Cisco-Linksys E2000 Advanced Wireless-N Router

This is my first experience with wireless anything. I did a ton of research online before finally deciding on this particular model. I did a lot of fretting and worrying about my decision and a lot of it was not necessary.I have a hard-wired desk top HP Media Computer, a Vonage phone, and use DSL from the local phone company. I purchased a Toshiba Satellite A665 laptop and thus needed to network on a small scale. Also, looking to purchase a Roku box for Netflix soon.I have used this router about 4+ months now. For someone completely ignorant about wireless it took me about 20 minutes to actually set it up from box to working. I admit to calling the Cisco-Linskys support line during setup with one dumb question. They were very helpful, didn't make me feel stupid, and even helped me finish my installation. I should have been able to do it alone. I was one connection from completion in the setup when I had a brain [...], uh, freeze, but it was probably brought on by fear and stupidity. I have contacted their support once since then, via online chat, with another very elemental question about wireless technology; again they were more than helpful. Their support certainly outshines (and out-communicates, if you get my drift) oh, I don't know, lets say...Hewlett Packard, Vonage, or Toshiba.In the time I have had the router I have had to reset it twice - this is a HUGE improvement over my experience with just my cable modum and Vonage box. Resetting it is easy, just unplug three cords, replug three cords, and your back in business in about three minutes tops. I believe most, if not all, of that problem is my DSL company since it happened a lot more before I went wireless.I have seldom lost my internet connection at the laptop computer level, tho it has happened a few times. I just clicked on the 'connect' link on the computer, reconnected with the router, and the internet was back up and working.I routinely use both computers fairly close to the router itself, but have tried my laptop in all other rooms of my house, which is a one-story and not too big (about 1200 sq, ft.) Nothing in speed or connection suffered. Have not taken the laptop outside my home into the yard yet.If there is a down-side to this router, it is that every once in awhile the video on an online video will freeze up while the audio continues on; the video portion will catch up later. I blame this on the router, but, I could be wrong, it could be my computer or actually any one of the other elements involved.I have used a Linksys hard-wired router in the past for Vonage router and I was not happy with the company or the device at all.But, having no wireless comparison experiences, and keeping in mind this is from a wireless newbie and a technical dunce, I can say the setup with this router was a piece a cake, much easier than what I had been reading, and the router itself has worked great and performed better than I hoped for so far. For ease of use and performance I would highly recommend the Cisco-Linksys E2000 Advanced Wireless-N Router.

Bought this 4 months back, worked right out the box, no hassles, glitches, rebooting, overheating or need for calling customer service. ((whew)) Has since worked smooth with my Apple Mac laptop & with friends Windows pc, very fast upload & download transmission speeds with normal hi-speed Comcast internet service. Cisco makes a excellent product and I recommend this router highly, for home or small business use.One thing to watch for as others mentioned previously, when you are doing the initial set up watch out for the "Guest access" prefs- stupidly, it will default to allowing others in (no wep password required) , rather than the other way around. This is a poor choice in the code writing and needs to be corrected asap for obvious safety reasons.A tech pro pal of mine said with routers any problems are nearly always due to improper set up from the user and/or externally related- ie, router placed in a closed off/isolated area such as in an all wood or synthetic entertainment system (with or without doors the signal is still slightly blocked), in room with solid walls or apt/s built from concrete construction, even heavy furniture and drapery, etc- all of which slow and block wireless signal transmission) Just as your cell phone has 'dead zones' so will your wireless signal. Can't blame the router! (unless it's a rare mechanical bonafide dud, in which case return it for an exchange)

If you have used Linksys routers in the past, this one is about par for the course. It's very easy to use and easy to set up. Wireless performance is good. The parental controls are a joke and a waste of time - they are not automated with a service that knows what sites are good and bad - it's just manual. Also, if you use the Web Interface to change the defaults of the router config - like SSID, etc., then the fat client on the desktop no longer works. Not a big deal for me, as I use Blue Coat K9 and or McAfee for parental controls - but if you are a very technical user who likes to customize AND want P controls - this may not be for you.Beginners and non techies should really like the ease of use and have no problems getting up and running in a few minutes. The price is so cheap, that this is almost a commodity.I only gave it 4 stars because they should not even be advertising that it has parental controls - it essentially does not.I also gave their tech support very low scores - but I have not bothered to contact LinkSys support in years. Last time I did, the tech told me I needed to install NetBEUI on my computer to fix the issue, and then got angry when I explained that NetBEUI has nothing to do with an IP router.For reliability, LinkSys has always been pretty good. I have had 4 or 5 LinkSys routers, and only one of them died - and that was after about 4 years of using it - by which time I needed to upgrade to the latest wireless spec, anyway.