You can never have too much speed
or too much storage, and the Linksys
WRT350N makes it easy to have both.
This router took fi rst place while running
in 802.11n-only mode and second place
while running in mixed 802.11b/g/n mode.
(See page 70 for benchmark details.) And
its Storage Link feature enables you to
plug in any USB storage device to add
NAS functionality—the only router in this
roundup to offer such a feature.
Linksys’s installation wizard prompts
you to change the router’s password, and
it encourages you to change its SSID and
to set up Wi-Fi security, but it doesn’t
push the issue or warn networking green
peas of the consequences of not setting
up security. The fi rmware-based help fi les
were among the most comprehensive of
any of the routers we reviewed, but inex-
perienced users will likely become lost if
they rely on them to confi gure some of
the router’s more advanced features.
Linksys supports not only WPA2
Personal security, but also WPA
Enterprise, WPA2 Enterprise, and RADIUS
(Remote Authentication Dial-In User
Service) security. This is overkill, sincemost people will never go beyond WPA2
Personal, and if it’s at all responsible for
this router’s steep street price of $195, it’s
not worth it. The presence of a four-port
Gigabit Ethernet switch inside its shell
certainly doesn’t explain the price tag,
because the far cheaper D-Link, Netgear,
and Buffalo routers are
all equipped with Gigabit
switches.
Setting up the router
to function as a NAS box
is as easy as plugging
a drive into the router’s
USB port and confi gur-
ing access. You can
format a blank disk (but
only as FAT32), create
partitions, and establish
share permissions so
that other network users
can access the attached
storage. The router has
a built-in media server,
too, enabling it to stream
music, video, and digital
photos from the attached
storage to media adapt-
ers compatible with
Universal Plug and Play.
This is great for stream-ing music you’ve purchased or ripped from
CD, but it won’t be of much use if you
have a music-subscription service, such
as Rhapsody, which requires you to use
its player.
You can also set up the router and
its attached storage to function as an
ftp server, granting access to individual
folders, selected partitions, or the entire
disk. Unlike Asus’s innovative WL-700gE
802.11g router (reviewed February 2007),
however, the Linksys will not function as
an independent BitTorrent client.
The WRT350N delivered very good
speed at range, beating even the mighty
D-Link DIR-655 when operating in mixed
mode with the client 120 feet from the
router. We thought this range could be
attributed to the Linksys’s odd fly-swatter
antenna, but the DIR-655 surpassed
it in terms of long-range speed when
both routers were running in 802.11n-
only mode.
The WRT350N’s Storage Link feature
is cool, but we’re not sure those factors
justify this router’s premium price tag.Linksys’s WRT350N should be bulletproof, since it
includes support for WPA Enterprise, WPA2 Enterprise,
and RADIUS security.Plug a drive into the USB port on the back of Linksys’s WRT350N and you can add
NAS functionality.9
LINKSYS WRT350N
$195, http://www.linksys.comLINKSYS
WRT350N
The champagne of 802.11n routers
68 MAXIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2007