REVIEW OF THE LINKSYS E 4200 ROUTER- PERFECT FOR BACK TO SCHOOL

I have always been computer savvy and I was one of the first people in my neighborhood to go wireless. My first router was so slow that I quickly upgraded to a new model when it became available. My cable modem is in the basement and I have always had trouble reaching the upstairs bedroom. I could have moved everything up stairs but I would have to rewire the cable line since my modem is connected to a dedicated line. So I decided to purchase an extender but that sometimes has to be reset because it drops the signal often. I was looking for model that was dual band since I had purchased some devices that were dual band.

Let me tell you a little bit about the unit-

The Linksys E4200 wireless router is perfect for anyone interested in building the ultimate connected home. The E4200 is the first building block that can handle gaming consoles, HDTV streaming video, Roku boxes, eReaders, smartphones, and anything other wireless device that needs screaming connectivity. Also, with back to school fast approaching, now is a great time for parents to make sure their homes are well-equipped for their kids to succeed academically and maximize learning from home to school.  A simple and cost-effective way to make the home an ideal learning environment is to transform the home into a learning hotspot with home wireless.

Today’s middle and high school students have grown up with mobile technology and feel most comfortable in a wireless environment for anytime/anywhere studying, interactive web research, easy collaboration and communication and parent accessibility.  The wireless home learning environment also more closely aligns with how they use technology at school. The Linksys E4200 router from Cisco (http://homestore.cisco.com/E4200) lets parents easily set, use and manage their own home wireless. The E4200 is also perfect for college students setting up wireless in their first home away from home.

The Linksys E4200 offers various top performance features that include.

• Simultaneous Dual-Band N (2.4 & 5 GHz- What is dual band? Check it out here.)
• Gigabit Ethernet 4-port switch
• Maximum speed up to 300 + 450 Mbps
• USB port for shared storage
• Built-In UPnP AV media server
• 3 X 3 MIMO antenna array that boosts the signal to all parts of your home.
• Encription that includes WPA/WPA2 and a firewall to protect your network.

My Thoughts-

I had set up many routers and this one was quite easy. There is a set up disc included that will walk you through the steps but I decided to set it up manually and customize the settings.

After I got all of my devices connected (about 8 total including smart-phones), I took it for a test drive. The main computer is connected via an Ethernet cord and I saw an increase in speed considerably . At one time we had 6 devices connected  (3 at 2.4 GHZ and 3 at  5.0 GHZ)) and there was excellent speed. There were no dropped signals and the signal upstairs was greatly improved from one bar to three. I have a blue ray player that can connect via 5.0 GHZ band and the overall HD streaming was great. There was minimal buffering and that was greatly improved from my old router.

Both of my kids have said that the speed was better and asked me what I had done to the network. I did not metion the router to them until it was up and running. Overall I am extremely impressed with the E4200 router and I recommend it to anyone who wants to upgrade their network

Would you like to win one of these great routers? 

Stop back on August 7th and enter The Back to School Giveaway Hop when I will be giving one E4200 routers and a Staples gift card away to one of my lucky followers.

To purchase the Linksys E4200 router please visit-Cisco-Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router on Amazon.com.

Disclaimer: I was given a free router for my honest review and I was not compensated for my review.