Linksys EA6350

amazon Linksys EA6350 reviews

If you have a small home and have a modest network consisting of a handful of wired and wireless clients, you may not need to spend a fortune on a router with the latest Wi-Fi technology. For only $100, the Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ dual-band smart Wi-Fi router gives you lightning-fast 5GHz transfer speeds, as well as a host of management settings and excellent I/O ports.

Design and features

The EA6350 looks similar to the Linksys EA6100 AC1200 dual-band Wi-Fi router. Both use black housing and have two non-removable antennas, which means you can’t swap out one high-gain antenna. The EA6350 measures 2.8 x 22.6 x 17.8 cm (HWD) and features a gray strip containing a single status light that separates the top of the case. The light flashes green during setup and remains solid green while the router is powered on.

A single-core 800MHz CPU powers this dual-band 802.11ac router. It can achieve transfer rates (theoretical) up to 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 867Mbps on the 5GHz band. The EA6350 supports beamforming, sending wireless signals directly to each client rather than over the broad spectrum, without transmitting Multi-User, Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data. The back of the router houses four Gigabit LAN ports, a WAN port, a single USB 3.0 port, a WPS button, and a Reset button.

The Smart Wi-Fi Web Panel opens to a Home screen with a list of Smart Wi-Fi Tools and Router Settings on the left and utilities for frequently used settings on the right. The Device List page shows all connected devices and their current status, and the Guest Access page is where you go to activate the guest network and set up a password. Curiously, the guest network is only available for 2.4GHz clients, like other Linksys routers that use this control panel, including the Linksys EA6100 and Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router. You get Parental Controls, Speed ​​Test that measures upload speeds and Internet downloads, as well as Media Priority settings, allow you to prioritize the network for game consoles and specific applications.

Router settings include a Connections page, where you can change things like DHCP settings, enable Dynamic Routing, update firmware, and change the router’s password. There’s also a Wireless Settings page, where you can create a Wi-Fi password, choose a security mode, rename the SSID, and choose a channel width setting. You also enable and configure MAC Address Filtering and enable/disable Wi-Fi Protected Setup for the router. The Troubleshoot page lets you view the system logs, check the status of each client, and run network diagnostics, and the Security page lets you configure Firewall, VPN Pass-through, and Port Forwarding settings.

Settings and Performance

With the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Web Console, installing and configuring the EA6350 is quick and easy. Once the router is plugged in and connected to the Internet and your host PC, open a browser and type linksyssmartwifi.com in the address bar. That launches the Setup Wizard, which guides you through basic Internet and wireless settings.

The EA6350’s score in our 5GHz transfer rate tests is the fastest we’ve ever seen from a budget router. Its score of 427Mbps in the close test (same room) is much faster than the Netgear AC1200 smart Wi-Fi router (R6220) (331Mbps), Linksys EA6100 (95.1Mbps), and D-Link DIR-842 (332Mbps). At 30 feet away, the EA6350’s 199Mbps score again leads; The Netgear R6220 reached 104Mbps, the Linksys EA6100 reached 86.6Mbps, and the D-Link DIR-842 showed a transfer rate of 111Mbps.

The EA6350’s scores in our 2.4GHz transfer rate tests are more in line with other budget routers. It achieved 72.5Mbps in the close test and 39.3Mbps in the 30-foot test. The Netgear R6220 has transfer rates of 74.1Mbps (nearly) and 48.3Mbps (30 feet), the Linksys EA6100 has 77.4Mbps and 40.2Mbps, and the D-Link DIR-842 has a transfer rate of 75Mbps and 41.5Mbps.

To test file transfer speeds, we connected a USB drive to the router’s fastest USB port and moved a 1.5 GB folder containing a mix of photo, music, video, and document files between the drive and the desktop wired to the router. The EA6350’s score of 21.5MBps is slightly faster than the Netgear R6220 (17.6MBps) but not as fast as the Linksys EA6100 (27.4MBps). In the reading test, the EA6350 hit 28MBps compared to the Linksys EA6100’s 28.3MBps and the Netgear R6220’s 25.6MBps. The D-Link DIR-842 was not included in these tests as it does not have a USB port.

Conclude

The Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band Wi-Fi Smart Wi-Fi Router is a great choice if you don’t require an advanced router. Ideal for smaller homes and apartments, it delivered very fast 5GHz transfer speeds in our tests, and while its 2.4GHz performance didn’t set any records, it did more than enough for a router in this price range. Like most Linksys routers, the EA6350 is easy to set up and manage, thanks to the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Web Control Panel and mobile app. You’ll pay about $30 more for this router than you would for the D-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi router (DIR-842), but the extra money gets you much faster speeds and a USB 3.0 port.

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