当前位置： >
Linksys EA8500-AH点评
综合评分：
用来做翻~墙路由器，So Easy！
已发表1条点评
注册时间：
购买渠道： 京东商城
产品外观：5.0
系统设置：4.0
上网速度：5.0
信号强度：5.0
稳定性：5.0
该点评已帮助人
最满意：linksys产品非常棒，做工稳定性没的说，大牌的东西确实不错，光是插头就配了好几种，散热可以，运行稳定！
最不满意：京东做活动有礼品送，结果到我这就送完了。。。。
信号强度：整层楼信号都是棒棒哒！领导表示很满意！
上网速度：超级快
：路由器运行比较稳定，发热量控制的也比较好
设置易用性：wifi手动设置后有不兼容情况
说得好，有帮助
一起分享体验
综合评分 0
产品外观：
0分 请赏分
系统设置：
0分 请赏分
上网速度：
0分 请赏分
信号强度：
0分 请赏分
0分 请赏分
快速点评不得少于10个字哦，当前已输入0字
看不清？换一张
综合评分 0
产品外观：
0分 请赏分
系统设置：
0分 请赏分
上网速度：
0分 请赏分
信号强度：
0分 请赏分
0分 请赏分
最多可以输入30个字
上传图片：
最多上传10张图片，您还可以上传10张
设置易用性:
高级点评不得少于50个字哦，当前已输入0.0字
购买情况：
购买价格：
购买渠道：
1号店 京东商城 苏宁易购 国美电器 亚马逊 新蛋网 其它
热门城市：
甘肃省兰州
H湖南省长沙
湖北省武汉
海南省海口
河南省郑州
河北省石家庄保定邯郸邢台唐山
黑龙江哈尔滨大庆
J江西省南昌赣州
江苏省南京苏州无锡
吉林省长春
L辽宁省沈阳大连
N内蒙古呼和浩特
S上海市上海
四川省成都
陕西省西安
山东省 济南青岛烟台
山西省太原
T天津市天津
X新疆乌鲁木齐
Y云南省昆明
Z浙江省杭州宁波温州
加载中，请稍候...
Linksys热门无线路由器排行无线狂飙3倍速 Linksys EA8500 MU-MIMO黑科技首测_网易数码
无线狂飙3倍速 Linksys EA8500 MU-MIMO黑科技首测（全文）
用微信扫码二维码
分享至好友和朋友圈
（原标题：无线狂飙3倍速 Linksys EA8500 MU-MIMO黑科技首测）
没有MU-MIMO何以Wave2？
早在2015年年初，关于802.11ac Wave2路由器的各种测试就已经满天飞。在当时，整个业界都认同802.11ac Wave2无线路由器产品除了有更多天线更大吞吐量以外，还需要支持MU-MIMO以大幅增加WiFi效率，适应家庭甚至公共空间需求。
可惜的是，在2015年年初宣称自己是802.11ac Wave2的家用路由器产品，至今都未能提供对MU-MIMO的支持。官方当时的说法是会在未来提供固件更新打开MU-MIMO。可惜一年过去了，当时说好的MU-MIMO固件至今不见踪影，无线路由器厂商纷纷在包装和官网上去掉了MU-MIMO。究其原因，就在于初代802.11ac Wave2无线路由器，无论是Netgear R7500v1还是AC87U在5GHz频段上都采用了宽腾达（Quantenna）方案，宽腾达在当时宣称802.11ac wave2上市不久就能拿出新固件释放封印的MU-MIMO，可结果如你所见，直到2015年12月宽腾达都无法兑现承诺。
尽管大家都有Q，但宽腾达（Quantenna）和高通（Qualcomm）、以及高通创锐讯（Qualcomm Atheros）没有一丁点关系，Netgear R7500尽管使用了高通的IPQ8064，却阴差阳错的选择了宽腾达的5GHz 11ac方案，最终首款启用MU-MIMO功能路由器头衔被命途多舛的Linksys EA8500半路夺走，Linksys EA8500无线路由器也顺理成章的成为本文的主角。
MU-MIMO是什么鬼？为什么那么重要？
所谓MU-MIMO实际上是Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output（多用户多重输入输出）的缩写。在MU-MIMO路由器问世以前，我们使用的一根以上天线的路由器都基于SU-MIMO技术，这里的SU自然也就是单用户的意思。在MU-MIMO技术诞生以前，WiFi同一时间只能服务一个客户端，之所以你家里十多个WiFi设备都能上网，不过是路由器根据时间轮流服务不同设备而已。
WiFi联盟的路线图，802.11ac标准分成了两个阶段，第一个阶段目标是迅速推出产品，让无线网络的速度尽快达到1Gbps的速率，而信号发送方式依然沿用了老旧802.11n的模式：无线路由器/接入点向360度范围内的所有方向发送信号，一次只能向一个客户端沟通来做传输，当一个客户端服务完之后，才会服务下一个，数据传输是&轮流&进行。由于802.11ac有高达80MHz的频宽，在接入设备少的时候，问题还不大，但当接入的设备增加到数十、上百个，问题就来了，80MHz的频宽和传输总量被大量设备分割，大部分设备都在等待和路由器通讯，互相争抢资源，结果是大家都慢得一塌糊涂。
MU-MIMO则是一种让你的路由器同时与多个设备沟通的技术，它是802.11ac标准第二阶段（Wave2）的里程碑，这种进步甚至比802.11b/g到802.11n，再到802.11ac来得还要大，因为过去WiFi的进步提升的不过是速度，而MU-MIMO才是真正改善了网络资源利用率。
使用了MU-MIMO技术的802.11ac Wave2路由器的信号并非360度全向发射，实际上，你可以把MU-MIMO路由的信号看作是&三道射线&，高通利用波束成型（Beamforming）和多用户分集技术，将信号在时域、频域、空域三个维度上分成三部分，看起来就像是同时发出三个不同的信号，射向三台不同的设备，这样，MU-MIMO路由就能同时&1 vs 3&。由于三个信号互不干扰，因此每台设备得到的资源是相等的，而且数据传输能同时进行，从路由器角度衡量，数据传输速率提高了2.5～3倍。
假设你家里有3台手机，3台手机中网络最快的那台与WiFi的连接速度433Mbps，在传统SU-MIMO路由器下，你网络最大吞吐量不会超过433Mpbs，因为同一时间路由器只能服务一个客户端。而在MU-MIMO系统中，整个网络的吞吐量应该是3台手机之和，而非433Mbps。这样在相同频段、带宽和协议下，运用MU-MIMO技术的WiFi系统在总带宽和吞吐量上数倍于传统SU-MIMO路由器，频谱效率自然不可同日而语。关于MU-MIMO的深度技术解析可以点此细读我们2014年文章。搭载高通全家桶 Linksys EA8500开包上手
作为首个MU-MIMO Enable路由器，Linksys EA8500采用了CISCO时代留下的Smart WiFi整体外观。不同以往的是，Linksys EA8500拥有4根天线，组成了4X4空间流架构。在内部设计方面，Linksys使用了高通IPQ8064 SoC，5GHz部分用高通创锐讯QCA9980实现&&根正苗红的高通全家桶也许才是实现MU-MIMO的关键？
在接口方面，Linksys EA8500拥有4个千兆（LAN）局域网接口、1个千兆广域网（WAN）接口、1个USB 3.0接口以及1个USB 2.0+eSATA接口。这样的接口配备足以看出EA8500不仅能轻松搞定无线、有线网络的共享和交换，在打造简单NAS方面也能轻易胜任。
Linksys EA8500属于Linksys SmartWiFi产品线，所以自然不会像WRT1900AC那样全面开源。在固件设计方面，Linksys EA8500也更多的从易用性和稳定性上考虑，除了网络共享、文件共享之外并没有太多其他的功能。我们拿到的EA8500固件版本为1.12，首次运行后自动更新到了1.1.4.168206。
尽管Linksys EA8500是首款MU-MIMO Enable路由器，但在路由器固件中我们没有找到任何关于MU-MIMO的设置和开关，由此不难看出MU-MIMO需要通过底层硬件实现，而不仅仅是固件更新。
Linksys EA8500使用的是高通IPQ8064 SoC，这个骁龙800的亲戚至今依然是家庭路由器领域的性能之王，因此EA8500无论是管理界面的响应速度、文件共享速度和运行可靠性都让人满意。当然，我们更在乎的是MU-MIMO是不是真的像传说中那样有数倍于前辈的性能提升。
无线狂飙三倍速 MU-MIMO初试牛刀
进入2015年，家用路由器就一路在无线速度上狂飙。过去AC1750就已经是高端，如今旗舰已经在AC5300规格上开打。另一方面，各种802.11ac客户端的速度却进展缓慢。你能买到的大部分USB无线网卡都只有AC1200，手机大多是用单天线止步于433Mbps，高端平板使用多天线MIMO，也不过866Mbps。还记得我们上文说的吗？在传统SU-MIMO下无论你路由器多快，接入的设备有多少，最终吞吐量都不会超过网络中最快的那个设备。换句话说，在日常情况下没有MU-MIMO功能的顶级路由器无线部分吞吐量几乎没有可能超过1000Mpbs。
那同样的情况，换成MU-MIMO会怎么样？我们借助Linksys EA8500、Netgear R7000、2个小米Note手机、1个华硕Zenphone Selfie手机、1个微信Gaming GT72电竞笔记本搭建了MU-MIMO测试环境。
值得一提的是，MU-MIMO需要客户端与路由器端同时支持才能启用，我们小米Note、华硕ZenPhone Selfie都支持MU-MIMO。事实上新一代搭载高通SoC的手机大部分支持MU-MIMO。事实上新一代搭载高通SoC的手机大部分支持MU-MIMO
在流量生成端，我们采用了微星Gaming GT72笔记本，这款笔记本内置了Killer e2200千兆有线网卡，我用通过此网卡和一条2米AMP的6类非屏蔽网线与EA8500路由器连接。其余三台手机通过WiFi与EA8500路由器连接。在路由器设置方面，我们将5GHz频段的首选频段设置为149，协议为802.11ac Only，带宽80MHz。
整个测试使用开源的iPerf来生成、测量网络流量，最初由美国国家应用网络研究实验室（NLANR）设计，随后由美国劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室改进。为了精确测量结果，我们选择手机端作为服务器发送端（iperf -s)，电脑端作为客户端接收（iperf -s）在流量发送端使用的是iperf 2.0.2 apk，流量接收端使用的是已经编译过的32bit x86 windows iperf 2.0.2-5。
iperf是一个完全命令行方式运行的基准测试软件，我们在微星Gaming GT72笔记本上分别建立了3个独立的进程用于接收流量，每个进程采用了粗端口以外其他一致的命令行：
iperf -c 【IP】 -i3 -t3600 -b350M -p【PORT】
在这个命令中-c代表是iperf的流量接收端（Client），-i是时间间隔，此处是3秒。-t为测试时长，方便起见设置为3600秒。-b为目标带宽，我们使用千兆有线网络与路由器连接，每个进程350M带宽，总带宽为950Mbps。
在手机端，我们使用的命令行如下：
iperf -s -i1 -w3M -p【PORT】
其中-s代表手机为服务器端（Server），-i1为每秒显示一次结果，-w3M为指定TCP窗口大小为3M（默认为8KB）。
我们首先用1台Zenphone Selfie进行测试，在测试中Zenphone Selfie吞吐量稳定在了315Mbps左右。随后我们加入小米Note手机一台，此时Zenphone Selfie吞吐量为315Mbps，小米Note吞吐量为355Mbps，由此可见无线总吞吐量为315Mbps+355Mpbs=670Mps。
随后我们将三台手机同时打开，同时运行iperf，三台手机吞吐量分别为289Mbps、314Mbps、326Mbps，这样EA8500所实现的无线总吞吐量为929Mbps！这样的速度已经非常接近千兆有线网络连接的极限，由于EA8500并没有提供万兆接口或者端口聚合功能，所以我们未能进行更高带宽的测试。
MU-MIMO的总吞吐量为929Mbps，那传统的SU-MIMO测试结果又会如何？我们找来了Netgear R7000路由器在同样的环境下进行测试。由于固件不同，Netgear R7000路由器无法指定带宽，所以5GHz无线网络频段设置为149，带宽设置为1300M。在R7000进行测试时我们关闭包括EA8500在内的其他无线设备。
首先让Zenphone Selfie上场，在单个设备下Zenphone Selfite的吞吐量达到了344Mbps！随后我们加入了小米Note，此时无论是小米Note还是Zenphone Selfie的传输率都被腰斩，小米Note传输率为158Mbps，Zenphone Selfie为153Mbps，两者吞吐量加一起也只有311Mbps。随着第三个测试设备加入，每个设备的带宽进一步下降，两个小米Note手机分别为90Mpbs、93Mbps，Zenphone Selfie为96Mbps，这意味着R7000无线网络的总吞吐量只有279Mbps！SU-MIMO系统和MU-MIMO系统吞吐量在我们测试中相差了3.3倍！
还记得本文刚开始我们说的么？SU-MIMO系统最大带宽基本与最高速度的设备一致，而MU-MIMO系统的带宽则为各设备之和。现在看来理论和实际测试结果基本吻合。
结语：千万别买不带MU-MIMO的802.11ac Wave2路由器
每次无线路由器的更新换代，都带来无线性能的狂飙。从802.11b到如今的802.11ac，无线网络带宽已经不可同日而语。随着频谱资源的吃紧，802.11ac选择了新的进化路径&&MU-MIMO。在我们的初步测试中，MU-MIMO以3倍的实际带宽彻底碾压了传统SU-MIMO旗舰路由器。
MU-MIMO并不需要路由器加装额外的芯片，带来的提升极其显著，因此我们强烈建议大家如果要升级到802.11ac wave路由器，千万别买不带MU-MIMO的产品，因为不管你是AC5300还是AC1000000，都无法在没有MU-MIMO的加持下获得更多的无线网络带宽。
本文来源：爱活网
作者：Dennis
责任编辑：王晓易_NE0011
用微信扫码二维码
分享至好友和朋友圈
加载更多新闻
热门产品:　　　
:　　　　　　　　
:　　　　　　　　　
热门影院：
阅读下一篇
用微信扫描二维码
分享至好友和朋友圈Linksys AC1200 Wi-Fi Wireless Dual-Band+ Router，今天这款Linksys EA6100无线路由器，支持2.4GHz和5GHz双频，带宽方面，2.4G下为300M，5G下可提供867M，配备有4个100M网络接口，1个USB2.0接口。型号中的“A”代表“App-Enabled”，即支持手机APP应用的含义。使用思科连接云门户网站或思科连接云的移动应用程序，用户可通过Android和iOS设备对路由器和互联网进行管理。该路由器还支持第三方移动应用程序，用户只需在路由器配置中进行添加即可。
目前这款 ，美亚报价：$43.99，发货重量1.5磅，到手约330元。淘宝价格在800元以上，海淘性价比突出！
本文链接：
上一篇： &
下一篇： &
您可能还喜欢
海淘热门品牌
24小时热门文章LINKSYS EA8500
LINKSYS EA8500
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/FirstScreen >>> -->
本地服务：
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/ParamPerformance >>> -->
产品类型：
家庭路由器
频率范围：
双频（2.4GHz，5GHz）
最高传输速率：
网络接口：
1个10/100/1000Mbps WAN口，4个10/100/1000Mbps LAN口
天线数量：
天线增益：
浏览了该产品的用户还关注：
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/ExtraPriceOld >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/RelDocV31 >>> -->
正所谓“三十年河东，三十年河西”！如果说2014年是智能路由器全面爆发的一年，那么2015年则可称为传统无线路由器再度崛起的一年。这一年，传统无线路由器厂商不再与智能路...
随着人们将越来越多的无线设备带到家庭和办公场所，现有的以802.11n为主的无线网络性能备受考验，由此引发人们开始探求如何在拥堵的网络环境里能够获得更好的无线体验，更...
随着人们将越来越多的无线设备带到家庭和办公场所，现有的以802.11n为主的无线网络性能备受考验，由此引发人们开始探求如何在拥堵的网络环境里能够获得更好的无线体验，更...
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/EvaPic >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Review/ReviewDetail >>> -->
您对该产品的感受，分享更多内容可选择高级点评
您的点评很用心，去写
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/AskBbs/AskBbs >>> -->
小提示：可以选择产品进行切换哦
NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S R7800（AC2600）
正在进行PK
NETGEAR R8500
正在进行PK
D-Link DIR-890L
正在进行PK
与其他产品进行PK：
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/RelPros >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/Drive >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/PossibleInterest >>> -->
>> PART:PluginVer3/Rank/Manu >>> -->
>> PART:PluginVer3/Rank/Pro >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/AdZPlusGoods >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/LastProTbl >>> -->
>> PART:DetailVer3/Part/Detail/AboutManu >>> -->
联系电话：800-810-5704
官方网站：
联系地址：北京东城区东长安街一号东方广场东方经贸城东一办公楼十九层
电子邮件：Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream Wi-Fi router review: MU-MIMO works (more or less)
Use commas to separate multiple email addresses
Michael Brown
More like this
Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart Wi-Fi router
TechHive Rating
Next-generation Wi-Fi technologies typically usher in a new generation of top-shelf products. That’s not the case with multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), at least not with the first 802.11ac router to feature it. Linksys is positioning its EA8500 Max-Stream Wi-Fi AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart Wi-Fi router (don’t worry, I’ll just call it the EA8500 from here) one notch below its best offering. As you’ll learn from this review, that’s a wise move on Linksys’s part.MU-MIMO “ready” routers have been on the market for months, but the feature remains dormant in those products because the firmware needed to turn it on is yet to be released. The EA8500 is the first router to use Qualcomm's brand-new QCA9980 chipset, and its MU-MIMO capabilities are enabled right out of the box.Here’s a brief recap of MU-MIMO, if you haven’t heard of the technology: All previous 802.11ac (and 802.11n) routers have been SU-MIMO (single-user MIMO) devices, meaning they can service only one client at a time. When they need to service multiple clients, they divide time into thin slices and talk to each one in a round-robin fashion. Each client’s turn comes fast enough that you won’t to see the impact of this time slicing, unless several of the clients are performing latency-sensitive tasks such as streaming video.If those clients don’t buffer enough information, you could experience hiccups in the video streams. A MU-MIMO router can talk to all its clients without resorting to the round-robin trick. Because the various streams are never interrupted, you shouldn’t see any glitches even if several clients are streaming video. Michael Brown
The Linksys EA8500 is the first router on the market with MU-MIMO capabilities that you can actually use.
As you’ve probably guessed, however, MU-MIMO must be supported by both the router and the client in order for the technology to work. When paired with a SU-MIMO client—as almost every laptop, smartphone, tablet, and streaming device in the world is today—the router must go back to the round-robin technique. Because you can’t buy a product today that has an onboard MU-MIMO Wi-Fi adapter, Linksys provided us with three Dell Inspiron 13 laptops in which they replaced the stock Intel Wi-Fi adapters with Qualcomm MU-MIMO Wi-Fi adapters.How I testedI ran my first sets of benchmarks the way I always do, measuring TCP throughput using JPerf (the Java front-end to IPerf). I used an AVADirect gaming laptop with an integrated Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi adapter at one end, and a home-brew gaming desktop rig with a Broadcom NetXtreme gigabit Ethernet adapter (hardwired to the router) at the other end.To measure the effectiveness of MU-MIMO as implemented in the EA8500, I ran the same tests with the three Dell laptops paired to three other computers, streaming TCP traffic on all three client/server pairs simultaneously. I tested the three Dells the same way using an Asus RT-AC3200U to represent one of the best SU-MIMO alternatives to MU-MIMO: A tri-band router that operates two independent 802.11ac networks on the 5GHz band and a third independent network on the 2.4GHz band.
I evaluate Wi-Fi routers by streaming TCP traffic from a desktop computer to a laptop computer in four locations within my home.
In most cases, I benchmarked performance at four locations: in the same room as the router, separated by 9 in my kitchen, separated from the router by 20 feet and one ins in my home theater, a room-within-a-room design with double-thick insulated walls (and ceiling) that’s 35
and in my home office, which is 65 feet from the router and separated by two insulated interior walls. Multiple user performanceTo determine which technology is best for serving multiple clients simultaneously, I compared the performance of the Linksys EA8500 paired with three MU-MIMO clients to the performance of the Asus RT-AC3200U paired with the same three MU-MIMO clients. For each test, I put one client in the bedroom with the router, the second in the kitchen, and the third in my home office. I paired each of the clients with a separate server and initiated TCP streaming on all three pairs at the same time.By default, the RT-AC3200U broadcasts a single SSID for all three of its networks and automatically assigns each client to the frequency band and channels it thinks will deliver the best performance. You can override this and configure the router to broadcast three distinct SSIDs, so you can make the assignments yourself.As you can see from the chart below, the Linksys router outperformed the Asus by a wide margin with the clients in the kitchen and home office, but it performed about the same with the client closest to the router. And that was only when I disabled the RT-AC3200’s auto-select feature and configured each of the three Dell clients to use the strongest 5GHz channels (153 plus 149).When I re-enabled that feature, the RT-AC3200 assigned the closest client to channels 153 plus 149 on the 5GHz band, the client in the kitchen to channels 36 plus 40 on the 5GHz band, and the client farthest from the router to channels 6 plus 10 on the 2.4GHz band. In this scenario the RT-AC3200 significantly outperformed the EA8500, probably because each client had a network all to itself.MU-MIMO relies in part on beam forming to deliver high throughput to each client, and it breaks down if all the clients are in close proximity. This shouldn’t be an issue in normal use, which is why I placed the three Dell laptops in distinctly separate locations for benchmarking. When all three clients were in the same room, one of the three grabbed the lion’s share of bandwidth, leaving the other two to starve.If you want to see the absolute best wireless performance that a router can deliver, configure a second identical router as a wireless bridge. When configured as a wireless bridge, you can use the router’s gigabit switch to hardwire four clients to get very high-speed connections to your network. Not every router can be configured this way, and not every manufacturer sends a second router for us to test this way.Linksys did send a second EA8500, and it performed very well at close range compared to the Netgear Nighthawk X4 (which Netgear classifies as an AC2350 router), the Asus RT-AC87U and the Linksys E8350 (AC2400 routers), and even the Netgear Nighthawk X6 (an AC3200 model). But the EA8500’s performance was positively anemic at longer range.The easiest way to update a notebook that doesn’t have an onboard 802.11ac adapter is to add a USB adapter. I’ve found the Asus USB-AC56 to be one of the best contenders in that space, so that’s what I used for my benchmarks with the AVADirect laptop. The EA8500's performance was decidedly average on this test. Performance as an 802.11n routerIt’s very likely that your home still has a number of devices that can operate only on the 2.4GHz frequency band, so it’s important to know how any router can perform with those clients. This frequency can also sometimes deliver better range, although it has a tendency to get crowded.The EA8500 supports QAM-256 encoding, so it can support a maximum physical link rate of 800Mbps on 2.4GHz channels—as long as the client also supports it. I only measured 2.4GHz performance with Intel adapters, which do not. The EA8500 performed on par at range (when the client was furthest from the router), but it was in the back of the pack at the two closer locations.It’s equally likely that you’ll need to network legacy clients on a 5GHz 802.11n network. The EA8500’s performance disappointed here, with the notable exception of when the client was in my difficult-to-penetrate home theater. The router finished in first place on this test, although the gaps between first, second, and third place were negligible.USB storage device performanceEvery high-end market on the router is equipped with a USB 3.0 port and at least a USB 2.0 port (the Linksys EA8500 has a USB 2.0/eSATA combo port). This enables you to share a storage device and a printer with all the computers on your network, and it can be a much cheaper alternative to a NAS box.Most people will care more about storage capacity than speed, but in order to remove the bottleneck that a mechanical drive presents, I’ve started using an SSD with a USB 3.0 interface to evaluate this aspect of a router’s performance.The EA8500’s performance on this score is unparalleled by any router I’ve tested. I perform four tests in all: I first move a single 10GB file from the SSD on my desktop computer that’s hardwired to the router to the SSD connected to the router, and then I move a 10GB collection of small files (MP3s, JPEGs, documents, and the like) from the desktop to the portable hard drive. These are write tests, because the files are being written to the SSD attached to the router.I then repeat the process, first moving the single 10GB file back from the portable SSD to the desktop, and then the 10GB collection of files from the portable SSD to the desktop. These are read tests, because the files are being read from the portable SSD and written to the SSD on the desktop. In all four tests, the EA8500 soared over the other four routers I compared it to, in some cases delivering quadruple the performance of the competition. Very impressive.Should you buy a Linksys EA8500?Given that there are no MU-MIMO 802.11ac client adapters (or smartphones or tablets, for that matter) on the market today, the biggest benefit you’ll get from a Linksys EA8500 today is phenomenal performance when sharing a USB hard drive over your network. You also get great performance with multiple clients hardwired to a second EA8500 configured as a wireless bridge.Apart from those two scenarios, you’ll get higher performance from an admittedly more expensive tri-band AC3200-class router, such as the Asus RT-AC3200U or the . Personally, I’ve been very satisfied with the , even though it’s “only” a dual- I’ve been using it in my own home network since it came to market.The latest and greatest isn’t always the best. I’m giving MU-MIMO some time to mature before giving it a "buy" recommendation.
To comment on this article and other TechHive content, visit our
page or our
Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart Wi-Fi router
TechHive Rating
It's too early in the MU-MIMO life cycle to buy a MU-MIMO router, but the EA8500 makes a fabulous host for a NAS drive.
Phenomenal performance with a USB SSD
MU-MIMO support right out of the box (for what that's worth)
Very few MU-MIMO client devices on the market
Not as fast as some (more expensive) AC3200 routers