Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link WRT600N - wireless router
Manufacturer: Linksys Inc. Part number: WRT600N
- More product information:
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Description:
- The Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router is really four devices in one box. First, there's the dual-band Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires. There's also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100/1000 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together at up to gigabit speeds. The Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.
Linksys also included a Storage Link that lets you easily add gigabytes of storage space onto your network using readily available USB 2.0 hard drives - or plug in a USB flash disk for a convenient way to access your portable data files. The built-in Media Server streams music, video, and photos from the attached storage device to any UPnP compatible media adapter. And you can get to your files from anywhere in the world through the Internet.
The Access Point built into the Router uses a dual-band version of the very latest wireless networking technology, Wireless-N (draft 802.11n). By overlaying the signals of multiple radios for each band, Wireless-N's "Multiple In, Multiple Out" (MIMO) technology multiplies the effective data rate. Unlike ordinary wireless networking technologies that are confused by signal reflections, MIMO actually uses these reflections to increase the range and reduce "dead spots" in the wireless coverage area. The robust signals travel farther, maintaining wireless connections much farther than standard Wireless-G.
With Wireless-N, the farther away you are, the more speed advantage you get. It works great with standard Wireless-G, -A, and -B equipment, but when both ends of the wireless link are Wireless-N, the router can increase the throughput even more by using twice as much radio band, yielding speeds much faster than standard Wireless-G. But unlike other speed-enhanced technologies, Wireless-N can dynamically enable this double-speed mode for Wireless-N devices, while still connecting to other wireless devices at their respective fastest speeds. In congested areas, the "good neighbor" mode ensures that the Router checks for other wireless devices in the area before gobbling up the radio band.
Since the Router can operate in both the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz radio bands at the same time, it effectively doubles your available wireless bandwidth. For instance, you could set up your network to handle video streaming on one radio band, and use the other band for simultaneous data transfers - avoiding any interference or collisions that would degrade the video performance.
To help protect your data and privacy, the Router can encode all wireless transmissions with industrial-strength 256-bit encryption. It can serve as your network's DHCP Server, has a powerful SPI firewall to protect your PCs against intruders and most known Internet attacks, and supports VPN pass-through. Configuration is a snap with the web browser-based configuration utility.
The incredible speed of Wireless-N and gigabit wired networking is ideal for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and Voice over IP telephony, and gives you plenty of headroom to run multiple media-intense data streams through the network at the same time, with no degradation in performance. With the Linksys Wireless-N Storage Link Router at the center of your home or office network, you can easily add storage, share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers and multi-player games, and run media-intensive applications at amazing speeds, without the hassle of stringing wires!
Where to buy
*Total price for the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link WRT600N - wireless router are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.
show
User reviews
Write Review
-
Average user rating:
3.0 stars
out of 5
reviews
Showing opinion 1 to 5 out of 5
-
-
8
stars
Great Upgrade for an Aging Home Network - Get Ready for 802.11N and UPnP
by p5surf
on
December 10, 2007
Pros: Blazing fast gigabit and g & N, quick setup for basic wireless networking, good range, fast internal switching, more features than I know what to do with
Cons: Confusing Share drive setup, 5Ghz radio is for a and N only
Summary: The WRT600N is by far the nicest router I have used for my home. I have a very fast internet connection at home from my local cable company (30Mbps). I ...
Read more
Summary: The WRT600N is by far the nicest router I have used for my home. I have a very fast internet connection at home from my local cable company (30Mbps). I noticed that I was only getting 8-10Mbps on almost all speed tests. I did a little troubleshooting and found that my bottleneck was my old router! Once I purchased the WRT600N I found that I was now getting at least 20-25 Mbps. What a difference with newer router technology. I found it amazing that my internet connection was actually faster than my home network speed. Another reason for my purchase is that I wanted to upgrade the encryption technology from WEP to WPA-2. There are many features on this router and like linksys says, "It's like four devices in one".
First off the two radios are a cool feature. The 5Ghz radio is for 802.11a and N only. The second radio 2.4Ghz is for 802.11b,g and N only. So unless you are using N or have been using a, it really is only good for one radio. I disabled the 5Ghz radio b/c I am not using N - not yet anyway - and I've never had a device with 802.11a, due to the lack of backward compatibility. Once day when all my future devices use N technology, it will be cool to have two radios, but for now, I only use one. So now I have a very nice 802.11b/g router. Once I get the N cards, I'm certain to get better speed.
As for the GigaBit networking, it's FAST. I'm very pleased with this. Also I tried hooking up a USB2 external hard drive to the data port. Let's just say it's not a very simple thing to set up. I've set up several FTP servers that were easier. The WRT600N tries to protect your drive by creating a new folder which is used for sharing, which is good but it does not allow you to share the existing folders without some tweaking. It does allow you to open the drive up in three ways: 1. FTP Server for outside access, 2. Shared Drive for local network access and 3. UPnP for shared media devices. The configuration is a little funky and it will frustrate you before you get it all working the way you want. I got confused quickly with the multiple pre-configured users and pre-configured groups, which were very generic. I was a bit security conscious about allowing 'guest' access on the FTP site, but that was the only way I could get it to work out of the box. There were some other security issues when connecting via shared folders in windows. XP remembered the username/login that I tried initially, then I couldn't figure out how to re-login with a different username and password. For the easiest setup you may want to connect a blank drive to it and then populate the folders once you get it connected. Right now mine is disconnected because I found it easier and more secure to just leave the external drive connected to one of the PC's on my home network and then share it locally. This has turned into another project - added to my list. Can you sense the frustration? I know it can be configured to work properly, but I'm averse to just leaving it on so I can try it from the office later.
There's another cool feature which allows remote access to the admin screens via the internet even if you are not connected to the wifi network nor plugged into the ethernet ports. This scares me a bit for security reasons, so I leave it disabled - did I just say it was a cool feature? Hmmm, let me re-think that.
Out of the box, the networking configuration was easy. Setting up the WPA-2 security was a snap. The security features have blown my mind. There's corporate and enterprise level security features that I'm sure I will never use but it's good to know they are there.
The range is better than I am used to. I have the router in my basement and I can easily use it on the 2nd floor of my house.
To summarize, I did pay full price for it but I'm a believer in you get what you pay for. This is definitely the BMW of routers today so I'm willing to fork over the cash to stay ahead of Moore's Law. But I know it will be obsolete one day like the 802.11b router it has replaced. If I have to replace my router once every 5 years, that's not too bad in my opinion. I have no buyer's remorse and I will happily endorse someone who is considering this device. Just be prepared for a little frustration with the administration settings for the shared drive.
Show less
10 out
of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
9
stars
The Linksys WRT600N is a Winner
by ajtrek
on
March 2, 2008
Pros: Dual Radios (5 GHz and 2.4 GHz) to Lessen Interference
Cons: Expensive - No Others
Summary: This is my second Linksys router. I bought this router to take advantage of my Wireless N Card installed in my Dell XPS M1330 notebook. Thus far I have no ...
Read more
Summary: This is my second Linksys router. I bought this router to take advantage of my Wireless N Card installed in my Dell XPS M1330 notebook. Thus far I have no complaints. Setup was straight forward using the enclosed CD which is a marked improvement over other Linksys Install Wizards I?ve used. I really like the Linksys Easy Link Advisor that gives you information about your network and devices connected with their IP address.
I?m running my notebook on the 5 GHz radio and my Buffalo LinkStation, PlayStation 3, HP L76880 AIO printer and iPod Touch on the 2.4 GHz radio. I have an average raw speed of 189 Mbps (low 108 Mbps ? High 270 Mbps).
To take advantage of the Wireless N capabilities you must use WPA2 security otherwise your speed will only register at 54 Mbps. Unfortunately, the setup CD only gives you the option to use WPA security which is odd. You have to logon to the router?s IP address and select WPA2 security.
Linksys claims that the router will be upgradeable should the Wireless N standard change. That makes the $249 to $279 asking price a little easier to justify. I looked at the Belkin N1 Vision ($179) but decided against it because it did not offer dual radios.
I highly recommend you consider this router if you want to start using 802.11n.
Show less
3 out
of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
7
stars
Great for WiFi but the Storage Link is GARBAGE
by David Pop
on
April 10, 2008
Pros: Connected at 270Mbps out of the box, Familiar Linksys Config tools
Cons: The USB Storage Link connector runs 5 times slower than the same device connected to a PC and shared out.
Summary: I bought this unit and the DIR-655 for Comparison and to keep 1. The Linksys was a better out of the box experience in getting to 270 Mbps than the ...
Read more
Summary: I bought this unit and the DIR-655 for Comparison and to keep 1. The Linksys was a better out of the box experience in getting to 270 Mbps than the Dlink. Unfortunately for me I bought it because it has the storage link technology and I want to be able to stream movies from my camera and edit them all wireless from a remote network storage device. Imagine my dissapointment when the realized speeds from the Storage linke were 3 to 5 times slower than connecting the same device to another wired computer on the router and sharing it out. That was after formatting to NTFS as well. Fat32 was almost 10 times slower!!! I do not see how Linksys thinks it can market the Storage Link as anything resembling a streaming Connection with those kind of results.
Linksys, Next time DELIVER on your promises instead of just going through the motions.
As a WiFi unit this is great but why spend the extra $$$ on it when others do the job better since the only real added benefit isn't a benefit at all???
I give it a 7 because the WiFi part does work quite nicely so as long as you don't need storage link you can't go wrong on the WiFi side.
Show less
1 out
of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
4
stars
Storage-Link is unreliable
by joshespdx
on
July 21, 2008
Pros: Dual-band is great
Cons: Storage -Link
Summary: As a router only, this performs well. I bought this thinking it would be a snap to setup a NAS using the Storage-Link. Wrong-o! Once or a twice a week ...
Read more
Summary: As a router only, this performs well. I bought this thinking it would be a snap to setup a NAS using the Storage-Link. Wrong-o! Once or a twice a week I have to unplug my USB drive, reset the router and re-map the USB drives to both of my laptops again. It is very frustrating. This device is going back to the store.
Show less
-
5
stars
Great router, Storage Link doesn't work.
by mobandit
on
June 24, 2008
Pros: Speed for N connections is awesome
Cons: Storage Link feature is broken
Summary: The setup was pretty smooth, although the documentation is unclear in a couple of places. If I hadn't had some clue I'd of never figured it out.
Storage ...
Read more
Summary: The setup was pretty smooth, although the documentation is unclear in a couple of places. If I hadn't had some clue I'd of never figured it out.
Storage Link is broken, no other way to put it. It corrupts files, it "loses" its connection to the attached hard drive, and it won't work with some partition formats.
Show less
Showing opinion 1 to 5 out of 5
show
Specifications
-
Manufacturer:
Linksys Inc.
-
Part number:
WRT600N
General
-
Device Type
Wireless router
-
Form Factor
External
-
Width
7.5 in
-
Depth
7 in
-
Height
5.7 in
-
Weight
1.5 lbs
Networking
-
Form factor
External
-
Connectivity technology
Wired,
Wireless
-
Integrated Switch
4-port switch
-
Line coding format
16 QAM,
CCK,
QPSK,
OFDM,
BPSK,
64 QAM
-
Data link protocol
Gigabit Ethernet,
IEEE 802.11a,
Ethernet,
Fast Ethernet,
IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11g,
IEEE 802.11n (draft)
-
Switching protocol
Ethernet
-
Remote management protocol
HTTP
-
Communication mode
Full-duplex,
Half-duplex
-
Status Indicators
Link activity,
Power,
Link OK,
Port status
-
Features
Auto-uplink (auto MDI/MDI-X),
Firewall protection,
Auto-negotiation,
MIMO technology,
Auto-sensing per device,
VPN passthrough,
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
-
Compliant Standards
IEEE 802.11a,
IEEE 802.3,
IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.3x,
IEEE 802.11g,
IEEE 802.3u,
IEEE 802.11n (draft),
IEEE 802.3ab
Antenna
-
Antenna Quantity
6
-
Directivity
Omni-directional
Communications
-
Type
None
Expansion / Connectivity
-
Interfaces
4 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45,
1 x Network - Radio-Ethernet,
1 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45 ( WAN ),
1 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A
-
Port(s) Total (Free) / Connector Type
1 Network Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T:RJ-45,
1 Network Radio-Ethernet:,
1 Hi-Speed USB 4 pin USB Type A,
4 Network Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T:RJ-45
Miscellaneous
-
Cables (Details)
1 x Network cable
-
Compliant Standards
FCC,
IC
-
Encryption Algorithm
128-bit WEP,
64-bit WEP,
WPA,
WPA2
Power
-
Power Supply / Device
Power adapter External
-
Power Device
Power adapter - External
Cable(s) / Peripheral(s)
-
Cable(s) included
1 Network cable External
Modem
-
Modem Type
None
Environmental Parameters
-
Min operating temperature
32 ?F
-
Max operating temperature
104 ?F
-
Operating humidity range
10 - 85%
