Cisco-Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $34.99 You Save: $116.59 (77%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router
Customer Review: Time to put in my two cents worth for a great product
Summary: 4 Stars
I usually find user reviews useful, I have noticed that folks prefer to post their complaints about a product, while the happy ones like me stay quiet. Well time for a change.
This router replaced a Belkin Pre-N router for the following reasons:
- Its Web interface/CPU processor was slow when it performed my requests.
- It lost connectivity to the internet and it did not detect that. Hard resets were required.
- Finally, the router performance went downhill. A dial-up modem would have been just as fast. This was a tough one to debug as I just switched from DSL to Cable. I root caused the issue to the router and verified it was not a configuration issue. The problem existed on both wired and wireless. Belkin customer service while courteous and good, confirmed my findings and were going to send me a replacement. However, I got tired of waiting for the RMA to be approved and sent the router back to the store I bought it from. I used my 5 year old wired linksys router to rule out the DSL/Cable internet problem.
So I decided to shell out the extra few dollars, and put Linksys back into my network, and its worth every dollar I spent.
This router worked right out of the box if you use a wired connection. For the folks that are whining about having problems with the wireless aspect of it, well let me say that I guarantee all these folks bought a Wireless N router to be used in either a Wireless G or B environment. Well guess what, it won't work out of the box and you do need to tweak it. I for one bought it despite the fact that my network is a mixed G and B in anticipation of me getting an N wireless adapter.
The issues I had were mistakes by me inputing the wrong mac filter of my wireless adaptor, but as soon as I corrected that, and chose the correct mode: BG Mixed, everything around the house popped up. The range is pretty good, but do not expect the range to be phenomenal unless you use the N protocol. The nature of G and B radio waves will not travel as far as what can be done with N.
Compared to Belkin, the Web interface is super fast, the router does not reset everytime you change a major config such as WEP, mac filtering, password, etc. Whereas the Belkin would want to reset on a dime to enforce its policies which really is painful if you are trying to figure out your network config.
The feature list is very rich, you can install some pretty advanced policies to limit network access. You can even do it by time of day, imaging that after school and up till bed time, web browsing can be restricted! It has some neat security features, such as a stateful packet inspection, active x prevention while web browsing(protects you from hostile websites that can initiate activex sessions which internet explorer is susceptible to). As with any security feature you can really lock things down, so my recommendation is if you enable it, test your ability to visit the sites and run the applications you use after each change to make sure you did not shoot yourself in the foot. It makes network debugging easier.
So in summary I would buy this device again, and the only reason I did not rate this a five star is because I am very picky, and unless this router churned ice cream and read my mind and new exactly what to configure in my network without telling, then only then will I give it a five star rating :)
Customer Review: For me, the best of the four I tried...
Summary: 4 Stars
I started with the D-link wireless N Dir-615, then went to Belkin N1 F5D82314, then to Buffalo N WZR-2G300N and finally Linksys wrt 300N.
I purchased each companies matching n wireless card for my lap top (DWA-642,F5D8011, WLI-CB-G300N, WPC-300N). All were installed and tested under similar situations.
By far, the Linksys customer service experience for me was so much better than the others. I was on in about 1 hour from my first call after unsuccessfully attempting to install it on my own. The least amount of time I spent on the others was 3 hours (1 1/2 hours on hold and 1 1/2 hours attempting to install before giving up on Buffalo's poor signal) and the most over 20 hours (d-link).
All systems were about $200 for the card and router. All were set up on a Compaq desk top with XP and the wireless card on a Dell Inspiron 8600 with XP. The distance from the desktop to the lap top was about 95-100 feet on the ground floor of the house without significant obstruction. I have a 5.8 ghz phone system and a cable modem.
On the Linksys, I now get about 1 1/2 bars on average using Windows to connect. The speed right now is 243 Mbps. I have been using it for over an hour and there has been an occasional delayed page open, but no drop or restart. I have slightly less bars than I'm picking up from my next door neighbors wireless over 200 feet away from the lap top. He has an older Linksys router. Two of the others I tried before linksys had pitiful support from India with D-link, and Belkin. I had US help from Buffalo, but the help was lack luster and typical of overworked American workers. My support from Linksys was from the Philippians. Linksys customer support was spirited, regimented and seriously comical, but they got the job done. All support people wanted your name, number and email and I was not comfortable with this. I returned the first three I bought out of frustration with technical support and poor performance. I believe that a $100 product should work out of the box and you should not have to spend hours of time on the phone to get it working. I did not try Netgear because of bad past experiences with my first router I bought from them. I'm planning on keeping the linksys. For me Linksys is the best of all the ones I tried. I gave it 4 for ratings believing there must be something better out there.
If you are not good with computers, I would suggest just calling tech support when you are ready to install your router rather than wasting your time trying on your own. Let them work with you to get it up and running and don't hang up until the router is up and all of your computers can connect on wireless.
I would also suggest you purchase from a place you can easily return to.
Customer Review: Works for me
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had a wireless home network for several years now, the first incarnation coming along with the advent of 802.11G technology and at this point I have several different "generations" of technology represented within my network.
I still have my first D-Link desktop card, a newer Dell laptop with a G card installed. an Xbox, a PS3, a Sunrocket VOIP Gizmo directly connected to the router and another desktop configured as an HTPC also directly connected to the router.
I tried everything D-Link has in the way of "N" routers, up to and including their top of the line DIR-655 with varying levels of problems including; inability to have differing security levels on my different devices and inability to have my VOIP service Gizmo behind the router which is something I absolutely demand.
When I finally gave up and expanded my search, I went with Linksys because Sunrocket has 2 Gizmos, 1 being made by Linksys and I figured if all else failed, I could ask them to replace the Gizmo I have with the one from Linksys, hoping that would eliminate compatibility issues.
The Gizmo is an NAT device and the WRT300N has a specific setting to allow or deny NAT traffic. I checked the box, the phone works, end of story. Whereas my older D-Link router allowed my older receivers to run at simple WPA security and those capable to take advantage of newer WPA 2 security, the new D-Links just could not do this requiring me to lower the security level of ALL connected equipment.
With the Linksys, I again have the ease of running WPA 2 security while the router allows my legacy cards to access with basic WPA.
My Intel wireless on my laptop shows the signal level in the taskbar and while the D-Link always showed "full" reception, the Linksys will vary from full to 2 and even 1 bar of reception at times. However, while I had difficulty sitting on my patio with the D-Link and would have to move and adjust until I could get a usable signal, the Linksys has been able to supply a solid signal anywhere I've gone on my property, regardless of the "level" indicated in the taskbar. The only exception would be if I go down the street, the bar will drop to zero and so will my ability to access my network.
The bottom line here is, for me, the WRT300N did what 3 other routers could not. Namely, it brought me, my 3 PC's, my gaming systems and my phone service over to the new 802.11N technology. On top of that, it did it with as little fuss as I could have possibly hoped for, making me sorely regret all those wasted hours trying to get the "other" stuff to work.
It seems the biggest complaints regarding this router are quite old. Perhaps the newer firmware upgrades have addressed the worst issues. All I know is, it works just fine for me.
Customer Review: Nice!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have not wrung out this system to the extremes, but allow me to present what I've found after installation and a day's use.
We have a PC using cable to the internet. We added a second PC to our son's room. In our case we could have run a cable from our study (where PC #1 and its cable modem reside) to our son's room fairly easily. We decided to pay the extra to go to wireless because we see the need in the near furture to compute from the kitchen and living room. So, extra expense today avoids throwing away a wired router later on.
Because of the nearness of the two rooms, we have not put the distance spec to the test. For our son's PC we elected to use the companion Linksys Wireless-N USB Network Adaptor with the included USB cable and Adaptor cradle. This places the remote PC's antenna up high on the desktop.
Our original PC is wired directly to one of four available plugs on the back of the router. I have not yet placed the original PC's printer on the LAN for access by both PC's but intend to do this with cable. We also have a second laser printer that I intend to hang on the LAN with a wire connector.
Installation of the router was a breeze. Open the box, see the stern warning to insert the CD BEFORE cabling the router, and follow step by step instructions. Installation was easy and took 5 minutes (even leaving Norton Internet Security turned on - I did have to answer two queries from the Norton software). I saw one difficulty at step 10 (the last step in basic installation). Here, six windows are presented with the top window defaulted to some odd use, but with a drop down choice including "Cable"... the next window asked for IP address, which I did not know how to find other than to call my ISP and hang on the line for 20 minutes. As it turns out, all I needed to do was select "Cable" and end the installation wizard. I called Linksys support and they told me to simply click on Explorer, which I did, and I was right on the internet... and done with the router installation.
Next I installed the USB wireless N adaptor in our son's room. This too began with a stern warning to run the CD first. I did and this installation went smoothly and without a glitch. Performance from this remote PC seems to be just as fast as my wired PC, so the N speed is doing its job. Maybe a G router would have been fine too, I just didn't know, and went with the N router which is potentially 4 to 12 times faster than G. It is a $50 decision to go with the higher speed.
My overall experience has been near perfect and Linksys support was readily available (even though they did not need to do anything other than tell me to click on Explorer.
Customer Review: After Hours and Hours with Tech Support, it Still doesn't Work!
Summary: 1 Stars
I wish I had the same experience as the person that rated 5 stars; but quite the opposite for me. This is not my first wireless router. I have experience with an 802.11B router of which I never had any problems. I wanted to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Let's just say this one may be the latest; however anything but greatest.
I've spent countless hours, and days, on several different calls to tech support and the wireless still will not connect to the internet. It connects to the router with excellent signal strength, but will not connect to the internet. I experience this connection problem with both the PCMCIA card WPC300N notebook adaptor and also with my Cisco Aironet a/b/g card in my other laptop. Neither will work wirelessly. If I hardwire to the router it works perfect, but then what's the point of a wireless router if you need to hardwire?
The tech support people don't seem knowledgeable. Another issue is the phone connection to tech support. They are located in the Philippines and the phone connection is sometimes poor and my call has been dropped more than once. That is frustrating alone since you have to wait quite awhile to talk to someone. When the calls were dropped some of the technicians call back and others don't.
The tech support reps will make recommendations which don't work and may be incorrect recommendations. When talking to another technician they apologize for the suggestions of the other person which they admit was wrong. For example one technician told me to plug the PCMCIA card in before the software even though there are stickers all over the product to install software first. This was probably on my 7th or 8th call. The next day another technician needed to walk me through uninstalling everything and apologized of the wrong information given the day before.
I could spend hours writing about the experience and suggestions of tech support to get this product to work, but the bottom line is it still doesn't work. My pc equipment is not the problem. I'm running XP on all machines and the oldest laptop (a high end Sony) is just at 2 years old. For some reason this router just doesn't work wirelessly. My suggestion to you is to wait until they work the bugs out of this one. I hope this was help to you in making a decision. Someone seemed to be happy with this and gave 5 stars. I suppose they must work for Linksys, or it may have worked for them??? Give it a shot for yourself. I would love to know if others have the same experience. If you 'do' buy this please send your feedback. I would love to know your experience.