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: Runs smoothly with Mac--Great deal!
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't hesitate to buy a refurbished linksys router. I just did, and it works great. I have full bars in every room in my 2 floor condo. This was the first wireless router I ever set up, and even so, it only took me about 20-25 mins or so to figure it out, as I followed the directions for Mac setup that another reviewer posted on the Linksys Ultra Plus router page. If you have a Mac I recommend the following steps I borrowed from another reviewer:
Setup: Forget the included CD that comes with this router, it is Windows only. It does have the User Guide as a PDF buried in one of the folders. But it is not much help.
Instead, just turn on the router, look for the wireless signal (or plug in directly using an ethernet cable), then use FireFox - the current Safari doesn't work and any changes cause a "server unexpectedly dropped connection" error.
Type: 192.168.1.1 in the browser, then user name "linksys" and password "admin" to get the web based setup menus.
From there, if you have any questions, click on the "Help" link for the individual pages. The help there is much better than in the User Guide.
I agree: The help functions are very explanatory, with each tab telling you what the features mean and whether or not they are right for you.
This router is great for wi-fi beginners. Of course, I have not used this router with multiple computers yet or printers for example, but from the strength and speed I'm already experiencing, I don't foresee a problem. Don't waste your money on a new router that costs twice as much. This works fine. I also received the router 4 days before Amazon's expected arrival date.
Customer Review: Works great, as advertised
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this refurbished router to replace my old, underperforming linksys BEFW11S4 router, which had been dropping connections almost everyday and was very slow, using only the b network mode. After 30 days of use, the WRT160n has been working really well.
* No dropped connections
* Easiest router install I've had in several years. Well, there was one hiccup during the install process because I wasn't connected to my cable modem, but the software recovered nicely from it.
* Very fast, using the N mode. After seeing how fast N mode is, I might just invest in an N network card for my older laptop.
* I have several wireless devices in the house, so the router automatically switches to the lowest speed. But you can control which protocol it uses by going to the router settings at 192.168.1.1 in your browser, use the factory password "admin", click on "Wireless", switch to "manual configuration" and switch among, B,G, B and G, N or mixed.
* It also has a a nifty feature, which might not be widespread enough to be really useful, where if a wireless device has a certain two arrow button on it, you can press it and it will connect to the router. Depending on how friendly the wireless device is, you might also need to enter a pin.
* Looks much cooler than the older linksys routers.
Since I haven't had any trouble with it yet, I can't say anything bad about it. One disadvantage I already knew about before I bought it is that it has only one radio, so it switches to the mode of the slowest device in your network. Also, the software that lets you see your network is kind of nice and graphical, but not very useful.
Customer Review: Perfect, right out of the box.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bit the bullet and purchased this "refurbished" router. 1 week later and I'm completely satisfied. From the time I opened the box to having it configured and setup, took all of 10 minutes. It all worked as it should without a hitch. No one would ever guess this is a refurbished unit. Looked as good as new and came with all the cords and disks the unit required.
I choose not to use the included connection software after an unsatisfactory experience with a prior version included with my wireless G router. Before ever connecting it to my cable modem, I manually configured the administrative and wireless security settings, the same their software would have done for me. The best part of doing it manually, you don't have to install software on a pc or laptop and then second guess how secure the system really is. No annoying pop-up's when the router detects a wireless device within range, then asking how the router/software should handle this new device. If I didn't give the device the wireless password and entered it's MAC address into my router, don't let it in, and don't ask me. That's what security means to me! Simple and secure! Just like my Antivirus software, just do the job and keep my computer free of viruses and Trojan worms. If one tries to infect my system, stop it or quarantine it before it does any damage, but don't question me of what to do. That's not what I paid for or expect.
If you're looking for a wireless N router with good specs, and you don't want to spend $100.00 at Best Buy for the same model, I'll recommend this one. $34.00 and free shipping was money well spent.
Customer Review: Great - after LOTS of tweaking
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this after reading all the reviews that said the product is great once you install DD-WRT firmware. I initially tried to use the linksys firmware, and I agree it is pretty awful. I had great difficulty getting anything to connect wirelessly unless I disabled all the wireless security, meaning it was basically useless.
I then installed the DD-WRT firmware. It was fairly straightforward, although not as simple as some make it out to be. It took me a while to figure out all the terminology, such as flashing and 30/30/30. All the info is on the DD-WRT website, but you have to dig around a little for it.
The DD-WRT firmware works great. The real problem though was that the router (with either the Linksys firmware or the DD-WRT firmware) wouldn't allow my iPod Touch to connect. I googled this problem and apparently I'm not alone with this.
The only solution that worked was to add the MAC address for each device (my laptop, ipod touch, roku box, etc) to the router, and only allows those devices to connect to the network. This is a little bit of a pain, because it means that anytime a friend wants to get onto my network, or I buy something else with a wireless connection, I have to go back into the router and add the new device. But this was the only way to get my ipod touch to connect (and stay connected) to the network.
But it now works perfectly and I'm very happy with it. I'm not sure if the 3+hrs total I spent tweaking everything was worth it, but at this point I can't complain because it's doing exactly what I want it to.
Customer Review: I Like Refurbs But Not This One
Summary: 1 Stars
As a rule, I have no problems with refurb'ed products, but I would stay away from the WRT160N-RM. I'll get this out of the way: maybe mine was a dud, but regardless of that I'm turned off by this model and Cisco-Linksys refurbs in general. There are probably tens of thousands of these refurbed devices available online. Amazon has them, as does [...] and even [...] is on board. That there are so many refurbished WRT160N's out there says something. Next, a wireless-N router for [...]$ definitely lies in the too-good-to-be true category, and that was the case for me. I'm an IT professional and I know this kind of gear. Setup was easy, as it should be, but from the moment it was up and had an IP from my cable modem, the device could never maintain a wireless network for more than a few minutes. In the first 24 hours, I rebooted it and reconfigured it countless times. Then I just gave up. I have no patience any more for spotty machinery. If it doesn't work, I'm not fighting with it. I don't know how a non-tech person would deal with this problem. There are no error messages given and no outright indicators that there is a problem. The bottom line is that if the network can't stay up, I don't want the machine. I'm sure a new WRT160N works great, but this experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Why are there so many refurbished units of this model out there? And how is it possible that the original hardware + the cost of fixing it and repackaging it + all the shipping each way = [...]$ retail? The math doesn't add up ... there's something wrong with these devices.