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Linksys EA6900 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £125
inc VAT

Plenty of features and a good hardware specification are let down by poor performance in our wireless transfer speed tests

Specifications

802.11n dual band, 4x 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet ports

http://www.digital-fusion.co.uk

The Linksys EA6900 is an AC1900 wireless router, which means it should be one of the fastest routers available. It has a theoretical maximum throughput of 1300Mbit/s when using 5GHz 802.11ac and its wireless chipset also supports the Turbo QAM standard, which can theoretically bring 2.4GHz 802.11n performance up to 600Mbit/s.

The router has three replaceable antennas, a Gigabit WAN port, four Gigabit Ethernet ports, one USB3 and one USB port. These are all at the back, as are a hard power switch and a WPS button. Like most AC routers, it’s a bit chunky.

Linksys EA6900

We were pleased to find that the wireless network comes with a pre-set password, so there’s no chance of anyone getting on to your network while you’re in the process of setting the router up. It’s worth noting that, by default, both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks have the same SSID: if you want to make it clear which one a user is connecting to, you’ll want to rename one or both.

The web interface includes a smart setup wizard, which automatically searches for firmware updates and allows you to change the default admin and Wi-Fi passwords. You can create a Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Account, which enables the router’s optional remote administration features.

Linksys EA6900 interface
The web interface is clear, and excellent QoS settings let you easily prioritise the likes of Netflix

The router’s features include a wireless guest network and basic parental controls that let you define when a specific device on your network is allowed online, as well as allowing you to add a simple blacklist of undesirable sites for that device. A QoS media prioritization tool not only lets you assign priority to selected applications, but also lets you select specific machines, so the living room Netflix connection need never be slowed just because someone’s playing online games. If you connect a USB drive, you can set it up as an FTP server, network share or DLNA media server; you can also use one of the router’s USB ports to connect a USB printer and share it across your network.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ***
Modem type none
802.11b support yes
802.11g support yes
Draft 802.11n support yes
Draft 802.11n 5GHz support yes
MIMO yes
Turbo mode channel-bonding
Stated speed 1,300Mbit/s

Security

WPA PSK (TKIP, AES), RADIUS
WPA2 yes
Firewall yes
MAC address filtering yes
DMZ yes

Physical

Size 185x257x41mm
Antennas 3
Internal/external antennas external
Upgradeable antenna yes
Number of WAN ports 1
Ethernet ports 4
Ethernet connection speed 10/100/1000Mbit/s
Other ports 1x USB, 1x USB3
Wall mountable no
Power consumption on 9W

Other Features

Dynamic DNS yes
Universal Plug and Play support yes
DHCP server yes
MAC spoofing yes
Port forwarding yes
WDS Support yes
USB device support yes
QoS yes

Buying Information

Price £125
Warranty two years RTB
Supplier http://www.digital-fusion.co.uk
Details www.linksys.com