Cisco-Linksys WRT160N-RM Refurbished Wireless-N Router
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $29.99 You Save: $70.00 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $19.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT160N-RM Refurbished Wireless-N Router
Customer Review: Horrible product, unreliable
Summary: 1 Stars
Alright, as a long time user of linksys wireless routers, I think I knew what to expect here, and I DID NOT get what I was expecting, thats for sure. This product is unreliable. The wireless signal drops, constantly- a refurb unit, I know, but after researching the WRT160N on the internet, the signal drops are obviously a systemic problem with the unit.
In fact, Amazon has a separate part number just for WRT160N refurbs (WRT160N-RM)- what does that tell you? There are a ton of these flying around, in fact my unit looked absolutely new out of box - it probably WAS new - but with the out of box systemic wireless signal dropping flaw, back it goes to Amazon for a second try at a refurb sale.
A few more details,
- the setup is easy and improved from my older wireless-G. Nice improvement in the ease of use area.
- Router starts up well, signal is strong and speed is outstanding to my XP laptop with odyssey client in the other room. All is well.
... 3 hours pass...
- signal on my home network starts going in and out on my laptop sitting 10 ft away from the router. The green bars go from excellent to very good to just good. Hmm.
- then, poof, all white bars on my laptop, no more signal. I go check the router. All seems fine the lights are all working. I connect the hard wire ethernet cable to the router, internet connectivity is fine.
- wait about 35 minutes the signal from the WRT160N comes back- great! I have wireless connectivity for 10 minutes, then white bars again. Reboot computer, no luck. Delete the home network connection and recreate. No luck.
Finally go check [...] for support notes on this signal in and out issue- WOW! literally hundreds of blogs and rants on the web about the WRT160N dropping connections.
Final chapter- box it up and send it back to amazon. As much as it pains me to buy a near obsolete product, I will purchase another Wireless G router from linksys. Those work like a charm.
Customer Review: Bought two and setup a wireless repeater network
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought two of these to setup as a wireless repeater network in my house. My main Internet connection comes in into one room in the house, but my PC is in another room far away. So I wanted to setup a wireless network, and a way to connect the PC to the network without having to run cables through the house.
Here's my recommended solution for an easy to install repeater network:
1. Buy two of these
2. Connect one directly to the incoming main Internet connection
3. Install the other in the other room far away (with no Internet connection)
4. Run the initial setup software on both routers, then install the dd-wrt firmware instead (if you don't know what this is, ask a techie friend to help you. it's pretty easy to do).
5. Here are the links I used for dd-wrt install instructions for this router model (WRT160Nv3)
[...]
(the one thing different I had to do from the above instructions was to power cycle the routers after each hard 30/30/30 reset)
6. dd-wrt (think of it as a special operating system that you can install on the router) allows you to setup the second router in "Repeate Bridge" mode, which allows your second router to not only bridge the wireless connection between the two routers (effectively the same as connecting both routers with a long ethernet cable), but it also allows the second router to work as a regular wirless router for the other side of the house, thus increasing the strength and reach of your wireless network.
7. I had best results setting it with WPA2-Personal with AES (choosing mixed mode authentication drastically reduced the speed of the wireless network) in NG-Mixed mode (because I had at least one 802.11G laptop in the house).
8. I got the full bandwidth speed (15Mbps Download/4Mbps Upload) on my PC on the other side of the house with this setup.
Customer Review: Best DD-WRT N-based router under $35
Summary: 5 Stars
Gentlemen, start your engines, for you can NOT go wrong with this router IF you install DD-WRT on it. Unfortunately, it seems that Amazon's fulfillment team is playing Russian Roulette with us with regards to the version of the router that ships once you order it. I was lucky enough to get v1 but many are getting the v2 which is incompatible (with DD-WRT) . If you have v1 (also v1.1) or v3, you are OK. I am using the router here in the Middle East as a bridge with my 2.4GHz N-based network. This is the beauty of DD-WRT. It allows you to have so much more functionality that the stock Linksys firmware sorely lacks. There are other features, such as active bandwidth monitoring and the ability to run OpenVPN on the router itself to act both as a server or client, which could make your $32 go a long, long way indeed. The range is OK, I am in a duplex and I have a strong signal all over. The very bright blue LEDs on the router are distracting but that won't be a problem if you have it tucked away somewhere. If you don't, then the 'sting-ray' design is appealing anyway.
DD-WRT tip: Install the mini variant first required for INITIAL flashing. It's a different file for v1 and yet another for v3. Reset it and then install the standard generic v24-preSP2 version for v1 and the v24-K26 for v3. If you want VPN, it's supported out of the box with v24-preSP2 but you have to install the VPN variant and, unfortunately, this is supported on v1 of the router hardware only.
Highly recommended, but do keep in mind that it's the luck of the draw when it comes to the hardware revision. The router simply sucks with the standard firmware no matter what revision it ships with. Cisco should really buy out that whole DD-WRT team and start using their firmware as standard in all their devices. Cisco M&A suits, are you listening?
Customer Review: This Cisco Router Rocks !
Summary: 5 Stars
I have nothing to complain about. The only issues I had with this nice product were of my own making. I used it with a Netgear switch and an old conventional router that I reused to share a DSL Connection amongst my 7-PC home network. My internet access is via an ATT 2-Wire DSL gateway: [...] is the Connection-Specific DNS Suffix, the local network created by the ATT DSL Gateway. My old conventional router had an address conflict with this new Cisco-Linksys router, but that was my fault. First I had to turn off the DHCP function in my old router, because with two routers in a network, I must use the second (old) router as a switch, with the DHCP turned off, to avoid conflicts in my local network at home - because only one DHCP router can be functional in the same subnet. The local (LAN) IP address of my old router conflicted with the local IP of my new Cisco-Linksys router. Once I changed the IP address of my old router so as not to conflict, everything worked fine. The range of this new Cisco router seems good for my family's purposes, and our house is next to a busy expressway and overhead power lines - so I am pleased with such a strong wireless signal in a home environment where there might be a lot of potential interference: my wife has no problems connecting to the net on her iPod Touch; nor do we have any problems connecting with my son's laptop, or my wife's netbook. I also like the sleek, black "Klingon Ship" look of this router: no clumsy antennas to deal with, yet with same performance as other wireless routers that do have the ugly antennas. So, all in all, I have no complaints, and nothing but praise for this product - especially considering the very low, competitive price of a refurbished product like this. In fact, I haven't found a better or even matching price at other online stores.Customer Review: DD-WRT to the rescue!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have now bought two of these routers (v3) and using the DD-WRT suggestion I found here in the reviewers, I was able to re-program them so they work brilliantly and dependably -- and with a STRONGER signal than stock Linksys. A little bit of a learning curve... had to read to know what a 30/30/30 reset was on the DD-WRT wiki. :)
I used this build for both: DD-WRT v24-sp2 mini (SVN revision 14896). I'm afraid to upgrade from the "mini" to one of the "small" builds, as the mini works fantastically for my purposes and I don't want to screw that up. :)
First one of these I bought for myself last summer when I was researching available wireless-N routers and was looking at REFURBISHED to cut costs. Thanks to the DD-WRT info I found here from two other reviewers, I specifically bought this router, knowing it was a jewel in the rough. I polished it to a diamond using the DD-WRT software. My wife and I use it everyday for the wi-fi connections to our Android phones, and for her work laptop internet conneciton. For only $30, this router is a steal!
Second one I bought in January of this year as a gift for a friend. I came back here, hoping they would still be available. And I was hoping for V3 again -- and I got it. For a Cisco/Linksys Wireless N router, again $30 is a fantastic bargain when brand new retail Cisco/Linkys routers go for $85 - $95. I configured the DD-WRT options just like mine -- gave it to her in the box with a password and SSID already configured. All she had to do was plug it in, and it works as flawlessly for her as well. (She's free to change the SSID and password but she liked the no-hassle aspect of the router gift. It was ready to go.)
But DD-WRT is the key to these two success stories!