Cisco-Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster
by Linksys
|
List Price: Our Price: $12.50 You Save: $87.49 (87%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster
Customer Review: I found the winner
Summary: 4 Stars
I have tired many routers and done lots of researches. WRT54GS is my finally choice. I selected WRT54GS because it meets all my criterias.
The things I like:
1) It has 32MB of RAM which is so much faster than D-Link DI-624.
2) You can set the Qos to the MAC addresses, ports, or applications.
3) It has very good wireless range coverage with any b or g cards.
4) It does not reboot like my old DI-624.
5) So far, the best router I have used with VOIP is the SonicWall TZ170W. It was a super fast and stable router, but I couldn't use it because it had a networking issue with my network camera. My old DI-624 was too slow and dropped connection all the time. The Belkin Pre-N router was dropping VOIP packets. Only the WRT54GS works pretty well with the VOIP.
6) It supports 3rd party firmware for special needs.
The things I dislike:
1) You can only select either High or Low priority in port Qos
2) Some connected devices do not show in the client table
Last but not least, you have to be very careful when you pick up this router because it has too many versions. You'd better to get the version 3 or earlier. After the version 3, linksys decreased the RAM to 16MB. That's why you see very different comments on this router. If you see the SN prefix starts with CG6 or higher, the router may not get the same performace as mine. Sometimes, your home 2.4GHz cordless phone will interfere with the wireless signal too. The problem has been fixed after I changed to 5.8GHz phone.
Customer Review: Installation Issues
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to say that I actually bought this product in the anticipation for the Playstation 3 so that I can go wireless. Unfortunately, I'm still connected wired from my PC. I had an issue installing this modem. First of all, I followed the directions and ran the CD first without connecting the modem. It was supposed to walk me through how to connect and finish up the connection. It gave me a browser screen with a "The Page Cannot Be Displayed" message. It said it couldn't find a network connection, yet I was still hooked up to my current modem, which works GREAT!!! And I'm going to keep, by the way. Then, I went to Linksys support and downloaded their latest version of the Easy connect software. Same thing.
I did the on-line chat and the guy from India, didn't really help solve my issue. So, I just connected the modem to my PC and went to the administration through the IP Address and "Cloned" my PC Mac address and then that still didn't work, so I went into the administration interface again, but this time I did a "DHCP RLEASE" and a "DHCP RENEW" and it worked. But, again, I'm still connected directly. I'm dreading the day I hook up the PS3 (when I finally buy it) to see if I can see my network!!
I'm going to purchase a wireless card for my PC just to see how I can use it with this new, so called, speedbooster. I may be back with another review. I gave this product a low score because lets face it, if the average person would not be able to use "Easy Advisor" to set up the router, then what good is it.
Customer Review: Horrible customer service! Beware, not compatible w/ Macs!!!
Summary: 3 Stars
My husband received this for Christmas from my family. I feel I must include that he works with hardware/software in his job, so he knows his computer stuff. Well, he spend SEVERAL late nights trying to hook this router up with our Mac. While our Mac could find the Linksys router (we have an airport card, obviously) it still wasn't actually connecting and we still couldn't get online through the router. So he called customer service. Thanks to Bush for giving tax breaks to companies who outsource jobs to other countries, Linksys must have outsourced their customer service department to India, because my husband got this Indian woman on the phone who didn't have a clue. She was NO help at ALL. My husband told her that he was having trouble hooking up the Linksys router with our Mac, and she told him that she didn't know anything about Macs so she didn't know what the problem was, but she still continued to give him useless advice about what he should do to hook it up. Well, later, my husband was glancing over the router box and in TINY TINY TINY print on the side of the box it says that the linksys router is not compatible with Macs. So, ok, our bad. (Why this router doesn't work with BOTH PC and Macs is beyond me, but then again computers aren't really my thing) But why didn't the lady my husband talked to through the Linksys customer service just tell him that this router isn't compatible with Macs and save him hours and hours of frustration? It's beyond me. If you have a Mac, I'd recommend Netgear.Customer Review: Not dual-voltage -- don't buy if you live overseas
Summary: 1 Stars
Don't bother reading this if you live in the States or Canada, but if you are one of the many Americans stationed overseas who buy electronics online, you might benefit from my frustrating experience.When the router arrived, I read the box very closely; even though every other piece of computer equipment I've purchased in the last few years has been dual-voltage, I wanted to make sure this one was, too. The box doesn't specify the input power requirements, but it does say "For all EU countries" and specifically refers to using it in France and Italy. So I logically assumed that I would indeed be able to use this product in Europe without needing a transformer.
But no. The power adapter is 120V only. I've been trying for over a month to get Linksys to send me a 220V-compatible adapter -- I know they make them; Linksys is worldwide. But every call and email I've sent (and there have been many, to the UK and Germany as well as to the States' outsourced customer service locations) has only resulted in being told to call someone else. Customers can request a replacement power adapter from the Linksys website; I did that, specifying the 220V version, and was sent another 120V one (incidentally, I had to have it sent to my parents, who forwarded it to me, as Linksys refuses to ship to APO addresses). I guess the good people at Linksys thought I didn't know what I wanted.
So -- I can't evaluate the product itself because I haven't used it yet. But the customer service has been extremely disappointing.
Customer Review: A disaster waiting to happen-- avoid it.
Summary: 1 Stars
I was interested to see that a number of people have had problems with this router. I bought it about a month ago to go with my new DSL service. Despite the claims of "easy set up" it did not work out of the box. After a hour wait, I got hold of Linksys technical support (clearly in some other nation besides the United States). The support rep told me to discard the software that came with the unit and walked me through a long series of downloads and software installations. After another hour or so the network was running. File transfers between my computers never worked but at least the DSL did. Then, a couple of days ago, I bought a Wi-Fi equipped PDA and tried to link it to the network. It not only did not work, the attempt crashed the internet link for my other two computers. Then I spent a miserable two hours with tech support crawling under tables, disconnecting and reconnecting wires, holding down the reboot button while disconnecting the power, checking indicator lights, downloading more firmware upgrades, entering IP and DIN numbers, walking through software installations, and other IT nightmares. Nothing worked. And Linksys said they wouldn't refund my money unless I had the receipt "all the original packaging."
No product for the home market should be this complicated to use. Either this model was badly designed or it has a bug that the company is trying to patch over with firmware upgrades instead of recalling the product. Avoid it. Even if you get it working it may not work for long.