It’s been a while when many people were waiting for the new introduction of wireless N900 router by Linksys since other manufacturers introduced N900 routers. Netgear has shipped its N900 router (WNDR4500) earlier than Linksys. Interestingly, Linksys doesn’t use a special name for its N900 router something like E4500 or what ever but uses the same E4200 with version 2 to mark the N900 version. Does it mean that nothing is new but the speed improvement from the N750 to N900? How do you compare E4200V2 with Wndr4500 router? Which one provides you more values?

What’s new with Linksys E4200V2?

When Netgear introduced Wndr4500 N900, we could notice some new features compared with the previous Wndr4000 N750 router including the speed improvement in its 2.4GHz band from 300Mbps to 450Mbps (N750 to N900), and one more USB port for total of two ports for share storage and printer together. So what’s new with Linksys E4200V2? The only new improvement is the higher speed in 2.4GHz band from 300Mbps (in E4200) to 450Mbps. And the words in the highlight features say “USB port for shared storage & printers”. And in Specifications say “Includes USB port for Shared Storage, Virtual USB and Media Server”. Does it mean that this V2 is really the improvement of the capability to host a printer for sharing? The USB port in Linksys E4200 doesn’t support to host share printer. The support guy said that the share printer can be supported in the next firmware upgrade.

How do you compare E4200V2 with Wndr4500?

click for spec details

It is always interested to know the comparison between the two products from different manufacturers. The table 1 shows you some of the main spec comparison between Linksys E4200V2 and Wndr4500 N900 routers.

Both routers use the latest, the fastest wireless technology wireless N900 with speeds up to 450Mbps each band using three spatial data stream with MIMO antenna technology. Not many wireless client devices deliver the speed up to 450Mbps. Trendnet introduces new wireless USB adapter with the speed up to 450Mbps – the TEW-684UB. It’s a wireless 450Mbps dual band USB adapter you can connect to the N900 routers for maximum data rate throughput.

Gigabit Ethernet ports (both LAN and WAN ports) are standard features for high performance category wireless routers. Brand new computers including all-in-one (AIO) desktops are equipped with Gigabit NIC adapter. Besides, mostly AIO computers include 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi adapter.

The main difference between the two routers is the USB port they include. Linksys E4200V2 includes only one USB port which is now stated to be capable of hosting either shared storage or printer. This is the new features for E4200V2. But Netgear WNDR4500 includes two USB ports. Now it’s up to you, you prefer Linksys with one USB port for either shared storage or shared printer. Or you prefer Wndr4500 with two USB ports so you can attach both external disk storage and printer together. No more adding wireless print server or switching the printer and the storage.

Linksys E4200v2 Vs D-link Dir-857 N900

D-link shipped the fastest product the Dir-857 N900 into the market end of 2011 – almost 10 months after it was showcased in CES 2011. What is the main difference with E4200v2? The main difference is apparent; Dir-857 is equipped with USB 3.0 port ten times faster than USB 2.0 port. In addition, Dir-857 includes one SD Card slot which is DLNA compliant. You may also consider the newest introduction New Wndr4700 N900 media storage router by Netgear in CES2012.

By Ki Grinsing

See also:

• New Zyxel BNBG5715 Wireless N900 dual band simultaneous gigabit router  with true VPN support
• The New Ultimate Speed TP Link TL-WR2543ND N900 Gigabit Router 
• TEW-692GR 450Mbps Simultaneous Dual Band Router
• TEW-687GA 450Mbps Wireless N Gaming Adapter
• TEW-680MB 450Mbps Dual Band Wireless N HD Media Bridge
• Netgear Wn3000rp range extender