Linksys WRT610N vs Cisco Linksys

I have the WRT610N...have had it for 2 years. Its been okay and done its job well.

However we just moved to a bigger place and the desktop is upstairs and the router is downstairs in almost the exact opposite corner. It couldn't be helped due to the placement of the certain things in the new house.

Now the desktop has built in wireless but it also is from 2 years ago and so it doesn't have great range. We only get 1 bar of signal on the desktop.

My questions is whether I should get the E3000 now. Is the range and performance on that router significantly better than the 610N? Or are they about the same?

I know the E3000 doesn't have USB print utility so thats a bummer. But my main concern is whether or not the actually technology inside the E3000 will deliver HIGHER speeds more reliable/consistent wireless signal and have a better range.

Even IF the range is about the same I really want to know if the E3000 at least gives better speeds and reliable signal. Cuz if thats the case I'll probably still get the new Linksys wireless adapter (AE1000) I believe...

 

E3000 is a rebranded WRT610N v2. While there's a difference in hardware between WRT610N v1 and WRT610 v2 there's no difference between WRT610 v2 and E3000.
If you have v2 than you can't hope for any improvement- the difference is new firmware. You can always use DD-WRT and increase transmit power.

If in you gave WRT610 v1 you can see the difference between it and E3000 in terms of wireless range here. As you can see there's significant improvement in speed in those locations where signal is the weakest.

 

V1 refers to the hardware right? That's what I've got right now....at least I'm 90% sure.

Where can I look at it to verify?

Lastly what about the speed performance between v1 and the E3000? The speed on the WRT610N I have now is sorta low compared to the Netgear I got for my dad around the same time.

I'm curious to see if I'll get 270Mbps consistently on the E3000 as opposed to the constant wavering and jumping back and forth I get with the 610N...it goes from 120 to 160 t0 270 and then lower and I have the laptop set to the wireless N only network at the 5GHz band....

 

I know my v2 is very fast, I shaved quite a bit off my ping when i swapped out my D-Link and over my older Netgear.

I wouldn't do Cisco only because of no aftermarket firmware last I looked. I have been burned by bad firmware making junk of what otherwise would be a nice router. I do get good consistent speeds on my V2 though and it has been rock solid. Best router I ever had or worked on, and that is quite a lot.

If you are going to upgrade, I would go for the Netgear 3700 series over an e3000 Linksys.

 

@ TheAtreidesHawk
If you have trouble with wireless range you shouldn't be using 5GHz band.
Higher frequency waves are less capable of penetrating objects than lower frequency waves, which does not matter when you are close to the router- but does matter for computers farther away.
As for the performance of E3000 compared to WRT610N v1- it's all in the review I linked in my previous post. The performance of E3000 is noticeably better.

Also if you are planning on spending that kind of money on a router- as leslieann mentioned - Netgear WNDR3700 woud be a better choice.
I would recommend using 2.4GHz band first and testing DD-WRT with increased transmit power before making another purchase though.

 

Your router is in the opposite corner of the house... is there a way to run cable from the router and just use a second WAP? I know I have the same issue... the router and cable all come into the basement, and I have a high-gain antenna and upped the transmit power of my WRT54GL, and it still wasn't enough, so having just wired the house I got a cheap WRT54G (I think it was $15) and set it up in access point mode, configured it on a different channel but otherwise identical to the main router and plugged it in to the new network jack that's across the house from the basement router, and now my devices just connect to whichever one has the stronger signal.

I do need to look into getting some kind of enterprise setup so I can hand off between the WAPs, but what I have is better than having very little wifi access upstairs

 

Okay well you guys have almost convinced me to switch to the Netgear router...

However I'm seeing the 3700 and the 37AV....whats the major differences (if any) between the two?

And ultimately I still need a wireless adapter I think for the desktop and just turn off the built in wifi (i'm trying to avoid having too many cables to be honest).

I mean I now any wireless adapter will work fine but I'm sorta ocd so I'd like to use a linksys wireless adapter with a linksys wireless router or a netgear wireless adapter with a netgear wireless router....

Anyways if someone could tell me whats the main diff between the Netgear 3700 and the 3700AV and which they'd recommend and why I'd be grateful. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

There seem to be no difference between WNDR3700 and WNDR37AV.
Both use exactly the same hardware but there's probably some difference in firmware- the latter is supposedly optimized for video streaming and gaming. Last time I checked WNDR3700 was listed as EOL product which and WNDR37AV was meant to be its replacement although they should have phased out WNDR3700 by now.
You may chose either- but if both are available at the same price I would pick WNDR37AV- it's newer so it's gonna get firmware support for longer.