Linksys unleashes all the abbreviations with its latest router
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen some pretty extreme router designs hitting the market.
But from the outside, the Linksys Max-Stream EA7500 doesn’t pay homage to a stealth bomber or the weekend-wear of a Sith Lord. It’s large, but stylish without being outlandish, and our homes could stand more restrained gear of this variety.
This design is built for those with a cable connection or separate modem, having a single Ethernet socket allocated to WAN use, and another four to local LAN connections.
All of the local switch ports are gigabit, and in addition to those there are also two USB ports on the rear of the EA7500, one each of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. Those can be used for some basic file sharing, media distribution through a built-in Twonky DLNA server and even via FTP.
I’ve seen routers offer USB 3.0 ports before and then deliver USB 2.0 levels of performance on them, but the EA7500 doesn’t. Using a high-speed USB flash drive, I was able to read and write at 60MB/s, which isn't the best I’ve got out of that hardware, but it's certainly better than many other router ports I’ve tried.
But the major selling point here is the AC1900 spec wi-fi that can simultaneously operate on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, getting 600Mbps and 1300Mbps from each of those frequency ranges respectively.
With three antennas and beam forming tech, this is a technically a MU-MIMO (multiuser multiple-input and multipleoutput) device, allowing it to service at least 12 devices over wi-fi without tripping over its own connectivity.
That’s especially useful if you live in a terraced house or apartment, where you’ve got lots of overlap from neighbours wi-fi or challenging structural interference. I can't guarantee that the EA7500 will fix all your problems, but it’s certainly superior to any older ‘n’ class router, irrespective of how many antennas that has.
In testing it was slightly shy of the best scores I’ve seen for an AC1900 router particularly on 2.4GHz side, but not poor by any stretch.
Where I’m less enamoured with the EA7500 is with how Linksys wants to push the users to a cloud-based account system. Yes, I can follow how this could be great for someone with multiple homes and routers, but for most home users, creating an online account is just another hoop they’re being asked to jump through.
Being told on my Android phone that my browser (Chrome) wasn’t compatible with the web interface and that I’d need to download the app also irked me.
Configuration is also an odd mix of being wonderful and supremely irritating, depending on how you decide to deploy the EA7500. It’s best suited to those wanting to drop it in as a direct replacement of their existing router, where the smart setup will guide you through with the minimum of input.
My problems started when I declined the automated configuration approach and decided I wanted to run this purely as an access point.
Getting the EA7500 to work in that context proved a true headache, because while there are options for VLAN, advanced routing and wi-fi bridge mode, there is no way to easily use it as an access point without using the WAN port and segmenting the network accordingly.
I tried disabling the DHCP and providing a static IP, but the router just wouldn't accept it. I’m sure you can set this up, but it’s a good example of how the going can become challenging once you’ve wandered off the predefined path.
My final moan is that the slick web interface includes a speed test that requires Adobe Flash Player 8.0 to be installed on the PC. Seriously? Flash is no longer a technology that users should be encouraged to install, because it's patently not secure.
Those points aside, this is a well-built, effective piece of router technology that is competitively priced and specified. If you fancy a wi-fi upgrade, then you might do well to consider this option, but those wanting the fastest possible wi-fi need to look elsewhere. Mark Pickavance
Decent AC1900 technology for cable broadband users.
Features
• Concurrent dual-band wireless operation (600 + 1300Mbps)
• Data transfer rates of up to 600Mbps on 2.4GHz (three spatial streams with 256-QAM)
• Data transfer rates of up to 1300Mbps on 5GHz (three spatial streams)
• Three removable and adjustable antennas
• Four-port gigabit switch/1 gigabit WAN port
• Integrated DHCP server with dynamic and static IP address assignment
• PPTP, IPSec and L2TP pass-through
• Storage features for external USB hard disk and flash drives (supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and HFS+)
• UPnP IGD and media server
• Supports DLNA for home media management
• Virtual USB support
• Wall mountable
• Dual-core 1.4GHz CPU
• 257 x 184 x 56mm
• Weight: 558g