Cisco Linksys Routers Item ID: #328Linksys by Cisco WAG320N Wireless N Gigabit Dual Band Modem Router (for ADSL / telephone line connections i.e BT Broadband)
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£99.99
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Item DescriptionItem Reviews5 Responses to “Linksys by Cisco WAG320N Wireless N Gigabit Dual Band Modem Router (for ADSL / telephone line connections i.e BT Broadband)”Leave a Reply |
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Buying this product was a bit of a gamble for me, firstly because for some time i had been searching around the net looking at reviews of this product, from professional reviewers to the people who bought them, and there’s seems to be a mix match of what people think of the product, from people having a good experience of the product to the dissatisfied ones.
Here’s my thoughts:
– Wireless speeds are better than the traditional “G” standard, but I’ve used faster “N” routers. Although you have to consider if the additional cost of something faster is really worth it? (What meets your needs?)
– This router isn’t best suited to HD video streaming but will happily do normal def stuff.
– Setting it up was easy (so long as you have your broadband information at hand), the setup wizard walks you through in a simple and easy to understand fashion.
– From what I experienced, Mac support is equal to the PC. I.e. the CD that comes with the router works on both platforms.
– Gigabit ethernet is amazingly fast. Great if you’re transferring massive files.
– USB feature is useless in the real world. On a Mac, finding a USB stick on the network required too much effort, i’ve heard it’s easier on the PC. But the router should be treating any USB drive plugged into it as if it was another computer on the network. Therefore making it easy to find.
– If you are thinking of attaching a storage device to the router, you’re better off using a NAS type device rather than using the USB port on the back. NAS was designed for a network (hence the name), has nice management features and importantly is faster than USB or firewire (when using the ethernet).
– When they say Dual-band, they don’t really mean it. You have a choice between the standard 2.4GHz, which all wireless stuff will work with and the newer 5GHz, which is faster and more reliable since there aren’t devices broadcasting at that frequency (yet). Unfortunately you have to choose one of the two, it can’t do both at the same time. Cisco do make a router that does does both 2.4GHz and 5GHz at the same time but hasn’t got the vital ADSL modem feature we need. You better off sticking to the 2.4GHz frequency, which is set as a default, plus all wireless devices will work fine with it.
– Be warned, Tech Support is hopeless. Cisco need to get on this problem, regardless of how good or bad their products are.
– The power button on the back is a nice, what’s the point of leaving it on all night when my Mac is off, plus it’s a lot easier to reach compared to the power socket.
– Great design, normally something that isn’t considered much with routers but i like the black glossy finish. All the antennas are hidden away. Much like with anyone who’s owned an iPhone or iPod Touch, this thing will be covered in finger prints. And you will notice them.
– It’s reliable. Sometimes, whether you notice it or not, routers will lose their connection between your computer or internet (which is more normal than you think on a wireless network). So far I had no problems.
This router did not come with the latest firmware installed and despite following the setup instructions to the letter I could not get it to sync to the ADSL line. If we hadn’t got internet access through a mobile phone this product would have been unuseable. However, flashing the firmware was a doddle and once installed and rebooted, the modem sync’d up first time. With a few adjustments on the settings and a few tweaks by my service provider and we are now getting consistent line speeds of over 15mbps.
Having struggled with at Talk Talk Huaewi and then the painfully awful BT Home hub I finally came across this Linksys Cisco.
The install was fairly straight forward only let down by the strange necessity of installing software. When it’s finished the setup however you can uninstall and use the web GUI to administer the router.
Once up and running some issues I had previously with my NAS shared drives being slow to connect on my PC and PS3 were fixed and with Gigabit switching between these devices it is now possible to stream HD video to the PS3 without issue.
Internet speeds were also much more consistent with 17Mbps down and 800Kbps up with the connection very stable on a BT broadband connection.
Finally the wireless signal which had been a bugbear with previous devices was much stronger even in parts of the flat that it previously didn’t work, it now works fine.
In all I had three issues with my previous devices which in one fell swoop this device fixed – I cannot recommend it more highly – it does what it says on the box and for around £85 I reckon it’s a bargain.
Cisco are a reliable business brand but with Linksys they have extended that to home use now as well.
I bought this router to replace the one I received from BT. Specifically, I wanted a router which I could adjust the settings more easily and fully than is possible with the BT one. This router has an excellent range and is a doddle to set up. The only drawback I had with it was when using the 5Ghz range on the WiFi. I bought the Cisco USB adapter Linksys by Cisco WUSB600N Wireless-N USB Network Adapter with Dual-Band in conjunction with the router in the hope that I could switch band and get a ‘cleaner’ signal and therefore a longer range. In fact, the key dropped the signal by 20% at 10 feet (no walls) and moving downstairs meant losing the signal altogether. Switching to the 2.4Ghz range on the router and then reverting to the internal NIC in my netbook meant getting a 50% signal downstairs again. Clearly the 5Ghz range advertised on these two products is less than perfect. My advice? Get the router, it is excellent, but forget the Cisco USB adapter. Oh, and don’t bother with Amazon’s ‘expedited’ service – my kit took 4 days to arrive, not my definition of ‘expedited’… something I won’t bother with again.
Without a lot of technical skill I easily managed to set the network up with wired and wireless connections which work fine and throughout the house. A word of warning about the USB connection which does not work. I can ‘see’ the external hard drive in the set up screens but my network fails to recognise it. Three lengthy online ‘conversations’ with LinkSys have wasted a lot of my time and got me nowhere, so the drive is back, plugged directly into my PC.