Cisco-Linksys WRT110 RangePlus Wireless Router

by Cisco

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.5 x 2.8 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0014IYZDK
• Item model number: WRT110
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (150 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,953 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The RangePlus Wireless Router is really three devices in one box. First, there's the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires. There's also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. Finally, the router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.

The access point built into the router uses smart antenna technology to achieve extended range. Unlike ordinary wireless networking technologies that are confused by signal reflections, the "Multiple In, Multiple Out" (MIMO) technology actually uses these reflections to increase the range and reduce "dead spots" in the wireless coverage area. The robust signal travels farther, maintaining wireless connections much farther than standard Wireless-G. With MIMO, the farther away you are, the more speed advantage you get. It works great with standard Wireless-G and -B equipment, but when both ends of the wireless link are MIMO enabled, the router can increase the throughput even more by using twice as much radio band. But unlike other speed-enhanced technologies, the RangePlus Wireless Router can dynamically enable this double-speed mode for compatible devices, while still connecting to other wireless devices at their respective fastest speeds. In congested areas, the "good neighbor" mode ensures that the router checks for other wireless devices in the area before gobbling up the radio band.

To help protect your data and privacy, the router can encode all wireless transmissions with industrial-strength 256-bit encryption. It can serve as your network's DHCP server, has a powerful SPI firewall to protect your PCs against intruders and most known Internet attacks, and supports VPN pass-through. Configuration is a snap with the web browser-based configuration utility.

With the Linksys RangePlus Wireless Router at the center of your home or office network, you can share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers, and multi-player games, and run media-intensive applications at incredible speeds, without the hassle of stringing wires!

Features include:

• Internet-sharing router and 4-port switch with a built in speed and range enhanced Wireless access point
• MIMO smart antenna technology captures faint signals for extended range and reduced dead spots
• Much faster than Wireless-G when connected to Wireless-N, but also works great with Wireless-G and -B devices
• Wireless signals protected by wireless encryption
• Your network protected is from Internet attacks by a powerful SPI firewall

Product Description

The RangePlus Wireless Router is really three devices in one box. First, there`s the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires. There`s also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. Finally, the Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. With the Linksys RangePlus Wireless Router at the center of your home or office network, you can share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers, and multi-player games, and run media-intensive applications at incredible speeds, without the hassle of stringing wires!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WRT110 is good so far..., August 13, 2008

By 

A Conrad "Ask Conrad" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT110 RangePlus Wireless Router (Personal Computers)

Got the Linksys WRT110 because my Netgear WGR614 has been acting funny (will only connect to one wireless device at a time). I chose to do a manual install/configuration of the WRT110 and skipped the disk install completely. Setup the encryption (not WEP, by the way) and other settings, and I had the wireless router working in 10 minutes (it actually took less, but I was tutoring my 17-year old nephew on how to properly install a wireless router, which was why I skipped the disk install version). Afterwards, I searched the available wireless network, found the router SSID, typed in the password for network security (a definite must-do in San Francisco), and I was wirelessly connected! Still connected after 3 days, too.

I gave it a 5-star rating because it worked for me out of the box and without the disk installer. No glitches, and the device was current with the latest firmware. The router is on the second level, and I have decent signal (24-54 Mbps) in all the rooms on the same floor, and a stronger signal than the previous g-router on the other floors (18-24 Mbps with WRT110, -vs- 0-12 Mbps with WGR614). Internet is not affected, since my DSL is only 6 Mbps, anyway.

I picked the WRT110 over the WRT54G2 to try out the MIMO technology. I will update this review in a few weeks after I've completed my testing. Stay posted.

After configuring it as a stand-alone router, I then put it to the test by adding it to my LAN. I have a special configuration, which is a bit more advanced than those of a typical user. I have a D-Link DIR655 (Gigabit Wireless N router) as my DHCP router and is set as N-only mode. I have the WRT110 as wireless-g device hooked to this router which transmits at g-only.

"Why do I have two routers, when the DIR655 is backward compatible with G as well as N?" one might ask. The reason I have it with this configuration is because I have three wireless-N devices and four wireless-G devices. The G devices drops the DIR655 down to wireless-g whenever they are wirelessly connected to the DIR655. So, I have a wireless-G router hooked to the DIR655, the wireless-G computers are connected to the WRT110 and the N devices are connected to the DIR655, and all the devices are working to my preference.

Update:
After having this router for a week, it has stood up to the test and consistenly maintained its connection. My test is basically to bring two laptops (both wireless-G) one floor up and on the other side of the house where the router is located. Both laptops connect fine, and consistently maintain 8-24 Mbps, wheras connection with the old router is still hampered and drops connection every now and then. So either the MIMO function works as noted, or this is just a better router all together. I do not have the WRT54G2 to compare (with and without MIMO), but I'll try to get my hands on those and do a side-by-side comparison.

UPDATE 2 (2009-11-02):
After having this router for over a year, I am still surprisingly very pleased with it. I say "surprisingly" because the reviews for this router on Amazon.com is all over the board. I may have been one of the lucky ones with this router, because 1) I have never lost connection (wired or wireless) with this router, 2) I have never had to restart (in fact, I completely forgot I had this router, since I am running two different wireless routers), and 3) it is small enough to fit on top of a cabinet so that I don't see it. I have three computers (two notebooks, one desktop) connected wirelessly, and two wired PC computers (acting as file servers). It has worked so well for me that I bought one for my father-in-law, and one for my brother. After I set up their WRT110 routers, they have reported NO problems thus far (a year coming up in December). Overall, I am VERY pleased with this router, and fully deserves the initial 5-star rating I gave it.

UPDATE 3 (2010-11-03):
I've had this router for over two years now, and I stand by my initial 5-star review. I have never had to reset/restart this router since my last review a year ago, I've never dropped a connection when connected to this router, I have various things connected wirelessly to this router with no issues (4 desktops, 4 laptops, several iPods, my blackberry and Droid, my HP Ipaq, Iomega ScrenPlay TV Link, and whenever guests come over). I am able to stream video in DVD quality with no stuttering or lag. I do not have an extensive HD video collection, but with the home HD videos, the playback quality depends on the computer I am using, and ranges from perfect to acceptable (which tells me it is a hardware issue related to the computer, and not the wireless router).

I had to post an update because I've been reading some of the recent negative (one-star) reviews, and maybe I got lucky with my unit because it has been as reliable as my D-Link DIR-655 router. One possible explanation is that maybe Cisco-Linksys QC is slipping a bit with the newer products. Another is that the components are different, and not as reliable as the initial batches. Whatever the cause, I know I have been quite happy with this router for over two years.

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sexy but disappointing. Save your receipt., October 16, 2008

By 

Halicon5 (Casper, Wyoming United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT110 RangePlus Wireless Router (Personal Computers)

I've been a long-time fan of Linksys products and have been pleased with their general reliability for years, until I purchased this product. I have maintained networks of hundreds of users, so home networking is almost effortless for me. I set my father's WRT110 up and everything went without a hitch. Total set-up time took only about 5 minutes, including showing him how to administer it himself. He has been up and running for nearly three weeks without a problem. I swore that his connection felt faster than my old WRT54G that I keep at home. Set-up seemed really easy and basically identical to previous Linksys wireless products I have purchased. I liked my father's router so much I figured I would replace my aging WRT54G. I was definitely swayed by the sleek, sexy design, low-profile, and the keen blue lights, but more importantly I actually thought this was a better router.

Quite possibly the worst mistake I've made in a long time. The first WRT110 that I purchased for my own use wouldn't allow me to access the the administration pages. This wasn't a password issue but a full blown, "server does not exist" when attempting to access 192.168.1.1 (the admin web IP address common to all Linksys routers). That's assuming attempting to access 192.168.1.1 didn't lock the computer up to the point where I was force to Force Quit or End Task on the browser. This happened to both my PC and my Mac. It would function as a wired gateway to my cable modem just fine but there was literally no way to configure it to do anything else. I tried resetting it, unplugging it, and I even thought about sacrificing a chicken and doing a little voo-doo dance naked beneath the moon before I figured the cold autumn air wasn't very conductive towards that type of solution. Nothing would allow me to configure that particular router. I even tried the bundled-in software as a last resort and that wouldn't work.

I exchanged the defective unit with another WRT110, convinced I just got a bad unit. I set the replacement one up and Voila! It worked. I can administer it just fine and manage to secure my wireless network the way I like. For some reason this particular unit took about 30 seconds to update settings when my father's only takes about four or five, but I was willing to accept that. I thought I was good to go until four days later, the router starts locking up hard several times per day. No activity at all. Not able to hit 192.168.1.1 and I can't even ping the router. The lights are on and it indicates activity, but it just doesn't respond. The only way to get it to come back to life is to unplug its power supply. After it reboots a few minutes later it will stay up for a few more hours before dying. I have updated to the most recent version of the firmware (from 1.0.0 to 1.0.04) and the issue seems even more frequent after the firmware update, but my perception of that may be clouded by my frustration and general hatred for this spiteful demon of a router.

I'm done with this exercise in frustration and I'm going back to my trusty WRT54G. My father's WRT110 works great for him, and I hope that other people with this model are able to get the same experience, but I will not be recommending this model to anyone. I have never had problems like this with any Linksys product before and I still recommend other Linksys products, just not this particular model. Just save your receipt and the box in case you need to exchange it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Product, April 24, 2008

By 

ptroopa (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT110 RangePlus Wireless Router (Personal Computers)

I have owned a Linksys B wireless router for over 4 years. I have too many products competing for a wireless signal so I decided to upgrade to the 110. The only issue I had is where I had to call tech support to find out where in the router's menu could I change the output to B/G.
I have the following items connected
PS3
XBOX 360
iPod Touch
XP Laptop
Vista Laptop
Mac iBook
XP Desktop

I usually have the one laptop and a video game console going at the same time and don't notice any problems. The router is on the second floor and the video games systmes and laptops are on the first floor. I don't have experience with any other companies and I would continue to use Linksys products.