Cisco-Linksys WRT160N Wireless-N Broadband Router
by Linksys
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Our Price: $117.18 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $14.75 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT160N Wireless-N Broadband Router
Customer Review: Works pretty well for my modest home network
Summary: 5 Stars
To set expectations, I just wanted to get a new router, with Draft N support, to replace my old Linksys router from 2000/2001. I had no intentions of flashing dd-wrt on it. Essentially I wanted to allow occasional wireless internet access to my PS3, iTouch, Canon mp 560 printer, and my work computer as well as stable wired connectivity to my office computer. Also most of my devices are in the same room or nearby.
For all intents and purpose it works fine and I can't say that I'm dissatisfied. With Time Warner Road Runner Standard, I was able to measure speeds of 8Mb down on my PS3 and pretty reliable connectivity on the iTouch.
I keep my office computer wired and can get up to 23Mb down.
I did not mess with the software that came bundled with the router. Instead, I just powered it up, and went to the admin console via browser to set up all the security features. I would recommend changing all default passwords, implementing WPA2 AES, and using the max number of characters for the WPA2 key (63 characters). Some people recommend disabling SSID broadcasting and MAC address filtering, while others think they are a waste of time. I personally disabled my SSID broadcasting and skipped the MAC address filtering.
I have version 3, found that connectivity has been pretty reliable, and have yet a need to bounce the router.
As a caveat for wireless access, the WRT160N supports frequency of 2.4 GHz. You might encounter some interference with wireless phones, or other nearby networks. I would also suggest experimenting with the channel if need be. I believe the default for most routers is channel 6, so you might want to try the other non-overlapping channels, 1 or 11.
Customer Review: Below average router and customer service. Don't buy
Summary: 1 Stars
I have had version 2 of this router since last November to replace its predecessor, Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Router. It works, but the performance has been far below average and really don't see performance boost from this upgrade to N especially for my machines, which are equipped with wireless-N. Another irritation. The router has to be rebooted constantly as internet access comes to a halt (slow) periodically. A reboot immediately brings back the normal internet access speed. BEFW11S4 never had issues in this regard.
Recently tried to upgrade firmware to July build 15 as recently posted on the Linksys/Cisco download web site, and hoped to resolve those issues. The upgrade through router administration page failed half way through and rendered the unit useless! And, this is the first time I have to deal with Linksys/Cisco tech support and customer service. To make the story short, I went through two departments and they insisted you went through their repeated diagnosis sessions for a hour or so, including a gal at their customer service department putting me on hold for over fifteen minutes before I finally hanged up. As of this writing, I have not yet had any satisfactory resolution for my problem.
I hardly give a company this harsh review. But, they are really a big pain in a neck to deal with if you have to call them when their product or software doesn't behave as advertised.
Update: after suffering through 6 tech support/customer service personnel, finally came a sensible staff, who can see from customer's perspective, and make the process relatively painless and reasonable. Great thanks go to Sarang at Linksys tech support! I would give 5 stars to him!
Customer Review: Can't stream media and surf the web
Summary: 2 Stars
I am rating this router with 2 stars, because knowing what I know now, I would not have purchased it. Having said that, many people will likely find this router to be compatible with their equipment, and to have decent performance as well in their environment.
The deal-breaker for me is that this router has EXTREMELY poor performance while streaming music from a computer to another device on the network. I used to do this on an old-school 802.11B router, so I would have expected this to work no-problem on an updated N router.
While this took a great deal of time to track down, I find this unfortunate limitation to be quite consistent. We use an Airport Express to play music on our system upstairs (i-tunes streams music to the AE). Additionally, we occasionally stream music from a computer to either an i-phone and ipod-touch (using SimplifyMedia). Note that it is impossible to have multiple audio streams going at once using this router. Additionally, nobody else can surf the internet while anything is streaming.
On the plus side -- I have found this router to be compatible with all of my devices, which are:
* Lenovo laptop
* 2 Dell laptop (one using an add-on N card, the other using built-in G)
* i-phone, i-pod touch
* MAC TV
* Airport Express
* Rocu SoundBridge
I have recently gone through three routers, trying to find one that was compatible with all the devices above. A Netgear router came very close -- it was compatible with everything above except the Airport Express. It had MUCH better performance while streaming media -- I would recommend it, except for people who need AE compatibility.
Customer Review: won't work with intel 4965 n adapter
Summary: 2 Stars
I was really excited to get this product as I thought it would speed up my network overall for legacy G devices while allowing my new laptop with the N adapter to use. Sadly, I was extremely disappointed by the performance. My old laptop, with a G adapter, immediately dropped link speed to 36 Mbps from 48 Mbps. It doesn't bother me from an internet access point of view (as Comcast tops out at about 6 Mbps on average) but I have a network hard drive for which I would like to maximize the speed.
Even worse, after I had configured the Intel 4965 N adapter on my new laptop (btw you have to ensure the WRT160N is using WPA2 security with AES for the Intel Adapter to work in N mode!) , I found that the maximum bandwidth possible was 130 Mbps and invariably, it was less than that - more like 78 Mbps. The reason for that is apparently the N routers need to use both the 5.4 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz frequencies to provide speeds of 270 Mbps.
Yet even worse, for some reason the internet download speed through Comcast was far lesser - about 800 Kbps. If I disable the N mode on the laptop or the WRT160N, I got my original download speed of 6 Mbps but that was just not acceptable. I tried a variety of options but could never find a right combination. Others have stated that phones and other devices like microwaves might cause interference available but the funny thing is my phones are at 5.8 Ghz and the microwave is downstairs and far away and hardly in use.
The device does look good and fits with the furniture a lot better, but I think I will wait for a more solid device with compatibility issues ironed out and cheaper N adapters available for legacy laptops/devices.
Customer Review: Major problems with lost or no connectivity. I have the solution below.
Summary: 1 Stars
Plain and simple: Do not buy Linksys Routers. Their routers have major configuration issues and is extremely difficult to set up because their software doesn't configure it automatically like other brands. I bought a brand new HP laptop with windows 7 and bought this WRT160N router. I set it up and it did recognize my SSID name when I connected to that network but when I'd go to connect it would say "Can not connect" or when I was able to connect it would just drop out after a few mins. So I got my money back on this one and purchased the same model elsewhere and still had the same problem. For days I couldn't figure this out so I called Linksys tech. support and went around in circles with them for hours and they didn't know what to do but they did say they could configure the router themselves over the phone but would charge me $9 to do it. First of all, I didn't pay $80 for a brand new router just so I could pay another $9 for them to reconfigure it when it should have done it automatically. This is ridiculous. I honestly think that Linksys sets their routers up like this on purpose just so they can get more money out of you to reconfigure it.
My Solution: Buy the Belkin N+ router. Amazon offers a better price for it though. Works pefectly with no problems at all. Took only 5 mins. to install. It also configures your router automatically so you don't have to unlike the Linksys brand. If you don't have problems with the Linksys router now you probably will later, especially if your power ever goes out. It's just a matter of time. Buy the Belkin N+ router and you'll be able to save yourself a major headache in the future.