Ok, another easy one for those in the know, Two new big boys on the block, the WNDR 4000 vs the LinkSys E4200. I am trying to upgrade my WNDR 3400, so which one of these is a better router? I am especially looking for which one will achieve strong consistent signal at medium-long range through walls, I need full house coverage if possible. Thanks for the help.
Like I said, for the coverage distance you want at 2.4 GHz, you'll need repeaters to maintain a really good signal. I vote for the E4200 but still urge you to use the 5 GHz as that's how you get maximum throughput. 2.4 GHz wireless N tend to be under 150 mbps in throughput. You can only reach up to 450 mbps by using the 40 MHz wide band in the 5 GHz band as that's what the wireless N specs calls for. deltatux
I don't mind, I just need like 30+ or ideally 54 is fine for me, if it's actually getting 54. The problem with using 5ghz is it's shorter range. I need long range. Why do you go for the E4200 over the WNDR 4000? What about the upcoming WNDR 3800? You said you prefer the chipset, but why? I personally have horrible experiences with Linksys although I have noticed that Cisco bought them out, so the new Linksys is probably apples and oranges compared to the old Linksys.
The E4200 can go up to 450 mbps on 5 GHz ... 5 GHz does have a shorter range but it can punch through walls better and it has little to no congestions at all. Range can always be fixed with repeaters and/or through the use of high-gain antennas. As for chipset, it's because Broadcom-based routers tend to have much better support by the community due to its relative open nature (both DD-WRT and Tomato are huge Broadcom supporting communities). Also, Broadcom-based routers tend to pack with more RAM and flash memory which also helps these third-party firmware like DD-WRT and Tomato. With a larger RAM size the router can handle more connections at the same time so you can be surfing many websites or contents from the Internet while other people in your house can be doing other things through the network before the router runs out of resources and starts terminating services. Cisco bought out Linksys in 2003, it's the consumer arm of Cisco for years, but that hasn't changed its quality imo, personally routers don't really last too long on average, yes I know people with decade old routers but there aren't lots of them. Personally I'm a huge fan of DD-WRT and Tomato (I just don't like the Tomato interface but the firmware is rock solid) because they add a lot more features and value to your router than with a stock firmware. In some cases like with ASUS routers, they're a lot more stable than the stock ASUS firmware which is notorious for crashing. deltatux
No, 802.11 is a standard, as long as your adapters and routers are 802.11g and/or 802.11n compliant there shouldn't be a problem. I have a D-Link wireless G card that's connected to my ASUS wireless N router. My Macbook has an Apple AirPort card and it works with my ASUS wireless N router (well it should since both Apple and ASUS along with Linksys all use Broadcom chips lol; ASUS sometimes uses Ralink SoCs for their routers and Linksys sometimes use Ralink chips for their adapters ... not a fan of Ralink as they're really new and have yet to prove themselves as they were established in 2001). However, my D-Link card uses an Atheros chip and it works well with my ASUS router. deltatux
Thanks for all the help btw, so you believe the E4200 is going to give me better range overall than the 4000 for my application (medium-long distance, through walls)?
I sure hope so ... you do have to remember that there are many factors that determines signal strength: position of router (this by itself helps a lot, knowing where to position your router for best coverage), traffic congestion, channel selection, and how much power you're giving your wireless radio. So I can't guarantee that it will give you better range (this is true for any router), but I do certainly hope so based on best available knowledge. Installing high-gain antenna always helps in better coverage in terms of distance. If that doesn't help repeaters will also help. deltatux
Well I picked up both from Best Buy, and planned on returning whichever was worse. (Gotta love their return policy, that's how you keep customers) I just set up the 4200 and I have to say I am very impressed. After some tweaking, I have the thing whooping up on my previous WNDR3400. The signal is faster, and it reaches my farthest computer with nearly the same speed as my closer one. I did have to turn off mixed mode and keep it in B/G, as well as 5ghz, I also had to manually go between 1/6/11 to find the fastest channel overall (Which btw, was not the one with the most signal strength oddly enough). I also upgraded the firmware to the latest version. I guess I might as well set up the 4000 and see how it does, but if this thing keeps up the speed, I don't see how it could do that much better. I guess Cisco really did turn around Linksys, because early 2000s, those things were horrible. Thanks for the advice, are there any professional review comparisons of the two routers. I have looked up numerous sites, but haven't found much because they are so new.
I heard a lot of good things about the Linksys E4200 on the DD-WRT forums ... heck, it's the reason why I suggested it. If you do intend to keep the E4200, you should flash DD-WRT on the router. deltatux
What's Flash DD-WRT? Is that their custom firmware or something? What does that give over the standard firmware? Also, is a repeater the same thing as WDS? I have seen that the 4000 supports WDS, does the e4200? What about the 3400? Assuming you need WDS for repeating, Does only the repeating router need WDS or do both need it? Thanks
DD-WRT is a third-party open source Linux-based router firmware and you can flash it to your router. Flashing means overwriting a firmware with a new one or replacing an existing firmware. It allows you to do all sorts of things. I have a remote connection to my router so I can do remote administration of my router through a secured connection so if I need to change something while I'm at school or something, I login and use Linux commands to manipulate the router. Also, since it runs on Linux, it uses the built-in Linux kernel firewall called iptables which is really powerful when you start actually using it. It's better than anything Windows has ever had lol. In addition to that, I have print sharing shared from my ASUS RT-N16, I also use my router as a VPN server as well. I also have an SSH tunnel set up so that if there's a website that's blocked by a proxy firewall at a school or any other institutions, I can go around it by going routing the traffic through my home network by using this tunnel to get to the blocked website. There's many other programs you can install to your router to expand its capabilities, you can attach a hard drive to the router and make it into a web server or a NAS ... there's many possibilities as DD-WRT is an open platform that allows you to do a lot of stuff on your router that you couldn't have done in the past. As for WDS, it's unfortunately something I haven't played with so I'll suggest other Gurus who have had a chance to play with it to answer you there. deltatux
I noticed this morning, my connection to the router was horrible, it's stuttery and not consistent. Nothing at all has changed so I am really unsure about why it's doing this. Did my router fry overnight?
Have you tried resetting it? Do a 30/30/30 reset. To do this: hold the reset for 30 seconds, while holding the reset button, unplug the router, hold for another 30 seconds, then plug in the router while the reset button is still depressed for another 30 seconds. This will ensure that all the settings are reversed on the router and restored to its original factory settings. Note that you don't remove your finger during the reset through this whole procedure. deltatux
Well just so you know, the E4200 definitely outperforms the WNDR 4000 at medium range. It's not even a question, we are talking twice as fast at 50-75 feet through multiple walls, brick and drywall.
Guest Network a joke on E4200? Thanks for all the comments. In all my searching I have narrowed down my choice to either a Linksys (let's not kid ourselves about the fact it's linksys, not Cisco) E4200 or a Netgear WNDR4000 (since the 4500 has firmware issues and actually performs worse in 2.4GHz than its predecessors)! I am almost sold on the Cisco E4200 except for a few points Here's the positives and negatives: + Better performing in both range AND throughput - The guest network requires a Web interface login (no way to disable the password for guest network)? - Only 1 year warranty - Is very hot to the touch I'm almost sold on the WNDR4000 because: + Lifetime Warranty + Guest network operates the way I want (An SSID for both freq ranges, and no password required!) - Poorer performance in range & throughput I'm so torn. Given these facts, what should I go with? I want reliability (1 year warranty isn't enough for my peace of mind) and performance, but it will be in a cabinet (worried about heat), and I can't get over how stupid the guest network functionality is on the E4200! Has anybody tried the DD-WRT firmware ROM on the E4200 and if so, does it support Guest networking better?
For me it mattered a lot, I have the WNDR3700 router with a WNDA3100 adapter. Before I bought the WNDA3100 I was like what the heck, they should all work the same! So I bought a D-Link (dual-band) usb adapter and the signal strength/speed was terrible. I brought the D-Link back and ordered a WNDA3100. With the WNDA3100 installed the signal quality was back to normal (full bars) It might or might not be the same for you, but its worth checking out!
