Linksys E-4200 N750 Wireless N dual band simultaneous gigabit router is the new router introduced in Jan 2011 – the first router introduced by Linksys with N750 technology.

Linksys E-4200 N750 is powered by the latest wireless 802.11n technology with dual band simultaneous supports and it is compatible with the 802.11b/g legacy clients. If you still have some computers with legacy Wi-Fi 802.11b or g, they are still compatible with the router but with maximum speeds your clients can connect.

High Speeds

The main difference between the former Linksys E-3000 and Linksys E-4200 is the speed specs. The maximum speeds for E-3000 is 300Mbps theoretically for either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands which is commonly known as the N600 router. While the Linksys E-4200 speed is 300Mbps for 2.4GHz band and 450Mbps for 5GHz band – this is commonly known as N750 routers.

The router includes full 3×3 MIMO antenna array for maximum range and reliability. With the high speeds of up to 450Mbps (for 5GHz band) and the longer distance range coverage and with the addition of QoS feature, the router provides maximum high performance wireless environment for high speed HD media streaming and smooth and fast response gaming experiences. QoS (Quality of Service) technology is the capability of the router to provide the traffic prioritization for gaming and streaming over other data traffic.

NETGEAR also introduced the N750 router WNDR4000 which is almost the same specs as the Linksys E-4200 router. Both routers are equipped with the Gigabit WAN (1 port) and Gigabit LAN (4 ports) Ethernet interfaces. With Gigabit LAN interface, you can connect any computers with gigabit NIC enabled using Cat5e network cable for high speed wired connection.

Like NETGEAR WNDR4000, the Linksys E-4200 includes one Gigabit WAN port. For home users who subscribe Cable internet services, you can connect to the high speed DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem such as Surfboard SB6120 which includes gigabit Ethernet port for optimum data throughput.

USB Port

Linksys E-4200 includes one built-in USB port with UPnP Media Server to let you share an external storage with the users on the local network or securely access via the internet by means of VPN connection. With the built-in UPnP AV Media Server you can stream your HD media to other media devices including the XBOX, PS3, Blu-Ray players, and TV.

Unfortunately, you cannot use this USB port to host a USB printer for sharing. To share the printer via the network you need to buy separate wireless print server or you can use the computer and configure it traditionally for print-server.

Compared to the Netgear Premium edition WNDR3800, the router supports the USB port that can be used to host an external storage or USB printer for sharing. But the WNDR3800 delivers the maximum speeds of up to300Mbps (N600 technology). Should you require the environment that supports both storage and printer for sharing, you may consider Belkin HD N600 which includes two USB ports for storage and printer.

Advanced Security

Like other new routers with wireless 802.11n support, the router supports the latest wireless security encryption: WPA/WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) the stronger wireless security compared with the WEP (for legacy 802.11b/g devices). The Linksys E-Series supports the RADIUS as well if your business network supports the RADIUS server for Authentication and Authorization. You can enable the router for RADIUS to integrate with the RADIUS server for centralized authentication.

Not many routers support the Guest network access. Guest network access can be enabled to allow your guests access the internet without gaining access to your local network. You can enable the Guest access to allow up to 5 guests to access the Internet without compromising your local network.

All the must have security features including the NAT and SPI are also included for protecting the network against any threats. The DHCP must have feature also included to provide the IP address automatically to all the computers on the network.

Should you require the maximum speeds of the wireless environment for demanding high intensive bandwidth applications such as for smooth gaming and HD media streaming, Linksys E-4200 is your choice.

By Ki Grinsing

Graduated from technical college with MCSE and CCNA certifications and prolonged years of working experiences in IT projects, Ki Grinsing shares his knowledge in computer networking. Please visit related articles Linksys E-4200 and new DGND3700 ADSL2 router.