Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys WRV54G Wireless-G VPN Router

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

I bought this item from Amazon even though the reviews I read were less than stellar. I just assumed most of the problems were user configuration errors. After all.... it is easy to mess up a VPN configuration, especially if you are using Windows IPSEC policies because the UI for setting that up can be a little misleading.

However after setting it up in my home lab I discovered that... it just didn't work as a VPN device. I connect with a VPN client called SSH Sentinel (it is a little dated but works on every other VPN I have used). I could get a connection fine but it refused to route traffic inside the LAN at all. Even setting up the route recommended by Linksys it still would not work.

So I decided not to give up yet and searched out Google groups for people who have solved this issue and I found... no one. Everyone complained at the constant problems with each firmware release and the inability to VPN into the router properly. I was surprised because quite frankly all the other linksys hardware I have work great. I rarely have any problems with their print server, kvm switches and other routers... why in the world would Linksys drop the ball on this product.

Well it seems this particular router is different than any of Linksys's other routers because it is running an embedded version of Linux. It would seem that Linksys and this Linux vendor are having some big difficulties getting this thing to work and perhaps it got pushed out the door too soon.

Well I went out and bought a cheaper BEFVP41 VPN router from Linksys (it is not wireless but I had a spare WAP-G) and I was able to get a VPN connection the first time.

So.. if you buy this router to VPN into your home network you will have some serious problems. I also had some flaky wireless problems with it but I must admit... after reading all the problems with this model I put the thing back in the box and bought something else that works...

I hope this isn't the end of Linksys putting out good products and being responsive to their clients...

I currently have a WRT54G wireless 54G router and wanted to upgrade to the WRV54g for the VPN feature.

The minute I plugged in the WRV54G I had problems. I have a WPC54G Wireless PC card, a WET54G Wireless Bridge, and a WMA11B Wireless media adapter (all Linksys products) that all work great with my WRT54G router. The only client I could get to work with the WRV54G was my wireless pc card. I never was able to figure out why. since every client had the exact same configuration when working with my WRT54G.

I also had an issue with my FTP server. When an outside machine would connect, the router would lose internet access and then would have to be rebooted.

I was never able to get the VPN working either. The directions are very confusing and there are too many variables that can cause an issue and it is very hard to troubleshoot.

My recommendation is to stick to the WRT54G wireless router until Linksys gets some updated firmware to fix these problems.

So, I was really against this product. The reviews were terrible for it. But there was a couple of reviews which claimed that the product did ok with the new firmware release. So... my boss was wanted VPN, wireless so he decided to get this router anyway despite the reviews. I was against this.

So...I got it, installed it. The vpn server was easy as sin to setup. As long as you have a static ip address, and know a little bit about networking you should be fine. The vpn at first had non - reliable connectivity. However, that turned out to be our ISP (satellite connection), and since we've got a new ISP (DSL) everything works perfect. The vpn is great, easy and having wireless is nice too. I had the vpn server downloading things for 3 hours without any connectivity issues.

This router is being used for a small business of about ten machines under it. Just FYI. Works great. Hasn't died yet (1 month)

Hope this helps. Oh, latest firmware a must.

Very disappointed with this product. The documentation is poor, making even the slightest config change requires a two minute reboot and their DNS feature is hosed. It acts as authoritative DNS for whatever domain it obtains from the ISP and then fails to resolve addresses for that domain. Example: router becomes router.ispname.com When trying to resolve mail.ispname.com the Router acts as authoritative DNS and does not relay that request so the request fails. I saw in the config where you can change the domain...but it doesn't work. This really hampers the usefulness of the DHCP feature, which again does not allow customization of DNS Servers. Add the poor VPN support, horrible docs and I've experienced occassional wireless outages that I never had with my 3 year old DLink and I have to say Linksys really blew it with this product. Is this what we can expect now that Cisco bought them?

I have had this product and already reviewed it. What gets me is the people who say "don't listen to those negative reviews..." but they never set up the VPN side of this router. If all you want is a router/firewall that is wireless and allows you to browse the Net then Linksys has other models that are much cheaper and do pretty much the exact same job.

My negative comments are on the VPN side of things, which is why I purchased this product to begin with and it is why it is priced higher than a regular Linksys router. Yes... you do get more logging information than the cheaper ones... but most home networks do not care a bit about logs to begin with. You could have purchased a Linksys WRT54G much cheaper and had the exact same functionality(minus the enhanced logging features). The positive reviewers' "deceptive advertising" really "burns me up".

And so far... in searching newsgroups and all over the net, only one person has claimed to have gotten the VPN working. He posted it on here and made the remark "where have all the network engineers gone?" Well... Mr. Network Engineer... how about posting exactly how you configured the router and the client and send it off to Linksys support... because they do not seem to know how to either. I have read where people have gotten it to work with another VPN router but not with a VPN client and I have had clients working with both Netgear and other Linksys VPN routers just fine.

Let me say I have nothing against Linksys... I am now using a lower end VPN router from them and I gave it a great review (see www.epinions.com). It worked best out of three VPN routers I tried for using a VPN client with and I am happy with it. So my comments cannot be construed as being some sort of a Linksys basher... it is just this particular product did not do what it was advertised to do even when I went to Linksys for support.

Ok, after reading thr reviews and noticing that there was updated firmaware, I decided to try the WRV54G again.

Still very disappointed.

1) Everytime you enter http://ISP_PROVIDED_IP_ADDRESS the router goes to the Router Setup Page, even though I have PORT 80 forwarded to my webserver machine. The only way to see your websute is to either use a machine outside of your router or use the webserver internal IP address.

2) The wireless range is significantly smaller than the WRT54G Ver 1.1. I get about an extra 60 feet with the WRT54G.

3) Everytime you make a small change, the router must reboot. And rebooting takes about 15-20 seconds. The WRT54G doesn't require a reboot as often.

4) You cannot use the Microsoft PPTP VPN server that comes installed with XP Professional. The router does not allow for the correct forwarding of the requests. If you want to use VPN you have to go through the routers VPN setup which is a little confusing.

So my advice is to wait till this thing is a little more stable. After further reading reviews of the WRV54G at BroadBandReports I am going to stay away from this unit for a while. Plus the WRT54G Ver 2 had been released which has all the same functionality as 1.1 version but is built on a faster processor. I will probably go with that since my need for a VPN isn't that great.

I had high expectations of this device but was disappointed by the poor documentation and cumbersome configuration. After investing the time and effort to configure the device I found its most unfortunate flaw. When powered off this device reverts to factory default configuration, none of the myriad of settings are saved. Not only do you have to start from scratch but, a simple power outage could create a huge security risk to your network. When the power is restored anyone with basic knowledge of the linksys default settings could gain wireless access to your network and would easily have admistrative access on this router.

I have read all the reviews here. I have also successfully set up numerous types and brands of VPNs where I work as a network engineer. As soon as I saw that my favorite home brand of networking devices came out with wireless g and vpn in one, I had to have it. I have at my house: Windows 2003 Server hard-wired, 2 WinXP Workstations, Playstation 2 with Wireless G Game adaptor (Linksys), and a Sony Clie UX50 w/built in Wireless B. First of all, all my LAN devices have had absolutely NO issues with connections, port forwarding, etc. The Wireless G and Wireless B successfully connect every time, even though if both are connected at the same time (a "flaw" with a mixed connection is that the protocol automatically drops to the lower 802.11b for all clients... but that's a global issue with Wireless G APs). Then, I have my VPN setup so that I can connect from my parent's house, work, and anywhere I choose to. Since I have tons of experience with VPN setups as well as tons of use with the Linksys/Cisco interfaces, this was a breeze for me. I don't know why there are such negative reviews on this product, it's by far the cheapest home/small business setup you can have. At the risk of sounding like a complete snob, if you are well versed in setting up VPN, then have no fear. If you have any reservations at all, you will want to read up on VPN in books or via Microsoft's articles.

**UPDATE** New Firmware out, get it! I also want to tell everyone that manages to read this, that the people who are complaining about the Linksys support are COMPLETELY UNFOUNDED. I used to work Tech Support, and as we all know, there may be a few "bad apples" amongst the lot, but I can guarantee you that Linksys Support is unquestionably stellar to say the least. I have purchased Linksys networking products ever since Broadband internet was made available for Home users... I had one router "die" when I attempted to upgrade firmware, and after 5 minutes on the phone, my replacement router was in the mail. Any technical issues or questions I have get answered immediately and professionally. If you have had a bad experience with this product, don't get discouraged by any means! Similar companies with similar products (Microsoft, Belkin, SMC, etc.) simply PALE in comparison. (Many of my co-workers have purchased other brands, they always come back to Linksys!)

Oh, and by the way, Cisco doesn't make the Linksys products, they just basically formed a business merger. So they slap the Cisco name on there to "woo" the Cisco freaks, but the products are still made by Linksys people. Cisco and Linksys have a trade up program, and this particular product is one of the eligible products for trade for a Cisco brand product.

I have been pretty disappointed with this device and Linksys in general. The DHCP server does not work well on this for Linux or Windows clients, the router's wireless signal strength weakens over time for no apparent reason .. a reboot every few days fixes that one .. everytime I reboot the router I have to manually release and renew the DHCP lease ... and I am up to date on the firmware for the device. Blah.

I am also pissed that Linksys stops doing firmware updates for models when they release new models. Example: I bought a WET54G bridge as well and the last firmware update for that is 2.06, from last year .. well, for the Speedbooster version they now have 2.10, but have they released that rev for the pre-speed booster version .. no!

Don't expect Cisco performance or reliability .. this stuff is flaky and not very robust. I do network administration in my day job and the last thing I wanted to do was have to dink around with my home network .. and I have had to do way more of that with this equipment than I wanted to. Hrmph!

I also bought a PCI Cardbus 802.11g cards from Linksys .. first batch .. PCI out of the box was dead, Cardbus card died after one day .. second batch .. Cardbus card died after 5 days .. sent them both back to get a refund .. yuk!

I will never buy Linksys products again. If I could afford Cisco I would buy Cisco .. this stuff is BY NO MEANS Cisco quality or robustness. I think Linksys, and from what I hear, other wireless companies, need to stop pushing product to market before it is well tested .. and when they do push to market, provide firmware support for as long as the product is on the shelves or AT LEAST provide an Red Hat Network kind of service where customers can pay X/year to continue to get firmware updates ..

I give Linksys a D for quality and support. Never again.

Seems like since Cisco bought Linksys, they halted development on all their products. And linksys products NEED development. Doesn't act as a VPN endpoint because they changed the software to require you KNOW the IP address of your traveling USER. As if dialup/hotel accounts ever give a random address out. (sic).

That's annoying and I might have had a little patience if the damned basic router worked. It didn't. If you have a webserver and DNS on the inside of your network being accessed by the public with port forwarding (80 and 53), and your local clients try to access sites on that server by name, the DNS will give them the correct info (the external interface of the router), the router figures out they're on the inside of the network(even though they are asking for the external address), and of course it KNOWS they must want to access the router configuration page.... all the older linksys routers seem to perform this function correctly, and changing the type of forwarding (3 avail in this device) doesn't help.

The G band performance bites compared to the weak performance of the wrt54g that I was trying to replace.

This product is clearly defective and Cisco should recall every one and send us all coupons for beta testing their shoddy work.

This is yet another example of a shoddy LinkSys product in recent times. I have had to tell my clients not to buy LinkSys without my express permission or I will not be able to guarantee the products will work no matter how much time we spend trying.