Linksys E3200 High Performance Dual-Band N Router
Manufacturer: Cisco Part number: E3200
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Linksys E3200 is an excellent high-performance Wireless-N router for both novice and experienced users.
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CNET editors' review
Linksys E3200 High Performance Dual-Band N Router price range: $59.99 - $141.62
- Reviewed by: Dong Ngo
- Reviewed on: 05/06/2011
The good: The Linksys E3200 High Performance Dual-Band N Router offers excellent performance and advanced networking features in a stylish and compact design. It has a good Web interface and also includes Cisco Connect, an intuitive desktop software utility with which even a novice user can set up and manage a home wireless network with ease.
The bad: The Linksys E3200 doesn't support the new three-stream 450Mbps Wireless-N standard. The Cisco Connect utility doesn't provide access to all the router's features, doesn't work in sync with the Web interface, and requires a live Internet connection to finish the initial setup.
The bottom line: The Linksys E3200 is an excellent high-performance Wireless-N router for both novice and experienced users.
The Linksys E3200 is the next in line after the top-notch Linksys E4200 in Cisco Systems' new and refreshed E series of Wireless-N routers. Inferior to the E4200 only in its lack of support for the three-stream (3x3) 450Mbps standard, the E3200 is designated to replace the previous Linksys E3000, and it indeed makes a worthy upgrade.
Like all routers in the new E series, the E3200 is both pretty to look at and easy to use thanks to the included Cisco Connect software. While novice users will love the software's no-brainer approach to network setup and management, experienced users may want to skip it entirely and use the responsive Web interface to take advantage of the router's advanced features.
In real-world testing the E3200 proved itself to be among the fastest true dual-band Wireless-N routers. We found it also offered long-range and stable wireless signals. At its street price of around $140, the E3200 makes a formidable contender to the recent Editors' Choice-winning Asus RT-56U.
Design and ease of use
The Linksys E3200 shares the eye-catching styling of the rest of Cisco's new Linksys E series, such as the E1500 or the E4200. Although it's not wall-mountable, the router has a flat design with an internal antenna and is about the same size as the compact E1500.
Like all today's high-end routers, the E3200 comes with four Gigabit LAN ports and one Gigabit WAN port on the back. The former are for wired clients like desktop computers, and the latter is to connect to an Internet source, such as a broadband router. Also on the back you'll find the push button for the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) feature and a USB 2.0 port to host an USB external storage device. We wish that the WPS button were on the side or front of the router for easier access. The USB port will not work with a printer, unfortunately.
On the front, the new E3200 doesn't have the usual array of status LEDs. Instead, like the rest of the E series, it has just one white light in the shape of Cisco's logo that blinks when the router's booting up (or when something is not right) and stays solid when everything is in order.
The router doesn't come with a manual, just a CD with the Cisco Connect software. As long as you know how to insert this CD in a computer's optical drive, you'll be able to set up the router. Cisco Connect will walk you through the setup processes, including how to hook the router up to a cable modem and the computer that you use for the setup process. After that, it will run by itself to configure the Internet connection and then prompt you to accept or change the default wireless network's name and encryption key.
By default, the software sets up two wireless networks (one for the 2.4GHz band and one for the 5GHz band) with the same name or SSID; it's always something easy to remember, such as BigHorse or BlueMonkey. Once this initial setup is done, you can add other computers to the wireless network via Cisco Connect with just a few mouse clicks. With devices that don't have an optical drive, like a smartphone or a printer, the software lets you print out the settings so you can add them manually, or you can use WPS if the clients support it.
While having two networks share one name, which is similar to how Apple sets up its AirPort Extreme, makes life simple for many people, it means that you have to rely on the adapter to select the network. If you'd prefer to manually pick which network to use, you can give the networks different names via the Web interface.
With Cisco Connect you can also turn on and off the Guest network (available only in the 2.4GHz band), manage the Parental Control features, and run the included Speed Test tool to see how fast your Internet connection is. As is typical for the E series, however, the software's functions are very limited, and it requires a live Internet connection to work. In order to set up the router for an isolated network that's not connected to the Internet, name the two wireless networks differently, or take advantage of other functions such as the router's network storage feature, you'll need to log in to the router's Web interface. You can get there by following the "advanced setup" link within Cisco Connect or by pointing a connected computer's browser to the router's default IP address, which is 192.168.1.1.
Note that if you haven't used Cisco Connect at all, the default password to log in to the router's Web interface is "admin," with the username being left blank. Once you have changed the default password, the username becomes "admin." If you did use Cisco Connect to set up the router, the username will be "admin" with the password being the same as the encryption key of the wireless networks.
The good news is, unlike for the original Linksys E series, everything you can do with Cisco Connect can also be done through the E3200's Web interface. For this reason, savvy users can and should skip Cisco Connect entirely to avoid accidentally changing the router's settings.
The good news is, the E3200's Web interface allows you to do everything you can with the Cisco Connect software, plus it enables access to the rest of the router's advanced features. (For routers in the original E series, such as the E3000, neither the software nor the Web interface has complete control over the router's features and settings, and they can't be used together.) For better control over the router, savvy owners of the E3200 can and should skip Cisco Connect entirely.
In the end, it's best to use the Cisco Connect software if you are a novice user, and the Web interface if you are more experienced. If you want to switch back to using Cisco Connect, just return the router to its default setting via the recessed reset button on its bottom.
Features
Other than the lack of support for the 450Mbps standard, the Linksys E3200 has the same features as the Linksys E4200. The router is able to offer concurrent networks on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and can also simultaneously provide a third guest network on the 2.4GHz band.
Guest networking is a great solution when you want to share your Internet connection with others but want to keep them from accessing your local resources such as files or printers. The E3200's Guest networking feature allows a maximum of 10 clients. While this is enough for home use, it may be too limited to supply Internet for public use, as at a cafe or restaurant.
The E3200 has simple support for network storage; for example, you can share the content of an USB external hard drive (formatted using either NTFS or FAT32), with user account restriction. By default the admin account has full access, including the ability to create more user accounts. It also has a built-in UPnP Media Server that supports streaming digital content, such as photos, music, and video, to other UPnP-compliant devices, such as set-top boxes and game consoles.
For file sharing, the E3200 supports Windows SMB, so you can browse the share folders easily while using a network browser such as Windows Explorer. You can also turn a folder on the attached USB hard drive into an FTP site.
The E3200 also has the E series' simple, yet robust, parental control content filtering system. This feature, which you can manage with Cisco Connect or the Web interface, allows you to restrict the Internet access of particular computers on your network.
Finally, the E3200's Web interface also gives access to the router's Applications & Gaming feature, which lets you set port forwarding and triggering for specific applications such as games, remote desktop, or FTP and HTTP servers. You can also assign static IP addresses to networked computers, making port forwarding much more relevant and easy to do. If you want to create a VPN connection, FTP access, or a remote desktop connection to a computer in the network, you will find the above handy and convenient.
Like most recent routers, the Linksys E32000 supports all available wireless encryption standards, including WEP, WPA-Personal, and WPA-Enterprise. The router supports Cisco's VPN PassThrough for all existing VPN protocols, including IPsec, L2TP, and PPTP, meaning with the router at home, you can use a VPN client to access your office network.
Performance
The Linksys E3200 did very well in our tests in both wireless bands, but, as with similar routers, its network storage feature didn't impress us much.
In the 5GHz frequency tests, the router registered 95.3Mbps for close-range throughput, which puts it in the top three on our chart, below the E4200 and the Asus RT-56U. At this speed, it can finish transmitting 500MB of data in about 42 seconds. At a range of 100 feet, the E3200 scored 53.8Mbps, about average compared with the other routers on the chart.
In the 2.4GHz frequency tests, the E3200 took the second place on the close-range throughput test with 61.3Mbps, just a tad slower than its brother E4200, which scored 61.4Mbps. It scored 40.4Mbps and 55.04Mbps respectively for the 100-foot and mixed-mode tests, making it the second best on both charts. The mixed-mode test is designed to show how the router performs at close range when working with both Wireless-N and legacy wireless clients at the same time.
The Linksys E3200 also did well in our 48-hour stress test, not disconnecting once during that period. It offered great range, too, in our tests at about 290 to 300 feet for both 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands.
Like almost all routers with built-in network storage features we've reviewed, the E3200 won't impress anyone with its throughput when hosting an external hard drive. We tested this with a computer connected to the router via a network cable using Gigabit Ethernet and the scores were generally low, at around 60.4Mbps for writing and 64Mbps for reading. These speeds only allow for minor data sharing, such as documents and small photos, and maybe some music streaming. For a viable network storage solution, we'd recommend a dedicated NAS server.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Write |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Range | |
Throughput |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Throughput |
Service and support
Cisco backs the Linksys E3200 with one-year limited warranty, which though short from a user's point of view is standard for routers. Cisco's toll-free phone support is available 24-7, as is online chat with a support representative. The company's Web site hosts software, driver, and firmware downloads as well as an FAQ section.
Conclusions
Fast, good-looking, easy to use, and with a good set of features, the Linksys E3200 makes a good router for both novice and experienced users who want a fast home network. With a less limited Guest networking feature and better storage performance, we would have given this router an Editors' Choice Award.
User reviews
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Major improvement in throughput from my old router.
by thuleenro on September 2, 2011
Pros: Easy setup. Love the guest network feature so I don't have to give out my internal wireless pass key. I've noticed an improvement in the quality of Netflix streaming both over my computer and through my computer, roku, and xbox.
Cons: I'd like to change the guest login web page to something personal, but so far I haven't found a way to do that. Probably isn't possible but would be nice. No problems with it so far.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Avoid buying for USB printing features
by straightcomment on July 17, 2011
Pros: Good wifi performance with all my devices. Range is good.
Cons: - Even with firmware v1.0.01 b3, USB printing feature may not work.
- Does not support custom LAN IP subnets such as 255.255.254.0Summary: I bought this rather expensive product for its USB printing features.
On 2 of my Win7 x64 PCs, the USB printing feature does not work due to errors with the ...Summary: I bought this rather expensive product for its USB printing features.
On 2 of my Win7 x64 PCs, the USB printing feature does not work due to errors with the Cisco Connect software (error 80004005). The Cisco Connect PC software installs a proprietary USB over network printing driver on the PC that does not fully install the printer driver (error and work in all cases with the current Cisco Connect and router firmware versions. If you have another wired Ethernet router in between the PC and wifi router, the printing won't work either. It seems Cisco Linksys support doe not know how to fix the problem yet.
The followingi recommended procudure does no fix it:
- Factory reset on E3200 (30 sec button push).
Windows 7 firewall off
-Cisco Connect full reinstall on Windows 7 x64 ...does NOT fix the problem. Cisco's custom USB printing driver installs, but then the 80004005 error comes up again and prevents the printer from being fully installed in Win7..2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Had 2 fail on me.
by Shrrt Rver on July 5, 2011
Pros: Decent Speeds with a number of laptops and gaming consoles going at the same time.
Cons: Had 2 of them fail on me.
Summary: After lightning took out the previous router I went and bought this router for 139 at Walmart. It worked for about 3 weeks and just stopped functioning all together. Brought ...
Summary: After lightning took out the previous router I went and bought this router for 139 at Walmart. It worked for about 3 weeks and just stopped functioning all together. Brought that one back and replaced with another e3200 and that one didnt work out of the box. Tried a number of things but it would not connect to anything wireless or wired. Brought it back and got the Valet. Plugged it in and as advertised within minutes with the stick I got 5 laptops added to the network without any hassle. Been problem free ever since.
I personally wouldnt recommend the 3200 with 2 failing so quickly.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Excellent Router Overall So Far...
by Rocket_City_Man on May 22, 2011
Pros: Small form factor, easy to hook up and follows similar layout and connectors to my old Linksys product, so one generally likes familiarity...especially when it works. The software if straightforward and again familiar with just a few twists and improveme
Cons: While the CNET reviewer did not like the fact not all of the "Advanced" features were not in the CISCO Connect software, I think well, I'm mixed on this, to the novice, this would be good, you can't screw up things you really should not be messing with...
Summary: To summarize...Excellent router overall, I would recommend this to others at this point. My router stays on all the time, lots of things in my house use it for ...
Summary: To summarize...Excellent router overall, I would recommend this to others at this point. My router stays on all the time, lots of things in my house use it for updates and status, so I hope this one has some longevity to it. While I can't complain the old one lasted for years, it's just a pain when something that is the heart of connectivity in your house dies. I have this unit connected thru DSL modem, so my internet conection is generally fast for the area I live out in the country, but nothing like what I would like it to be. As a result, I can't really take avantage of some of the speed capability this unit can offer. Hopefully in time this will change and I can see more of what this thing can do. I am happy with my purchase...with all the port forwarding I had to do and myriad of items I had to configure, it took me about 2 hours to setup this device, part of that is me remembering procedures, so I can't fault Linksys for that. One thing I discovered prior to buying this unit with my research...I almost bought an ASUS because of the rave reviews on CNET, apparently there is a limitation with the ASUS by not being able to set "fixed" IP addresses for port forwarding...this is critical to me and some of my devices, especially web based security cameras and things like Slingboxes...so this was my decision point. Now, I'm not sure if this is true, but based on a review I read from another site, this was a con...and since I already know how to do port forwarding with Linksys and it historically has already been tricky to get to work, I stuck with Cisco Linksys. Last point, this is a good unit, I would recommend it.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best I've had
by rgcAok on September 16, 2011
Pros: Wired connection is super fast, Wireless is great
Cons: None so far, well Price
Summary: I had an older Linksys router that faded away. I bought an E1500 and it was a dud. Not sure I got a lemon or not. Dropped wired connection, spotty ...
Summary: I had an older Linksys router that faded away. I bought an E1500 and it was a dud. Not sure I got a lemon or not. Dropped wired connection, spotty wifi. Did all the trouble shooting, contacted tech support and they told me to turn off encyption. (DUH). Returned it to Office Depot (painless) and got the E3200. WOW! It is a screamer. Twice the price but worth it in the end.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Work with SBS 2011. Good for small office.
by DZCS on July 4, 2011
Pros: Easy setup. SBS 2011 find router automaticaly. Good for small office.
Cons: I used manual setup (192.168.1.1) and is easy configure to wired or wireless connection w static IP, Small Business Server 2011 w/domain na IP6. Have also guest wireless.
Summary: Good router.
Summary: Good router.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The USB port now works with a printer!!!
by KeyserSoze666 on June 11, 2011
Pros: Easy set-up
Super fast
Nice design
USB works with a printer
Available at BestBuy / FutureShop in stockCons: High price 150$ (compared to ASUS RT-N56U at 125-135$ witch has more features and speed)
Poor NAS performance as per review (I havn't tested it)
Only one USB port.Summary: I bought the E3200 at BestBuy because I couldn't find any vendor that had the ASUS RT-N56U in stock, all had to order and wait (the E4200 was out ...
Summary: I bought the E3200 at BestBuy because I couldn't find any vendor that had the ASUS RT-N56U in stock, all had to order and wait (the E4200 was out of stock at BB). So far I love the E3200, it was so easy to set-up with Cisco Connect! The web interface was also very easy to use and fast.
Forgot to mention, my printer is an HP Photosmart C4180 all-in-one. Prints great without having to re-install new print device in WinXP. Haven't tried scanner, probably won't work...
I upgraded the firmware to 1.0.01 on the unit right away to get printer support... and it worked beautifully!
Was planning on getting an external NAS drive anyway, so the "missing" second USB port won't be an issue.
Updated on Jun 11, 20111 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I don't know if I got a lemon or what. Died in 2 hours
by SkyeBlei on April 14, 2012
Pros: 2 hours long it worked!
Cons: Died in 2 hours. Reset, reboot, etc. etc.
Summary: Not sure if I want to try this again or not. I thought Cisco was a great product but so far, not impressed especially for the cost.
Summary: Not sure if I want to try this again or not. I thought Cisco was a great product but so far, not impressed especially for the cost.
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Garbage, trash, junk
by x95stacey on April 11, 2012
Pros: Web interface and ease of setup.
Cons: Instability of 5ghz band, mediocre range.
Summary: This thing is garbage. I bought it because of all the good reviews. I Had it for a month and returned it. The 5ghz wireless signal would disappear after a ...
Summary: This thing is garbage. I bought it because of all the good reviews. I Had it for a month and returned it. The 5ghz wireless signal would disappear after a couple of days. A power cycle usually brought it back but only for a couple more days. I researched this and found that I wasn't the only one having this issue with the 5ghz disappearing. I have a different ssid for each band so it's obvious when only the 5ghz goes out. Linksys tech support offered little help except to update to the latest firmware but I had already done that. Plan on power cycling if you use the 5ghz. When it would work I found the range to be a little below average. It was similar to the range of my old wrt54g. I'm done with Linksys/Cisco products.
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Having a Linksys, like having a Coca-Cola vs a RC Cola
by sauros73 on March 9, 2012
Pros: - Easy setup for lambda users
- Complete setup for advanced users
- Choice of one domain on both band or separates it
- Reliability of the connection
- Great range even through the domestic walls
- Guest access out of the LANCons: - Limitation to only 2 DDNS providers
- No activity LED on the front
- No wall fittings
- Average performance of the NAS on the USBSummary: Quality is a standard on the Cisco products. The great think is that even can recommend this router to my mother-in-law or to my geek friend, both can find something ...
Summary: Quality is a standard on the Cisco products. The great think is that even can recommend this router to my mother-in-law or to my geek friend, both can find something out of it. That's because of the "plug-and-play" and advanced setup modes.
I'm a OpenSouce guy (even my DNA is under GPL ;-). So when you restrict my tech liberties, I'm frustrated. That' why, except if is a pure commercial decision, I don,t understand why the DDNS providers is limited. Why can I used the one I want ? But maybe it have a technical reason I'm not aware of...
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Cisco
- Part number: E3200
- Description: The Linksys E3200 offers fast speed to connect your computers, Internet-ready TVs, game consoles, and other Wi-Fi devices at transfer rates up to 300 + 300Mbps speed for an optimal home network experience.
General
- Device Type Wireless router - 4-port switch (integrated)
- Enclosure Type Desktop
- Connectivity Technology Wireless ,
Wired - Data Link Protocol Ethernet,
Gigabit Ethernet,
IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11n,
IEEE 802.11a,
IEEE 802.11g,
Fast Ethernet - Frequency Band 2.4 GHz,
5 GHz - Data Transfer Rate 300 Mbps
- Routing Protocol Static IP routing,
RIP - Remote Management Protocol HTTPS,
HTTP - Encryption Algorithm WPA2,
40-bit WEP,
WPA,
128-bit WEP,
64-bit WEP - Features DHCP server ,
Wall mountable ,
Parental control ,
Quality of Service (QoS) ,
VPN passthrough ,
Port forwarding ,
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) ,
128-bit encryption ,
MAC address filtering ,
Firmware upgradable ,
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) ,
NAT support - Compliant Standards IEEE 802.11g ,
IEEE 802.11a ,
IEEE 802.3ab ,
IEEE 802.11n ,
IEEE 802.11b ,
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ,
UPnP ,
IEEE 802.3u ,
IEEE 802.3 - Status Indicators Port status,
Power Line Properties
- Line Coding Format 64 QAM,
CCK,
OFDM,
QPSK,
BPSK,
16 QAM Expansion / Connectivity
- Interfaces LAN : 4 x Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45,
WAN : 1 x RJ-45,
USB : 1 x 4 pin USB Type A Networking
- Networking type Wireless router
Antenna
- Antenna Internal integrated
- Antenna Qty 6
Power
- Power Device Power adapter - External
Miscellaneous
- Width 6.7 in
- Depth 7.5 in
- Height 1 in
- Weight 7.6 oz
- Cables (Details) 1 x Network cable
- Microsoft Certifications Compatible with Windows 7
- Compliant Standards IC CS-03,
FCC Software / System Requirements
- Software Included Drivers & Utilities
- OS Required Microsoft Windows 7,
Apple MacOS X 10.4.11 - 10.6.1,
Microsoft Windows XP SP3,
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Environmental Parameters
- Min Operating Temperature 32 °F
- Max Operating Temperature 95 °F
- Humidity Range Operating 10 - 80% (non-condensing)
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 1 year warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Cisco products on Shopper.com
-
- Manufacturer:Cisco
- Address:
170 W. Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134 - Phone: 800-553-6387
- Email: tac@cisco.com
