Linksys Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway WAG200G - wireless router

...I then came across the Linksys WAG200G. Looking at the specifications on the box, I could see all my basic requirements were covered. ADSL modem, with 4 port switch, wireless to G standards ( 54mbps ).

I hand over the debit card.... deals done.

I got home, and started to unpack my new purchase, even though I obviously saw what it looked like at the store, and on the box, I was quite surprised when I started to remove ...
...basically just opens up the Linksys website, if you see it then hey - your good to go )

Routers can be known to be good for different reasons. Some makes of routers are good at holding sync ( synchronisation ) so your DSL signal on your phone line, if you live a long distance from your telephone exchange. Others can help give a more stable connection. Im not going to go into much more detail on this, as this is easily available on ... more

I noticed a couple of other reviews on this router..... and decided to balance it up a bit, I should write one up on my experience it.

I had a hard long week at work.... and was ready for some serious online gaming over the weekend, but the DISASTER !

My previous router Netgear DG834G was dead....( death march music plays ) yep.... it was as dead as a dodo. Now in fairness to the router, it had served me well, had it for around 2 years, was on 24/7 never turned off, and was well, very well used. Considering NetGears are quite well known to run a little hotter than others, I think it served me well.

So.... I needed a replacement router or my weekend would be dull and boring !! ( not really people, only joking, I do have a life outside of the digital world ^^ )

I drove off to a local retailer to have a look at what routers they had available.

I saw a couple of NetGears, of which there are really very mixed reviews on their equipment. If you get a 'good' one, then it will serve you well, as mine previously did. Others - people have complete nightmares with.

Being the sort of person I am, I fancied a change.

I then came across the Linksys WAG200G. Looking at the specifications on the box, I could see all my basic requirements were covered. ADSL modem, with 4 port switch, wireless to G standards ( 54mbps ).

I hand over the debit card.... deals done.

I got home, and started to unpack my new purchase, even though I obviously saw what it looked like at the store, and on the box, I was quite surprised when I started to remove the contents from the box. The router is very well designed, very sleek looking and fits beautifully with my 'modern / contempory' home. A sleek silver finish, looks great. One of the things that really put me off about older routers, and some manufacturers 'designs' is that they just look like a bit of a house brick, and you just feel like you have to hide it away. Not with this, you can really give it pride of place on your desk, and show it off.

I read that some others had problems getting this set up, which I cant really understand. If you follow the instructions, then this is really, really simple to get set up, so much so in fact, I recommended this router to my uncle when he was after a replacement, and with him being totally un-techy, he got this running in less than 5 mins !

All of the components of the router are very well packaged and wrapped.

Contents of the box are

Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway
Power Adapter
User Guide on CD-ROM
Setup Wizard on CD-ROM
CAT-5 Network Cable
Phone Cable
Quick Installation
Microfilter
Stand

Now installation is really easy, trust me, as long as you read the intructions, and follow the steps as you are told to do.

Firstly I powered up the router by attaching the power adaptor to it. I then connected the microfilter to my telephone socket, and from my microfilter I connected the phone cable supplied, and connected this to the back of the router.

I connected the CAT-5 network cable to one of the four ports on the back of the router, and the other to the back of my PC, to the NIC ( Network Interface Card ) and then like the instructions tell you, I then inserted the SetUp-Wizard CD into my PC.

The setup screens are very very straight forward. It prompts you to enter your username / password, which you should have from your ISP ( Internet Service Provider ) it then stores this information.

There are various LEDs on the front of the router, so you can see when you have connectivity.

Initially when you connect the phone cable from your microfilter, to the router, it will detect that you have an ADSL ( broadband ) signal on your telephone line ( as long as you have already had your phone line provisioned for ADSL with an ISP ) and the 'DSL' LED on the router will be lit, however as the router has to be told what credentials you are logging on with, the 'internet' light will not light up, until you have entered the Username / Password into the SetUp wizard when you first run it. Obviously the PWR ( Power ) light is on as soon as the router is powered up, and the LAN lights will light up for any port that you have a CAT-5 Network cable attached to.

The set up for this literally took me 2 mins, most of that was finding the piece of paper that I wrote my ADSL username / password down on, so that I could enter this into the setup wizard.

Routers can be configured much much more than this, with specific country settings, however the default settings on this router, sold in the UK are for the UK settings, so there is nothing else that you would need to configure initially.

After completing the set up wizard, I could see that the 'Internet' LED on the router lit up ( showing that it tried logging in with the username / password that I supplied during set up, and it authenticated / logged in )

The set up wizard confirmed that setup had completed, and that it would open a browser to confirm that you had connectivity ( basically just opens up the Linksys website, if you see it then hey - your good to go )

Routers can be known to be good for different reasons. Some makes of routers are good at holding sync ( synchronisation ) so your DSL signal on your phone line, if you live a long distance from your telephone exchange. Others can help give a more stable connection. Im not going to go into much more detail on this, as this is easily available on the internet if you really want to go read about it, and I am trying to keep this review to my actual purchase, installation, and useage of this router.

The webinterface of the router is accessible via a web browser ( where you can then further configure the router if you need to )

By default this is accessible via

http://192.168.0.1
Username : Admin
Password : Admin

Once within the web interface, anyone wishing to do so, can enable the wireless function of the router, enable port forwarding etc etc. For the techy people, they will know how to complete these functions. For people who might not be so techy, your router is already good to go, and to enable the wireless access point is very straight forward, just by going to 'Wireless' and then enable. WEP encryption can be set up at this point if you so choose also ( which I would recommend doing for anyone using wireless !! )

I've had this router now for about 4 months, and I have been very very happy with it. It never looses sync, my connection is rock solid - the only time it reboots is if I actually initiate the reboot. Features of the router are very good, and I was surprised to find that this router supports SNMP - which I didnt expect, and was happy to find, as I could then use this function.

I run a personal server at home, which hosts my own personal website, and a few others for friends, a couple of forums, and a teamspeak server. This router has never let me down, and best bit of all, it was well priced, looks good, and doesnt run anywhere as hot as my previous router the Netgear.

If your looking for your first purchase of a router, or are looking at one as a replacement / upgrade, then I would definately recommend this one to you. 

...less