Linksys by Cisco WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router | 
| Brand: Linksys
Category: CE
List Price: $199.99
Buy New: $125.00
You Save: $74.99 (37%)
New (19)
Rating:  317 reviews
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: Windows XP Professional Edition
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
CPU Speed: 2.10
CPU Type: PowerPC G4
Processors: 1
System Memory: 2000
Memory Type: SDRAM
Hard Drive Size: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 2.6 x 12.1 x 10
nv:Device Type: Wireless Router
Form Factor: Desktop
Form Factor: Wall Mountable
Wireless Network Standards: IEEE 802.11g
Wireless Network Standards: IEEE 802.11b
Wireless Network Standards: IEEE 802.11a
Wireless Network Standards: IEEE 802.11n
Wireless Data Transfer Rates: 270 Mbps
Security Protocols: WPA
Security Protocols: 128-bit WEP
Security Protocols: 64-bit WEP
Security Protocols: WPA2
Networking Standards: IEEE 802.3ab Gigabit Ethernet
Networking Standards: IEEE 802.3 Ethernet 10Base-T
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: WRT610N
Model: WRT610N
UPC: 045883585206
EAN: 0045883585206
ASIN: B001AZ01EO
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Internet-sharing Router and 4-port Gigabit Switch, with a built-in, dual-band, speed and range enhanced Wireless Access Point | | • | Two simultaneous, separate, radio bands double your available bandwidth | | • | MIMO technology uses multiple radios per band to create robust signals for maximum range and speed, with reduced dead spots | | • | Connect a hard drive or flash-based USB storage device to allow access to your music, video. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router is really four devices in one box. First, there's the dual-band Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires. There's also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100/1000 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together at up to gigabit speeds. The Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 317
 Easy to set up, make sure to upgrade firmware July 14, 2008
Simcha
103 out of 108 found this review helpful
I replaced an existing wired router/wireless access point combination with the WRT610N. The replacement was painless, taking about a half hour, including retyping all of my DHCP reservation and port forwarding information.
The only glitch was that running the Linksys EasyLink Advisor (a tool that among other things, shows you everything connected to your router) reset the router. This is fixed in the latest firmware (level 17, my router shipped with 16).
Speeds have been good. I only have one machine that is connected with Draft-N, and it has been able to connect about 4-5 times faster than my Wireless-G connections on the 5Mhz band. My Wireless-G connections have had consistently better quality than through my old WEP54G Access Point.
Another Winner (Updated) September 15, 2008
voiceoverthewall.com (United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Linksys did a great job with this product. It is sleek and stylish, while still providing high levels of connectivity within my three story home. I have it installed near the ceiling of my basement.
I am using the 5ghZ "N" band for my PS3 only at this time. The PS3 is connected via ethernet to the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. The rest of my computers (PCs, iPhone, and Macs) use the 2.4 ghZ "B-G Mixed" band.
Both networks share the same DHCP pool, but have different SSIDs and passphrases (a Linksys recommendation).
The first thing I did was update the firmware. I have not experienced any dropouts or heat issues.
UPDATE: After a few weeks of use and after adding more wireless devices to my network, I have more to say...and its not so rosy. Both my Lenovo T61 and Apple Macbook Pro have issues when I tried setting the 2.4ghz network to "Mixed" (B, G, and N). When one computer is working fine, the other seems to have issues connecting to the network, usually the T61. I had security set to WPA 2 Tkip or AES (since this router allows this "either or" setting). I have since changed WPA TKIP based ona recommendation I found on the Linksys forums. It has only marginally improved things.
The bizarre part about this is the T61. It works fine over the 5GHz N setup, giving me 130Mbps. On 2.4 ghz I had to switch to "B-G Mixed and enable SSID broadcasting to get a connection initially. After that I could re-disable SSID broadcasting.
So, for my house I have the following: PS3 on 5Ghz N. No connectivity issues with the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. 100% uptime.
I also have an iPhone ("B/G" speeds), Appletv (Supports B/G/N), Macbook Pro (Airport "G" card), Buffalo Wireless Extender ("G"), and PowerMac (Airport "B" card). Since my iTunes library is on the Macbook Pro, I had to run the appletv over my 2.4 ghz network for the Appletv to see it. I was hoping that since both networks share the same address pool, that devices on the 2.4ghz network could see those on the 5Ghz N network. I expected bridging between the two wireless bands because they are in the same device. Maybe I am doing something wrong. If so, please comment on your setup.
****HOW TO PROPERLY SETUP A WRT610N ROUTER**** February 9, 2010
Juan C. Cruz (Miami, FL)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Pros: Great speed. Wireless is only less than 5% slower than ethernet connection. USB link port is very solid.
Cons: Not designed for people who want plug & play devices with no knowledge of networking.
I will agree with a lot of people regarding people that stated that this router is no good. Those people do not know what they're doing.
I bought a REFURBISHED version 1... and it works perfect. After reading so many bad reviews, I had the feeling that all refurbished WRT610Ns were probably from people who didn't know how to get it to work properly.
****HOW TO PROPERLY SETUP A WRT610N ROUTER****
1) Download the latest firmware to your computer from Linksys' website. Do this even before you receive your WRT610N. Reading all the comments about the firmware, I didn't even bother trying the stock firmware.
2) Upon receiving the router, plug in the power cable and plug it into the AC outlet. No CAT5 cables yet.
Once it powers up, hold the reset button for a few seconds until the power light starts to blink. Release the reset button.
3) Once it powers up completely, plug your computer to the router with a CAT5 cable. Log into the router. Upload the new firmware.
4) After the upload is complete, unplug the power cable from the router, wait a few seconds, then plug it back it. This is to be assure the load was good.
5) Wireless configurations:
#1 Rule: Do not use auto on both G and N. Set 2.5Ghz band for B-G only and to a certain channel (6 or 11 works best). And set 5Ghz band for N only.
#2 Rule: Do not use the same encryption on both G and N. Set different encryption methods (example., WPA2 for G, WEP for N)
6) Disconnect the CAT5 cable, and try connecting to the N-wireless (do not connect to G. this is for testing purposes) Once your pc connects to the N network wirelessly, log into the router wirelessly.
7) 5Ghz in its nature is a sensitive frequency. The higher the frequency, the weaker the signal gets... but also gets faster. With that said, the 5Ghz N portion needs to be tweaked to what works best.
- On your computer, open up the Wireless Network Connection Status window. Leave this window open at all time so you can see the connection speed (If you have more than one pc with wireless N, do the same thing).
- Log into the router via wireless N. Go to Wireless Advanced section. Band: do not set AUTO on the band. Start off with 40Mhz. From there, pick the first channel (44 or something like that).
- Now check the speed(s) of the pc connection(s). Try out ever 40Mhz band until you find the best speed. If no band is solid, then result to 20Mhz. Once most solid and fastest speed is achieved, save the configs.
COMPLETE!
USB Link:
The USB link worked great. But there are some pointers. I tried two harddrives. 320GB 5400RPM SATA and 320GB 7200RPM SATA. Both were clones of each other; clean NTFS formatted with nothing but videos and music. I would recommend to edit SHARE and click on SHARE ENTIRE PARTITION. It seems much more fluid with that on. Ok, after I named my drive, shared the whole partition, and clicked on access rights, I mapped the drive to each computer to test the stability and speed. I did have a problem with my music folder that had 355 sub-folders (individual albums); it would randomly see all 355 folders. It would see 210, then 340, the 290, etc. It was a strange behavior. Since both harddrives were clones of each other, I formatted one harddrive using the Linksys Router function. It formatted the drive to NTFS FAT2. First time I've used FAT2. After I copied the contents back to the drive, I tested it again. It actually finds the files much faster than before. Don't know why. I haven't had a problem with missing folders either. Everything is found instantly. So I would highly recommend to format using the Linksys Router function. I did test out between 5400rpm and 7200rpm to see which would be better for a media storage. Attached to the linksys, neither one of them showed an real differences. I tried file transfer, playing lossless music, pictures, HD movies... all had the same performance. So I would recommend to just pick a 5400rpm since it runs on lower power consumption.
Stress Test:
I ran a very thorough performance test to see if this router could handle it.
Laptop #1 - wireless N 300Mbps connection
Laptop #2 - wireless N 280Mbps connection
Laptop #3 - wireless G 54Mbps
PS3 - wireless G 54Mbps
Wii - wireless G 54Mbps
NAS Harddrive on USB Link port
Laptop #1 to download multiple 3-5GB files from the internet.
Laptop #2 was streaming an HD movie 1080p from the NAS harddrive.
Laptop #3 was streaming lossless music from the NAS harddrive (54Mbps is too slow for HD movies)
PS3 was in an online game session (Marvel vs Capcom 2) as a spectator watching everyone play
Wii was set to stream a tv channel (Japanese Wii)
Laptop #1 was downloading at 35Mbps (which is about 2Mbps slower than when directly connected to the internet modem without Linksys). So that was still downloading at flying speeds even with all the traffic. Laptop #2 had no problem streaming an HD movie. There was some bit delay if I paused the movie or FF. But playing the movie, switching languages on the fly, etc... had no problems at all. It played smoothly. Laptop #3 was playing flac lossless audio files while browsing through the folders with no problems. PS3 never lost the connection to the online game. And the Wii never froze with the tv channel. I ran this test overnight with no problems at all.
Conclusion: This router works. It's very fast, stable, and had no problems. Just make sure you configure it properly. One piece of advise regarding wireless cards, stay away from the Intel N cards. They work poorly with the Linksys N routers. I tried three different Intel N cards and two Linksys N routers. I was never able to achieve a 300Mbps connection with any configuration.
I hope you will find this review helpful.
Trash until you update the firware! Then it works beautifully! ;-) June 7, 2009
Charles (NJ)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
What's great about it: Every option you need/want!
What's not so great: The fact that it's trash until you UPDATE the firmware, then it works PERFECT!
"Please DO NOT rate the device until you update the firmware!
The router may be TRASH (drop connection every few seconds/minutes) unless you update the firmware. Hey, I was upset about it too until I did some reading on their website which lets you know it's a problem until you UPDATE the FIRMWARE. After you update the firmware, it's beautiful!
I had a D-Link DIR 825 and switched to this and loving it! The Linksys has more features too, which is awesome. The D-Link was good too."
Now, I just wish I could smack the person in charge of sending these units out without the latest firmware update. I also wish I could do the same with those not updating it first and bad mouthing the router before flashing it. Linksys tells you on the website how to fix the problem. I guess people don't read these days.
Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes
Great if you need true dual band - not good (yet) for dd-wrt January 18, 2010
JP Vic (NE, Ohio - USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I presently have a few routers:
Linksys WRT320N
Buffalo whr-hp-g54
Linksys wrt54g (x3)
And now a WRT610N
This WRT610N is a "simultaneous" dual band router. That means at the same time it broadcasts a signal in the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band - key work is simultaneous - there are lots of dual band but that means one band or the other not both at the same time.
The 5GHz is nice if you live in an area with A LOT of other radio traffic (like an apartment) as it will give you some different channels that are not used, cutting down on interference. However, the higher frequency 5GHz while stronger and can send more data has a much shorter range. 5Gz and the "N-type" routers are good for those that are physically close to their routers and need to send a lot of data.
At my house I wanted the dual band so that I could give a wireless video box it's own channel. I have one of these Roku boxes and watch Netflix with it. Video takes a lot of bandwith so with this wrt610N I let the roku box have the 5GHz band and then the rest of my wireless stuff (like laptops, wii, DS gameboy, cell phone, etc) all have the regular 2.4Ghz.
The 5Ghz bandwidth radio network is only available in about ½ my house, where I can pick up the 2.4GHz band anywhere. My point is don't buy N-type 5ghz because you want to extend your wireless range - YOU GET LESS RANGE it is faster but shorter. Many people buy 5ghz N-type routers and then post a negative review and blame the router. Like "It won't connect unless I'm 10 feet away" and my old wrt54G worked much better - stuff like that. These people don't understand routers or the technology they are using. As I said 5ghz has less range, but if you set up this router properly you will have two bands 5ghz & 2.4ghz. This will show up as TWO different hotspots for you to connect too. I've set up my laptop to automatly connect to the 5Ghz but then drop back to the 2.4ghz when the 5ghz is out of range.
Amazon now is shipping the v.2 of this router, as of Jan 2010 - the router you get from Linksys/Cisco will have the newest version of the firmware. It is wise to check linksys's website to see if a more recent version of firmware is available and then install it. Upgrading firmware is really easy - you just download the file from the web, log into your router's admin screens and tell it to upgrade firmware. Takes 2 min. Note: earlier versions of this router did have lots of problems with heat and re-booting. My research is that these problems have been solved.
Other notes:
I'm big into xbox live and like most routers this has the DMZ feature. If find if I put the IP address of my xbox as the DMZ address, or open the ports in port forwording, then I get NAT type "Open" on xbox live. There are lots of web sites that tell you which ports to open (search NAT +XBOX). However, now that I run mutiple XBOX's have found that out of the box this router is giving me "open" NAT on XBOX live on my two xbox's - without any port forwording or DMZ setup.
The linksys wrt320N router is dual band, but it can only broadcast one band or the other - not both at the same time.
Con: These new linksys routers only have internal antennas. I like external as then can add a bigger one.
Here is my advice - don't buy the 610Ns unless you have a need for dual simultaneous band. If you just want to get to 5G then the WRT320N will be fine. If you don't have a real need for wireless N or 5GHz yet but just want a good router then go with the buffalo. The buffalo runs dd-wrt really well. I take the buffalo with me when traveling and use it as a repeater to connect to open networks (save on hotel internet charges).
The USB port will not drive a printer - but is really cool to hook up a USB hardrive that any computer on the network can use for storage. I run backup software on my compters and have them put their backup files on this drive. Or simply keep everything in the "my documents" folder and once a week or so copy the entire folder to the remote drive.
I am a big fan of the dd-wrt firmware, but my personal experience is dd-wrt is not ready for the WRT610N v2. Using build 13401, I found that with both radio bands turned on, even in a very simple configuration dd-wrt would make the router go unstable after a few hours. With only one radio it worked great, but I needed both radios, I went back to the linksys firmware. In a few months dd-wrt will be work out all the bugs but for now the linksys firmware is fine.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 317
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