Cisco-Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router
by Linksys
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router
Customer Review: slow, flaky; breaks Bonjour (used by Mac OS X, TiVo)
Summary: 1 Stars
This was my 5th or 6th Linksys router. I'd been pretty happy with Linksys in the past, and recommended them to others, but, WOW, the WRT-610N was a nearly unmitigated disaster. I spent almost a week fiddling with it, but I've sent it back and retrograded to an older Linksys WRT-54G.
1) It never delivered more than 6.5 Mbits/sec to the Linksys WET-610N (wireless bridge) only 2 rooms away. So much for "N"!
2) It (like the companion WET) CONSTANTLY asked me to enter my password, which was then transmitted in the clear. (I use Safari on my Mac, but I don't think Firefox behaved any better.) It didn't work with the Mac OS X keychain either, so I had to enter my password by hand each time.
3) Firmware update didn't work using Safari. It hung forever. Firefox did solve that one. (Note: my older Linksys routers got firmware updates via Safari with no problems.)
4) It broke Bonjour/Zeroconf (used by Mac OS X and TiVo's on my home network). I don't think it knew how to route/deliver IP multicast packets. For me, this was the deal-breaker. (Here again, the older WRT-54G works just fine in this regard.)
5) It couldn't communicate wirelessly with my iBook G3 (an 802.11b device), even using WPA-1/TKIP. Again, WRT-54G works just fine.
6) During its last 12 hours I had to restart it 3 times. Maybe it knew its hours were numbered! (Before today it didn't have uptime problems.)
The one good thing I can say about this product is that Linksys (finally) restored a feature it cut from other models a decade ago. You can (once again) map a public port, visible on the Internet, to a different port on the private side of the router. E.g. it can map external ports 8080, 8081, and 8082 to three different computers on the home net, all running on port 80, locally. You also get the ability to map more ports (3 screens worth, instead of 2).
This review refers to firmware version 1.00.03 B15 (May 14, 2009), which was still current as of September 4, 2009.
Oh yeah, I did like that the plug/power supply didn't prevent use of adjacent receptacles. As shipped, it was 6 feet long, but designed so that you could replace a short "appliance cord" section with a longer appliance cord to get more than 6 foot reach. Kudos to the cord designer! :-)
Customer Review: Good product but firmware issues
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this router to replace a WRT54G from Linksys. The product has a nice design and runs cool compared to other Linksys products. The setup is rather easy, I didn't use the included assistance, just set it up via the webinterface as I am running mostly Macs in my home.
The Webinterface is okay but settings are hidden in various screens. For example to setup the Wireless you need to go through several different pages to setup the SSID and the encryption. It's okay but not straight forward in a wizard like fashion.
The issues I ran into with this router after setting up had mainly to do with storage and a VoIP device I have on my network.
For the storage the initial firmware it came with could recognize my 1TB external disk and set it up. However there is a newer firmware version on the Linksys site that helps to solve some of the Wireless dropout issues. Once upgraded to that firmware the 1TB drive was not recognized anymore - this issue is discussed in detail on the Linksys support forum, several users have this issue and have unsucessful tried to solve it with Linksys support. So far no response from Linksys as to why this happens. You can only downgrade to previous firmware to have drives over 500GB recognized and then have to deal with the Wireless dropout.
As for the VoIP device I have it worked with my WRT54G flawless. Once I replaced my old router with the WRT610N I couldnt' receive any calls and had issues with voice quality and dropped calls. Also the Linksys support forum has several entries on VoIP issues and the workaround suggestion is to open ports in your firewall or put the device in the DMZ. This is not an ideal solution, especially as it's working with an older version of the router. The WRT610N seems to block incoming VoIP transactions and hence messed up the communication.
Overall I think it's a good product from hardware point of view put the current firmware leaves a lot to be desired to the extend that this device was unusable to me at this stage and I had to return it to the store for a refund.
Due to my mainly Mac setup I went a Airport Extreme Base Station which works flawless with my current setup and was also a lot easier to setup than the Linksys due to it's wizard driven setup via Airport Utility.
Customer Review: Stay away from this router - nothing but trouble
Summary: 1 Stars
Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router I replaced a Linksys WRT54G router with this model. It never worked correctly from day 1 (After 60+ days, I replaced it with a D-Link DIR-655 and all of the problems I experienced went away).
Throughout the day, for no reason, the Linksys 610 simply dropped the wireless connection three or four times every day. I wasn't changing location so it wasn't attempting to move from the 2.4 to 5 GHz, the 2.4 simply disconnected. In some cases, it would automatically reconnect after a minute ot two, in other cases I had to power down and then powr back up both the router and the cable modem to re-establish a connection.
The connection speed would vary from 130 Mbps to 1 Mbps and back with no other users on the network, no movement of my notebook connection, and with no large file transfers in progrss.
I have read that the 610 had a heat problem. To make sure that this wasn't the cause, I tipped the 610 up at a 45 degree angle to make sure that there would be sufficient airflow. It didn't work any better.
I had a Linksys wireless print server that worked flawlessly on the 'G' wireless modem for 2+ years. When I attempted to transfer it to the 610, it would connect when initially installed, but once onplugged and moved back to its permanent location, it would never re-connect. When I called Linksys about it, because the printserver was not new, they wanted me to pay for support. Instead I bought an HP wireless print server and experienced exactly the same problem, indicating the problem was in the 610, not either of the print servers. (As an aside, this morning I re-installed the HP prnt server to the D-Link in less than 15 minutes and it works flawlessly).
LELA is another bone of contention. It has been touted as a home network management tool. The only function I found was the ability to select a wireless networks from a list of ones available. There was no management of anything. This may explain why Cisco acquired the company that created Network Magic.
The Linksys 610N is NOT a quality product, it isn't even a stable product.
Customer Review: Another Winner (Updated)
Summary: 5 Stars
Linksys did a great job with this product. It is sleek and stylish, while still providing high levels of connectivity within my three story home. I have it installed near the ceiling of my basement.
I am using the 5ghZ "N" band for my PS3 only at this time. The PS3 is connected via ethernet to the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. The rest of my computers (PCs, iPhone, and Macs) use the 2.4 ghZ "B-G Mixed" band.
Both networks share the same DHCP pool, but have different SSIDs and passphrases (a Linksys recommendation).
The first thing I did was update the firmware. I have not experienced any dropouts or heat issues.
UPDATE: After a few weeks of use and after adding more wireless devices to my network, I have more to say...and its not so rosy. Both my Lenovo T61 and Apple Macbook Pro have issues when I tried setting the 2.4ghz network to "Mixed" (B, G, and N). When one computer is working fine, the other seems to have issues connecting to the network, usually the T61. I had security set to WPA 2 Tkip or AES (since this router allows this "either or" setting). I have since changed WPA TKIP based ona recommendation I found on the Linksys forums. It has only marginally improved things.
The bizarre part about this is the T61. It works fine over the 5GHz N setup, giving me 130Mbps. On 2.4 ghz I had to switch to "B-G Mixed and enable SSID broadcasting to get a connection initially. After that I could re-disable SSID broadcasting.
So, for my house I have the following: PS3 on 5Ghz N. No connectivity issues with the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. 100% uptime.
I also have an iPhone ("B/G" speeds), Appletv (Supports B/G/N), Macbook Pro (Airport "G" card), Buffalo Wireless Extender ("G"), and PowerMac (Airport "B" card). Since my iTunes library is on the Macbook Pro, I had to run the appletv over my 2.4 ghz network for the Appletv to see it. I was hoping that since both networks share the same address pool, that devices on the 2.4ghz network could see those on the 5Ghz N network. I expected bridging between the two wireless bands because they are in the same device. Maybe I am doing something wrong. If so, please comment on your setup.
Customer Review: Linksys used to be great...not anymore
Summary: 1 Stars
I've been working with wireless routers since my first Beadlenet, seemingly a lifetime ago. I recently decided to upgrade my WRT54GS with the 610, primarily for the N band, but also because the 54GS kept requiring a reboot about twice a day. The 610 is my fifth Linksys router, and I have been a reliable Linksys customer - all my adapters are Linksys, every router (since the Beadlenet) has been a Linksys, and I honestly never even looked at D-Link or the others. That has now changed.
First, LELA (their Easy Link Advisor) caused a lot of problems. After going though it numerous times, it would just stare at me at the end of setup with "Cannot connect to router". OK, on to manual setup - no big deal, I've done this probably a hundred times or more.
I was able to finally get connected. With the router in the exact same place as my old one, my range on the 2.4Ghz band was well under half of what I was getting before. The router is in the basement, which with the 54GS allowed me to go anywhere even on the second story. Now, I cannot go to even the first story, nor can I go to the other end of the basement. Note that this is with the 2.4Ghz band, same as before. I've also successfully connected to the 5Ghz band, but that is even more limited; anything beyond the next room and I'm out of luck. I tried moving the router around - first floor, second floor, etc. - with no good results anywhere. The range is just severely limited compared to the older Linksys products.
Finally, being a glutton for punishment, I decided to try the USB storage. Keep in mind I work on computers and networking for a living. After 6 HOURS of setup, I could not reliably access the disk. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. Upgrading firmware did not solve this problem, nor did calls to Linksys.
I returned the router, tried another, with the exact same results. I suspect they have a significant problem with these internal antennas; Linksys is more than aware that their range is limited, but they prefer the sleek, "sexy" look over actual functionality. That's just too bad and will prove their undoing.
I am returning this unit and shopping for another brand. I've finally had enough with Linksys.