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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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT160N Wireless-N Broadband Router
Customer Review: Unreliable
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this product based on the positive reviews here. Like most Linksys products, the router was relatively easy to setup. It doesn't have any of the silly problems I've encountered elsewhere with setting up strong encryption. All of my devices including ipod touch, network printer, DirecTV HD and Xbox 360 connected easily to it. Also had Vonage connected directly to it.
The main problem I had with this product was it losing connection every other day despite my endlessly trying different tweaks to remedy the situation. Restarting the router would always fix the problem. Also an extremely annoying thing was when after making any changes via the web interface, the admin would stop taking requests for several minutes. Also, the "Access Restrictions" is buggy and I could not reliably block access for one device during a specific time range.
Out of desperation I learned about using alternative firmware versions like DD-WRT. Unfortunately, v2 is not supported since it uses the Ralink chipset. Found out that this version only has 8MB RAM compared to the 16MB and 32MB for earlier versions. This I now suspect may actually be causing the router from being overloaded and might account for some folks here being very happy with the product.
Anyway, you can now find my router on Ebay :-) I decided to try the much more expensive wrt600N version with the DD-WRT firmware. I'll post a review there once I receive it.
Note, I never tried contacting Linksys. Past experiences were negative.
Customer Review: Very satisfied, but Mac users, don't bother with the install disc!
Summary: 4 Stars
I took one look at the included disc and documentation, and decided to skip it. I have a mixed Mac and PC environment, and it was pretty clear that the installation software wasn't for Mac. That's clearly a problem for novice Mac users, so if you're not prepared to do some manual setup, I would find a different product.
If you do know how to do a bit of setup, the management screens are no better or worse than my previous Linksys and Netgear routers. Using my Mac and Firefox browser, out of the box, I had the router up and running, with AES encryption and MAC address authentication, in about 20 minutes.
I've had it since December and I'm impressed with it. First, Wireless-N made a big difference for wireless file transfers in my house. Streaming movies from my NAS to my PC or Mac, which stuttered like crazy with my Wireless-G, is now seamless. Second, wireless signal on the second floor (router is in the basement) is stronger. Not sure if it's psychological, but pages seem to load a bit faster too. Finally, the router seems to run cooler than my old Netgear. I'd love to run a current test on it, to see if it really is drawing less power, but cooler is definitely a good sign.
All-in-all, the product is solid. The packaging is nice, the Wireless-N works as advertised, and the software works well (but is only average). We'll see if it performs consistently for 2+ years like my Netgear. I take one star off for useless install software for Mac or heterogeneous users. How hard is it to get that right?!?
Customer Review: Adventures with wireless routers.
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently bought this router. It worked.
Two months ago I bought a new laptop (ASUS.) Although the other two laptops I own continued to work perfectly, the ASUS had problems with dropping the internet connection, sometimes as often as 4 times in 15 minutes. I took a trip to another city, and the ASUS worked perfectly there, leading me to believe that the problem was compatibility between the ASUS and my existing router, a three year old NetGear. I had another router on hand, a two year old d-Link, so I changed routers. The problem persisted: the two other laptops worked fine but the ASUS kept dropping the internet.
After getting to the point of dumping the ASUS, I decided to try a new router. I bought this one, and so far (two weeks) the problem is solved.
The installation was easy once I realized that the installation disk was assuming I was installing the router from scratch. As soon as I did a cold reboot on my cable modem, the installation proceded without a hitch.
The only glitch I have encountered is a rare problem with the computer not hooking up to the internet when I first turn it on -- has happened twice. I can fix that by re-connecting the computer to the wireless system, then it stays up.
I read one of the other reviews telling about problems with the V2 series of the router, but so far -- knock on wood -- mine has worked fine, even though it is a V2 series.
I hope the router continues to work, since it is doing fine right now.
Customer Review: Misleading!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
I was very dissapointed in my purchase of this product. As I'm writing you all this review, I've been on the phone with Liksys for over 2hrs trying to get an explanation why the advertised USB connection, advertised as i.e. available for external storage device, is not being detected by my Laptop (This is what was most appealing to me about the product). Not only has this been terribly time consumming, but at the price ($189) I do not expect to run into these kind of troubles. I have been a very satisfied customer using Linksys products in the past but this aftercare service by Linksys tech support and non-functional product has driven me to inform all of you that care to know, to be very aware that this product and it's representatives are not all they promise to be. Their tech support is seperated by levels, the higher the level the more knowledgable they are supposed to be - not so! They couldn't even realize 2hrs into the conversation after having asked me already that I was working of Windows Vista! Back to the router :-) The range is not all that grand for a supposed 5ghz router. I use it for gaming as well and have not found any problems with it. When I move my laptop around however, just a good 10+ yds from the router and you can loose some serious speed. So again, be wary about this one. For the price there has to be a better router than this...ideas are definitely welcomed, especially if anyone knows of a router that has the capability to allow USB connections....Customer Review: Rename it the Linksys Intermittent Router
Summary: 1 Stars
Hopefully I can save you some grief with this review. I only wish that I had read the 24 pages (and counting) of people who have suffered the intermittent issues I am now at Linksys's own forum: http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&thread.id=119107&view=by_date_ascending&page=1.
When it works it flies, but I immediately starting noticing delays, and then outright outages, where I couldn't even ping the router from any of my three computers. Then, magically things would return and I would have hope...and then...
I paid $10 for a support call where a guy in India told me I'd never have the problem again and he was right...well, for about twenty minutes after the call, and then it was back. So I call back and they issue a RMA. As I've been waiting for the useless replacement I happened upon the Linksys forum page and was stunned to see that this issue has existed for a long time and Linksys apparently doesn't care (they have never commented on the forum despite the pleas of customers).
I am disgusted at Linksys. I can accept that they have problems with hardware, but their unwillingness to admit it and fix it for people who paid for their products made me feel I should post here. Don't trust me...just read the link above. If you are lucky enough to not experience those issues I think this has the potential to be a great product at a fair price. If not, prepare yourself for a new kind of frustration.