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Review: Cisco Linksys Wireless-AC Universal Media Connector
Wed, 1st May 2013
FYI, this story is more than a year old

This Cisco Linksys WUMC710 Wireless-AC Universal Media Connector, is a media bridge which allows you to connect wirelessly to the Cisco Linksys Dual Band AC Router.

It is designed for devices that require either do not have wireless capability or requires a strong wireless connection for HD content streaming like video or gaming.

This media connector allows up to GB connections to up to four devices and claims to be 3x faster than the current Wireless-N standard as it is built with three internal antennas on the 5Ghz band.

Along with the four GB ports, it also features a WPS (Wireless Protection Setup) button, which allows for easy connection to the AC router.

To test the performance of the main features of this media bridge, it was connected to a Playstation 3 with the Cisco AC-router based two rooms away (the maximum distance is five metres), the device streamed Full HD content both via the inbuilt WiFi capability (with an N-capable router) and via the media connector bridge - and the difference is almost worlds apart.

Connection via the Wireless AC setup is essentially like having a direct cable connection whereas streaming via WiFi eventually became unwatchable.

This means that the media connector is ideal for HD streaming - just as the box claims, it also is rated to do 1300Mbps and although testing didn’t produce the same results, it was still 5x times faster than a regular N-router based connection.

Pros:

  • Despite being a wireless connection, speeds are more like a direct cable connection is supports Full HD streaming which is ideal for video and gaming.
  • Easy to set up especially with the WPS button.
  • A good alternative for devices which can’t connect to AC-routers.
Cons:
  • Only supports the 5GHz band.
  • Works best with the Cisco AC-Router.
Score: 3/5