One day, the father of networks wanted his progeny to evolve their wireless routers and hubs further. He gathered his four apprentices and told them to do so with strict instructions.
The first was Belkin. Belkin learnt from his old ways and became faster and more reliable than ever before.
The second was Netgear. It decided to take the reliable route as reliability was a better cause, and speed should take secondary priority, although is is rather fast.
The third was Buffalo. Contrary to Netgear, Buffalo took the speed path and have reliable as a secondary priority, although it is very reliable.
The last was Linksys. Seeing that his classmates have all taken the routes that he might have undergone, Linksys goes 'I know! I wont change at all! I will just add the word Wireless-G 54Mbps on my chest
and paint it green!'
And so the rest is history...
Well not really. Because I am one of those twats that purchased a Linksys Wireless-G router.
When I first got it out of it's shiny new box, I thought, "Yes! The high speed wireless solution shall dawn upon my home and I will become... free!"
It was easy to setup, just take it out of the box, out of it's protective cover, plug it into the mains with network cable connecting the broadband modem to it... and presto! Wireless-Grouter all setup! "It looks ugly, but if it performs well then I shall forgive it for it's short comings", I said to myself. The router itself has 2 attenna coming out it's back with 4 x RJ45 cable netowrk connectors for computers that still use the cable alternative. 1 x RJ45 socket was for the modem to connect to it, very standard setup for a router but it works. It is compatible with the older 11Mbps (802.11b) wireless standard so you don't have to worry bout buying new cards to use with this router.
The problems began at this next stage. If you read my previous review on the PCI Wireless-G network card, you'll know how annoying it was to get the network card talking to the router. The router was either undetectable by the network card, or connection kept failing if it ever did connect. After many hours of pain and misery playing with the router's settings, I finally managed to get it chatting to my network card stablely and so conducted some range and speed tests on the router.
The range I have to say made me cry the first time I saw them in long distance (if long distance is the word to use) usage. Up close the signal is very strong, 5 out of 5 bars. However, move it away by 4-5 metres, and the signal strength plummets like a roman-candling parachutist. Very very annoying.
The speed itself was rather dissapointing as well. Apparently, this router can do up to 54Mbps with the right network card, that's up to 5 x faster than the older 11Mbps standard. The 11Mbps standard gave us 500K to just under 1MB in transfer speed, with this 54Mbps router and wireless card I got a maximum transfer rate of 1.2MB per second. Seeing that it is barely faster than the older standard, this router really had me thinking 'EBAY'.
The worst blow to the router comes in the form of it's reliability. If the router is left on too long, it starts to behave strangely. For instance: web pages or internet related programs cannot load from the internet anymore or the router disconnects you from it after a day or so usage. This is very annoying as you could be in the middle of a very important download or you have to visit a website at a specific time. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the nail in it's coffin.
This router isn't all bad. Beside the ugly exterior, the slow speeds, the crap range, the constant reoccuring problems of the router... there is some good in it. The security features are not bad, giving us a SPI/NAT firewall, WPA and WEP encryption to prevent outside people accessing your internet and files. The reset button is also easy to use to reset the router if it crashes (and it does crash alot in my experience). However, those puny good bits cannot prevent the fact that this router is a good as a roadside piece of dog crap I just smeared onto the corner of the pavement. Avoid this router! Go BELKIN, NETGEAR or BUFFALO!
Pictures
Picture to prove that I do own this lame router
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
And all of this after Cisco bought Linksys - they are still the weakest of the consumer brands and should be required to serve pennance in exile for their sins to poor consumer performance.
SarkeBeeley 21.11.2005 01:24
Good review, sounds like it was a big disappointment! Dont know loads about routers but will avoid this piece of crap!
mrtna 03.08.2005 13:33
good honest review Linksys sounds like a make to avoid
Wireless-G is the upcoming 54Mbps wireless networking standard that's almost five times ... more
faster than the widely deployed Wireless-B (802.11b) products found in homes businesses and public wireless hotspots around the country - but since they share the...
Postage & Packaging: £4.87 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Jun 29th, 2005
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