By Ki Grinsing

Overview

The market does not accept Linksys 120N very well, proven by lack of good response from customers. The original version of this router in an online retail received only 2.2 out of 5 stars customer rating. Those who give it five stars only a third of those who gave one star, very bad if honest. While the refurbished version of this router in an online retail receives much better rating that is 3.8 out of 5 star customer ratings.

Linksys 120N Vs 1200

Click for spec details

If your aging WRT120N router is faulty, while you do not need a wireless router with high specs which is certainly much more expensive, then you may consider Linksys E1200. Upgrading your existing Linksys 120N router with new Linksys E1200 series is reasonable for better performance. Moreover, the price is affordable below $50 and it receives 3.8 out of 5 stars customer ratings in Amazon so far and it is one of the bestsellers wireless routers in router category.

The table shows the manufactures specs and features and how good the customer responses to the product. Let’s have a look how they are different.

Wireless Standards

Maybe you’ve felt that your wireless router technology was out of date (draft 2.0 802.11n) knowing that the current technology is wireless ac which is the fifth generation of wifi technology that can deliver speeds up to 1300mbps, incredible speed. No need to switch to this faster technology if your router is used only for standard networking tasks. Linksys E1200 with its N300 wireless technology is sufficient for your networking standard and is affordable. Unless you would like to upgrade to support your multiple home theater devices, you may consider new lines of Linksys high performance router such as Linksys EA4500 with cloud connect support.

Antenna

Not many differences between the two regarding the antenna; both include two internal antenna with MIMO antenna technology. Both are not designed to let you upgrading for better gain with external antennas.  For better range coverage you can compare with the new E1500 series which includes 3x internal antennas with Speed-Boost technology. Internal antennas save your space if the router is placed on your desk.

Ethernet Ports

As I said before, if only for the networking standard tasks wired connection with 100Mbps speed is adequate for your home network. You need gigabit speed if you demand high intensive bandwidth application such as continuously transferring large bulks of files.

Both Linksys 120N and new Linksys E1200 series include 4x 10/100 Ethernet LAN ports and 1x 10/100Mbps WAN port with autosensing technology – means you can use either cross or straight through twisted cable. Should you require gigabit ports you need more money, nearly twice as much as the price of standard router or even more, for example new Linksys E3200 N600 router. With Gigabit ports you can connect your computers with gigabit NIC ready for fast and reliable gigabit speed.

USB Port

Both routers do not support USB port for shared storage or shared printer. If you require network to support home theater environment, the router with USB port for shared storage is very essential to help you stream the video and other multimedia files from the storage to the home theater devices (such as Blu-Ray player, XBOX console or HDTV).

High performance router that supports the USB ports for shared storage and printer concurrently is very important for “work and play”. You can consider the new Asus RT-N56U Black Diamond that includes two USB ports. That’s only if you would like to switch from Linksys 120n to Asus. Linksys EA4500 includes two USB port, moreover it supports cloud connect technology.

Guest Network

All new generation of Linksys E series support Guest network but old generation Linksys 120N doesn’t. With guest network feature you can create separate virtual network with different password for your guests to get access to the internet without compromising your local network.

 Comparison table

Read the customer reviews about their experiences with the products how their opinions and satisfactions about the products. In Amazon, the Linksys 120N receives not so good customer ratings with averagely 2.2 out of five stars for ease of setup, ease of use and installation, but averagely 2.5 for reliability. As opposed to the new Linksys E1200 series, the router receives very positive responses with averagely 3.8 out of five stars customer ratings.

If you can’t afford to purchase Linksys E1200 to replace your aging Linksys 120n, you may consider Belkin N150 router (F9K1001) which is cheaper than Linksys but this Belkin is based on wireless N150 instead of N300. Theoretically the speed is half of the speed of Linksys E1200, but in the real world the speeds can be vary due to many factors. This router is also reliable with its new Multibeam technology for a high-powered signal throughout.

Networking Diagram

Install the new Linksys E1200 router as the center of your wireless network in home and connect it to the modem to share the internet with many computers within the household as shown in the above figure.

By Ki Grinsing