Customer Reviews

ZyXEL P330W 802.11g Wireless Router

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one of the few devices I've found that can be a bridge (a wireless Ethernet device), an AP/Router, or a WISP router. And for the money, this is a great buy.

I had a problem making WPA work in client/bridge mode, but I found a workaround that I'll share:

There is a bug in the P-330W Wireless / Security screen. The WPA/WPA2 TKIP Passphrase field is not storing the passphrase correctly.

I can reproduce this 100% of the time.

WORKAROUND:

Avoid the Wireless / Security settings entirely

1. Click on P-330W Setup Wizard
2. at WAN Interface Setup, click Next
3. at Wireless Basic Settings, set the SSID for the AP of which you want this bridge to be a client, click Next
4. at Wireless Security Setup, choose the WPA(TKIP) method (I did not try the other two WPA methods, but this probably applies to any WPA method with a passphrase).
5. Click Finish
6. Click Wireless / Basic Settings
7. Set Mode to Client, click Save

With this issue resolved, I'm enjoying this device very much.

THE GOOD: This is a great product and easy to use right out of the box especially if you have a cable modem. DSL is pretty easy as well, but requires a few more steps. This is the perfect product for someone who is setting up their first wireless home network or does not require the advanced features of the router. I was up and running in about 5 minutes with P-330W.
WHY I PICKED THE P-330W:
Price and features! I made the switch from cable modem to SBC Yahoo DSL and needed something that supported PPPOE (point to point protocol over ethernet) something required by many DSL providers. I have a Linksys WRTG54 that have been using for a year and absolutely love (loved) until it came time to hook it up to DSL. For some reason it never kept a consistent internet connection and was constantly renewing it's IP address or was just in a disconnected state. After about 5 minutes of googling it was obviously I was in for a fight if I wanted to continue using the Linksys router. So I wanted to find an inexpensive router that had dynamic dns, pppoe, and port forwarding.
THE BAD: The only real complaint that I have about the router is that it has limited ability to forward many ports. It supports a few predefined services. You cannot add additional service ports. :(
OVERALL:
If you are a beginner and don't know what dynamic dns or port forwarding is, or have a very simple network: such as a network that is not running a web or FTP server; then this is a great product for the price.
If you are more experienced and have multiple services you are wanting to expose to the internet, then this is not the product for you.
****If you are looking for a router you can control and tinker with, I highly suggest the Linksys WRTG54, it runs on open source Linux and there are many many hacks you can do to it customize.

Bryon Gaskin
http://gaskin.dyndns.org

Got it for $15 after rebate from CompUSA. If it wasn't for that rebate I will think twice about buying this. I used to have a Belkin router that never failed my connection for the two years I've had it. This ZyXel router is a pain. It drops my connection at least twice a week and I have to restart it and restart my modem everytime it drops. Worse thing is, my Vonage phone line is also connected with it, so when it drops, my phone is dead too.

This router was easy to setup out of the box. However, out of the box, I needed to restart this router at least every few days. My internet connection seems to fail every few days, with restarting the router fixing the problem. After a year of use, this router needs restarting literally any time I turn the computer off.

Now my routine when going home is this: turn on computer, go to router, unplug router, and plug in router, because the internet never ever works anymore just turning the computer on. The router must be reset every day.

I will take my sledgehammer out of the garage and smash this one in the backyard once I get a new one. Stay away or you will be in a world of headache.

UPDATED 2Oct06: I finally sorted out my issues with these routers. They do not document that BRIDGE mode can only actually wirelessly bridge a single MAC address. You must use WDS to connect one LAN with many devices to another LAN. It works great now, very solid. Their own tech support had no idea, but a very helpful forum gave me that info. It's not a flaw with their product, but with the way wireless bridging protocol was designed. WDS fixes those issues, though it's not completely standard, so make sure you buy the same device for both endpoints (or check compatibility online by testimonials).

I have a few gripes about this product, because I purchased two of them based largely on the strength of its features (good chipset and WPA2), and the fact that most of the online reviews were positive. I am a computer professional with many years of networking and programming experience, so I have some familiarity with this kind of technology.

My specific situation was that I had a long cable run that I thought was dropping out on occasion, so I thought, "Hey, let's try a wireless router and a wireless bridge instead!" What a can of worms that turned out to be. I bought one to be my main router, and another to be used in bridge mode exclusively. I thought that they'd have the best chance of interoperating correctly if they were from the same manufacturer, and in fact the same product.

I flashed the bios to the newest revision as soon as I got them plugged in--that was really easy. This review pertains to Firmware Version: P-330W_V1.7 (10 Aug 2006) Great job on that much, ZyXEL.

The P-330W does not handle a lot of trivial things correctly. The box I connected to my cable modem does not know how to respond to your external IP address if you ping it from inside your LAN. This means you cannot easily use DDNS or run a domain name from home, because you cannot use that name to access your own server. This is completely asinine. Product support says that is a feature they don't support, and will not plan to do so. Even the cheapest wired routers I've had could do this.

The P-330W, when set up in bridge mode, does not properly transmit DHCP signals. I have two Windows XP machines over the bridge and they cannot under any circumstances retrieve IP addresses from it over the bridge. If I plug them into the long hardwired cable which goes into the back of the router itself, I get IP addresses fine. One of the XP machines was a fresh install that day, so I know it's not funky in any way.

The P-330W does not allow my machines connected through the hardwire to 'see' my machines on the other side of the wireless bridge. The machines on this side of the bridge can see the hardwired computers. WTF? I have linux machines and XP machines over the bridge and both show the same symptoms. When I switch back to using the long hardwired cable, everything sees each other fine. Again, the bridge feature is letting me down.

My final three quick gripes: 1) in router mode, it loses connection daily almost, so I am forced to reboot it... rebooting the cable modem is not necessary, but I tried to isolate which box was causing the problem, and it's the P-330W for sure. 2) This is exacerbated by a lack of a REBOOT button on the configuration web page (which would make the issue a tiny bit less annoying as I could at least then set up a script to reboot it daily) 3) There is no way to see what the DNS servers are going to be if they are gathered from your ISP automatically. You can override whatever it is, but you actually have to go to a machine using DHCP to figure out what your ISP says to use as DNS servers. This is a serious issue if you are forced to use static IPs over a bridge due to broken DHCP. Or you call your ISP and pester them for the DNS server IPs. Very annoying.

Finally, the steps involved in setting up any kind of bridge is a little convoluted. The product support reps send you a PowerPoint that gives you the instructions you need to do it step-by-step, which is great. I followed it exactly. Still has the same problems. I had a very pleasant conversation back and forth that never seemed to resolve anything, but at least it was pleasant. Again, good for ZyXEL for having customer support that didn't suck. They're just trying to support a broken product the best they can.

For these many reasons, and the many hours over weeks I have put my unpaid time into these broken devices, I give the product a 2. Unfortunately, most consumer networking products are probably a 3, this is worse than average.

I imagine a few folks will stumble on this product if they are looking for a cheap option for a wireless bridge. (The device is primarily a wireless router but it also can be configured to serve as a bridge and for $20 after rebate, it is very attractive in that regard.)
First off, I will acknowledge that I am not a technical guru by any stretch and I apologize off the bat if I mangle networking lingo.

A device that serves as a bridge allows you to hook up a device (laptop, xbox 360) wirelessly to your network. The advantage is that the bridge does not have to be directly connected to your internet/modem feed--the bridge establishes a wireless connection with your wireless modem and then you can plug your device (laptop, xbox 360) into the bridge as if it were connected directly (wired) to your network

I bought this device specifically to hook up xbox live for my son. The tv is in the basement and it is not practical for us to have a wired connection to our internet router which is upstairs - thus a bridge is a nice alternative. Xbox sells a bridge device specifically for this purpose but I did not want to spend $90 on it. Instead, I bought this much cheaper but spent two hours of my life configuring it - it was a little tricky but once I got it configured, it seems to be working very well. I am hoping I can save folks a little time and hassle.

First of all, I would refer to this thread for help: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17062339 (Credit Jim Anderson)

****Jim Anderson's Instructions*****
Connect a PC to one of the 330W LAN ports and set it to obtain an IP address automatically (if you have previously disabled the DHCP server on the 330W you will have to manually set the PC to an IP address on the same subnet)
In IE open 192.168.10.1 if the 330W is running newer firmware or 192.168.1.1 for older firmware(or the current IP address of the 330W)
User admin
password 1234
In the LAN setup screen disable the DHCP server, set it to a non conflicting IP address on the same subnet as the rest of your network, and save

Change the PC to use the second non conflicting addresss, correct subnet mask for your netwrk (usually 255.255.255.0) and gateway the IP address of your router.

In IE open the IP address you assigned the 330W
User admin
password 1234
On the operation mode setup screen set bridge and save
On the wireless basic settings screen select client mode, enter the SSID of your network and save
On the wireless security screen select your encryption type, enter the key/passphrase, and save
On the site survey screen refresh, select your wireless network, and connect
Optional and recommended - on the password page enter a new router password and save
If device security is not an issue write the new password and IP address on a sticker and attach sticker to bottom of unit
If your PC normally obtains an IP address automatically, go into the newtwork setting to restore this setting

You should now be connected through the 330W to your wireless network and have access to its setup at its new IP address
--
***End Jim Anderson's instructions*********

My comments to Jim Anderson's instructions
- It is not real clear but essentially you first have to hook up your 330w directly to a computer to configure it. Once configured, you will be able to detach from your computer and use as a bridge
- As I configured it, I did not hook up the 330w to the computer on which my comcast internet modem and wireless router resides. Instead I hooked it up directly to another computer (from the network jack of the other computer to one of the lan ports on the 330W) This allowed me to synch up with my wireless router once I had configured the 330w bridge
- Also, Anderson talks about the need to change the ip address of the 330w. I tried that several times and everytime the 330 froze up on me and I had to restart. I ended up leaving it as is and it eventually worked (My comcast set up ip address goes thru 192.168.1.0 and the 330w's default ip is 192.168.10.1. this ended up not being a problem for my particular setup
- As I went through the other steps Anderson recommends, i noticed it would take awhile for the 330w to synch/adjust to each new setting (there are about 4 things you have to change). I guess the trick is to be patient - i sometimes had to X out of the setup and go back to the 192.168.10.1 address and would typically find that the change had taken effect although it did not automatically go back to the main screen after I saved the new setting
- I think you will know if you have it configured correctly once you do the site survey step. The 330w checks to see what wireless routers are available - click on yours and click the connect button and if it says connected you are good. Even if it says it is not connecting, I would recommend that you power off the 330w and let it synch back up and try again. this helped me
- Once you establish the connection through the site survey step, you can unplug your newly configured bridge and put it in the location where you want to use it and you should be good to go. All you need is to plug the power in and then use a network cable (supplied) to hook the bridge and your device (laptop, xbox, whatever) together

I hope this helps. Like it said, it took me a while to figure it out but so far it is working very well

email me at david.marzo2@gmail.com if questions

Purchased this router a couple of years ago for use of its bridge feature. I don't have an Ethernet cable running near my TV/DVR. But, I wanted to add a Slinbox to the configuration; the Slingbox requires Ethernet access. Instead of running cable, I purchased the P330W for a very cheap price. The steps to configure it as a bridge were not that obvious; otherwise, I would give it 5 stars. You should be technically knowledgeable to attempt the bride mode setup. I ran my Ethernet cable from by Slingbox to the P330W and it bridged the connection to my wireless router.

A couple of years later, no problems, no reboots, runs like a champ and not bad (industrial) looking either. Its fits in well in my den.

I've used Zyxel equipment in the past and have had good experience with them. This router fits in with that profile. I really like Zyxel brand routers. The menu/user interface is great. You don't have to install any software, just point your web browser to the router's IP address and away you go. Very easy to configure (for me anyway) and works great. Just like all consumer grade routers though you might have to restart it every once in a while. I'd say that I restart mine only once a month though.

Zyxel has **OUTSTANDING** customer support and any issues you have with the product is handled by a knowledgeable American. Problems solved in a jiffy (due to my ignorance with networking). I had another router from another company and wasted hours dealing with a script reading incompetent from their outsourced India office.

Zyxel has a great rep for making terric products and this unit is no different. Get the latest firmware (a thing you should do with ANY routing gear) which solves some peoples disconnection issues and you're good to go!

Remember, with any networking equipment, if you're patching different gear (i.e. access points, routers) with B, G or N from different companies and you have either cable or DSL, you're goimng to have to do different things in the setup. And that's where customer support comes in to the rescue for perfect customization.

Zyxel is thumbs up all the way!

ZyXel does not care enough to have a 24 hour customer service number, and they need it. Just read the reviews, the lower ones are true to my experence, drops connections all day long and takes over 2 mins to get back . NO WAY I RECOMEND this router, again trying to save a few bucks cost me way to much. JUNK..