Linksys E1000 Review

There are three Linksys E series routers: the E1000, E2000, and the E3000. The E1000 is the most inexpensive and lowest end router in the series. But just because it costs the least, doesn't mean it is worthless. This wireless router has been found to be reliable and easy to use, but you wont get the huge range and deluxe features of the E2000 and E3000.

Let's see what comes standard on this bad boy. It comes standard with all the wireless signals you'll need: 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.3, and 802.3u. Security comes with WEP, WPA, WPA2, and up to 128 bit encryption. It hits up to 300 MB/s as well.

For the person just looking to easily slap on a good inexpensive router and head straight to the internet without wanting to hook up every single piece of electronic equipment in their house to the router this is all that's needed.

Now let's take a look at what we found the pro's and con's to be of the system.

Let's start the pro's off with how easy it is to install. Unlike the old days where you had to manually type in IP addresses and macro numbers the new routers such as this come with easy installation CD's, and just like the name implies it's very easy to install. Throw the CD in the disk drive and follow the onscreen instructions and your router will be setup within 5 minutes, there's not much confusion with something so simple. The higher end products may get a bit more complex but they too have easy installation now. Even though it is a basic router, there are a few advanced features we'd like to mention. Parental controls are easily used and can limit what rating and how long logged on users can use the internet. Separate networks can also be setup, one for the adults and one for the kids, with the kids having access to only g rated parts of the internet and time limitations while the adult network is limitless. Lastly, as with all Linksys routers, the E1000 comes with a very sleek looking design that is compact as well, there are no antenna's sticking out to get in the way of things as they are all housed internally.

For such a small price that is a pretty large list of pro's, let's see if the con's outweigh the pro's. First and foremost there are no gigabit ports, meaning you cannot directly wire your computer to the router itself, it only does wireless (which isn't much of a problem as we're looking at wireless routers). At such a low price we also sacrifice USB ports which would allow us to setup a wireless printing network so we can print from anywhere in the house and pick the printed papers up by the router. Lastly, the range is very acceptable for a household but if you plan on being out in the shed trying to pick up a wireless signal you may have a problem with speed.