glc
02-10-2005, 01:55 PM
I installed one of these for a customer last Friday night. This is the latest wireless technology from Linksys - their "pre-802.11n" technology. The signal coverage is advertised as being much greater than standard 802.11g, and used with Linksys SRX adapters, supposedly speeds can be 8x greater than standard G.
Unpacking it, what struck me first was the 3 antennas, all adjustable. The router is designed to stand on edge. Installation was standard Linksys, log into 192.168.1.1 with default password (admin) and the interface looked just like the current Linksys WRT54G/GS. In spite of the dire warnings, I did not use the included CD to set it up, it's not necessary. The only new things were some of the settings on the advanced wireless configuration page.
I installed this in a decent sized suburban house - 2 story with a full basement. The router is located on the second floor, connected to a Comcast 3000/256 cable modem, with a D-Link VOIP adapter in between the modem and router. The D-Link is a NAT device, so this router is actually doing a second NAT (not normally recommended but in this case, it works fine). The wired computer is right there, it's a P4-1.7 with 512mb SDRAM and Win2000. I set up 128 bit WEP security. WPA/PSK is available, but it's not supported on all the clients.
Wireless computers:
Upstairs in adjacent rooms - a Celeron 1.0 laptop, 256mb ram, Win2000, and a Linksys WPC54GS card. Signal strength 80%, reported speed 54mbs.
Dell Dimension 4100, 1.0 P3, 256mb ram, Win2000, Linksys WMP54GS card. Same signal strength and speed.
Downstairs - Sony Vaio one piece desktop (integrated CPU and LCD), 2.0 P4, 512mb ram, XP Home. Linksys WPC54GS with ZCU disabled, using the Linksys utility. Signal strength 67%, speed 48mbs.
Basement on the other side of the house, in a room surrounded by a lot of interfering stuff (water heater, air conditioner/heater, etc.) - Duron 750, 128mb ram, Win98SE, Linksys WMP54GS card. Signal strength 37%, speed 24 mbs.
Tests done with old configuration (BEFSR41/WAP11 combo) with the internal Prism 802.11b card in the laptop - NO signal in the basement. Sony had a Sony 802.11b card, signal strength varied from 50% to no signal.
When booting up, the cards associate quickly. Internet response and file/print sharing response is wired quality - no typical wireless lag, even on the machine in the basement. There is no difference in response, speed, or signal strength between 128 bit WEP and no security at all.
This is the best wireless router I've ever worked with. However, there are some downsides, this thing is not perfect.
The signal is so strong it wiped out their 2.4 GHz phone. If you use one of these, the 2.4 will have to go. The phone did not even dent the wireless signal. We didn't try moving the base station to a different floor - but the base IS a good 30 feet from the router and the handset won't work anywhere in the house. Changing the channel from 6 to 11 didn't help.
Firmware is 1.00, it's lacking some of the firewall and QoS features found in the 3.x firmware in the WRT54G.
It costs $170 at Newegg.
The speedbooster feature in the Linksys GS series cards does not work with it, it's limited to 54mbs.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10 - the only factors that dropped it from a perfect 10 are the price and the phone issue.
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=670
Unpacking it, what struck me first was the 3 antennas, all adjustable. The router is designed to stand on edge. Installation was standard Linksys, log into 192.168.1.1 with default password (admin) and the interface looked just like the current Linksys WRT54G/GS. In spite of the dire warnings, I did not use the included CD to set it up, it's not necessary. The only new things were some of the settings on the advanced wireless configuration page.
I installed this in a decent sized suburban house - 2 story with a full basement. The router is located on the second floor, connected to a Comcast 3000/256 cable modem, with a D-Link VOIP adapter in between the modem and router. The D-Link is a NAT device, so this router is actually doing a second NAT (not normally recommended but in this case, it works fine). The wired computer is right there, it's a P4-1.7 with 512mb SDRAM and Win2000. I set up 128 bit WEP security. WPA/PSK is available, but it's not supported on all the clients.
Wireless computers:
Upstairs in adjacent rooms - a Celeron 1.0 laptop, 256mb ram, Win2000, and a Linksys WPC54GS card. Signal strength 80%, reported speed 54mbs.
Dell Dimension 4100, 1.0 P3, 256mb ram, Win2000, Linksys WMP54GS card. Same signal strength and speed.
Downstairs - Sony Vaio one piece desktop (integrated CPU and LCD), 2.0 P4, 512mb ram, XP Home. Linksys WPC54GS with ZCU disabled, using the Linksys utility. Signal strength 67%, speed 48mbs.
Basement on the other side of the house, in a room surrounded by a lot of interfering stuff (water heater, air conditioner/heater, etc.) - Duron 750, 128mb ram, Win98SE, Linksys WMP54GS card. Signal strength 37%, speed 24 mbs.
Tests done with old configuration (BEFSR41/WAP11 combo) with the internal Prism 802.11b card in the laptop - NO signal in the basement. Sony had a Sony 802.11b card, signal strength varied from 50% to no signal.
When booting up, the cards associate quickly. Internet response and file/print sharing response is wired quality - no typical wireless lag, even on the machine in the basement. There is no difference in response, speed, or signal strength between 128 bit WEP and no security at all.
This is the best wireless router I've ever worked with. However, there are some downsides, this thing is not perfect.
The signal is so strong it wiped out their 2.4 GHz phone. If you use one of these, the 2.4 will have to go. The phone did not even dent the wireless signal. We didn't try moving the base station to a different floor - but the base IS a good 30 feet from the router and the handset won't work anywhere in the house. Changing the channel from 6 to 11 didn't help.
Firmware is 1.00, it's lacking some of the firewall and QoS features found in the 3.x firmware in the WRT54G.
It costs $170 at Newegg.
The speedbooster feature in the Linksys GS series cards does not work with it, it's limited to 54mbs.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10 - the only factors that dropped it from a perfect 10 are the price and the phone issue.
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=670