Linksys by Cisco WRT160N-RM Refurbished Wireless-N Router

Other products by Linksys

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001VMAYAM
• Item model number: WRT160N-RM
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (258 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #2 in

  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Networking Products > Routers

• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 12, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the ManufacturerThe Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband 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 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 much farther than standard Wireless-G.

With Wireless-N, 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 Wireless-N, the router can increase the throughput even more by using twice as much radio band, yielding speeds far faster than standard Wireless-G. But unlike other speed-enhanced technologies, Wireless-N can dynamically enable this double-speed mode for Wireless-N 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.

The incredible speed of Wireless-N makes it ideal for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and Voice over IP telephony, and gives you plenty of headroom to run multiple media-intense data streams through the network at the same time, with no degradation in performance. With the Linksys Wireless-N Broadband 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.

Product Description

Linksys' Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband Router is actually 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Router... with DD-WRT installed, December 2, 2009

By	Christopher Gonzalez (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I was looking for a Wireless-N router (the newest form of wireless connectivity) as most of my computers and consoles (Xbox 360 has a new wireless dongle) now have Wireless N technology. This was cheap and had fairly decent reviews so I decided to take a chance. The item arrived fairly quick and in great (I'd say practically brand new) condition and was easy to install. However, after only a few hours of use, I noticed several problems with this unit. Most of the problems seemed to be with my Macbook Pro; it wasn't getting a full signal, speeds were slow, and whenever I opened iChat, the router would instantly restart itself. After going through the hassle of purchasing and installing it, I decided to try something else before sending it back: I installed DD-WRT open source firmware on the router, and haven't looked back since.

I have never used open source firmware before, but I had read up about it before purchasing a router again. Even though the DD-WRT website listed this as not compatible, I purchased this anyway in hopes that eventually it would be released. DD-WRT for this router (version 3) wasn't supported until literally 2 weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to find a release of it on the DD-WRT support forums (easily found by doing a quick search on Google for "DD-WRT WRT160Nv3"). After downloading the mini pack and the standard pack (listed as WRT160Nv3 in the file name) I loaded the router access page (192.168.1.1) and did a web firmware update thru my FireFox browser, first starting with the mini pack, and once that is finished, then with the standard firmware for this router.

It was as easy as that, and took literally 4 minutes to upgrade it. Now, this router has been perfect. It hasn't been restarted once since it was updated with DD-WRT, the speed is fantastic, and overall, I am extremely happy to have upgraded with the new firmware. The DD-WRT firmware also has some great features like bandwidth monitoring, signal adjustment and strength meter, great security features and tons more that the standard Linksys firmware doesn't include. **Please note: there is a slight chance DD-WRT could brick (aka destroy) your router, though it doesn't appear to happen very often. Please make sure you read the DD-WRT website and support thread on this router thoroughly before upgrading it. With that said, it was the easiest and least painful upgrade I have ever done, and now this router works great.

EDIT: Please read comments section for more information and direct links.

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible product, unreliable, November 27, 2009

By	M. Harris (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Alright, as a long time user of linksys wireless routers, I think I knew what to expect here, and I DID NOT get what I was expecting, thats for sure. This product is unreliable. The wireless signal drops, constantly- a refurb unit, I know, but after researching the WRT160N on the internet, the signal drops are obviously a systemic problem with the unit.

In fact, Amazon has a separate part number just for WRT160N refurbs (WRT160N-RM)- what does that tell you? There are a ton of these flying around, in fact my unit looked absolutely new out of box - it probably WAS new - but with the out of box systemic wireless signal dropping flaw, back it goes to Amazon for a second try at a refurb sale.

A few more details,
- the setup is easy and improved from my older wireless-G. Nice improvement in the ease of use area.
- Router starts up well, signal is strong and speed is outstanding to my XP laptop with odyssey client in the other room. All is well.
... 3 hours pass...
- signal on my home network starts going in and out on my laptop sitting 10 ft away from the router. The green bars go from excellent to very good to just good. Hmm.
- then, poof, all white bars on my laptop, no more signal. I go check the router. All seems fine the lights are all working. I connect the hard wire ethernet cable to the router, internet connectivity is fine.
- wait about 35 minutes the signal from the WRT160N comes back- great! I have wireless connectivity for 10 minutes, then white bars again. Reboot computer, no luck. Delete the home network connection and recreate. No luck.

Finally go check [...] for support notes on this signal in and out issue- WOW! literally hundreds of blogs and rants on the web about the WRT160N dropping connections.

Final chapter- box it up and send it back to amazon. As much as it pains me to buy a near obsolete product, I will purchase another Wireless G router from linksys. Those work like a charm.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great router for the price!, June 22, 2009

By	01Moch1 (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This router gives me full service regardless of where I am in the house. It is also noticeably faster than my old Linksys WRT54G. Between buying for friends and family this is the third refurbished router I have purchased and I have never had an issue with any of them. Do not hesitate to buy a Linksys refurbished router, they are a solid product!