The Linksys WRT350N with Storage Link router is the next step up from the company's WRT300N router. Based on Draft 2.0 of the 802.11n spec, it's a standard four port Gigabit Ethernet router that also serves up a USB port for sharing the contents of a USB hard drive or flash drive across the network. While it offers great features, it didn't fare as well as some of its competition in tests. Given its high price and lacklustre performance, we're reluctant to recommend this Draft-N router.

The WRT350N router uses the same body as the WRT300N, though its body is silver and black instead of blue and black. It also uses the same three-antenna configuration: two standard antennas and one paddle antenna in the centre. All three swivel and rotate so you can maximise your wireless signal. The back edge houses the usual single WAN port and four LAN ports -- all Gigabit Ethernet -- as well as the power port and a single USB port. The front edge is adorned with status lights that correspond to the ports on the back, as well as show whether you have an Internet connection, have wireless broadcasting enabled, and the status of your wireless security.

Set-up is simple. Linksys includes a set-up CD that walks you through the steps of connecting cables and installing the drivers. If you're familiar with setting up a router and want to skip the wizard, you can simply connect the router and point your browser at the router's default IP address (192.168.1.1 for Linksys). Here, you'll find Linksys' familiar interface that lets you configure your router and security settings. The usual security suspects are all present and accounted for: WEP, WPA, WPA2, MAC address filtering, NAT and SPI firewalls, and Internet and Web filters. If you're concerned about what sites members of your household are accessing online, you can set access restrictions. Restrictions can be made on all PCs on the network or specific ones (set by MAC address, IP address, or IP range), and Internet access can be blocked by day and time, or you can manually block specific URLs or keywords.

What really sets the WRT350N apart from most of the Draft-N routers we've seen is the inclusion of a USB port for connecting storage devices. A tab in the router's configuration interface lets you manage the devices, as well as control who has particular access to them. If you connect an empty drive, you can create partitions. If you're connecting a drive that already has content, you can get information about that drive, such as the type of file system, partitions, and total and free space. If you choose, you can also erase the disk here. As the router's administrator, you can set shares to the storage devices, or who has access and what type. The two options are guest (read-only) and admin (read/write). The router also features a built-in UPnP media server that can push multimedia content out to various UPnP devices on your network, such as a digital media adaptor. It also offers an FTP server, so you can dish out files from your storage device to outside your network.

In the CNET Labs' tests, the Linksys WRT350N router was in the middle of the pack for maximum throughput at three metres, though well behind the D-Link DIR-655 router, with a score of 76.1Mbps. It fell to the back of the pack in our mixed-mode test with a score of 25.2Mbps, and again in our long-range tests with a score of 16.8Mbps. With the exception of the mixed-mode tests, its scores were about the same as those of the Linksys WRT300N router.

CNET Labs maximum throughput tests (at 3 metres, in Mbps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Throughput max

D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router

112.56 

Trendnet N-Draft router TEW-631BRP

83.3 

Linksys WRT350N draft N router

76.1 

Netgear WNR834B RangeMax Next router

72.7 

Linksys WRT300N draft N router

71.5 

D-Link RangeBooster N 650 router

68.1 

CNET Labs maximum throughput tests with mixed 802.11b/g and draft N clients (at 3 metres, in Mbps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Mixed

D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router

77.42 

D-Link N 650 router

58.82 

Trendnet N-Draft router TEW-631BRP

57.1 

Linksys WRT300N draft N router

46 

Netgear WNR834B RangeMax Next router

26.2 

Linksys WRT350N draft N router

25.2 

CNET Labs long-range tests (in Mbps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Throughput 60 metres

Trendnet N-Draft router TEW-631BRP

54.1 

D-Link N 650 router

41.04 

D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router

33.33 

Netgear WNR834B RangeMax Next router

32 

Linksys WRT300N draft N router

17 

Linksys WRT350N draft N router

16.8