Cisco-Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $55.85 You Save: $11.14 (17%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $15.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router
Customer Review: Award Winning tech support tried to rip me off
Summary: 2 Stars
The router is basically working fine with my Thinkpad X60 (running XP) and fit PC2 (running Ubuntu).
The reason that I am going to give this product an 2 star review is that the tech support wasn't able to help me install the router and tried their best to take over my computer and charge me additional fee (I refused).
I tried to followed the instruction to install the router. Since there is a sticker on the ports of the router saying that you have to install the software first, I installed the software without connecting the router. It stuck at checking connection page and saying there's some problem with wireless adapter. After tried several things out and not able to get it working, I decided to call Sisco's "Award Winning Tech Support".
The first thing made me uncomfortable is they ask your name(full name), phone number and e-mail. I was not cautious enough so I give out my phone number but not e-mail address. They won't inform you providing those information are optional until you decide not to tell. I wonder those personal information has anything to do with installing the router.
Than the tech support kept asking me to spend around 9 dollar to have someone take over my computer and take a look at it. She kept saying that is the best way to resolve my problem.
I have been using "Log me in" to access my office computer at home and I know what it's like to have some one remote access your computer. They can do whatever they want, including lock up your screen, keyboard and mouse. Therefore I turned down her offer and ask if she able to advice via phone. She still insist on the "remote plan". I told her I rather try to install again by myself and end up the conversation.
After I tried to connect the router to the network while installing the software, everything works out fine. I am glad I didn't pay 9 dollar for doing this.
Thank you award winning tech support for wasting me 20 minutes!
(I am not complaining about individual tech support but whoever wrote their SOP)
Customer Review: Bad product, worse customer service
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased two of these. I installed one and it is working. I'd rate that installation as about medium. It wasn't as easy as the installation instructions suggest, but it was manageable for someone with well above-average technical acumen. If you don't have good technical acumen, I'd buy elsewhere or invest the money in having a computer expert install it for you.
The second router ultimately never installed. I found myself on the phone with Linksys (in, of course, India) for many hours. At first they did not want to help me at all. They told me that, even though I had just purchsed the item, that it was out of warranty. Why? Well, it turns out that Amazon and their pass-thru vendor sold me hardware that was EIGHT generations/versions old! Never did it say anywhere that I was not getting the most current unit. Anyway, I negotiated my way through that. But, Amazon, it would have been good to know this up front in the listing.
Then it was about spending hours trying to get them to troubleshoot the unit. In the end they decided that it could not be connected and that it was defective. They told me that they would send instructions via e-mail that would allow me to send it back to them for replacement (at my cost of course). They NEVER did. When I called again, and waited on the phone again, they did not have record of my case number and they started the whole "this isn't covered by warranty" discussion again. I decided at that point that the hassle they were putting me through was not worth the money I'd get back. So, I cancelled the call and decided to just eat the cost.
I did later contact the pass thru vendor for the product via e-mail. In a short note I told them of my issue and they very willingly agreed to take the product back and give me a refund. So, all I'm out is the shipping cost and about 10 hours of my time.
Linksys, your customer service is really, really horrible. I can't imagine how someone without any technical skills would have dealt with this issue. You should be ashamed at yourselves.
Customer Review: Works great if you don't need security
Summary: 3 Stars
Used it two ways: (1) for 4 months I've been using it to share a printer and external hard drive on the basement PC with laptops upstairs, and it's worked great -- faster xfer than going thru the wireless card on the basement computer; (2) just changed over to cable internet and now using the router for that, and it's also working great -- I'm able to connect to the internet with the PC, either laptop, and also with my iTouch. The only complaint is with Network Magic, which, unless you have little or no PC knowledge, seems to complicate matters and slow things down (so I uninstalled it). Also, for families, I recommend using OpenDNS with this router (OpenDNS.com), to centralize your control over what the kids can access in the house (plus it's free).
Update Feb. 2011: Cannot get it to reliably lock out time frames using Access Restriction policies. Very flakey, and if you change one policy it seems to override others. I'm using several "deny" policies to lock out different times at night (one to force the kids to quit using the internet so they get to bed, and one later on to force the adults to quit using the internet so THEY get to bed). ;-)
However, it appears there are major flaws with the firmware in this respect (and I have updated it with the latest version). Besides thinking that 12am in the morning is "later" than 5am in the morning (a problem which did eventually correct itself -- somehow), it simply won't enforce restrictions reliably. I'm writing this right now during my 7pm to 8:30pm "denial" policy -- so it's obviously not working.
If we reset the router, the restrictions will work for a little while, and then stop again. And any modification you make on the fly seem to cause it to screw up all the policies.
So ... if you don't need to set Access Restrictions -- i.e. you'll just leave it on all the time -- it seems to work pretty good (I'd give it 4 stars for that). And it worked great when we just used it to network a printer early on. But for Access Restrictions it's horrible.
Customer Review: Easy Setup, Reliable, Good Range
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using a NetGear Rangemax for a number of years now - my house has sound dampening insulation in the walls, and that seems to impact range with most routers.
When I got the NetGear, it was purely for range... and the RangeMax does deliver on that promise. However now and then I'd have to unplug it to do a hard reset because it's connection with the cable modem would get funky and it wouldn't connect. Or often I'd have to http to the web admin to release/renew the IP from the cable modem. I assumed this was more of a Comcast issue.
But a few months ago I got a Macbook Pro, and life with NetGear went downhill. Hitting any sort of site with video, or downloading a large file caused the router to totally lock up. And it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.
So I decided to give the Linksys WRT54G2 a try. What I find confusing about the Linksys WRT series routers is just the naming conventions... there's so many, it's hard to discern what a higher model adds, and reviews seem to fluctuate. E.g. often the lower end Linksys routers seem to score better than the higher end.
But the WRT54G2 at Amazon has 300+ 5/5 ratings, so figured it was a safe bet.
Setup was a breeze, 5 minutes and was up and running. Range is as good if not better than the MIMO based NetGear RangeMax (I believe the WRT54G2 is MIMO as well). Haven't had to release/renew the IP from Comcast like I've had to do with the NetGear.
Absolutely no problems with the Macbook, and no impact with XBOX Live gaming (I play Call Of Duty 4 and 5 online). I also run Windows Vista and Windows XP boxes on the network.
I used to be a big fan of NetGear, but if you go on their hosted discussion forums - there's tons of people asking how to solve this Macbook locking up the router issue as it spans many of their products. It's very dissapointing to see that they haven't updated the router's firmware (for the RangeMax, there hasn't been an update since 2006).
Customer Review: Converted to the WRT54G2 from a Netgear MR814V2
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently replaced my Netgear MR814V2 (802.11b) with the WRT54G2. Even though I am reluctant in a bad economy to replace a functional piece of equipment, it seemed too slow, especially after recently getting an iPod Touch (802.11g). Indeed, once I purchased the WRT54G2 my wireless performance to my Touch, wireless laptop, and Wii improved significantly.
In addition to the improved performance, this router also has improved MAC address filtering. Because of circumstances I am unable to rely on password encryption so I instead rely on MAC address filtering, which means unless you have a specified identifier in the router, you can't gain a connection. The old router only allowed 4 devices under this method, so if someone came to visit who needed wireless, I had to delete an existing device to give them access. No problem with this router - it allows at least 20 devices access under this access method. No need to fight with passwords either!
In terms of the setup, it's plug and play. For the "Dummies" crowd the software walks you step by step the sequence of connections. You probably don't need to do this if you're experienced but I did it through an "abundance of caution." Everything worked great! I didn't set up passwords but it looked like the software would have walked me through that too, which is great.
I liked the footprint, even though it ended up being larger than the old device. I have a cramped wiring box for my phone, cable, and internet, but this fit fine. Not having the antenna (or its optimal orientation) to worry about is an added bonus and I have seen no relative degradation by placing the metal lid over the wiring box.
Overall I am happy with the device, although I think the price is a bit high. My Touch wireless is functional and updates to the Wii software don't take years anymore! Many of the improvements listed here may be standard, I don't know. But they have made replacing my nearly 6-year-old router worth it.