Want to improve the quality, speed and coverage of your home Wi-Fi for #WorkFromHome and #HomeBasedLearning? I’ve been using the E9450 WiFi6 EasyMesh Router from Linksys since its launch half a year ago and I’m very happy that it has delivered.
The Linksys E9450 Dual Band WiFi 6 Mesh router to expand Wi-Fi coverage and performance for #WorkFromHome and #HomeBasedLearning, as well as for gaming.
I’ve been using a telco-provided router for years – it has served me well although it could not reach the study, the bedrooms and the garden outside – so Internet access has always been confined to the kitchen, living and dining rooms.
Living in the Digital Age
In this digital age that we are living in, access to the Internet has become a basic necessity of any home – much like water and electricity is indispensable in any facility.
So one of the first things you’ll need to begin #WorkFromHome and #HomeBasedLearning – in this trying time of the COVID-19 pandemic – is a broadband subscription with enough bandwidth to support the data-access needs of the entire household.
Once you’ve subscribed to a broadband subscription from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), you’ll need to set up a robust Local Area Network (LAN) to channel the Internet access to devices around the household – just like you’ll need pipings and electrical wiring to distribute water and electricity to all parts of the home.
The fastest and most reliable LAN is one based on a wired Ethernet network – but most often than not, most apartments have not been wired up and you’ll need a good router to set up a wireless Wi-Fi network instead.
Beyond the reaches of the old router, we had to switch on the mobile data connections on our handphones and hotspot the data to devices (speakers and computers etc) without a mobile data connection.
You can imagine how frustrating and limiting (and expensive) that can be.
And as the number of Internet-lusting devices being used in the household began growing rapidly, connection quality began to deteriorate, with slow speeds and dropped connections occurring more frequently.
Which was why I decided to upgrade the old router with the Linksys E9450 WiFi6 EasyMesh Router.
To expand the coverage of my home Wi-Fi network, I deployed a 2-node (1 parent + 1 child node) mesh network.
This was because a single-node network provided roughly a similar spatial network as my old router, probably because it was a matter of physical topology due to the layout.
The optical network terminal (ONT) for Singtel’s fibre optic network is located at one end of my apartment near the main entrance – instead of the center of the entire apartment – hence the distance between the router (which is connected by wire to the ONT) and the bedrooms tend to render the Wi-Fi signals too weak for connection.
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I have a Network Attached Storage (NAS) connected (by wire) to the E9450 so that devices can upload/download files/photos and stream music/videos wirelessly via the Wi-Fi network. Another reason why I need a good Wi-Fi network with reach and performance.
So with a second E9450 router placed at the far end of the living room, the coverage of the Wi-Fi network was successfully extended to every bedroom – because the second router was located at the center of the entire apartment.
Wi-Fi 6
The E9450 router brings two advanced technologies to the table, Wi-Fi 6 and mesh networking (with its proprietary EasyMesh technology).
Wi-Fi 6 sends and receives multiple streams of data simultaneously and reduces latency, providing up to 4X more capacity compared to Wi-Fi 5 technology.
It can handle the demands of up to 40+ devices, all competing for the same bandwidth.
Congestion is also minimised by eliminating interference from nearby wireless networks to deliver the strongest, clearest WiFi signal, so you won’t have to worry about your neighbor’s WiFi interfering with yours.
The E9450 is backwards-compatible with Wi-Fi 5 devices.
In this case, the two routers had set up a Mesh Wi-Fi network, with the main router serving as the parent node and the second router as the child node.
If my apartment had been bigger, I could simply set up additional E9450s as child nodes to further extend the coverage.
All that’s needed is a wall outlet to power the child node and for the additional router to be within the coverage of the existing mesh network (before extending the coverage).
Setting up the routers and the mesh network was really easy.
The E9450 provides a browser-based installation and you can install the router using an iPad, tablet, smartphone, PC, or laptop via a web browser.
There is no need to download the app and clear on-screen instructions were provided to guide me the rest of the way.
Setting up the mesh network with the installation of additional child nodes was also straightforward – I simply followed the step-by-step instructions provided.
Technical specifications for the Linksys E9450 Dual Band WiFi 6 Mesh router. Click to enlarge.
Linksys Online Service Support
Even though I didn’t need additional help, I connected to the online Help chat service of Linksys and hit them with some questions that typical users might encounter.
If you’re looking to extend your home Wi-Fi network to enable you to #WorkFromHome or do #HomeBasedLearning in any corner of your apartment; with good connection quality and speeds – the Dual-Band Linksys E9450 WiFi6 EasyMesh Router might just be what you need. It’ll also give the performance you need if you’re a gamer.
I tend to do that to test the responsiveness, knowledgeability and patience of the product’s support services because I think that is an important aspect of a product.
I found the support stellar – with one of the most professional set support staff (I tried a few of them on different sessions) that was sensitive, tactful, patient and knowledgeable.
Connectivity
The E9450 comes with four Gigabit LAN ports and a USB 3.0 port.
The Ethernet ports enable wired connection to devices such as laptops/PCs, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, smart TVs, Network Attached Storage, or a streaming player to the WiFi network.
The USB 3.0 port allows an external storage device to be shared across the Wi-Fi network.
One Network
One thing I like about the mesh network is how the entire network appears to devices as a single seamless network.
E9450 Promotions
The E9450 WiFi 6 router retails at S$399 for a single router and S$699 for a 2-pack..
For June 2021, there are promotional discounts:
- 1 x E9450:
- S$298 (S$100 off)
- 2 x E9450:
- S$488 (S$210 off)
Available at Challenger, Harvey Norman and online, Hachi.tech. Also available on Lazada and Shopee. Promo prices may vary.
Even though a device may be connected to different router nodes, depending on the location and reception, the network uses a single network name and password, one admin login, and one interface for management and monitoring.
There is no hassle in manually logging off and on of different networks as you walk through the home.
The switchover when the connection is transferred from one router node to another is seamless and I didn’t notice any glitches while doing video calls while walking around the home.
In addition to extending the wireless network to reach every corner of my home, I found that there was a marked improvement of connection quality and speeds on the numerous Wi-Fi devices around the home – from phones and computers to speakers, air purifiers and robotic vacuum cleaner/mops.
Key features of the Dual-Band Linksys E9450 WiFi6 EasyMesh Router
With 5.4 Gbps of speed, it’s 4.5x faster than 2×2 WiFi 5 routers (AC1200), eliminates dead zones, and isolates your network to eliminate interference.
- Simultaneous dual-band WiFi AX5400 Mbps – The E9450 broadcasts over the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio bands simultaneously, allowing it to handle several devices and bandwidth-heavy activities all at once without lag or buffering with up to 5.4Gbps (600 + 4800 Mbps).
- 4×4 MU-MIMO – 4×4 Wi-Fi 5GHz radios with Downlink/Uplink MU-MIMO allows downloads and uploads on 4 devices simultaneously (good for upload-heavy uses like uploading photos, social media, live streaming or vlogging, online games, etc.)
- More range than WiFi 5 – EasyMesh Technology, combined with WiFi 6, delivers gigabit Wi-Fi speeds to every corner of the home, including the backyard and outdoor smart home devices.
- Scalable – E9450 can work as either a standalone router or, as either parent and child nodes with additional E9450 routers.
- 1.5 GHz high-performance tri-core CPU – The E9450 has a powerful 1.5 GHz tri-core processor that supports multiple, simultaneous activities across all wired and wireless interfaces. This gives the router the speed and brainpower it needs to process all activities quickly, up to 5.4 Gbps.
- OFDMA – The E9450 packs wireless data more efficiently in high density scenarios. This means the router sends data to and from your devices to the internet more quickly and effortlessly than before.
- 160MHz channel support – Enjoy over 1Gbps WiFi speeds for blazing-fast streaming and downloading to client devices that support 160MHz bandwidth.
- Works with existing WiFi client devices – Work with existing client devices and backward compatible with WiFi 5 (802.11ac) and earlier WiFi standards.
- Target Wake Time – Enjoy 7X more battery life with Target Wake Time (TWT) that reduces network interference allowing devices to remain in sleep mode longer.
Tags: broadband, Linksys, Mesh, networking, new arrivals, reviews, routers, Singapore, tech4wfh, tech4WorkFromHome, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 6
I set up a parent and child like you but the network coverage remained the same leh. My furthest rooms that couldn’t get any wifi previously still cannot get any network. So frustrating. It’s been more than a month.
Hmm… there could be any number of reasons behind the problem. One possible reason could be the placement of your child node (for extending the network). When I first set up my mesh network, I encountered the same thing, the coverage for the furthest reaches didn’t improve at all. I’d placed the child node on top of a cupboard near the center of the home. I moved the location of the child node around and managed to get coverage to even the furthest room. Guess what, the final location of the child node was only about 1m away from the original location! So you may want to move around the child node a bit and see if it helps.
hmm… didn’t try that yet. Didn’t think moving the child router would make much of a difference. Let me try that tomorrow. I hope it works for me.
omg it worked! I shifted the child node around a bit and moved it across the corridor and suddenly the furthest rooms were getting Wi-Fi! Honestly I didn’t expect it to work, I mean what difference would moving that router by a meter or two do right? But it did! Thanks lots mate!
Glad it worked for you! You can also contact the Linksys Help online via chat. They’re very helpful as well!