Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys WRT160N Wireless-N Broadband Router

5 star:		(236)
4 star:		(136)
3 star:		(48)
2 star:		(66)
1 star:		(250)

 

 

I noticed a lot of so so reviews and was wary until I read a professional review praising it's easy set up. I decided to go for it and boy am I glad I did. I happen to be a novice setting up PC related stuff but this router was cake to set up. Be forwarned; however, my intention was to simply set up wireless with encryption and nothing else. I had no desire to set up a full blown network with file and printer sharing. I simply wanted encrypted wireless for my xp windows pc and vista windows laptop in the house. I figure I can print stuff by using the pc with the printer or using a flash drive so I had no desire in oversteaping my technical boundries.

That being said... it was as simple as putting the disk in, following directions printing the encryption code and connecting the router. Easy as cake! I had more trouble configuring the recieving vista windows laptop and xp windows pc! Which wasn't that hard either. The router is connected to my windows vista desktop and my windows vista laptop and seperate xp windows desktop are recieving the signal. It was as easy as plugging in the code to the recieving laptop and pc.

The signal is always strong and no breaks in three weeks of constant use. Despite other comments, the signal strength is awesome even with the unit under a shelf. Unless you live in a 25 room mansion or set up the network wrong... you should have no problems. I have absolutely no complaints. The cherry on top is how awesome this router looks and with no antenna! You could easly hide this under a shelf but why would you want to! It's beautiful and you could use it as decoration! I admit, it is pricey but well worth the money in the headaches you will save setting it up and the aesthetic factor. Highly recommended especially for novices who simply want wireless in their house.

For years, we have been happy users of a Netgear MR314 wireless router. But it didn't reach the farthest corner of our home. In looking at various routers, I found many mixed reviews for the newer Netgear routers, so decided to try the Linksys WRT160N. We use almost nothing but Macs in our home.

Setup: Forget the included CD that comes with this router, it is Windows only. It does have the User Guide as a PDF buried in one of the folders. But it is not much help.

Instead, just turn on the router, look for the wireless signal (or plug in directly using an ethernet cable), then use FireFox - the current Safari doesn't work and any changes cause a "server unexpectedly dropped connection" error.

Type: 192.168.1.1 in the browser, then user name "linksys" and password "admin" to get the web based setup menus.

From there, if you have any questions, click on the "Help" link for the individual pages. The help there is much better than in the User Guide.

This router does reach the far corner of our house, and is able to use WPA, etc.

I would have given the router 5 stars if the documentation had been better, and if the Mac had been included. (Even though it's really really simple to set up the Mac for wireless, it's still nice to be recognized.)

FINALLY! A router that fixes all of the problems I was having. My old router, a D-Link Draft N had trouble connecting wirelessly with my Dell Laptop and my MacBook Pro. (Draft-N routhers don't all conform to the same standards.) It did work with my iMac wirelessly and it did OK with my wired connections.

So, I decided to tey an Apple Airport Extreme. It worked with all my wireless devices, but supprisingly did not do well passing HD TV Shows from my Media Center PC to my Xbox 360 over a wire!

So, after much research I decided to try this Linksys. Since it just hit the market, I figured it would have better Draft-N support.

So, with minimal configuration, this routher works with ALL my devices:

(I have it setup with WPA/WPA2 Wireless security.)

MacBook Pro (Draft-N Wireless)
Dell Vostro Laptop (Draft-N)
Apple iMAc (Draft-N)
Apple iPod Touch (Whatever wireless it uses...)
AppleTV (Wireless)
Nintendo Wii (Wireless)
2 Wired Windows PCs
Playstation 3 (Wired)
Xbox 360 (Wired)

Plus it has no trouble passing the HD TV shows from my Windows Media Center PC to my Xbox360.

This is an update to the March 2008 review. It now Feb 25th 2010 and no problems. In fact we now have expanded the office and have 8 lap tops running off this router constantly and and when we have visitors like recently we had 14 laptops running off of the same ONE router.

So after 23 months no problems and the bandwidth continues to be constant and strong. We have various folks on it with Windows XP and Windows 7 now and no problems to connect to any of the computers. Can't say enough how impressed we all are and we are in the tech industry.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Overview - We are on AT&T DSL running the Elite broadband which is 3-6 Mbps. Our average speed is running 5+ Mbps here in the office and that is with Vonage VoIP phones (6 lines) and 4 laptops

We just hooked up the the Linksys WRT160N Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N router in our new office onto 3 Dell laptops and 1 LG laptop. After the intial install on all the laptops running Windows XP Pro, we had only one minor glitch and that is a firmware upgrade needed on the Intel Wireless 4985 card on one of the Dells. It will not run currently on the Intel Pro Wireless card, everything G and below works fine. But it does run on Windows Wireless configuration just fine. We are all averaging 80 - 140 Mbps depending on how much load is on the line with the phones and broadband activity.

I can not speak for the range of the unit yet since the office is only 1300 sq feet and we just hooked up the router, but I'm approximately 40 ft away with no problems. I'm so impressed how quick this is, I think I will go junk my Linksys Wireless G router and go buy another one of these for my home (Comcast Cable and Comcast Digital Phone which is also VoIP) just for the performance and good looks with the antennae now built in.

Last thought, as I read these reviews people seem to bash the router when in fact typically it is the computer configuration or the wireless card that is at fault for not having the lastest firmware installed or the hardware not working. Another potential problem is if your system is standard broadband (CAT5 cable) this is the router you need. If you purchase the GIGABIT router and do not have the bandwidth or CAT6 cable, you may possibly get impeded results.

After reviewing several router options I have chosen the WRT160N as my new router, actually my main point was to use the DD-WRT firmware with it, partly following several reviews here below and from several forum.
Once I received this router I tried to work with the CD provided but it had a problem to run.
No problem, I had installed some routers in my life and this one didn't take more the 10min to install including wireless configurations.
immediately after installation I saw that I can't upgrade my firmware as this is WRT160Nv2 and it apparently uses "Ralink" CPU and not "BROADCOM" cpu - Ralink is not supported yet in open FW due to licensing :(
In addition, it appears that there is degrading in memory capacity in the versions of the routers that goes by WRT160N!
V1 - 32mb
V1.1 - 16mb
V2 - 8mb
Even more annoying, Linksys do not have a web page for any version other than for v1!
Although I didn't get the actual product I thought I am buying, I started using the wireless with my laptop while my desktop was connected to one of the LAN ports, the results:
1) P2P software causes network disconnects (probably due to the fact linksys reduced the memory to 8MB only), I had to minimize the software configuration in order to stop the disconnects.
2)Signal strength is ridiculous as it doesn't cover all my apartment which is not big. - Update: I got some configuration advise from Linksys support to improve the signle:

Change the Beacon Interval to 50
Change the Fragmentation Threshold to 2304.
Change the RTS Threshold to 2304

- It increased the signal strength... I do not like this solution, as my apartment is small the defaults should have sufficed.

I might return this product to Amazon and replace it with a different wireless router.

Based on all other reviews, I am pretty sure that WRT160N V1 is a solid router (Good hardware & FW can be replaced) - if you order this one, make sure you don't get version 2 (at least until Linksys will have a webpage for it with new FW)

I have had version 2 of this router for about 2 months now. I have learned a lot about this router during that time, and I DO NOT recommend that you buy it unless you are somewhat network savvy and want to deal with a potential hassle in order to get it working.

Here's the explanation: there are 3 versions of this router. All of them have suffered from problems with the firmware provided by Linksys to run the router, such as failures to resolve DNS. In the case of versions 1 and 3, there have reportedly been improvements in the firmware, their chipsets are based on Broadcom, and version 1 is supported by the 3rd party DD-WRT software program, which is supposed to solve a lot of problems for these routers.

Version 2, unfortunately, has the Ralink chipset, reduced RAM, has no DD-WRT solution, and as of its latest firmware build cannot resolve DNS for most users. The best and most common solution for V2 owners seems to be that of downgrading the firmware to build 8. I have done this, and my router work fine right now, but there are concerns in the Linksys forums about security risks in this older build, so it's not a perfect solution.

What is perhaps most disconcerting about this router is the complete lack of acknowledgment and concern on the part of Linksys for the failures of the version 2 firmware. There is a Linksys support forum thread that has persisted for over 6 months now, with numerous complaints from V2 router owners about the router's failures to resolve DNS. What does Linksys do about this? ALL THEY DO IS SPEND TIME CENSORING THE POSTS AND EDITING OUT COMMENTS THAT ARE CRITICAL OF LINKSYS'. There has been virtually no response from them on this thread. Some of the router owners have called Linksys tech support to ask for help. Sometimes the techs try to offer limited help, but most puzzling is that we are told that this is the first time they've heard of this problem (which is not likely true at all).

DD-WRT has reportedly been working on a firmware replacement for V2, but it's been going slow and the DD-WRT developers have not been very forthcoming on the status of development. So who knows when it will happen.

In conclusion, what would I have to say to anyone interested in this router? Make sure that it's a V1, not V2 and probably not V3 either. You can at least get DD-WRT for V1. How do you determine the version? First, buy it in a store, so that you can physically open the box, take out the router and look at the model number on the plating under router. There is nothing on the box, wrapping or documentation that says the router's version. You must look at the router itself. If you buy it online, find out from the seller what version it is, maybe even demand that they send you a picture of the bottom of the router so you can verify.

If you still get stuck with a V2, either try to exchange or return it for a refund, OR downgrade the firmware to build 8. If you're like me and prefer that this router work the way it should out of the box, then stay away from it and look for something else.


Another note: These routers also come with a network management tool called LELA (Linksys Easy Link Advisor). While it has a pretty user interface, not everybody likes it, either because it simply won't work (what with all the errors that may pop up, especially if your router firmware doesn't work), or because it changes your network settings (something you won't like if you already have a network set up a particular way). You don't have to install LELA to use this router, and I would recommend not using it at all even if your router is working well, unless you want another background program taking up computer resources.

I upgraded from a Linksys WRT54g ver 1.0 router in order to get more range (as I had heard that wireless N provided this even with G adapters). I was very disappointed.

The installation process was fine (assuming you know Linksys), although their software configuration tool crashed repeatedly. I got the router working with no problems.

Then I noticed the range was much worse on this router. I conducted my own tests using my internal Intel Wireless G adapter on my Dell Inspiron laptop. I conducted the tests with WirelssMon software program. I positioned the routers in the exact same spot each time, and the laptop was also in the exact same place each test. Here are my results of my signal strength testing:

Basement (right next to the router):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -40 dB = 67%
Wireless N (40 MHz): -32 dB = 75%
Wireless N (auto): -37 dB = 70%
WRT54G: -29 dB = 79%

Main floor (one floor above router):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -53 dB = 51%
Wireless N (40 MHz): -55 dB = 51%
Wireless N (auto): -54 dB = 50%
WRT54G: -44 dB = 62%

Front Porch (one floor above router, a bit farther):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -86 dB = 16%
Wireless N (40 MHz): not conducted
Wireless N (auto): not conducted
WRT54G: -71 dB = 32%

Main bedroom (two floors above router):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -74 dB = 27%
Wireless N (40 MHz): -72 dB = 30%
Wireless N (auto): -71 dB = 32%
WRT54G: -65 dB = 39%

Clearly there is a benefit to the WRT54G (by about 5-10%) in terms of signal strength. I have returned this router. I might try another Linksys with a stronger antenna (?WRT610N), but I was very disappointed with the performance of this router.

I have used wireless networking at work for quite a while but had put off installing it at home for security reasons. With a few new gadgets that could take advantage of new high speed capabilities, I decided to jump in and ordered a WRT160N to replace my existing Linksys wired router.

The wireless router showed up very quickly on my doorstep. I unpacked it and was very impressed with the small size and the good looks. I appreciate technology, but I like the style of this unit since it does not appear to be an alien space craft.

Loading the CD and following the instructions, I had it up and running in just a few minutes. My new laptop connected wirelessly very quickly and a few simple firewall updates had the system running the existing wired network, the laptop and even my Blackberry Curve using the WPA2 Personal security encoding with minimal hassle or delay. Connection speed was 130 Mbs and I was able to get a signal at the far end of the house. Subsequent connections had no problems either. I was impressed.

As I mentioned, I was connecting my laptop from work to the system. My employer is security conscious, so we use a VPN every time we connect from outside our building. The WRT160N connected using the VPN without a problem. However, part of the WPA security protocol is the concept of changing the encryption key on a regular basis. The sender and receiver are supposed to exchange the new key and then continue on seamlessly. Unfortunately, the router dropped the internet connection every time the key changed. This was a pain, especially when doing big file transfers when the connection was dropped. The dropped connection cannot be reconnected until I went through the whole VPN authentication routine again, which gave me another hour or less if I didn't manually re-connect right away.

I set to the key resynchronization interval to different times (very easy to do in the router control panel) and confirmed this was the cause. My family also noticed some weird browser lockups that had not occurred before installing the router (or after replacing it).

I contacted Linksys technical support about this issue. First, I will say that I was very impressed with the support person I spoke with. They responded very quickly, were knowledgeable about their product and very helpful. They seemed very friendly too. Unfortunately, they told me that dropping the internet connection when changing keys was a known problem with the WRT160N. I suppose these things happen (don't the developers try this with their Cisco/Linksys laptop at night?), so I inquired about a firmware patch. Unfortunately, there is no patch scheduled at this point. They suggested using WEP, but I noted that their own manual stated that WEP encryption was easily broken, not secure and not recommended. There was no push-back on this.

I discussed the situation with the support person, and they recommended that I return the unit. So I did...I took it to the post office this morning.

In honesty, the support provided was about the best I have ever. The symptoms were quickly understood, problem was identified, a possible solution was proposed and an honest recommendation was made in a matter of minutes. They even sent me a complete transcript of the exchange. I was very impressed with the support team, especially compared to some other high-tech products.

I wanted to like this unit and never have to think about it again (because it was just doing its job). Installation was fast and easy, it looked good, and it connected well. Support was top notch. However, dropping the connection all the time is not acceptable. I consider this very normal usage (certainly not an exotic application) that should not happen. I am back to the wired router. It is working, but I am disappointed with the WRT160N.

I puchased this directly from Amazon.com. It was so easy to set up, it comes with a set up CD that does everything for you! No problems using my laptop in the other end of the house, nice strong signal. The unit is sleek and small, takes up very small space on an overcrowded workspace.

I needed a wireless router asap, so I went to wal-mart (sorry amazon) and this is all they had. I knew linksys quality has gone down the tubes over the years, and i hesitated to buy this. However, I needed a router that very day though so this was the only choice.
I've set up many wireless networks in the past for friends and family (mostly using early WRT54G's, which were great pre v5) however I've never personally used a wirless network in my own home so I wasn't quite sure what to expect performance wise. Setup was easy as always using the web interface. I was excited to see my computer connect at 100+ Mbit from down the hall. However that was short lived as I soon realized I was actually getting barely 20Mbit...

Well.. the horror stories are true. Linksys really cannot program for the newer routers very well at all. It worked great for the first few days, however when I went to copy some very large files between my computer (on wireless) and the computer in the office (on wired LAN) it would fail randomly as my computer started disconnecting and reconnecting randomly. These files were about 5GB and over the paltry ~20Mbit connection it was painfully slow and I almost cried when it failed at about 80%.
I tried many settings. I had been using WPA2 and SSL for setup, and I thought maybe that was just too much for this thing to handle. However no amount of fiddling would solidify the connection. The most stable settings were to use G-Only, 20Mhz band, and no encryption, but that was just unacceptable to me for such an expensive device. Also the device becomes fairly hot during heavy use.

THEN I DISCOVERED DD-WRT. HOORAY! I didn't think you could put custom firmware on newer linksys devices (it's been a while since I've set up a network). Man am I glad DD-WRT exists. I now have a rock solid device, consistently get 1ms pings from anywhere in the house, and haven't dropped a connection yet. Not to mention I can now use VPN, UPnP, advanced QoS, etc etc.. Upping the transmitter power to 70mv (from the default 28!) now gets me a signal almost a block and a half away! Now if i could just get up the Tx power on my usb adapter and iphone.. :)
Not only that, but the thing runs cooler now even with the more than 2x power put into the antenna on the new firmware.

A note about speeds: First, I am using a WUSB100 adapter. As I said with the stock firmware I would get about 20mbit from my bedroom to the office. I have no doors in my house so there is almost a line of sight between the two devices. The WUSB100 would always report about 135Mbit (yeah right lol!). This was with a 40Mhz channel in mixed mode. Now with DD-WRT I get about 30Mbit and its rock solid stable. The WUSB100 now reports I connect at 65Mbit.. Not too bad I guess. However there is no support in DD-WRT for wide channel on this device, I would be curious to see what performance would be with that enabled if it were possible. Also I am using SSL for the web interface and WPA2 again, and the CPU load on the router barely goes above 20% in most cases.

So I give this hardware 5 stars. However I'm rating it a 1 star because out of the box this thing is basically an expensive paperweight. Plus you have to know what your doing and risk bricking the thing to get it to perform as advertised.

Also note that I am a VERY heavy network user. I use a lot of P2P, video streaming (to xbox on the LAN), copying massive files around, full HD backups, etc. My problems may not be the case for the average home user.