Cisco-Linksys WRT160N Wireless-N Broadband Router
by Linksys
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Our Price: $129.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $14.95 (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: Erratic download speeds until firmware upgraded
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this router to replace an aging -- and unreliable -- Linksys Wireless-B router. Out of the box, it looks spectacular and is worlds apart from the clunky rectangular-purple-box-with-adjustable-antennae look of my old router.
Setup was reasonably easy, although the setup/configuration program that comes with the CD-ROM terminated unexpectedly before the router was fully configured, requiring a reboot of my late 2008 Macbook Pro. [...]
Currently, the following devices are connected (via WEP protection because of the older IBM Thinkpad):
Late 2008 MBP (wireless)
IBM Thinkpad T40 (wireless)
Sony PS3 (wireless)
iPhone 2G and 3G (wireless)
Vonage phone adapter Motorola VT1005V (wired)
Everything seemed to be going well for the first several hours, until I noticed incredible differences in download speeds from minute to minute (ranging from 400-500 kbps to 6-7 mbps, courtesy of the free tools [....) that translated into some webpages loading at a crawl or not at all. When I connected my computer directly to the router, these problems disappeared.
A conversation with the nice people at Vonage -- based on an ultimately unfounded assumption that this was where the problem lay -- was fruitless.
Ultimately, I spoke with Tech Support at Linksys. After making some changes to the settings of the router that had no effect, I finally downloaded the firmware upgrade (from 3.0.0.1 to 3.0.0.2, build 3). Amazingly, this seems to have resolved the problem -- it's shocking what a little decimal point of an upgrade can do and puzzling why a relatively new piece of hardware should be so buggy out of the box.
Overall, these are early days with this router. Setup troubles aside, it looks great, is reasonably priced and I hope will be headache-free from here on out.
Customer Review: Beautiful looking and easiest set-up ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
I noticed a lot of so so reviews and was wary until I read a professional review praising it's easy set up. I decided to go for it and boy am I glad I did. I happen to be a novice setting up PC related stuff but this router was cake to set up. Be forwarned; however, my intention was to simply set up wireless with encryption and nothing else. I had no desire to set up a full blown network with file and printer sharing. I simply wanted encrypted wireless for my xp windows pc and vista windows laptop in the house. I figure I can print stuff by using the pc with the printer or using a flash drive so I had no desire in oversteaping my technical boundries.
That being said... it was as simple as putting the disk in, following directions printing the encryption code and connecting the router. Easy as cake! I had more trouble configuring the recieving vista windows laptop and xp windows pc! Which wasn't that hard either. The router is connected to my windows vista desktop and my windows vista laptop and seperate xp windows desktop are recieving the signal. It was as easy as plugging in the code to the recieving laptop and pc.
The signal is always strong and no breaks in three weeks of constant use. Despite other comments, the signal strength is awesome even with the unit under a shelf. Unless you live in a 25 room mansion or set up the network wrong... you should have no problems. I have absolutely no complaints. The cherry on top is how awesome this router looks and with no antenna! You could easly hide this under a shelf but why would you want to! It's beautiful and you could use it as decoration! I admit, it is pricey but well worth the money in the headaches you will save setting it up and the aesthetic factor. Highly recommended especially for novices who simply want wireless in their house.
Customer Review: Great Wired Router, but not so great wireless.
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't actually own this router, but my boyfriend's mom bought one when she got a new ASUS Windows 7 laptop. And I was the one who suffered when she had problems with it. This is a bit long for a review, but I wanted to get everything out.
I walked her through the setup over the phone, which was VERY well done. She's not very computer savvy whatsoever and she had no problem getting it setup.
However, the problem is WPA2 encryption; this router cannot seem to handle it. With WEP or no encryption, it connected instantly and stayed connected about 75% of the time.
I am not entirely sure the laptop's wireless NIC isn't too blame, but I tried everything. I reinstalled it, I disabled it. I renamed the SSID numerous times. I tried every wireless channel and any other options available to the the router and the laptop. It would connect about half of the time, but would disconnect itself and not reconnect. Sometimes rebooting would fix it, sometimes not.
I did attempt to upgrade the firmware, but it came with the newest already installed, and it wont let you reinstall the same version.
WPA didn't work at all. The laptop refused to connect.
She returned the router after I bought her a D-Link Extreme (DIR-655). So far, (its been about a week), and the D-Link hasn't had any issues.
I chose the D-Link because I am currently using it, and my roommate's new HP laptop (Windows 7) had no issues. The HP did have a similar WPA2 problem with a Belkin I had bought, but the D-Link fixed those issues also.
The D-Link also has considerably better range, but the Linksys is using an internal antenna instead of three external.
If you are using Windows 7 with wireless, I would suggest NOT getting this router.
Customer Review: Irritating experience, but good final result
Summary: 4 Stars
It was a hassle, but after a $9.99 service call to Linksys the unit now works perfectly with my Vista laptop and my wife's MacBook with Snow Leopard. Here's the story ... it's a cautionary tale of what to expect.
When I first installed the router, using the PC, I couldn't get the Mac to access the wireless signal. I called Linksys customer support, and the tech rep spent an hour having me reset the router, rerun the install process, etc. He finally said that the unit's defective ... take it back for an exchange.
Before shipping it back to Amazon, I decided to try the install one more time. I reset the router, deleted the software from my PC, and reran the install process. It worked! Both the PC and the Mac worked beautifully on wireless. The PC was showing a transfer speed of 54mbps. All was well.
That evening both my wife and I were getting lousy online response. When I checked status, I saw that we were getting 1mbps transfer speed - yes, 1 as in one. Later, we were getting 34. Next morning it was back to 1.
Another call to customer support. This time the tech rep, Sandeep, offered to take remote control of my computer and fix the problem, at a cost of $9.99. If unsuccessful, he said, there would be no charge. I said okay, and after I authorized his remote access the cursor started flying around as this clearly well-skilled techie adjusted all manner of settings in the router. After about 20-25 minutes he said it was done, he took my credit card information, and we said goodbye.
I've been getting 54mbps ever since, so I'm happy. What I'm not happy about, however, is that the standard process for setting up the router didn't do what Sandeep did. Why should we have to pay Linksys ten bucks to get the unit working properly?
Customer Review: A great product. Not a 1,2,3 set up though.
Summary: 4 Stars
This wireless router does a great job and looks sweet, but I went through a frustrating couple of hours to get it working properly. The set up information you receive is very basic and the product description (what the led and ports are is better on this page than you get in the box)is pretty much only what you see on the box. I went through the basic set up procedure but after the hardware was set up I got an error message that there was no internet connection detected and the set up was halted. Now as soon as I set my modem back up without the router I had internet again so I knew I had internet. There is also a trouble shooting FAQ included with the router which addresses this outcome and involves shutting down the modem, router and pc then turning them back on in sequence. I tried that but it did not solve the problem. Ok so then I had to again disconnect the router to get back my internet connection and go to the lynksys website. Under the product information section for this routher there is also a FAQ troubleshoooting section and the very first question is dealing with the lack of internet connection during set up. This response involves opening up your browser, going to a website and making changes in the IP address for the router -I think- (I'm all thumbs when it comes to this stuff) and saving that information. Then, after you make these changes, if you go through the basic set up it works. Hopefully this reveiw will save people time if they run into the same situation.
Once you set it up it works great. My xbox 360 is across the house through a few rooms and walls and the reception is outstanding.Be sure to save a copy of your password and SSID to your desktop which is in the last step of your basic set up since this info is necessary for coordinating your wireless systems.