Linksys EA4500 Dual-Band N900 Router with Gigabit and USB

Excellent - simple and now even more powerful with the cloud and apps!
Before you read this, I must declare that I haven't actually paid for my EA4500. I was given one at an event for free. However, I can honestly say that having used it I would not hesitate to buy one and wish I'd purchased one over the NETGEAR N600 DGND3700 Wireless-N Dual Band Modem Router + 4-port switch router/modem that I got instead, which is pretty ugly and has given me various problems with the current (as at June 2012) firmware - like Wi-Fi security problems etc. [To be fair, if you don't mind the hassle of emailing back-and-fro, you may be given access to a beta firmware that fixes a lot of the issues].

Anyway, unlike my Netgear, this is a router only. It does mean keeping a separate modem, but that suits me as I'm using a Billion 7402nx that has a higher sync rate with my ADSL service than the Netgear (or any other modem I've used) and has a 3G fall back option. Connected to the EA4500, I was...
Excellent
Currently have a Billion 7800N on my ADSL2+ line and whilst its excellent, decided to go for a separate DSL modem & dedicated router combination for more control. Went for the Draytek 120 (v2) as the modem but for the router was torn between Netgear WNDR4500 (N900) and the Linksys EA4500 as they both get very good reviews on Amazon USA. In the end plumped for the Linksys due to its looks and have to say i don't regret it for one minute.

Setting up the router is easy peasy. You simply run the included connect software and follow the simple steps or you can do what i do and connect to the router using 192.168.1.1 (username: admin pw: admin) and setup via that way. I installed the Cisco Connect Express app on my iphone and this allows me to view the status of my router, check for fw updates etc....highly recommended if you've got an iphone.

Range & wireless throughput on the router is excellent. As well as getting full 5 bars signal on every pc on our home, we even...
Smart, if not simple...
Two quick warnings: first, be aware that this is a router and not a modem-router so if you want to use it with a standard ADSL broadband connection you'll need a separate ADSL Modem too - I'm using a Netgear DM111P Ethernet Modem on a BT Internet connection. Secondly, the 'easy-setup' installer can actually make setup more difficult, it's a bit confusing and if you deviate from the default settings it can actually fail to complete the process, getting you nowhere.

The main confusion is that there are two firmware versions available for the EA4500, one called 'Cisco Connect' which ships with the router and works in the traditional way - you to log into the router via a built-in webpage to change settings. The other, more recent, firmware is called 'Linksys Smart WiFi' and this also allows access to the router via the internet which enables special iPhone app's to add extra features or to change the...

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