Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 5 GHz router review, is it worth it?

The Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 (EA8100) router released in 2020. It is powered by MediaTek MT7621AT @ 880 MHz chipset, 256 MB of RAM and 128 MB of flash. The AC2600 router is compatible with IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac standards, and the maximum speed that you can get with EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 is 800 + 1733 Mbps. The router has 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps WAN and 4 x 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN ports.

The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 is a popular router that offers an exceptional networking experience with its advanced features and cutting-edge technology. This router features USB connectors that provide additional functionality and expand the capabilities of your network. Linksys is often recognized for offering products that provide good value for the price.

Table of contents:

• Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 specifications
• Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 pictures

Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 (EA8100) specifications

Body

If you plan to move or travel frequently and need to take your router with you, the dimensions become important for portability. Smaller and more compact routers are generally easier to transport, while larger routers with external antennas or multiple ports may be bulkier and less convenient to carry. The weight of router is not typically a critical factor for most home or office setups.

System

The MediaTek MT7621AT @ 880 MHz CPU provides processing power to handle various tasks and services within the EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router. The router's memory (256 MB) cannot be expanded. When choosing a router, it is important to consider both the flash memory and RAM specifications. The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 has 128 MB of flash. A larger flash memory allows for more space to store configuration backups. It enables you to save multiple versions of your router's configuration settings, which can be useful for restoring previous configurations or reverting changes if needed.

Within the EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router's interface, look for a section related to firmware or system settings. The exact location and wording may vary depending on the router's make and model. The Linksys packages the EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router with 12 V / 2.5 A PSU. A good PSU is an essential component of a computer or electronic device that converts electrical power from an outlet into the appropriate voltage and current required to power the internal components of the device.

Network

The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router supports multiple networking standards to ensure compatibility with various devices and systems. The IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses, represented as four sets of numbers separated by periods (e.g. 192.168.0.1). The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router also supports IPv6 protocol, allowing you to utilize the latest version of the Internet Protocol. The LAN ports are physical connectors on a EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router that allow you to connect devices to your local network using Ethernet cables.

Gigabit Ethernet ports of the EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router allow for faster communication between devices within your local network. WAN ports are the entry point to your local network, making them a potential target for unauthorized access or attacks. It's important to secure your WAN connection by using strong passwords, enabling encryption protocols, and keeping the router's firmware up to date to mitigate security risks. The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router supports Gigabit WAN. Having a Gigabit WAN port is beneficial when your internet service plan supports high-speed connectivity, as it ensures that your router's WAN connection can handle the maximum speed provided by your ISP.

Wireless

The 4 x 2 dBi, fixed antennas of EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 influence the quality and stability of the Wi-Fi signal. A properly positioned and well-designed antenna can minimize interference and signal degradation, leading to a more reliable and stable connection. The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 supports the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. It is one of the most common frequency bands used for Wi-Fi networks.

This router is 5 GHz capable. The 5GHz band provides faster data transfer speeds compared to the 2.4GHz band. This is primarily because the 5GHz band has more available channels and less interference from other devices like microwaves or cordless phones. The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 Wi-Fi router supports multiple spatial streams, typically up to 4 streams. This allows for higher data throughput and improved performance, especially when multiple devices are connected to the router simultaneously.

The AC2600 is a performance indicator that represents the router's theoretical maximum speed. The theoretical maximum speed (800 + 1733 Mbps) represents the highest data transfer rate that the router is capable of achieving under ideal conditions. The TX power of EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 can be adjusted by the user or set automatically by the router firmware. Higher TX power values indicate stronger signal transmission, which can result in a larger coverage area.

The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router offers several security protocols: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPS. The WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) was the first security protocol for Wi-Fi networks but is now considered weak and easily compromised. It uses a static encryption key and has known vulnerabilities, so it is no longer recommended for securing Wi-Fi networks. The WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) was introduced as an improvement over WEP and provides stronger security. If WPA3 is not available, WPA2-Personal with AES encryption is still considered secure.

The EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router offers WPS. The WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) provides a simplified and convenient method for connecting devices to a Wi-Fi network. Instead of manually entering the Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password, users can use the WPS feature to establish a connection with the push of a button or by entering a PIN. The Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router is capable of creating a guest network. Guests connected to the guest network usually have limited access to network settings and configurations. They are typically restricted from accessing devices connected to the primary network, such as printers, network-attached storage (NAS), or other shared resources.

Connectivity

USB ports can offer additional functionality depending on the router's capabilities. The USB 2 port has a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 480 megabits per second (Mbps), which is equivalent to 60 megabytes per second (MB/s). The USB 3 ports provide a fast interface for external storage with data transfer rates of up to 4.8 Gbps. By connecting a USB printer to the EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 router, you can make it accessible to all devices on your network. This eliminates the need for individual printer connections and allows multiple devices to use the printer simultaneously. The USB file server functionality of this router allows you to connect external storage devices, such as USB flash drives or hard drives to your network. This enables easy file sharing and access among devices connected to the network.

Administration

The default IP address of this router is 192.168.1.1. Explore the router's configuration interface to access more advanced settings such as port forwarding, DHCP settings, parental controls, firewall settings, and QoS (Quality of Service) settings. Regularly changing the password is a good security practice to protect your network and devices from unauthorized access. It is also recommended to use strong, unique passwords for other devices and online accounts connected to your network for enhanced security. By changing the default password, you improve the security of your router and reduce the risk of unauthorized individuals gaining control over your network. It helps prevent unauthorized access to your router's settings, network configurations, and sensitive information.

The specifications above are based on the official data published by the manufacturer, but we also take user reviews into consideration. If you found an error or something lacking in the specifications above for the Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5, then don’t hesite and signal the problem to us.

Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 5 (EA8100) pictures

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