Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo

by Cisco

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.4 x 5.9 x 6.7 inches ; 13.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MANHJE
• Item model number: WRT150N
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,088 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

The Access Point built into the Router uses the very latest wireless networking technology Wireless-N (draft 802.11n). By overlaying the signals of multiple radios, Wireless-N s Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology multiplies the effective data rate. Unlike ordinary wireless networking technologies that are confused by signal reflections, MIMO 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 up to 3 times farther than standard Wireless-G.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Wireless N Router, March 21, 2007

By 

Brendan Corcoran (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo (Personal Computers)

This linksys N router is wonderful. It was easy to get up and running on the standard linksys firmware, which I later upgraded to DD-WRT [...]. I used the mini generic v24 beta version first, and then upgraded to the non-mini version, and now I have a FULL featured wireless N router.

One thing to note, DD-WRT reports this router as a WRT300N, so keep that in mind when you make your purchase :)

Other than this, the features are great, the price is right, and it's simply a solid router. Combine this with a gigabit switch and you'll have the best, most affordable home network.

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hardware Great... Tech support is worse than HP! That's bad., May 15, 2007

By 

BIGGY "Big Ed" (Midlothian, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo (Personal Computers)

I bought this for $109 (not on amazon). Got it up and running in 10 minutes but Nintendo DS and PSP wouldn't recognize it. Spend 2 hours with 4 Linksys support guys (poor English and they just disconnect from you if they don't know the answer or if their algorithm fails). All 4 tech guys said it was both Nintendo and Sony's fault that the network wouldn't recognize them. Finally I gave up on Linksys tech... applied the latest firmware update to software and rebooted and it worked (NOT suggested by tech support). This is my 3rd wireless network. So if you think you'll need tech support, DO NOT buy this until Linksys gets a clue that tech support is important.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome! But ONLY with DD-WRT, November 6, 2008

By 

Chris Redford (Lawrence, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo (Personal Computers)

Many of you have probably seen references to DD-WRT in other reviews and wonder what it is. It is a firmware upgrade to your router that was created by an opensource group called, as you may have guessed, DD-WRT. This upgrade is available only through their website, not through Linksys.


>> Motivation

Now first, why do you need DD-WRT? Because it transforms this router from a piece of junk into a high-performance wireless machine capable of almost seamlessly streaming high-definition video and high-speed Internet games.

We had this router for about 2 months and were terribly frustrated with it. It constantly disconnected us and was just a lot slower than we had expected a Wireless-N router to be. Our daughter's Powerbook constantly got dropped from it, causing her to have restart her wireless connection several times a day.

Frustrated, I looked up these Amazon reviews to see if there was something I missed. Then I found a review referencing DD-WRT. After some hesitation, I tried it and it worked. I checked our daughter's laptop and it worked fine for the first time since we got the router. However, then I went to Hulu to test the download speed and was blown away. The DD-WRT had turned our once-modest router into a freaking hulk. It now ran as fast wirelessly as it once did only when directly connected by ethernet.


>> How to Install DD-WRT

Now in my story above, I abbreviated the installation process. In reality, learning how to install this firmware took quite a bit more time than I felt it should have. And I am a Computer Science graduate student finished with my PhD coursework. I can't imagine how intimidating the installation procedure must look to the average computer user.

So I wanted to lay out the steps for this specific router so that people can reference it here on Amazon without having to waste their time browsing through documentation.

First, you need to download the firmware file for the WRT150N (this router). It is a little harder to find than your average download:
1. Go to the DD-WRT main site (google "DD-WRT")
2. Click Downloads
3. Click v24
4. Click Broadcom
5. Click Linksys
6. Click WRT150N_v1.1 (you should check the bottom of your router to make sure you have 1.1; you probably do)
7. Click dd-wrt.v24_mini_generic.bin (you want the "mini" and "generic" v24)
8. Save it

Next, you need to reset the router to factory settings. This will erase all your settings so take screen shots of them if you need them. Otherwise, just reset them manually like you did when you first set up the router.
1. Hold down the RED reset button on the back of the router using a pencil or pen for 10 seconds. The power light should start blinking then stop after a while.
2. Unplug the router
3. Plug it back in and wait until it is fully powered on

Next, you need to install the firmware. You can only do it with Internet Explorer because for some reason all other browsers are unstable. Also, you should only do it through an ethernet connection because you could ruin your router if you use the unstable wireless connection:
1. Connect to your router directly with an ethernet cable and turn off your wireless connection on your computer.
2. Using INTERTNET EXPLORER, go to 192.168.1.1. The username is blank and the password is 'admin'.
3. Go to Administration > Firmware Upgrade
4. Browse and open the firmware file you downloaded earlier
5. Wait

You will probably be taken to the DD-WRT screen. You should reset to factory settings again using the method above. But now you should have your brand new smokin' router. The interface for DD-WRT is very similar to the one used by Linksys with almost all the same menu names. An important difference though is that now the USERNAME is 'root' (the password is still 'admin').

Just reset all your old settings and you are done. You can now access and administrate the router wirelessly (it will be called 'dd-wrt' by default instead of 'linksys'). One note: I had to change the router name through the wired connection. But after that, I was able to administrate wirelessly.

If you run into any issues go to the WRT main site, click on Community, then Wiki. However I don't think most people should have issues.