Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router
Package Contents: Wireless-N Broadband Router, CD-ROM with Norton Internet Security, User Guide, Ethernet network cable, power adapter. The Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router is three devices in one box. It's a Wireless Access Point, letting you connect to a network without wires. It's also a full-duplex 10/100 switch connecting your wired-Ethernet devices together. Finally, its router function ties it all together, allowing your network to share a high-speed Internet connection. The advanced MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels up to 4 times faster & reduces dead spots. It's up to 12 times faster than Wireless-G, but works great with both Wireless-G and -B devices. Wireless signals are protected by up to 256-bit encryption, and keeps your network protected with a powerful SPI firewall. Now you can share high-speed Internet, files, printers, multi-player games and even media-intensive applications at faster speeds, without the hassle of stringing messy wires! Reset button Up to 256-bit wireless encryption Complies with IEEE draft 802.11n standards Blazing fast wireless speed for high-bandwidth applications, such as audio streaming and file streaming 256-bit encryption for unsurpassed wireless security Expanded wireless coverage, up to 4x the range of 802.11g products All LAN ports support auto-crossover (MDI/MDI-X) -- no need for crossover cables Device can be placed vertically or horizontally System Requirements - PC with Windows 2000 & XP, network adapter, CD-ROM drive, Internet Explorer 5.5 or Firefox 1.0 Unit Dimensions - 7.40 x 1.57 x 6.93 (188 x 40 x 176 mm) Unit Weight - 18.60 oz. (0.527 Kg)
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Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router Reviews
So we again struggled through "can you spell your name (yes, I've been able to do that since age 3), etc. and generally taking a great deal of time before disconnecting me without providing a case number so that on my next call (apparently Linksys operators are not allowed to make calls even though I had been previously asked for my phone number), there was no case number to supply the next operator. Although I am quite able with electonics, several attempts at installing my Linksys router using its "Quick Install" instructions, as supplemented by "Help" instructions contained in its "Linksys Advisor" and the Linksys Web site, wasted many hours. Knowing the process would waste even more time (this happened with a prior version of Linksys router), I finally resorted to Linksys "Tech Support," where I first dealt with a barely literate woman somewhere in India who labored through spelling my name, understanding the serial number of my product, etc. and then taking a very long time to help me initiate operation of my Linksys router, something that was advertised as being short and simple. My Linksys router ultimately functions as advertised, but its "Quick Install" disc and accompanying instructions are ludicrous.
I'm secretly hoping that Linksys releases a miraculous firmware upgrade that will fix it. I bought this router because my new laptop had wireless-N technology. None of the suggestions from the Linksys website helped improve the speed. Compared side-by-side the download and upload speeds for my G router were consistently better by a considerable margin. I just use my G router for everything, although I haven't had the heart to disconnect it altogether because I paid $70 for it.
I don't even use it anymore. However, it took forever to get the router to work with my laptop with encryption enabled. The router's speed was worst of all. I tested the speed using multiple websites and the wireless-G router was always better. Then, when I finally got it work, the signal strength/range was no better than my G router.
If you're using it for simple general home use (and not planning on any heavy duty data transfers), this router will probably be OK. There's no support from them at all. If I do large file copies or downloads over the wireless link, the router will suddenly stop speaking to my laptop. My laptop can *see* the router, but the router won't allow me to connect. You'd think they'd have a bugfix release, but no. I've played with the beacon settings and timings to no avail. Another problem I've found is that if you disable SSID broadcasts, your laptop won't find it.
The same thing happens with my wife's laptop. For security reasons, I always disable this. As with all Linksys products (and almost all tech products in general these days), calling or emailing support gets you nowhere.
And it's fast. Powercycling the router fixes the problem immediately, or I can wait an hour or so and things usually work again just fine. But if you want a reliable router that doesn't drop the ball when you use it, look elsewhere.
Linksys hasn't released an upgrade for my version of the router (1.1) since I bought it. Our laptops have never had an issue finding previous Linksys routers we've used when the broadcasts are off, but for some reason this particular router doesn't do well. I didn't have the problem others seem to have had with this router.
I had it up and running (both wired and wirelessly) in only a few minutes using their web controls. My problem is with its wireless reliability.
Bought this router over a year ago. Unfortunately, the wireless connection hardly works without manually intervening. The router has the latest firmware which is dated Feb 2007 and so Linksys does not even appear to be working the issue. Laptop cannot find the network most of the time and have to cycle the power on the router to get it to work. guess they are too busy making other faulty routers to fix the ones they already sold. Have had this problem with a couple of laptops and so it is definitely the router as the laptops worked elsewhere.
I setup the router to work with my friend's cable modem. So far several days have past. I hope this review helps.
Not much came in the box. Just some quick setup documentation. I spent about an hour or so on this. I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling buying this product because of the different reviews. They are end users, so let's see how many calls I receive. I did have problems setting up the wireless. I performed multiple reboots, out of nowhere it displayed the signal strenght of the wireless router.
So no problems here. The recommended card (WPC300N) would not see the network. The wired side was easy, which was expected. I setup a local profile within the Linksys software and everything was fine from that point. I will see what my friends have to say sometime this week. Since I didn't have a lot of time I didn't mess with anything else. I configured WPA-PSK and AES encryption.
Here is what I encountered.
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