not resolve all outstanding problems. Linksys outsources its support beyond the U.S. as such support is mostly script driven and not very good. I wouldn't purchase this router if there was a need to call Linksys support.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 140 Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac
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