[Review] Linksys EA9200 AC3200 Tri-Band Smart Wi-Fi Router: The ideal router for the connected house

[HWZ Editorial]

If you have a lot of wireless devices at home, AC-3200 routers are the way to go since they offer the highest amount of bandwidth. And the latest to join the AC-3200 fray is Linksys with their EA9200 Tri-band Smart Wi-Fi router. We put it to the test to see if this is the router you should be getting for the new year.

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[WWE_Fan]

What about guest network?

 

[meowth82]

Anyone using this router? So far so good?

 

[quinnkei]

Using it with SH Fibre...

I quite happy with the improved range and speed offered and best item is the single 5Ghz SSID compared to other brands.

It just auto put slower device within 5Ghz into another 5Ghz channel while faster device will use another 5Ghz channel

Simple setup, simple to use

 

[meowth82]

Thanks for the comments.

 

[trichard]

The first time I saw the design.... I keep thinking of ...

My bad..

 

[speed_0828]

I bought one. Saw it supports both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz guest network. Capable up to maximum 50 guest clients.

What about guest network?

 

[speed_0828]

I bought mine from Challenger. Pretty skeptical at first because of its slim design. It got good reviews actually so I checked it out. I got a 1Gbps Fiber from Singtel so good way to test if it really works. LAN bandwidth is almost identical with my Mac Pro connected directly to the Singtel ONT 900+ mbps both download and upload. I test its wifi speed using an AC1200 adapter, I can get max speed up to 400 to 500mbps in 5Ghz using the speedtest.net. Well that is fast enough for one client. One thing I like the most of this router compared to other routers I have used before, is that the video streaming is damn fast. Zero buffering. HD movies online? i know you know what I mean.... Reviews said that it has added a feature called cut through forwarding to make video, voice and gaming faster. And smart connect is also pretty cool, two 5Ghz radio using only one SSID. Got my Apple TV stream an online HD movie while my Ipad was roaming to the farthest corner of the house. The streaming was not affected. If youre an entertainment and gadget buff, I recommend this router. pretty cool!

 

[WWE_Fan]

I bought mine from Challenger. Pretty skeptical at first because of its slim design. It got good reviews actually so I checked it out. I got a 1Gbps Fiber from Singtel so good way to test if it really works. LAN bandwidth is almost identical with my Mac Pro connected directly to the Singtel ONT 900+ mbps both download and upload. I test its wifi speed using an AC1200 adapter, I can get max speed up to 400 to 500mbps in 5Ghz using the speedtest.net. Well that is fast enough for one client. One thing I like the most of this router compared to other routers I have used before, is that the video streaming is damn fast. Zero buffering. HD movies online? i know you know what I mean.... Reviews said that it has added a feature called cut through forwarding to make video, voice and gaming faster. And smart connect is also pretty cool, two 5Ghz radio using only one SSID. Got my Apple TV stream an online HD movie while my Ipad was roaming to the farthest corner of the house. The streaming was not affected. If youre an entertainment and gadget buff, I recommend this router. pretty cool!

Wah! Seems like this is a winner!

 

[trichard]

Anyone know the price at show ????

 

[croc1977]

Anyone know the price at show ????

don't think linksys got sell there

 

[trichard]

I see about the single ssid at AC3200 have problem... I thinking drop the idea liao. And go for this ...

 

[speed_0828]

I see about the single ssid at AC3200 have problem... I thinking drop the idea liao. And go for this ...

I did a self research on this bro..well techie nerd as I am, it is expected

The Single SSID is a feature by the 3 main brands using the SmartConnect feature. EA9200 has a similar band steering but it is only in 5Ghz, between the Low band and high band 5Ghz channel for reasons of performance. Asus AC3200 uses the 3 radio for band steering, thus it causes a lot of connection drops. Even the Broadcom chipset manufacturer admit that it is a problem to use all the 3 radio for band steering. Netgear, uses signal strength in a round robin fashion. It performs well for all static client devices but when you start moving around, then the problem appears on the low bandwidth. Linksys EA9200 implements the Smart Connect by monitoring the actual link rate of each client device. Making sure that there is enough bounce off time to avoid frequent drops. Well so far I did try running around my home while streaming an HD video, I did not notice even a slight delay on my video or a change of resolution.

 

[Tibarius]

Linksys speed Problem

Hi everyone, I am using Singtel 1Gb/s Fiber Optics plan. With this router EA 9200, I am only getting 5 MB/S using speedtest.net. May I check if anyone else is facing the same problems or is there anyone with a solution?

Singtel technician has came down and did a speed test with the Fiber Optics Terminal and showed that the speed was around 800 Mb/s. I called Linksys hotline but they route the call to USA and it was difficult to understand what the customer service agent was saying.

Will appreciate if anyone here can help out. Thanks!

 

[renfred89]

Hi everyone, I am using Singtel 1Gb/s Fiber Optics plan. With this router EA 9200, I am only getting 5 MB/S using speedtest.net. May I check if anyone else is facing the same problems or is there anyone with a solution?

Singtel technician has came down and did a speed test with the Fiber Optics Terminal and showed that the speed was around 800 Mb/s. I called Linksys hotline but they route the call to USA and it was difficult to understand what the customer service agent was saying.

Will appreciate if anyone here can help out. Thanks!

were you using wireless for the speedtest, or was it a wired connection with a computer for speed test?

Was it 5MB/s(megabytes per second) or 5Mb/s(megabits per second)?

 

[Tibarius]

were you using wireless for the speedtest, or was it a wired connection with a computer for speed test?

Was it 5MB/s(megabytes per second) or 5Mb/s(megabits per second)?

Used both wired and wireless in the speed test. However my wired Ethernet connection is the old adapter limited to 100MB/s. Both wired and wireless shown results around download speed of 5 MB/s (Megabytes per second) . Upload speed was faster nearing 80 MB/s.

This model of linksys came with a smart portal call linksyssmartwifi.com . I have registered an account and was able to access my router settings from there. There is also a speed test function inside there and it shows the same results.

Anyone has any solutions?

 

[renfred89]

Used both wired and wireless in the speed test. However my wired Ethernet connection is the old adapter limited to 100MB/s. Both wired and wireless shown results around download speed of 5 MB/s (Megabytes per second) . Upload speed was faster nearing 80 MB/s.

This model of linksys came with a smart portal call linksyssmartwifi.com . I have registered an account and was able to access my router settings from there. There is also a speed test function inside there and it shows the same results.

Anyone has any solutions?

I would suggest you do a conversion to megabits per second to avoid confusion..

nevertheless, it is highly abnormal for 1gbps plan to yield such slow speed, tested in an environment with compatible hardware (such as gigabit ethernet interface).

since you mentioned that the wired connection has an outdated ethernet interface which is limited to 100Mbps (not 100MBps), then I would suspect your wireless card is outdated as well, limited to only wireless a/b/g.

Speed tests should not be used on wireless connectivity platform, because even the best wireless clients in the world will not hit anywhere near the typical speed of 1gbps.

I strongly suggest you use a newer device with gigabit wired interface for testing.

 

[speed_0828]

Used both wired and wireless in the speed test. However my wired Ethernet connection is the old adapter limited to 100MB/s. Both wired and wireless shown results around download speed of 5 MB/s (Megabytes per second) . Upload speed was faster nearing 80 MB/s.

This model of linksys came with a smart portal call linksyssmartwifi.com . I have registered an account and was able to access my router settings from there. There is also a speed test function inside there and it shows the same results.

Anyone has any solutions?

The speedtest feature in the EA9200 is pointed to an Ookla server in London, if you checked on it. That is why it probably shows a much lower speed.

I suggest you use the speedtest.net website instead which will show you the actual speed of your internet connection.

I did my test using the speedtest.net and so far Singtel is very consistent on the speed from 900mbps+ using the wired connection.

Wireless speed using a AC1200 client adapter would show you a 300 to 400mbps speed at 5ghz channel, as per my test.

by the way you can use that smartwifi account with a smartwifi app to remotely managed your router when youre outside of your home and even if you're overseas. Pretty cool.

 

[Patrick76]

Just bought the router yesterday. I am getting like 100-200 Mbps on my mobile phone with wireless ac. Not sure if there is anything wrong with my setting. For wired connection, I can get like the usual 900 plus Mbps.

 

[nosferatu]

Just bought the router yesterday. I am getting like 100-200 Mbps on my mobile phone with wireless ac. Not sure if there is anything wrong with my setting. For wired connection, I can get like the usual 900 plus Mbps.

bro getting abt 190 on my note 3...wired is 900+