When Cisco released the Valet Plus ($90, 4.5 stars), it had raised the bar for wireless router setup. Other vendors, I predicted, were sure to follow suit. Since then, most of the newer routers on the market feature the same sort of easy setup, making routers simpler than ever for the average home user to configure. Cisco has set the bar even higher, in three important ways, with the new Cisco Linksys E1200 Wireless-N Router. First, the quirks in the Cisco Connect software are mostly gone. The throughput of the E1200 is almost double the Valet’s; it is in fact the best throughput I have measured to date from a single-band 2.4 GHz consumer router. Best of all, the MSRP is $60 about $20-30 less than the SRP of the Valet.

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Although it replaces the Valet Plus as our favorite single band router, the E1200 is actually billed as the successor to the underwhelming E1000 ($80, 2.5 stars). As with the E1000, the E1200 is not intended for high bandwidth consumption. For users looking for heavy-duty music or video streaming, multi-player gaming, or performing large file transfers with home servers and NAS devices, those users should consider Cisco’s E4200 ($179, 4 stars) or Netgear’s N600 ($130, 4.5 stars). The E1200 is a solid, reliable choice for simple Internet connectivity needs— at a great price.

E1200 Design and Specs
While not as attractive as the Valet Plus; with it’s almost Apple-esque design, the E1200 boasts a sleek industrial look that netted the new E-series line the 2011 Red Dot Product Design Award. It’s a small, unobtrusive router, with a black, high-gloss finish. Gone from the top of the chassis are the peculiar LED symbols that were hard to decipher (one was shaped like a planet!). Instead, the WAN and LAN ports all have simple, corresponding LEDs that turn a solid green to indicate connectivity.

What makes the E1200 superior in performance to the E1000 and even the Valet are some technological advancements. Cisco’s networking chops are apparent in the E1200’s integrated on-chip amplifier, which significantly improves the range of the wireless signal as well as the device’s strong 2×3 internal antenna.
Specifications

Device Type    Router
Networking Options     802.11n (2.4 GHz only)

The E1200 features four Fast Ethernet ports, so no Gigabit Ethernet, no USB, and only operates at the 2.4 GHz band.

Setup and Features
The E1200 is set up wirelessly using the new and improved Cisco Connect software. Using the Cisco Connect software I had my laptop connected to the router in under six minutes. The setup process automatically configures the SSID, passphrase, and security for you.

Although the Cisco Connect software has not changed much in look since the previous version, there have been some improvements. Now included is an Internet speed test which displays a speedometer that measures average download and upload speeds. Impressive features from the last version are still included; the software walks users through connecting other computers and devices to the routers and configuring guest access.

Parental access still works very efficiently. Users can block Internet access to any computer on a home network or can block at specific times (like when the kids are supposed to be doing homework.) As soon as I blocked another laptop connected to the router from accessing the Internet, that laptop had no access, even without opening and closing its browser.

Cisco Connect also allows you to block up to eight URLs. Blocking works well but it’s rather limited when it comes to control. I would like to see Cisco incorporate the ability to block by keywords—a feature I found of value in Asante’s AWRT-550N router ($109, 4 stars).

One caveat to using Cisco Connect’s Parental Controls: if you have other parental control software installed it may conflict with Cisco’s software. When I tested Cisco’s Parental Controls I had another vendor’s control software installed. Configuring controls on the Cisco side with the other software installed made Cisco’s software block me from accessing the router’s settings. I could no longer use the Cisco Connect after applying the parental control settings. Once I uninstalled the third-party’s software and reinstalled Cisco Connect, I had no issues. If you already use some sort of parental control software you will probably just want to use it or Cisco’s Parental Controls, but not both.

Gone, thankfully is the issue of not being able to get back into Cisco Connect after going into the advanced router settings; a problem I noted when testing the previous E4200. I was able to flip back and forth between Cisco Connect and the advanced settings. These settings are stored in the Linksys management console and include the ability to configure Dynamic DNS, QoS, port forwarding, and more geeky stuff.