For around $200, or just £150 in the UK, you can get yourself a Linksys EA8300 Max-Stream router, which offers top speeds and a plethora of functions, and is suitable for medium-sized homes. It has tri-band and MU-MIMO technology that can boost your Wi-Fi signal, but it’s only an linksys router tri band ac2200, so it won’t give you quite the same performance as something like the Asus RT-AC3200, which costs the same but offers even more. Now, the EA8300 is sufficient, but if your tech needs grow in the future, you will likely want to upgrade. The EA8300 is a wonderful small router, and experts do mean little, for anyone in need of upgrading their networking equipment, with less theoretical speed but similar features to the Linksys EA8500 and EA9500.
As opposed to its high-octane EA9500 sibling, the EA8300 weighs in at a featherlight 1.3 pounds and measures in at a small 8.4 by 6.4 by 2.2 inches. It’s not particularly unsightly, despite its all-black style and tiny digital display; you shouldn’t hide it. When you are not connected to the internet, the screen displays the Linksys logo and an orange icon. Not something that would draw attention to itself.
The four protruding antennae can be angled wherever you wish and are not overly bulky, giving you a lot of creative freedom in how you show them off (no guarantees that will give you the best signal though).
The technology is available on two of the antennas, while the other two are single-band. This router has the optimal number of antennae to provide the fastest possible Wi-Fi connections, as most modern devices only have one or two.
Quick and simple to put together, very practical Apk for Wi-Fi that’s actually smart
The EA8300 required no effort to set up. Follow the on-screen instructions to connect it to the internet, name your network, create a password, and update the firmware.
The menus were intuitive and provided access to a Network Map, Guest Access, Parental Controls, Media Prioritization, a Speed Test, external storage, and other other features. If you have used a router made by Linksys before, you will find that everything operates in a similar fashion. There’s a helpful settings overview grid right there in the main menu.
To access your Linksys router from another computer or mobile device, you can sign up for a Smart Wi-Fi account. The app’s user interface is very identical to that of a web browser, making it a breeze to use.
Incredibly flexible options for personalising your home network
The EA8300 tri-band router is equipped with a quad-core 716 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, and flash memory. It has one Gigabit WAN port for direct Internet access and four Gigabit LAN connections for your connected devices. It can also function as a router, access point, repeater, or bridge when used in conjunction with other Max-Stream devices.
With only a theoretical maximum of 867 Mbps on the 5 GHz spectrum and 400 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, it is clearly inferior to other options. The Asus RT-AC3200 is only one example of many tri-band routers available at a similar price point that provide significantly faster throughput. Environmental considerations make all signals unstable, thus in practise most devices won’t even get close to such speeds. If you have a small to medium sized home, the Linksys EA8300 should provide more than adequate bandwidth for your needs.
The router’s ability to “steer” traffic to the greatest available band is a pleasant bonus. To change the channel, the breadth of the channel, and the network mode, you must turn off band-steering (802.11ac only, 802.11n only, and so on).
Connecting many devices at once at full speed is possible using the Linksys EA8300’s MU-MIMO technology, which is becoming the norm for modern routers. The one catch is that any mobile device (laptop, phone, or tablet) must also support MU-MIMO for it to function. If none of them do, you won’t gain anything. Even if just a small number of users participate, the MU-MIMO devices’ speeds will improve and more bandwidth will be available for other uses.
Both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels are available for Guest Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, there is no way to slow down the guest network so that your primary devices aren’t affected. Limiting the maximum number of simultaneous connections is the sole option.
Setting up safeguards for young children is also a breeze. You get to pick the gadget, the sites, and the hours of operation. The ability to block encrypted (https) sites is a handy bonus that not all routers offer. That means you can restrict your children’s access to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
If you forget your regular Wi-Fi password, or if you just want to turn on or off the guest network, you can do so with the EA8300 and Amazon Alexa. Linksys says you may disable this potentially alarming feature, but the fact remains that anyone can ask her for your password.
