Linksys adds two more Smart Wi-Fi routers to EA series

April 30th, 2013

Peter Nolan

A Smart Wi-Fi router in the EA series from Linksys.

(Credit:
Dong Ngo/CNET)

Linksys announced today two more Smart Wi-Fi routers in its EA series. This is the company’s first product announcement since it was sold to Belkin by Cisco last month.

The two new routers includes the Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1200 Advanced Multimedia (model EA6300) and the Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1600 Video Enthusiast (model EA6400).

Both of these routers are true dual-band and support the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard on the 5Ghz band. Prior to this, Linksys shipped the Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1750 HD Video Pro (model EA6500) late last year, which is now still the company’s top-notch 802.11ac-endabled router for the U.S. market.

Specs-wise, the existing EA6500 router offers up to 1,300Mbps speeds on the 5Ghz band and up to 450Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band. The two new routers offer lower cap speeds than those. More specifically, the EA6300 offers up to 867Mbps on the 5Ghz band and just 300Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band, and the EA6400 offers 1,300Mbps and 300Mbps on the 50Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands, respectively.

Note that you can only experience these differences in Wi-Fi speeds if you have clients that support the 802.11ac or the top speed of 802.11n standards. (Read more about different Wi-Fi standards here.) For most existing clients, especially smartphones and
tablets, that generally comes with the Wi-Fi cap of 300Mbps at most; the new routers as well as the existing EA6500 offer virtually the same benefits in terms of Wi-Fi speeds.

Other than that, both new routers supports Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0. They also support IPv6 and Beam-Forming technology to offer long range and signal stability. Like all routers in the EA series, the new routers come with a cloud-based feature that allows for managing your home network via Linksys SmartWi-Fi portal (formerly known as Cisco Connect Cloud). The use of this portal is now optional, however, and users can choose to manage the router locally, the traditional way. The new routers also support mobile apps, including third-party apps to offers even more benefits.

The Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6300 is available now, costing $170. The Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6400 will be shipping by the end of the month and will cost $190. These are just suggested prices, however, and likely will soon drop, since the top-tier Linksys EA6500 currently costs around $185.

Linksys has been celebrating its 25th anniversary in the last few days. Founded on April 28th 1988, the company has since released a few dozens of networking products, changed its logo nine times, and moved from an independent company to be part of Cisco and now part of Belkin. Check the infographic below for its highlights over the years.