Cisco-Linksys E3000 Wireless-N Router

The ease of setup of the Cisco-Linksys E3000 router astonished me! I had a studio and household FILLED with multiple PC's and Macs, both desktop and notebook computers, and a PC server plus Mac G5 server for my AppleTV Library, iTunes Library, and this router self-configured itself with each and every computer/device/system that I own, some 12 machines in total, in less than 7 minutes for the full cycle of the auto-connect feature to take place.That FLOORED me totally, and I'm an advanced networking expert, who was prepared for a completely tough, manual install of this router but figured I'd give it a go with the Auto-Connect Feature of this router, by simply inserting the Cisco-Linksys CD ROM into my PC server's optical drive, and followed the prompts to the letter (to a point), let the router Auto-Configure each and every PC and Mac in my mixed-stable of computers here in my studio and throughout the house, 8 computers here in my studio near the router's plug-in to my Time-Warner RoadRunner HS Turbo Modem, and 4 other computers elsewhere in the house, and I'll be danged if the new E3000 didn't pull off the complete connection routing in less than 7 minutes actual time! CRAZY GOOD!I immediately fired up the router's web interface and went into the Advanced settings, and renamed the System from default to my regular/normal System's name, set up the web interface for my network Hard Drive and plugged in a 1TB USB external HD for network sharing and backup services, reconfigured the password to my rather complex 26-digit and symbol password for ultimate security purposes, set the "renew DHCP Lease" to my own specific schedule apart from default, adjusted Media and FTP Server setting to active, and a lot of other "host services" to manual settings vs the default settings, and in less than 30 minutes total time I disconnected my former "N-Spec" router, and turned the duties over to the new E3000.Suffice to say it's been literally plug and play since then, with only a minor glitch to report, and that was perhaps my own fault but it involved updating the firmware to the latest and greatest, and my update went awry somewhat...I ended up having to re-apply the new patch TWICE before it took and set up correctly, and BAM!! All was well again, settings were intact, and when I restarted the System it fired right up, everything popped up green, blue, and yellow LED's like it's supposed to do, and voila! Firmware update a success, all was well, and the system @ 100%.The Dual-Band aspect of this router gives it a special character, with the ability to transmit and receive signals and data simultaneously, at the same time literally, and maintain its incredible bandwidth in both the 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz channels without fault of any sort, and that's an amazing feature! My AppleTV system works significantly better than it did with the old MaxPower N-Spec Routerat full speed ahead, it being a single-band router and some 5 years old at the time I replaced it with the E3000.I find the web interface to be simple, and simplistic too, a nice interaction to work with when you want to customize any features, or change any settings manually vs the router's automatic setups. I have yet to have to restart or "recycle" this router after some 5 months of use thus far, which I consider to be very, very unusual given the nature of routers in general, but the Cisco-Linksys E3000 seems to be in a class by itself with respect to sustainability. It is also a router that you can place ANYWHERE with respect to its antennas being all internal (6 of them!), as I have placed it UNDER MY WORK STATION now, and there's no difference in the signal being all-pervasive and strong throughout my studio, and home to boot!I also use the router to handle the Administration of my twin RAID system's web interface, and that uses one of the Gigabit Ethernet Ports of the E3000 and plugs directly into the Areca 1680IX-8 Hardware RAID Controller, and that feature of the router has also worked without fail thus far, no issues at all! I have searched and tried to figure out S*O*M*E* weakness that this new E3000 router has, but alas there is nothing left to write or say with respect to things that are wrong with it, because the dang thing just works 100% for the good!Every day that I use my system here in the studio and throughout my home I marvel at its consistency, it steadfastness, and its power, just incredible in all those aspects of use with my heavy, heavy needs placed upon it, and it's just fantastic. It would be hard to say "it could be better", because I just don't know HOW or WHAT we could do so as to make it better than it is right now.I am transmitting millions and millions of bytes of critical information up to Standford University in the Folding@Home program, with 5 active computers in the program here in my home and studio, and it's IMPORTANT that each and every byte gets transmitted up there for the benefit of mankind, and the critical research that the researchers are doing, and this great Cisco-Linksys E3000 keeps the candles "lit" in my contributions to the Folding@Home program hour by hour, day by day, and week by arduous week...it just doesn't fail me, and that is all I could ask of it!I never thought I'd say something like this about a router, but this thing is SO FAR AHEAD of everything else out there that you can buy for your home or office use for a high-speed data network, be it from a HD Cable Modem system like what I have with me here, a DSL system, whatever way you can critically look at such a thing as a router which literally is the lifeline between you and the internet, and all it can represent, but I'll say this for the record: I don't think that there's anything better being made today, AT ANY PRICE, ANY CONFIGURATION, ANY SETUP WHATSOEVER THAN THE CICSO-LINKSYS E3000 Router!This thing is King of the Hill! I have actually purchased 4 of them since they were released in early June, 2010. The router that I bought this time went down to Australia to my business partner's home office to use there, because he cannot buy one in Australia at any price: they just aren't offered there yet, so I took it upon myself to score one for him and the network in his home office, and he is just like I am by now: a believer in this E3000 system 100% without qualification, without doubts, and without any negative thoughts whatsoever!It's not every day that we have products this good come into our lives and uses, and this ladies and gentlemen is the best router that the good, old All-American $$$ can buy, bar none, no doubt as to that statement! The Cisco-Linksys E3000 Dual Band Router gets the Wavey Davey 100% Solid Gold and 5-Star Award for Quality, Value, and Performance, bar none! There isn't anything quite like it no matter what other brands you look at, or even other Cisco-Linksys models for that matter, it stands alone as the No.1 router of any type today, in November 2010.Wavey Davey - November 14, 2010

My review will focus mainly on the user experience, rather than detailed technical specs. The router is fast (particularly if you are using systems capable of operating on Wireless-N), dual bandwidth is great, etc., but these benefits are all fairly and adequately set out in the product description.Pros of the user experience:This is, by far, the easiest network setup I've ever done. Just to demonstrate, I'll compare the setup of this router to the setup of a competitor, the D-Link DGL-4500 Xtreme N Selectable Dual Band Draft 802.11n Gaming Router (which is more expensive and does not permit simultaneous use of the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands).D-Link DGL-4500: Power off modem. Shut down computer. Plug Ethernet cable from modem into router. Plug router into computer. Turn on modem. Wait 30 seconds. Plug power adapter into router. Wait 30 seconds. Turn on computer. Follow the several steps of the "Internet Connection Wizard" to specify type of Internet connection. You may need to know the MAC address of the computer last connected directly to your modem.They're serious - I had this router before, and if you reorder any of these steps, your setup may fail. If, like me, you have a big cable modem that doubles as your landline connection with backup power that is not easily powered off, your setup can become even more frustrating.Cisco-Linksys E3000: Put in install CD. Plug Ethernet cable into router and power on (order does not matter). Click "Next" on install screen. Watch as the setup program does everything and you're online in about 2 minutes.That's it. I didn't have to specify anything, remember any MAC addresses, or worry about the order in which I was connecting all the various cables to set up my wireless router. Start to finish, I was online in about 3-5 minutes, including the time it took to open the Amazon box.Cons of user experience:Linksys technical support is frustratingly awful. My issue was that the router prompted me to update the firmware, and when I attempted to do so, it failed and rendered the router useless. All my attempts to reset the router and undo whatever had happened were in vain. The Linksys support page does not have any phone numbers or email addresses, just a guide, FAQs, and Live Chat, which is ridiculous when you consider that many router problems will push you offline and render "Live Chat" a useless option. The "Guide" has two options when you try to find help on firmware: Information about Cisco Connect and "how to upgrade firmware," neither of which helps. When you tell it that, the guide gives a link stating, "Click here to contact Linksys." Hallelujah, you may think! But the link is dead and leads to a "Page Not Found" error.I now have a replacement E3000, and am opting to simply never update the firmware.Overall, the product is 5 stars on performance, 1 star on support. I edged it up to 4 stars overall as most people won't have to deal with the 1-star side of things.