In our home we have a lot of devices that use our WIFI network and when I say a lot I mean 3 games consoles, 1 PC, 1 laptop, 1 netbook, 2 phones, a printer, a sky box, a 3D TV and Blu ray player. We have found in the past that although our internet speed is good, we have problems with connectivity when we are both trying to do things, for example if I am writing my blog and on Facebook at the same time (what can I say I'm a woman I can multitask) and Matthew wants to play COD online with his mates he often finds that he is kicked out of the games due to lost connection - this often ends up with him swearing lots especially if hes on the winning side and about to gain precious points (or so I have gathered). It has been known before now for everything to be turned off except for the console so that he can play in peace. But this is really not practical and is especially boring for myself. We have always blamed our internet for this problem but it was only recently when we were told that it was most likely our router that we admitted we may have a problem. This is because most standard routers like the ones provided by ISPs don't support media streaming and are unable to cope when more than one person is online at the same time.
In the box you will find everything you need, a quick start guide, a CD with the Cisco Connect software on it, a Ethernet cable, a telephone cable, a ADSL microfilter and of course the X3000 router and power adapter.
The main thing i can say about this router that makes me love it is that it looks really fab and is quite small and stylish so fits in well with my home, it doesn't stand out too much and isn't ugly.
One of the key features to the router is that it is really quick to install, there are literally 3 steps for you to set up your wireless network and it can be done on either on a Windows or Mac computer. Of course I left this Matthew (as I told you earlier I am completely useless). We did have problems with out ISP when we switched to the X3000 Linksys router, but this was to do with sky and not the router itself. We needed our password and user name but Sky wouldnt give us this, luckily Matthew would not be defeated and found a website that can generate the details we needed. Once we did this it was so fast and simple we wondered what all the fuss was about, honestly even without the boffin being here I reckon i would have got it sussed! oh and if anyone should want the website just email me and I will happily steer you in the right direction.
The router has a built-in DSL modem this means that it directly connects you to the internet wirelessly - there is no separate DSL modem required. You can connect other wireless devices such as printers with a transfer rate of up to 300 Mbps. Making it really quick at transferring data. The router can be used on both DSL (BT) or cable (Virgin) phone lines.
One of the best features of the router allows you to have wifi anywhere in your home. This is because it uses MIMO antenna technology which provides broad coverage. This has definitely made a massive difference to us as before we could never get WIFI upstairs and now we can even with the router in the exact same place as before. Excellent for me if I want to watch TV (you know I'm a soap and I'm a Celeb addict and if you didn't you should) upstairs and take the netbook with me, this also means Matthew can hog the TV downstairs all he wants for playing COD.
The router has four Gigabit Ethernet ports for quick file sharing and is 10x faster than standard Ethernet, between other Gigabit-enabled devices like computers, hard drives, and servers.
The router has a built-in StorageLink port and UPnP media server, now this little bit of technology is fab as it lets you add storage devices to your network to share files wirelessly throughout your home. The built-in UPnP AV media server enables media streaming to your Xbox 360, PS3, or other UPnP compatible devices. Which again is great for us as it means we can watch movies from any of the devices in our house without having to connect the hard drive directly to them. It save a lot of time and storage space as everything is one place.
The router comes supplied with software called Cisco Connect. It works with both Mac and Windows computers and helps you customize settings or quickly add new devices to your network. You can also set up security features too. The X3000 has excellent WPA2 security. On set up the router automatically generates its own security code, so is totally unique to your network. The X3000 also has a guest network which can have up to 10 users, you can change the password at anytime for the guest network so that people cant high jack your WIFI without your knowledge. You can also set up parental controls so as to stop the kids from going on sites they shouldn't or that you don't want them to see. At the minute my 3 boys are too young to use the computer on their own but there will come a time when they are big enough and this will be perfect.
The X3000 is currently priced at £119.99 and can be bought in PC World, Dixons and other good retailers.
Matthew gives the router a rating of 4.5/5. He says it was really easy to set up and is now really pleased that he is no longer getting kicked out of his games due to lost connection - accidently killing a team member and being booted is a different matter altogether though.
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