Linksys E4200v2

I know E4200v1 is one of the best, but anybody have the E4200v2? How is it compared to the v1? Thinking about buying it, but wonder if it's worth the extra price.

 

I went to best buy the other day but even they didn't know. 450Mbps support?

 

Linksys E4200v1 uses Broadcom SoC BCM4718- part of it is 2.4GHz radio capable of 300mbps.
Since E4200v2 is capable of doing 450mbps on both bands (at least in theory as 2.4GHz is too overcrowded to pull that off) they had to replace the main chip meaning build a completely new router.

E4200v2 has nothing in common with E4200v1- apart from the chassis.
v2 is based on a Marvell chipset and will not be supported by 3rd party firmware solutions (at least not in foreseeable future)

Recommendation: stay away from v2- buy v1.

 

Wow thanks download. Didn't realize they changed the chip. I am all over the DD-WRT or TomatoUSB firmwares on these, as Broadcom are more supported. Too bad, I'll stick with the v1 then.

 

That's too bad for the v2's lack of support for third party firmware. Any idea how the marvel chip fares in the throughput area vs the broadcom in the v1. The boradcom was a good chip, let's hope they didn't nerf that to brag about 450mbps on both bands.

 

I'm more worried about amplifiers and antennas- E4200v1 had an outstanding 2.4GHz range because those parts were very good.
I'm afraid Linksys might do what Netgear did with WNDR3700v2 and cut costs.

 

i have a question. I have a bigfoot network 1103 and wondering is the Linksys E4200 is a the best router for that wiresless card. I heard that there aren't many dual band routers that give 4450mbps on both bands.

So Im wondering what the best router is for the Bigfoot Network 1103

 

You won't be able to achieve 450mbps on 2.4GHz bands since there is no chance of you finding three free neighboring channels.
The only way to do it is on 5GHz band- which E4200 can do.

 

so the best router for Bigfoot 1103 is linksys E4200?

 

There's no such thing as the best router for a given card.
If you want to take advantage of 450mbps you need a three stream router capable of transmitting it on 5GHz.
There are several routers like that- Linksys E4200, Netgear WNDR4000, Netgear WNDR4500 and Belkin N750.

If I was to recommend one it would actually be Linksys E4200 since it offers both exceptional 2.4GHz range (and this band is used primarily for range not for throughput) and 450mbps theoretical throughput @5GHz (where the range is rather poor)
So it is the best of both on one package.
I didn't consider the price as a factor though- if you get a great deal on another router it may change the picture for you.

 

I guessed and i got it right! Hi5 for me!

 

How do you know that changed the chipset? I am very curious about this new piece of info, and would love to see references to that.

Where did you find that info???

 

Actual FCC photos won't be released until January 21 but seeing some users on highly regarded forums (DD-WRT forum and smallnetbulder forum) have opened it and confirmed the fact that it is Marvell I'm inclined to believe them until proven otherwise.

 

Yerp the Linksys E4200v2 is sporting a Marvell chipset.

This has been glean from many forums with no contradiction to indicate it is running anything but a Marvell chipset.

I have a Linksys E4200v1 running Tomato firmware with an OpenVPN and PPTP server configured.

So a Linksys E4200v2 is out of the question for me given it's reported chipset.

Besides my Android phone is 802.11g and my Alienware Wifi is only a two stream standard Dell item. So again, nothing would be gained... for me.

It has been mooted that the Marvell chipset 'may' reduce reports of overheating in the Linksys E4200v1. That is yet to be confirmed.

 

Ya them changing the chips is sneaky, its a less reliable chip from what I've read, and it doesn't support aftermarket firmware (yet or ever?)

 

I am trying to buy a linksys e4200 router from newegg.com
i have a bigfoot 1103 and wonder if this is the correct linksys e4200.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.769852

i am also getting the combo deal which is the BF3

is that the correct linksys e4200 v1? i am staying away from v2 which many people told me to do.

 

Yes- it's v1 since it's 300mbps+450mbps rather than 450+450.

 

ok thank you. ordering now i think thats the best router for 1103? am i correct? read somewhere that 450+ 450 mbps is not even needed b/c 2.4ghz wont even go up to 450?

 

That's true- 450mbps on 2.4GHz is achievable only if you live in a remote location- otherwise it's to overcrowded to be used for throughput.
1103+E4200 should be a good set-up.

 

Smallnetbuilder published a review of E4200v2.

Essentially it uses 1.2GHz Marvel CPU that is mostly used in NAS devices hence better USB sharing speeds (20MB/s NTFS read/write).

Other than that lower routing throughput and number of simultaneous connections indicate that Linksys is not that good in providing firmware for anything not-Broadcom based (they made a mess of Atheros devices and they don't seem to be able to deal with Marvell either)

On wireless front- Linksys opted to keep excellent SiGe amps (not the exact same models even on 5GHz where they could have kept the old ones but that doesn't seem to make any difference)

In terms of 2.4GHz 40MHz channel wireless throughput there is no notable difference. In terms of range v1 seems better.
Three stream 2.4GHz connection of v2 was (marginally) slower than two stream 2.4GHz of both v1 and v2.
On 5GHz there was almost no difference although v1 did better in uplink throughput.

Overall v2 is not better in terms of range nor throughput. It is more expensive but NAS-grade CPU offers HDD-sharing capabilities that are second to none.

Personally I would go for v1- wireless is overall better and firmware seems better too. If you want NAS buy one- 20MB/s is good for a router but useless for a real NAS.

Currently there is $50 difference between V2 and v1 and cheap two-drive NAS like Netgear Stora will set you back a $110.
In my opinion v1 is still a better solution especially that the price difference is not justified by performance increase.

 

Did they fix the 5GHz issue on the Tomato Firmware?

 

I already have the V1 for quite some time, any good reason to upgrade to the V2?

 

Absolutely not, the v2 uses a marvel chip, you get 450mbps on 2.4GHz which is useless anyways and you loose in other aspects like firmware quality and range.