Linksys Rangeplus Wireless Router (WRT110)
Constrained Wireless for Strained Budgets
Seventy bucks is a great price for a router that, although not true draft-n, can connect to wireless-n clients (not just its own brand but others as well) and has a decent range. But to drive the price down that far, the Linksys RangePlus Wireless Router (WRT110) made some sacrifices: Its four switched Ethernet ports are only 10/100, not Gigabit, and you won’t find a USB port for attaching printers or hard drives.
The device retains most of the advanced features Linksys usually puts into home routers, such as VPN pass-through, DHCP, NAT, an SPI firewall, and the ability to open ports for specific TCP/IP applications. Internet access control is limited, though, and the router relies on the Linksys method of configuring QpS rules rather than WISH (Wireless Intelligent Stream Handling) or StreamEngine. Still, instructions in the user guide ease the process of enabling traffic prioritization.
Overall performance—116 megabits per second at 20 feet (the optimal wireless range)—is darn slow compared with the throughput of draft-n routers but faster than wireless-g, and the range is good: At 80 feet the router still manages 43 Mbps.
If you’re really strapped for cash and can get by with a minimal feature set for home networking, the Linksys WRT110N will work. But for not a lot more you can buy the Linksys Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Router (WRT160N), a true draft-n router that has better throughput and more features.—Oliver kist