Linksys Broadens Its Draft 11ac Router Line

Photo of author

Tim Higgins

Linksys logoUpdated – Linksys has started to ship one of the three draft 11ac routers it announced at CES and has another on deck.

The Linksys EA6300 Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1200 Advanced Multimedia is an AC1200 class 802.11a/b/g/n/ac router supporting link rates up to 867 Mbps in the 5 GHz band and 300 Mbps in 2.4 GHz. It is Linksys’ first router shipped under its new Belkin ownership.

The EA6300 uses the same form-factor as its first draft 11ac router, the EA6500, with Gigabit WAN (1) and switched LAN (4) ports. But it has a single USB 3.0 port vs. the EA6500’s two USB 2.0.

25 Years of Linksys Routers

Linksys EA6300 Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1200 Advanced Multimedia

The new router shares the EA6500’s "Smart Wi-Fi" feature set, including IPv6 support, SimpleTap setup via QR code or supplied NFC tag, automatic media prioritization, wireless guest access, parental controls and installable apps for feature enhancement.

The 6300 is one of the first draft 11ac routers to be based on Broadcom‘s dual-core router SoCs announced last June, using a BCM4708.

Linksys also announced that the EA6400 AC 1600 Video Enthusiast router also announced at CES would start shipping toward the end of May. The EA6400 also sports a dual-core BCM4708 CPU, but has a mixed 2×2 and 3×3 radio design for a maximum link rate of 1300 Mbps in 5 GHz, while still maxing out at 300 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band.

The EA6300 is shipping now at a $169.99 MSRP and the EA6400 will follow at the end of next month for $189.99.

Linksys didn’t have any news to share about when the EA6700 that was also unveiled at CES would ship. It is a top-of-line AC1750 full 3×3 design like the EA6500, but has the new dual-core Broadcom CPU that will give it one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port.

See this related story for an update on the third router announced at CES, the EA6700.

Related posts

Netgear announces new wireless router designed for open source firmware

Netgear today announced an 802.11g wireless router specifically designed for open source firmware.

WEP and WPA-TKIP Gone By 2014

I've been offline for a few days, but will be back to normal next week. In the meantime, it looks like there has been a bit of news in WiFi land.

TRENDnet Shipping Dual-Band 450 Mbps Wireless N Bridge

TRENDnet has started to ship a dual-band three-stream N wireless bridge.