I am a long time Linksys user and I've been using WRT54G for over 5 yrs. It works flawlessly until a couple of weeks ago when I notice that it droped wireless devices 1-2 times a week. So, I think it's about time for some serious upgrade. My choice is then Linksys E4200
As I have AT&T UVERSE, the 2Wire box from UVERSE is essentially the calble modem + router. Initially, I thought the set up of E4200 will be exactly the same as how I config WRT54G behind it. Wrong . . . it is a little different. So, I share the set up steps here below, I hope this will be helpful for other UVERSE users.
First, you need to set IP@ of E4200 to be in a different range from 2Wire, i.e.,
- Connect E4200 to power support. Do not connect it to 2WIRE yet. Wait until the Cisco LED is ON and stable
- Connect your PC using LAN cable to any of the LAN port on E4200 (Port 1-4)
- Open IE browser, enter 192.168.1.1 then ENTER. You should see the Cisco router setup. If it is just a normal Cisco blue screen, look on the buttom and select proceed to setup
Now, you should see the Cisco SETUP screen
- Select Setup-Basic Setup-IP Address
change from 198.162.1.1 to 192.168.2.1
make sure your Internet setup-connection type = Automatic Configuration - DHCP
Set timezone of your router according to your location
If you have multiple routers, I suggest your change the router name from Cisco53324 to whatever your preference is. This way you can identify it better in the future (this is not mandatory but rather a nice thing to do)
click SAVE (this button is on the bottom of the page)
Now, you connect E4200 to 2WIRE.
- Leave the PC connected to E4200 from above, you will use it again to test
- With another LAN cable, connect one end to any of the port 1-4 on 2WIRE box and the other end to E4200 Internet (Yellow) port. In a few seconds, E4200 should be able to auto detect and set itself up. You should be able to see the two LEDs on E4200 yellow port on, the green one is ON and yellow one blinks
- Back to the PC. Click on STATUS (top right corner)
Look for Internet IP address. It should display something like 192.168.something
If it still shows 0.0.0.0 you should click RENEW IP Address button. Then it will fetch itself a good new IP address from 2WIRE
At this point, you can try to open another IE browser and go to google to test that it has access to internet
Technically, at this point your E4200 should be working ok behind 2WIRE. Any PC connected to E4200 LAN Ports are ok.
Next, set up your new wireless network. Now, at this point, you don;t need to follow exactly what I do. It all depends on what type of wireless devices you have. I mean whether they are the old wireless A/B/G or the new N standard. In my case, most of my gadgets are B/G and my wife and kids are not so techie, so, I do this to make sure the wireless setting is ok without having to reconfig all those devices all over again
- On Cisco Setup screen, click Wireless-ConfigurationView
Change from Auto to Manual
Network Mode = Mixed
Enter Network Name (SSID), in my case I use the same old name for 2.4GHz and new name for 5 GHz
Click Wireless Security and set Security Mode = WPA2/WPA Mixed mode for 2.4GHz network and enter the Pass Phrase (I use the same old one). For your 5GHz network, choose what you want based on the features of your N device. In my case, I just set it to be the same as my 2.4 GHz netowrk
Click SAVE one more time
At this point, you're all set. By the way, don't forget to turn OFF the wireless from your 2WIRE box
I ask my wife and kids to reconnect their devices wirelessly. All it takes is to view avalable network, connect to the 2.4G or 5G, reenter the same passcode. Then all works fine.
As for the features and performance of E4200, here is what I've seen so far.
- Using LAN cable directly to E4200. Very nice, it is running at 1Gbps as opposed to 100Mbps of my WRT54G so, access to my external storage is definitely faster (as it is connected to another port off E4200)
- As for wireless, signal for 2.4GHz is very strong. I get all full bar evertwhere in side and even to the backyard. But 5Ghz is a little disappoiting, just a room down stair I get only 2-3 bars. But I'm not too worry (yet) as most of my gadgets are not yet N standard.
- It seems they provide other cool features in E4200 like parents control, game control, traffic control etc. But to be honest, I don;t use them at this time.
- Another very nice feature is that it comes with IPv6. This is the next big thing about IP internet protocol. I dont use it yet (just stay with IPv4) but I know that E4200 will serve me well in to the next several years when I gradually upgrade.
*** UPDATED 01/23/2012 ***
To improve the coverage for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, I decided to do a few things:
(1) Physically move E4200 closer to the center of the house (in the open space between Kitchen and Living room).
I ended up having full bars of 2.4GHz in all rooms in the house 5GHz is about half the coverage (for full signal strength).
Most my stuff are running on 2.4GHz without any hickups.
(2) Change channels for both band to the middle range. Improve somewhat but result is not as drastic.
*** UPDATED 12/27/2012 ***
Since I moved it to this location+change channels, I have never had any issue with the signals for both bands. I was quite impressed with it's ability to handle the amount of devices wirelessly. At one time, my kids had tons of their friends home for a graduation party. As usual, everyone was pretty much equipped with smartphone, they also brought 4 more game consoles and start begging me to let them get on WiFi. So far, it manages those heavy workload without any issue (of course, for security reason, I change pwd right after that).
There is a newer model of this item:
Linksys N900 Wi-Fi Wireless Dual-Band+ Router with Gigabit & USB Ports, Smart Wi-Fi App Enabled to Control Your Network from Anywhere (EA4500)
$99.99
(54,601)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$99.99
(54,601)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
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The Setup disk does not work with Mac OS X Lion (10.7). The reason, I suspect, is that Rosetta has been removed from Lion so legacy apps are not going to work. Ironically, the Setup app instructs you to UPGRADE to a later OS :-) Sigh.I bought the E4200 to replace an Apple Airport Extreme. Once the router was configured, things were great until it tried to renew its DHCP lease with Comcast. This failed, requiring me to reboot the E4200 (I'm running 1.0.01 firmware, and I hear the 1.0.02 firmware is even worse). There's a fairly long discussion about this problem on Cisco's support forums... just Google E4200 DHCP. My holdout hope is that this will resolve itself when I upgrade my cable model to a DOCSIS 3.0 modem in a few days (it's in the mail...).But that's not all! It was a dark and stormy night... no, seriously, it was night, and I was sleeping, and the E4200 resides in my bedroom in an open closet. I awake to a bright white light flashing on my ceiling. Police outside maybe? I live in a fairly upscale 'hood so eliminate this possibility in a few seconds (excusez-moi, I was groggy after all). No, it was the Cisco logo on the E4200 advertizing something is wrong by flashing at one second intervals. But what could be wrong? Things seem to be working. My trusty iPad which sleeps with me is able to connect to various sites. I use the iPad to connect to the E4200 and look at the logs. They're absolutely useless; including only DHCP server and security logs to the exclusion of internal router logs and DHCP client logs. Sigh! A trip to various forums reveals that MANY folks have seen the dreaded flashing Cisco logo (some having RMAed their routers 3 times to no avail). The solution? Place black electrical tape over the Cisco logo. So much for the esthetic appeal of this router...While I like the extra speed vs the Airport, I can't live with constant disconnects from my ISP. So, if the new modem doesn't help the DHCP renewal issue, I'll await a FW upgrade and revert to using the Airport for now. But, I have to wonder, with Cisco's massive layoff concentrated in their Consumer business units, whether an upgrade will be forthcoming or if this is a dead end product. My understanding is that the OS for this router is NOT Cisco's, so Cisco cannot address the myriad complaints.Bottom line, I would not recommend this router. ''
