Cisco-Linksys WRT600N Linksys Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $109.99 You Save: $90.00 (45%) 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 WRT600N Linksys Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
Customer Review: Works well for me
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used this router for the past two years and have been very pleased with it. It is robust, relatively easy to use, and reliable. I would not recommend it to anyone who is a complete novice to home networking, but people who feel comfortable with computers and peripherals should not have major problems setting it up and using it. That being said, the router web interface feels rather clunky and not easy to figure out. The more more non-standard features are particularly hard to configure. There is not enough documentation to guide you, either on the included CD or online. The customer service and the technical support has been fairly friendly and helpful though, and if you are having problems with any one of the features they will be able to help you out.
The USB storage link is one of my favorite features of this router. I've had a 1TB external hard drive attached to it and it has been really useful to be able to access all of my files from anywhere on the home network. There were a few buggy features with the setup, but once I figured them out the storage has been reliable and accessible for all of the past two years.
The WiFi features of this router are outstanding, and I've been able to enjoy fast, reliable WiFi access from anywhere in my house and the surrounding back yard. The WiFi is fast and powerful enough to stream uninterrupted high definition video to multiple devices at the same time. I only wish it would be possible to completely turn off the WiFi without turning off the internet connection altogether. This would be a useful safety feature when you go on a vacation for instance.
I've used this router with my Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server and TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder. It has worked flawlessly with both of them. In particular, it has enabled me to access my home server from various locations away from home. Both upload and download speeds were very good.
One of the least appealing features of this router is its form factor. The multiple antennas may give you some geek cred, but they are not the most sightly thing to see in your home. From what I understand Linksys has eliminated those protruding antennas from their recent models, and that is a very welcome development.
Overall I have been very satisfied with this router and would recommend it for use in home and small businesses.
Customer Review: Wireless-G is Good But Wireless-N Range is Limited
Summary: 3 Stars
I am currently using it as a wireless access point instead of a router. It works well in wireless-G department. I can get good/excellent wireless-G signal in a second floor bedroom (54Mbps) (the wireless access point is in the basement and the house is wooden construction and is not big), and I can watch DVD quality video without any problem.
On the other hand, I cannot get a reliable wireless-N signal as soon as I move to one floor above where the wireless access point is. I know that wireless-N signal doesn't go far; but I didn't know that the range is that limited. Seem like that wireless-N thing really doesn't have any practical use for me because I don't subscribe to HDTV and I believe watching HDTV video is the only way to take advantage of the high bandwidth of wireless-N. When it can get a good signal like when I am in the same floor of the wireless access point with no wall or floor between us, its bandwidth can be as high as 270Mbps. I probably better off using a regular wireless-G access point instead of this dual band thing (then I can save some money). Having said this, I am not using a LinkSys wireless card in my laptop. I am using Intel wireless mini card (product number is something like 4596AGN, I don't quite remember). This may or may not have something to do with the fact that I cannot get a good range with wireless-N. Therefore, I cannot talk too negative about this.
Linksys tech support is inconsistant. The first time I talk to their Indian tech support, he was very helpful and could fix my setup problem very quickly. The second time I talk to their tech support (not sure she is Indian or somewhere else), she was not willing to help based on the fact that I use the product as a wireless access point instead of a router and it is connected to a Linksys router that is no longer under warranty. Moreover, she misunderstood what the yellow connection light means (yellow means the connection is in gigabit, green means the connection is good but it is not in gigabit mode). I ended up solving the problem myself.
If you decide to buy this product, please note that the owner manual is inside the CD-ROM that comes with the product. The few pieces of paper come with the product are not the owner manual. I didn't know this, and I ended up calling tech support unnecessarily.
Jay Chan
Customer Review: Very nice upgrade--a little wary
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased the WRT600N to replace my older G-based Buffalo wireless router. I recently purchased a laptop with built-in N capability, plus I was looking for better coverage and a wider range of features. This router seems to fit the bill.
The laptop connects anywhere in my apartment with Excellent signal strength at 270mbps. Can't ask for much more. Signal strength on my other wireless devices (2 Tivos and a PS3) is also excellent... 90%+.
I gave a rating of 4 stars for 2 reasons:
1. The connection to both of my Tivos dropped unexpectedly. They lost the address that had been asigned. Re-setup was fairly painless, but I've had issues like this with Linksys hardware before (back in the B days) which is why I went with Buffalo equipment. I had my Buffalo G router for 5 years and didn't have to reset it once. Not once. Seeing the Tivos lose their addresses is a little disconcerting.
2. Setup with the provided CD was almost problem-free, but not quite. It wasn't able to detect my internet connection. I proceeded with the rest of the set up, and it seemed to go fine. I tried to access the web-based setup, but for some reason it didn't recognize my new admin password. After using admin/admin, I was able to gain access, and all of my other settings (SSID name, password, etc.) were in place. Re-doing the admin password in the web-based set up worked. After shutting down the computer, and power-cycling the router and cable modem, everything worked fine.
I set up the QoS option for my VOIP phone, and it seems to work fine; no problems anyway.
I will return in 30 days. If the Tivos have maintained their connection and no other problems arise, I would consider this a 5-star product. Stay tuned.
-----UPDATE: 8/7/08-----
I've had the router for a little over a month now. I went out of town for about a week, and when I returned I had to reboot the router to get it working. I'm not sure what may have caused the issue (power outage perhaps) so I won't hold it against the router. It hasn't dropped any connections, and works well. It detects my 2 Tivos, PS3 and laptop with no problems, and signal strength is excellent. I'm not sure what to attribute other people's problems to, but for me it has worked well. I would give the product 5 stars at this point.
Customer Review: Can't get Draft N speeds
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this router a few days ago and returned it after 2 days of usage. Reason? No matter what I did, couldn't get it to go faster than ~ 50 Mbps. The draft N speed (270 Mbps) never materialized for me.
Used it with a brand new Lenovo T61 laptop running Vista ultimate. The 5GHz band would always run at 801.11a speed! The 2.4 Ghz band fared better and would run at 802.11g speed.
Worked with Linksys technical support for several hours. The first line of support is pretty useless. The support from India had a hard time differentiating LAN and WAN performance. One of the support rep told me that Wifi routers are designed to go slower than 54 Mbps as WAN connections don't go that fast anyways so what's the point of faster wifi. I tried to explain to the rep LAN performance is required for fast file transfers across the LAN and has nothing to do with WAN bandwidth. He wasn't convinced and kept harping that I can get online so what's the big deal. Apparently most of his support calls are from users who are clueless and can't configure basic internet on a router like this.
I did get through to 2nd line of technical support based in the US once and the guy actually was helpful. He tried tweaking several parameters in the router's advanced wireless page but to no avail. He indicated draft N routers are buggy and advertised speed rarely materializes. In the end the tech support suggested returning the product!
I also had trouble with getting a Gigabit NIC in a desktop connecting a 1 Gbps speed. The desktop couldn't get past 100 Mbps when connected with the router even though it had a GigE NIC. Again support was useless in figuring out the issue.
Seems like Linksys has put out a buggy product. Most people will not know enough about draft N versus 801.11g speed difference to find out. So there may be bliss in their ignorance. For a tech savvy user, the product will not meet its advertised promise.
Customer Review: Excellent - range, speed, secure and easy
Summary: 5 Stars
We want a router that covers the whole house, that is fast, and secure since my wife and I both access business information from home. I used to use 2 802.11b AP but still not satisfied and added power-line Ethernet
for the 6 computers we have. Selected WRT600N based on the reviews for range and 5.8GHz 802.11n.
I am very happy with the router that offers long range, good bandwidth and security. It is easy to set up after the initial confusion. Tech Support was helpful but could be better.
The 5.8GHz 802.11a radio is fast and cover the whole house (good size) with at least 2 bars. The 2.4GHz 802.11b/g radio covers the whole house with 5 bars. Both delivers good bandwidth to all 3 floors. On-line gaming is good :-)
My router came configured so EasyLink Advisor could not find it. I consider this a bug. Tech Support told me to connect the router to PC via wire and go to 192.168.1.1 with a browser, login (user name and password are on page 5 of the user guide) then it is easy from there. Here is a quick guide for wireless.
Tech Support wanted me to use WEP for security, I had to tell him I want WPA2 twice since WEP is unacceptable. He did warm me about bandwidth drop, but I only have a 3Mbps fiber connection at home so it is not a concern.
I could not get Tech Support to give me the user manual, it is available here http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_CASupport_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175237935014&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=3501429063B390&displaypage=nodata#versiondetail
The box came with EasyLink Advisor version 1.0. I was concerned with all the not-so-positive reviews about version 1.0 with WRT3xx. Downloaded version 1.6 but I did not need it.
Linksys might consider using screen shots with higher resolution for the user guide.
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