Review on 📶 Linksys N750 Dual-Band Gigabit Router with USB Ports, Smart Wi-Fi App for Remote Network Control (EA3500) by James Salem

I have had Linksys WRT54GL wireless routers (this is the previous version, dual antenna router) for many years and have used them for many friends. It was a good wireless router, but the number of max NAT rules was always an issue, at least for me. Well, maybe it's time to upgrade to the EA3500/N750 and enjoy the possibilities of 8003.11.n. I bought it and installed it with some problems and it's been up and running for about 2 months. In my experience, if you have a good working Linksys WRT54GL, you should ONLY consider upgrading if: - You need to create more rules than your WRT54GL allows. - You want to enjoy 803.11n speeds at home (803.11n is practically useless for connecting to the internet, ISPs just don't offer such speeds for home users). - IF you don't have any of these needs, don't be too lazy to buy this router, there is nothing better in it. In my experience, I've actually found more cons than pros. Some of these are really worrying: The new EA3500/N750 models no longer offer an integrated remote management option and the ability to change the remote management port. This was a huge benefit for me as I didn't have to open ports (like RDP) but could connect to my home router from work and open the port only for the times I needed it and then open it for hackers disable could not use brute force guessed. For the new EA3500/N750 you need to create an account on this website: Cisco/Linksys Smart Fi-Wi. You cannot connect directly to the router; Instead, you must do so through this website. Why do I need another account? Why is this site also becoming an intermediary between customers and their home routers? Also, Cisco/Linksys now has a login and password to connect to my home router, there's no other way, I've spoken to two tech support techs, so that's it. Do you really know what that means? This means Cisco has a database of usernames and passwords for each Linksys router from users who have needed to set up remote access to their routers. EA3500/N750 has poor parental control settings. In the previous model, you had the ability to restrict 10 internet policies, each of which could be enabled or disabled and applied to different days or hours. You can also edit the computers to which these policies apply, block specific services (protocols) and/or URLs with them. Really fantastic. But with the new EA3500/N750 these possibilities have diminished. First, you can't apply policies to the entire network, only to specific hosts, you can allow or deny Internet access (per computer), and block URLs. So the politicians disappeared, the computers for every policy disappeared; Protocols for politics also disappeared. Pity! So if you have a good working WRT54GL, don't buy the EA3500/N750. Cisco ruined a good product and successfully managed to get the credentials of thousands of home routers. ============================================== = === === =====Update: March 26th. I found a friendly response to my post from a Linksys Support Specialist. Thanks very much! Today I decided to downgrade the firmware of the device hoping to get the same interface as before (using a WRT54GL wireless router) and finally get rid of my account with a Cisco Smart Wi-Fi account. I would be really happy if Cisco didn't store my home router's credentials. If you want to return the interface, then this is your link: [.] (if Revain takes it when I publish my review, you can find it in my comments as well). The process was very simple, download the previous firmware and just update the firmware from the device. In 2 minutes you restore your previous UI and to be honest the upgrade process saved all my settings. I can't deny that I was very lucky. But! Since there are children in the house, the first thing I wanted to do was block a number of websites and restrict their gaming websites to weekends only. I also don't want to block all computers, only some. With the previous WRT54GL it was possible and easy. Well, to my surprise, even with the previous UI, parental controls are so reduced that downgrading doesn't really do anything. Linksys, why has parental controls been significantly reduced? These are home WiFi routers and parents have to turn them on quite often. Let's take a closer look. I've opened the interface for the new router on the screen, as well as the interface for the old router, as I write this update: PARENTAL CONTROLS (access restrictions): WRT54GL (old): - 10 Internet Policy Access - Ability to enable and disable them each of them. You can add or remove PCs for each of these policies for maximum flexibility. Ability to customize every day or specific days for each policy. Ability to set the time for each policy. Ability to block services: DNS, Ping, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, POP3, IMAP, etc. by policy! - Ability to define non-default ports for each policy. - Block website by URL per policy - Block website by keyword per policy. EA3500 (this is a new Linksys device): - 1 list of target devices (you can add or remove). - Time: You can choose the time of day when these computers have access to the Internet or not. - Block specific websites: You can add a list of URLs that you want to block. Well, I think the difference is very obvious, isn't it? ce to help you in your fight to protect your children from all the dangers on the Internet like the router's predecessor (WRT54GL) did, you will be very disappointed. Removing parental controls was a really bad idea. that the downgrade process gave me the ability to directly access the router without this Cisco Smart Wi-Fi website.