Linksys MR7350
Don’t judge a router by its cover: this is the fastest sub-£200 model you can buy
SCORE
PRICE £131 (£157 inc VAT) from pcpro.link/318link1
Squat, angular and solidly built, the MR7350 looks and feels unapologetically functional. We can get along with that – and the nononsense ethos carries across to every aspect of this router.
At the front, that translates to a single strip LED that shows blue when everything’s hunky dory, switching to purple, red or yellow to indicate any issues. Behind, four LAN ports and a single USB 3 socket provide a usable set of connectivity options. We’re not sure it’s smart to put the WPS button right next to the factory reset button, but it’s a different colour and sticks out further.
What’s really interesting about the MR7350 is its internal hardware. Going by the numbers, it appears that Linksys has selected the cheapest possible 5GHz radio that still qualifies this as a next-generation router: with a claimed top speed of 1,201Mbits/sec, no 160MHz support and only 2x2 MU-MIMO, the specification undershoots far cheaper models from D-Link and Honor.
In our Wi-Fi 6 tests, however, the MR7350 raced ahead, with download speeds that consistently placed it near the top of the table. It’s a real masterclass in squeezing the best out of mid-price hardware: notably, the connection remained strong even in the bathroom, where many other routers stumbled. And if coverage still isn’t good enough for you, it works with Linksys’ Velop mesh system, so you have the option of pairing it with a second Linksys router for an instant range boost.
While we can only admire the MR7350’s performance, the experience of managing it is a chore, with sluggish performance in both the web portal and the more limited smartphone app, and an interface that we just don’t find logical. It feels like there’s not a whole lot on offer here, with no VPN support in either direction, no web filtering and – disappointingly – no option to do anything with your USB port except share files.
That holds us back from giving the Linksys MR7350 a Recommended award: the RT-AX82U does much more for six quid less, while still providing great performance in most of the house.
However, if you’re solely focused on identifying the fastest sub-£200 Wi-Fi 6 router, this unassuming black box turns out to be it.