Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo by Linksys
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Digital camera reviews of Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo
Digital camera Review: A very difficult company to deal with
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a bad company. I purchased a wireless router from them and, truth be told, it never really worked right. The speed was ok, but it was impossible to set up without tech support and every so often it would simply stop working. When that happened I would be forced to call tech support and spend 30-60 minutes on the phone fighting with them about resetting the router. I recently purchased a new computer and decided to save a little money by moving this router to it. When I called tech support I was told that the router was out of its warranty period and they could not help me... unless I would pay them to. That's right, I would have to pay for the assistance on their product - a working product because it was not under warranty.
So be warned that you are only buying the option to use Linksys' products for a limited time - that is if you have any problems whatsoever that require tech support. I am now trying a Trendnet. Let's see if they are any better.
Digital camera Review: Average quality, unfortunately
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me explain what I meant by "Average quality, unfortunately". I'm referring to the fact that there is not a single good router from anybody out there, they are all crap! So average quality is actually pretty bad.
Setup: it's got easy setup. It worked fine right away, and all features work as advertised -- which is something, I guess. The only thing is, I wish it would continue to work this way for long periods of time, and not have to be reset every few days, or even hours. It requires a hard reset (i.e. unplug its power, replug it) to fix.
Wireless: The Wi-Fi signal quality is good at long distances; keeps a good steady signal strength, with passable speed; I had no problems receiving a good signal two floors down, in the basement, unlike other routers I've owned. Perversely it is terrible at short distances; it may have no signal at all in the same room, just a few feet away! I am only using it with 802.11G since I don't have 802.11N cards yet.
I have had two of these routers so far. I didn't buy it at Amazon, but I bought one just after Christmas, and exchanged it soon after New Year -- less than a week. The first one started locking up a few hours after first installation. The second one seems to be a bit more stable than the first, but that simply means it is randomly locking up after a few days rather than a few hours. I have owned several routers in my lifetime, from Linksys and Dlink, and none of them are any good. I have also previously owned the D-Link DI-524 Wireless 54 Mbps High Speed Router (802.11g), which was also a pretty flakey product, so in my opinion there isn't a single good router out there.
Digital camera Review: Awesome piece of gear
Summary: 5 Stars
The setup was easy and fast. It worked great right out of the box. Software is a little weak but has enough features for a small office without an IT person and for home users.Digital camera Review: Awesome! But ONLY with DD-WRT
Summary: 5 Stars
Many of you have probably seen references to DD-WRT in other reviews and wonder what it is. It is a firmware upgrade to your router that was created by an opensource group called, as you may have guessed, DD-WRT. This upgrade is available only through their website, not through Linksys.
>> Motivation
Now first, why do you need DD-WRT? Because it transforms this router from a piece of junk into a high-performance wireless machine capable of almost seamlessly streaming high-definition video and high-speed Internet games.
We had this router for about 2 months and were terribly frustrated with it. It constantly disconnected us and was just a lot slower than we had expected a Wireless-N router to be. Our daughter's Powerbook constantly got dropped from it, causing her to have restart her wireless connection several times a day.
Frustrated, I looked up these Amazon reviews to see if there was something I missed. Then I found a review referencing DD-WRT. After some hesitation, I tried it and it worked. I checked our daughter's laptop and it worked fine for the first time since we got the router. However, then I went to Hulu to test the download speed and was blown away. The DD-WRT had turned our once-modest router into a freaking hulk. It now ran as fast wirelessly as it once did only when directly connected by ethernet.
>> How to Install DD-WRT
Now in my story above, I abbreviated the installation process. In reality, learning how to install this firmware took quite a bit more time than I felt it should have. And I am a Computer Science graduate student finished with my PhD coursework. I can't imagine how intimidating the installation procedure must look to the average computer user.
So I wanted to lay out the steps for this specific router so that people can reference it here on Amazon without having to waste their time browsing through documentation.
First, you need to download the firmware file for the WRT150N (this router). It is a little harder to find than your average download:
1. Go to the DD-WRT main site (google "DD-WRT")
2. Click Downloads
3. Click v24
4. Click Broadcom
5. Click Linksys
6. Click WRT150N_v1.1 (you should check the bottom of your router to make sure you have 1.1; you probably do)
7. Click dd-wrt.v24_mini_generic.bin (you want the "mini" and "generic" v24)
8. Save it
Next, you need to reset the router to factory settings. This will erase all your settings so take screen shots of them if you need them. Otherwise, just reset them manually like you did when you first set up the router.
1. Hold down the RED reset button on the back of the router using a pencil or pen for 10 seconds. The power light should start blinking then stop after a while.
2. Unplug the router
3. Plug it back in and wait until it is fully powered on
Next, you need to install the firmware. You can only do it with Internet Explorer because for some reason all other browsers are unstable. Also, you should only do it through an ethernet connection because you could ruin your router if you use the unstable wireless connection:
1. Connect to your router directly with an ethernet cable and turn off your wireless connection on your computer.
2. Using INTERTNET EXPLORER, go to 192.168.1.1. The username is blank and the password is 'admin'.
3. Go to Administration > Firmware Upgrade
4. Browse and open the firmware file you downloaded earlier
5. Wait
You will probably be taken to the DD-WRT screen. You should reset to factory settings again using the method above. But now you should have your brand new smokin' router. The interface for DD-WRT is very similar to the one used by Linksys with almost all the same menu names. An important difference though is that now the USERNAME is 'root' (the password is still 'admin').
Just reset all your old settings and you are done. You can now access and administrate the router wirelessly (it will be called 'dd-wrt' by default instead of 'linksys'). One note: I had to change the router name through the wired connection. But after that, I was able to administrate wirelessly.
If you run into any issues go to the WRT main site, click on Community, then Wiki. However I don't think most people should have issues.
Digital camera Review: Bad quaility of this wireless router
Summary: 1 Stars
I bougth this bad product in February, and I sent to my sob in Colombia. Some weeks ago this router died and now he doen't have any support and I can't return....