Ovo je prvi put da imamo priliku testirati i recenzirati usmjerivač tvrtke Linksys i, srećom, recenziramo vrhunski model koji obećava odlične performanse i mnoštvo značajki: usmjerivač Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 . Kao što biste i očekivali, ovo je dvopojasni usmjerivač s podrškom za najnoviji 802.11ac standard bežičnog umrežavanja. S obzirom na to koliko Linksys ima prepoznatljivost brenda u mrežnom prostoru, bili smo vrlo znatiželjni saznati koliko je ovaj uređaj dobar i ispunjava li obećanja. Pročitajte ovu recenziju kako biste otkrili što smo naučili.

Otpakivanje Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 usmjerivača^{(Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 Router)}

Unutar kutije usmjerivača Linksys EA6900 pronaći ćete sljedeće: usmjerivač, tri vanjske antene, adapter za napajanje, brzi vodič za postavljanje, mrežni kabel i disk s dokumentacijom na više jezika. Tradicionalni instalacijski disk nije dostupan. Kao što ćete vidjeti kasnije, cjelokupno postavljanje se vrši pomoću web preglednika i mrežnog kabela koji se nalazi u pakiranju ovog usmjerivača.

Za više pojedinosti o iskustvu raspakiranja, ne ustručavajte se pogledati kratki video u nastavku:

Specifikacije hardvera

Pogledajmo najvažnije specifikacije koje promovira Linksys za ovaj usmjerivač:

Prije^(First) svega, Linksys EA6900 je dvopojasni usmjerivač s podrškom za standard bežičnog umrežavanja 802.11ac. On prenosi bežični signal i na frekvenciji od 2,4 GHz (za koju obećava maksimalnu propusnost od 600 Mbps ) i na 5 GHz (za koju obećava maksimalnu propusnost od 1300 Mbps ). Ima tri podesive vanjske antene koje se lako priključe. Nažalost, nikada se ne osjećaju vrlo stabilnim, bez obzira na koji način ih spojite na stražnjoj strani usmjerivača.

Što se tiče žične povezanosti, ovaj usmjerivač ima 4 Gigabit Ethernet porta. Također uključuje dva USB porta: jedan USB 3.0 i jedan USB 2.0 . Budući da je ovo premium uređaj, očekivao bih dva USB 3.0 porta.

Kao i kod svih modernih usmjerivača u ovom cjenovnom rangu, uključuje značajke kao što su podrška za DLNA streaming, kvaliteta^(Quality) usluge ( QOS )^(Service) i roditeljski nadzor.

Kompletan popis specifikacija možete pronaći ovdje: Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router EA6900 .

Postavljanje i korištenje Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 usmjerivača^{(Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 Router)}

Kada prvi put postavljate Linksys EA6900 , najprije povežite antene na stražnju stranu usmjerivača. Zatim ga spojite na utičnicu i uključite internetski^(Internet) kabel u priključak koji je označen oznakom Internet . Spojite usmjerivač na stolno računalo ili prijenosno računalo pomoću mrežnog kabela koji se nalazi u kutiji. Očito, trebali biste ga priključiti u jedan od četiri Ethernet porta na stražnjoj strani usmjerivača.

Zatim pričekajte da se usmjerivač pokrene. Tijekom postupka pokretanja, žaruljica napajanja ispred usmjerivača će se povremeno paliti i gasiti. Kada se usmjerivač završi s podizanjem, lampica napajanja svijetli.

Zatim otvorite svoj omiljeni preglednik i idite na http://www.linksyssmartwifi.com ili na 192.168.1.1 (zadana IP adresa usmjerivača) i slijedite čarobnjak za postavljanje.

Nažalost, ako koristite PPPoE internetsku^{(PPPoE Internet)} vezu kao mi, Linksys EA6900 ne uspijeva je ispravno otkriti. To znači da ćete izgubiti dosta vremena na njegovo postavljanje i da ćete morati ručno postaviti svoju internetsku^(Internet) vezu.

Još jedan problem koji smo otkrili je da čarobnjak za postavljanje uključuje obvezni korak provjere najnovijeg ažuriranja firmvera. U teoriji je to dobro, ali samo kada je uspjelo ispravno postaviti vašu internetsku^(Internet) vezu. Nažalost, ova se provjera provodi čak i kada vaša internetska^(Internet) veza nije ispravno identificirana. To znači da ćete gubiti još više vremena, dok usmjerivač ne shvati da se ne može spojiti na internet i preuzeti najnoviji firmware. Ovo je žalosno i voljeli bismo da je Linksys napravio bolji čarobnjak za postavljanje.

Nakon što ste povezani s internetom^(Internet) , možete početi detaljno konfigurirati usmjerivač. Za one od vas koji nisu baš tehnički, Linksys uključuje karticu sa zadanim nazivom za bežičnu mrežu od 2,4 GHz i njezinom lozinkom. Savjetujemo da ne koristite ove zadane postavke jer predstavljaju sigurnosni rizik. Također, bolje je konfigurirati njegove postavke tako da možete koristiti standarde bežičnog umrežavanja koji su vam potrebni, dobiti bolju sigurnost i bolje brzine pri korištenju mreže.

Linksys EA6900 pruža podršku za 22 jezika. Možete ih vidjeti navedene na snimci zaslona ispod. Nažalost, višejezična podrška na Linksys EA6900 je slabija od podrške njegovih izravnih konkurenata.

Početna stranica upravljačke ploče ovog usmjerivača izgleda prijateljski i čini se jednostavnom za korištenje. Imate stupac s nekoliko kategorija na lijevoj strani i nekoliko widgeta s podacima uživo na desnoj strani. Možete jednostavno uključiti i isključiti ove widgete ili dodati nove.

Saznali smo da su opcije koje se nalaze u odjeljku Smart Wi-Fi Tools općenito prijateljske i jednostavne za korištenje. Za njih je korisničko sučelje jednostavno i nudi sve podatke i mogućnosti konfiguracije koje biste očekivali.

Slaba točka korisničkog sučelja je odjeljak Postavke usmjerivača^{(Router Settings)} . Dostupne su mnoge postavke i one nisu uvijek grupirane na prijateljski ili logičan način. Prilično su pretrpani i teško ih je pronaći. Da vam dam nekoliko primjera: opcija ponovnog pokretanja skrivena je pod Troubleshooting -> Diagnostics . Trebalo nam je jako puno vremena da ga pronađemo.

Verzija firmvera koju koristi usmjerivač važna je informacija koju biste možda željeli znati. Nažalost, da biste to naučili, morate otići na Sign Out -> About . Zašto ove informacije nisu prikazane na početnoj stranici upravljačke ploče usmjerivača? Ili barem pod Help -> About , kao što je slučaj kada koristite softver svih vrsta?

Govoreći o firmwareu, nadogradili smo Linksys EA6900 na najnoviju verziju koja je bila dostupna u vrijeme našeg testiranja: 1.1.42.158863.

Još jedan problem u vezi s firmverom koji smo identificirali je da kada odete na web-mjesto podrške Linksys^{(Linksys Support website)} i želite preuzeti najnoviji firmware, saznat ćete da postoje dvije različite verzije hardvera ovog usmjerivača. Nažalost, ne postoji jednostavan način da saznate koju verziju imate i Linksys ne daje smjernice . Budući da je naš testni model novoproizvedeni uređaj, pretpostavili smo da koristimo verziju 1.1. Srećom, firmware koji smo preuzeli dobro je radio.

Nakon što nadogradite usmjerivač na najnoviji firmware i ručno postavite stvari, primijetit ćete da sve radi puno bolje nego kada koristite zadane postavke.

Dok pregledavate sve konfiguracijske izbornike, primijetit ćete da su neke korisne značajke isključene, uključujući zapisnike. Za nas je ova jednostavna značajka vrijedna u razumijevanju onoga što se događa s mrežom i njezinim uređajima. Ne zaboravite ga upaliti ako je i vama od koristi. Druge vam značajke možda neće pružiti vrijednost i najbolje ih je isključiti.

Jednostavna vježba pregledavanja svih dostupnih postavki upoznat će vas sa svim značajkama koje ovaj usmjerivač nudi i moći ćete ga natjerati da radi na način na koji želite, a također ćete onemogućiti stvari koje ne želite koristiti .

Nakon što smo sve konfigurirali, usmjerivač je radio kako smo očekivali i nismo naišli na čudne greške ili probleme. Stoga smo prešli na procjenu performansi usmjerivača Linksys EA6900 .

Performanse bežične mreže

Prvo, pogledajmo stan koji smo koristili u našem testiranju i kako je postavljen. Vidite da je ruter postavljen u dnevnoj sobi. U našim smo mjerenjima usporedili Linksys EA6900 s ASUS RT-AC68U (njegov glavni konkurent) i starijim ASUS RT-N56U koji smo koristili nekoliko godina u našoj mreži. Naše testiranje je obavljeno pomoću brze internetske^{(Gigabit Internet)} veze od 1 gigabita (da, dobro ste pročitali).

Uz pomoć alata pod nazivom inSSIDer , izmjerili smo jačinu signala za bežičnu mrežu od 2,4 GHz i zabilježili kako se mijenja iz sobe u sobu. Kao što možete vidjeti u donjem grafikonu, jačina signala je općenito bila dobra, ali ASUS RT-AC68U je isporučio bolju snagu signala u većini prostorija.

Isti trend uočen je i pri mjerenju jačine signala bežične mreže od 5 GHz . Snaga signala Linksys EA6900 bila je dobra, ali ne i najbolja.

Zatim smo pokrenuli SpeedTest za mjerenje brzine preuzimanja i prijenosa na obje bežične mreže. Na bežičnoj mreži od 2,4 GHz , Linksys EA6900 nudio je dobre brzine preuzimanja u cijelom stanu. Ali opet, nije bio najbolji i ASUS RT-AC68U je^{(ASUS RT-AC68U)} nudio bolja brža preuzimanja u većini prostorija.

Što se tiče brzine prijenosa na bežičnoj mreži od 2,4 GHz , Linksys EA6900 uspio je nadmašiti ASUS RT-AC68U u onim prostorijama koje su dalje od usmjerivača. U prostorijama koje su bliže ruteru, ASUS RT-AC68U je ostao lider u brzini.

Prilikom procjene performansi bežične mreže od 5 GHz , rezultati nisu bili tako jasni. U sobama koje su najbliže usmjerivaču, Linksys EA6900 je isporučio brža preuzimanja od ASUS RT-AC68U . Uz jednu iznimku (kuhinja), u prostorijama koje su udaljenije od routera, ASUS RT-AC68U je preuzeo vodstvo.

Što se tiče brzine prijenosa na mreži od 5GHz, pobjednik je opet ASUS RT-AC68U . Zabrinjavajuće je što je čak i naš stari ASUS RT-N56U usmjerivač uspio pobijediti Linksys EA6900 u većini prostorija.

Naše testiranje je pokazalo da je u smislu performansi bežične mreže Linksys EA6900 sposoban usmjerivač koji pruža dobre brzine preuzimanja na bežičnim mrežama od 2,4 GHz i 5 GHz. Ovaj usmjerivač sjaji kada je u pitanju brzina prijenosa na mreži od 2,4 Ghz, dok je na bežičnoj mreži od 5 GHz bolji čak i od starijih usmjerivača.^{(Our testing has shown that in terms of wireless network performance, Linksys EA6900 is a capable router that delivers good download speeds on both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz wireless networks. This router shines when it comes to upload speed provided on the 2.4Ghz network while on the 5GHz wireless network it is outperformed even by older routers.)}

Performanse žičane mreže

Kako bismo testirali kvalitetu žične Ethernet veze, koristili smo stolno računalo, opremljeno osmojezgrenim procesorom, 8 GB RAM- a i vrlo brzim ADATA SX900 SSD diskom, kao i starim prijenosnim računalom s četiri jezgre. procesor i SSD pogon tvrtke RunCore .

Prvo smo izmjerili brzinu preuzimanja i prijenosa pomoću SpeedTest -a . Iznenađujuće, Linksys EA6900 je bio bolji od oba ASUS usmjerivača u pogledu brzine preuzimanja. Bio je 18% sporiji od ASUS RT-AC68U - lidera na ovom testu.

Što se tiče brzine prijenosa, Linksys EA6900 je bio bolji usmjerivač, koji je uspio nadmašiti ASUS RT-AC68U za 5%.

Zatim smo koristili LAN Speed ​​Test Lite za mjerenje brzine preuzimanja i prijenosa pri prijenosu datoteke od 350 MB na i s dva računala spojena na mrežu putem Ethernet kabela. U ovom testu, Linksys EA6900 bio je 3% sporiji od ASUS RT-AC68U .

Isto je ostalo i u pogledu brzine učitavanja. Linksys EA6900 bio je sporiji od ASUS RT-AC68U za 7%.

Na kraju, ali ne i najmanje važno, prenijeli smo datoteku od 883 MB preko mreže, između ista dva računala. Nažalost, brzina preuzimanja je bila puno manja kada se koristi usmjerivač Linksys EA6900 nego kada se koristi bilo koji od ASUS usmjerivača koje smo koristili za našu usporedbu. Linksys EA6900 bio je 29% sporiji od usmjerivača ASUS RT-AC68U .

Što se tiče brzine prijenosa, rezultati su bili bolji, ali Linksys EA6900 je i dalje bio 3% sporiji od ASUS RT-AC68U .

Što se tiče žičanih Ethernet veza, Linksys EA6900 pruža prosječne performanse koje se ne približavaju obećanju od 1 Gbps.^{(In terms of wired Ethernet connections, Linksys EA6900 delivers average performance that doesn't come close to its promise of 1 Gbps.)}

Dodatne značajke

Linksys EA6900 donosi neke zanimljive i korisne dodatne značajke za premium cijenu koju traži od svojih kupaca:

Pristup za goste^{(Guest access)} - možete postaviti drugu bežičnu mrežu za svoje goste kako bi je mogli koristiti za pristup internetu^(Internet) i ostali izolirani od ostatka vaše mreže.

Roditeljski nadzor^{(Parental Controls)} – jednostavna značajka koja vam omogućuje da ograničite pristup internetu^(Internet) (ne pristup mreži) za bilo koji od vaših uređaja, u određeno vrijeme. Također, možete blokirati pristup određenim web stranicama.

USB pohrana^{(USB Storage)} - možete koristiti dva dostupna USB priključka za povezivanje vanjskih disk pogona i dijeljenje s uređajima na vašoj mreži. Možete postaviti siguran pristup s korisničkim imenom i lozinkom te također prenijeti usmjerivač na FTP poslužitelj ili medijski^(Media) poslužitelj.

Media prioritization - with the help of the QoS feature, you can prioritize different devices, applications or online games. Setting up this feature is very visual and it generally works well.

Speed Test - this is a very basic feature that allows you to measure the download and upload speed available using SpeedTest. Unfortunately this widget is not customizable and you are better off using the SpeedTest website.

Smart Wi-Fi apps - Linksys provides additional Smart Wi-Fi apps for different mobile platforms. With the help of these apps you can monitor remotely what's going on in your network, share content with others or block devices. Unfortunately some of these apps cost extra while others are available only for certain platforms. Only iOS users get access to all the apps. In contrast, Windows Phone users get access only to one app.

U usporedbi sa svojom konkurencijom, Linksys EA6900 nema značajke poput mogućnosti rada kao VPN poslužitelja za vašu mrežu ili značajke Dual-WAN koja se nalazi na ASUS RT-AC68U .

Presuda

Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 usmjerivač je dobar uređaj koji dobro radi i pruža dobre performanse, bez ikakvih grešaka ili problema. Mogu ga koristiti i početnici i iskusni korisnici, a nudi opcije prilagodbe koje očekujete od premium usmjerivača. Postoje neki problemi s upotrebljivošću kada je u pitanju korisničko sučelje, ali njegov najveći problem je što se ne izdvaja od konkurencije. Za premium cijenu koju traži Linksysdobivate dobre performanse, prilagodljivost i značajke, ali u tome nema ništa sjajno ili izvanredno. Za istu cijenu možete dobiti bolji usmjerivač s više značajki od drugog dobavljača. Zato preporučamo da ga prvo testirate i vidite jeste li zadovoljni onim što isporučuje. Ako niste, isprobajte neki od drugih usmjerivača koje smo testirali.

Reviewing the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 Router - Is This a Smart Router?

Thіs is the first time we get the chance to test and review а router from Linkѕyѕ and, luckily, we аre rеviewing a рremium model whіch promisеs great performance and plenty of feаtυres: the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 router. As you would expect, this iѕ a dual-band router with support for thе latest 802.11ac wireless nеtworking standard. Considering how much brand recognition Linksys has in the networking space, we were very cυrious to learn how good this device is аnd whether it delivers on its promises. Reаd this review to discover what we have learnеd.

Unboxing the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 Router

Inside the box of the Linksys EA6900 router, you will find the following: the router, three external antennas, the power adapter, a quick setup guide, a network cable and a disc with the documentation in multiple languages. There is no traditional installation disc available. As you will see later on, the entire setup is done using a web browser and the network cable that's provided in the packaging of this router.

For more details about the unboxing experience, don't hesitate to view the brief video below:

Hardware Specifications

Let's take a look at the most important specifications promoted by Linksys for this router:

First of all, Linksys EA6900 is a dual-band router with support for the 802.11ac wireless networking standard. It transmits the wireless signal both at the 2.4GHz frequency (for which it promises a maximum throughput of 600 Mbps) and at 5 GHz (for which it promises a maximum throughput of 1300 Mbps). It has three adjustable external antennas which are easy to plug in. Unfortunately they never feel very stable, no matter which way you connect them in the back of the router.

In terms of wired connectivity, this router has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports. It also includes two USB ports: one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0. Since this is a premium device, I would have expected two USB 3.0 ports.

As with all modern routers in this price range, it includes features like support for DLNA streaming, Quality of Service (QOS) and parental controls.

You can find the complete list of specifications here: Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router EA6900.

Setting Up & Using the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 Router

When setting up the Linksys EA6900 for the first time, first connect the antennas to the back of the router. Then, connect it to a power outlet and plug in the Internet cable in the port that's marked with the label Internet. Connect the router to your desktop PC or your laptop with the network cable that's found inside the box. Obviously, you should plug it into one of the four Ethernet ports on the back of the router.

Then, wait for the router to boot. During the boot procedure, the power light in front of the router will turn on and off intermittently. When the router has finished booting, the power light is solid.

Next, open your favorite browser and go to http://www.linksyssmartwifi.com or to 192.168.1.1 (the default IP address of the router) and follow the setup wizard.

Unfortunately, if you are using a PPPoE Internet connection like we do, Linksys EA6900 fails to correctly detect it. This means that you will waste quite a bit of time setting it up and you have to perform a manual setup of your Internet connection.

Another issue we have found is that the setup wizard includes a mandatory step of checking for the latest firmware update. In theory this is good, but only when it has managed to correctly set your Internet connection. Unfortunately, this check is enforced even when your Internet connection is not correctly identified. This means that you will waste even more time, until the router understands that it cannot connect to the Internet and download the latest firmware. This is unfortunate and we wish Linksys had made a better setup wizard.

Once you are connected to the Internet, you can start configuring the router in detail. For those of you who are not very technical, Linksys includes a card with the default name for the 2.4 GHz wireless network and its password. We advise against using these defaults, as they represent a security risk. Also, it is better to configure its settings so that you can use the wireless networking standards you need, get better security and better speeds when using the network.

Linksys EA6900 provides support for 22 languages. You can see them listed in the screenshot below. Unfortunately the multilingual support on the Linksys EA6900 is weaker than that of its direct competitors.

The homepage of this router's control panel looks friendly and seems easy to use. You have a column with several categories on the left and several widgets with live data on the right. You can easily turn on and off these widgets or add new ones.

We have learned that the options found in the Smart Wi-Fi Tools section are generally friendly and easy to use. For them, the user interface is simple and it offers all the data and configuration options you would expect.

The weak point of the user interface is the Router Settings section. There are lots of settings available and they are not always grouped in a friendly or logical manner. They are rather crowded and hard to find. To give you a few examples: the reboot option is hidden under Troubleshooting -> Diagnostics. It took us a very long time to find it.

The firmware version used by the router is an important piece of information that you might want to know. Unfortunately, in order to learn it, you need to go to Sign Out -> About. Why is this information not shown on the homepage of the router's control panel? Or at least under Help -> About, as is the case when using software of all kinds?

Speaking of firmware, we have upgraded the Linksys EA6900 to the latest version that was available at the time of our testing: 1.1.42.158863.

Another firmware related issue that we have identified is that when you go to the Linksys Support website and you want to download the latest firmware, you will learn that there are two different hardware versions of this router. Unfortunately there's no easy way to tell which version you have and there is no guidance provided by Linksys. Since our test model is a newly manufactured device, we assumed that we are using version 1.1. Luckily, the firmware we have downloaded worked well.

After you upgrade the router to the latest firmware and you manually set things up, you will notice that everything works much better than when using the defaults.

While browsing through all the configuration menus, you will notice that some useful features are turned off, including the logs. For us, this simple feature is valuable in understanding what is going on with the network and its devices. Don't forget to turn it on if it is useful to you too. Other features may not provide value to you and it is best to turn them off.

The simple exercise of browsing through all the available settings will make you familiar with all the features this router has to offer and you will be able to make it work the way you want to, while also disabling the things you don't want to use.

Once we had everything configured, the router worked as we expected and we did not encounter any strange bugs or issues. Therefore we moved on to evaluating the performance delivered by the Linksys EA6900 router.

Wireless Network Performance

First, let's take a look at the apartment we used in our testing and how it is set up. You can see that the router is placed in the living room. In our measurements, we have compared the Linksys EA6900 against ASUS RT-AC68U (its main competitor) and an older ASUS RT-N56U that we have used for several years in our network. Our testing was done using a fast 1 Gigabit Internet connection (yes, you read that correctly).

With the help of a tool named inSSIDer, we have measured the signal stregth for the 2.4 GHz wireless network and recorded how it changes from room to room. As you can see in the chart below, the signal strength was generally good but ASUS RT-AC68U delivered better signal strength in most rooms.

The same trend was noticed when measuring the signal strength of the 5 GHz wireless network. The signal strength provided by Linksys EA6900 was good but not the best.

Then, we ran SpeedTest for measuring the download and upload speed on both wireless networks. On the 2.4 GHz wireless network, Linksys EA6900 offered good download speeds across the apartment. But again, it was not the best and ASUS RT-AC68U offered better faster downloads in most rooms.

In terms of upload speeds on the 2.4 GHz wireless network, Linksys EA6900 managed to outperform ASUS RT-AC68U in those rooms that are further away from the router. In the rooms that are closer to the router, ASUS RT-AC68U remained the speed leader.

When evaluating the performance of the 5 GHz wireless network, the results were not as clear. In the rooms that are closest to the router, Linksys EA6900 delivered faster downloads than the ASUS RT-AC68U. With one exception (the kitchen), in the rooms that are further away from the router, ASUS RT-AC68U took the lead.

In terms of the upload speed on the 5GHz network, the winner was again ASUS RT-AC68U. We found it worrying that even our old ASUS RT-N56U router managed to beat Linksys EA6900 in most rooms.

Our testing has shown that in terms of wireless network performance, Linksys EA6900 is a capable router that delivers good download speeds on both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz wireless networks. This router shines when it comes to upload speed provided on the 2.4Ghz network while on the 5GHz wireless network it is outperformed even by older routers.

Wired Network Performance

In order to test the quality of the wired Ethernet connection, we have used a desktop PC, equipped with an eight-core processor, 8GB of RAM and a very fast ADATA SX900 SSD drive, as well as an old laptop with a quad-core processor and an SSD drive from RunCore.

First, we measured the download and upload speeds using SpeedTest. Surprisingly, Linksys EA6900 was outperformed by both ASUS routers in terms of download speed. It was 18% slower than the ASUS RT-AC68U - the leader in this test.

In terms of upload speed, Linksys EA6900 was the better router, managing to outperform ASUS RT-AC68U by 5%.

Next, we used LAN Speed Test Lite to measure the download and upload speeds when transferring a 350 MB file to and from two computers connected to the network via Ethernet cables. In this test, Linksys EA6900 was 3% slower than ASUS RT-AC68U.

The same remained true in terms of upload speed. Linksys EA6900 was slower than ASUS RT-AC68U by 7%.

Last but not least, we transferred an 883 MB file across the network, between the same two computers. Unfortunately the download speed was much lower when using the Linksys EA6900 router than when using any of the ASUS routers we used for our comparison. Linksys EA6900 was 29% slower than the ASUS RT-AC68U router.

In terms of upload speed, the results were better, but Linksys EA6900 was still 3% slower than ASUS RT-AC68U.

In terms of wired Ethernet connections, Linksys EA6900 delivers average performance that doesn't come close to its promise of 1 Gbps.

Extra Features

Linksys EA6900 delivers some interesting and useful extra features for the premium price it asks from its buyers:

Guest access - you can set up a different wireless network for your guests so that they can use it to access the Internet and remain isolated from the rest of your network.

Parental Controls - a simple feature that allows you to restrict Internet access (not network access) for any of your devices, at specific times. Also, you can block access to specific websites.

USB Storage - you can use the two USB ports available to connect external disk drives and share them with the devices on your network. You can set up secure access with a username and password and also transfer the router into an FTP server or a Media server.

Media prioritization - with the help of the QoS feature, you can prioritize different devices, applications or online games. Setting up this feature is very visual and it generally works well.

Speed Test - this is a very basic feature that allows you to measure the download and upload speed available using SpeedTest. Unfortunately this widget is not customizable and you are better off using the SpeedTest website.

Smart Wi-Fi apps - Linksys provides additional Smart Wi-Fi apps for different mobile platforms. With the help of these apps you can monitor remotely what's going on in your network, share content with others or block devices. Unfortunately some of these apps cost extra while others are available only for certain platforms. Only iOS users get access to all the apps. In contrast, Windows Phone users get access only to one app.

When compared to its competition, Linksys EA6900 lacks features like the possibility to run as a VPN server for your network or the Dual-WAN feature found on the ASUS RT-AC68U.

Verdict

The Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 router is a good device that works well and delivers good performance, without any bugs or issues. It can be used by both novices and knowledgeable users and it offers the customization options you expect from a premium router. There are some usability problems when it comes to the user interface but its biggest problem is that it doesn't stand out from the competition. For the premium price tag asked by Linksys you get good performance, customizability and features but there's nothing great or extraordinary about it. For the same price tag you can get a better router with more features, from another vendor. That's why we recommend that you test it first and see if you are happy with what it delivers. If you are not, try some of the other routers we have tested.

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