WRT55AG Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router
1 RIP
Purchased for the 'A' band/AES and Linksys' logging capabilities. Configured and successfully set up quickly. Range was good and, in reality, had no problems. The configuration/setup options are a disappointing barebones in comparison to previous Linksys routers owned. Disappointed in logging capabilities and that there appeared to be no way to configure it to allow multiple VPN sessions to work. Other then that, it's performed well. Up to yesterday when it went belly up - not even 3 months old. I've had prob's w/Linksys quality in the past and thought they mighta got their act together w/Cisco. But, I guess not. It'll be a 'cold day' before I will again purchase a Linksys product...
2 Avoid the wrt55ag at ALL COSTS
This item is NOT ready. It dumps connection every 4-6 hours, sometimes requireing a cold boot. Tried beta firmware, was even worse.. Get a d-link, buffalo, whatever, avoid this router/wireless access like the plague.
3 CRAP!!
Wow what a stink router. The victim of terrible electronic engineering. This router has NO range whatsoever. The computer is only 15 feet away from the router. The signal strength constantly jumps around from Low to Good, the signal isnt stable. On top of that, the connection constantly disconnects! Avoid this junk at all costs. Linksys doesn't stand for quaity anymore
4 Linksys WRT55AG Dual-Band Wireless A+G Access Point Ver. 2
Steer Clear of this product.
Tech support for this product is virtually non-existent. I have not been able to do a tracert or use VisualRoute when my computer is connected to this router. I have tried disabling the routers firewall and all software firewalls on the computers, no avail. ICMP packets are blocked when trying to perform a traceroute.
I contacted Linksys tech support 6 weeks ago regrading this problem. This effort was futile. Repeated contacts have been useless. All that I know it that the problem was elevated to a level 2 tech the 1st day that I made contact. Every attempt to get a status on this issue has been frustrating. I still do not know the status of my trouble ticket and cannot get any indication that this problem has gotten any serious attention.
This should be a relatively problem to resolve, but Linksys seems to lack the motivation to deal with this problem. My opinion of Linksys is now jaded. I probably will not purchase any of their products in the future. I have a very low regard for a company that dumps beta or inferior products on the market and becomes deaf, dumb and blind when consumers ask for product support.
5 Apparently there are TWO Versions of WRT55AG
My WRT55AG hardware version is as buggy as many others have noted, especially with WEP enabled. Even after upgrading to BIOS version 1.04 (30Jun2003), I have many connectivity and dropout issues over only a few feet. My research to fix this problem showed that Linksys now offers another WRT55AGver2. Note "version2" indicator. Version 2 uses a much more recent BIOS version 1.10 (11Nov2004). When I asked their tech suppport if I could upgrade my "version 1" hardware with the newer BIOS, they apologetically said that the two WRT55AG versions are not compatible. So I am obliged to buy another hardware router to get the benefits. Since then, my hardware version has disappeared from their support page.
So my feeling is that the new version 2 hardware is winning awards and my old version 1 is heading for the trash. Not a lot of real information available from Linksys on this issue but it may explain why some users have problems and others don't.
6 Don't buy this one; try Buffalo
I bought this Linksys WRT55AG at Fry's on my trip to the US then come back Taiwan. Tried to set it up with my ADSL dial-up (dynamic IP) for whole night and still can't get throught the line. Its WAN/PPPOE doesn't work at all.
What happened is it retried PPPOE dialing to the ADSL modem for couple of times; could't establish the line for some unknown reason; then simply RESET itself. Once it reset, the PC used to configure it through Ethernet port runing IE Browser lost connection, then I have to wait for the lengthy bootup sequence before IE browser can connect it, then it failed to establish ADSL dail-up again, then RESET, then .... This happened just like a dead loop until I unpluged the ADSL modem.
After all night failure, I downgraded it to be an AP(instead of an IP sharing router that it supposed to be) and used WinXP to do the PPPOE job, then everything was just fine (even with strong AES security ON, but I just tried G band, not A band). But why you pay extra for this useless "router" feature?
Its PPPOE protocol definately has bug, and the RESET-system-upon-WAN-failure problem make this bug un-tolerable.
7 Wireless is the way to go
I just recently move from dial up to DSL. I should have done this years ago and with 2 in college, 5 computers in the house the time had finally come. Going DSL was not enough; I did not want to have cables running though the house so I started looking into going wireless. To make a long story short, after a little investigation I decided to make the leap into wireless technology. I purchased the WAP55AG router and the adapter cards, WMP55AG and WPC55AG.
I use the Nortel Network software to VPN into work and do not have any problems.
I had no difficulty setting up the hardware and software and with a few hours, I was on the net. All of my computers run Windows XP, both Home and Professional versions. The Web Interface into the router is simple and easy to use.
The LinkSys Web site has all the documentation you need for installation and setup. There is a "Knowledge Base" page that covers a lot of the products and answers to a lot of questions about various products and configurations; I found it to be very helpful.
Pulled from LinkSys Web Site:
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The Dual-Band Wireless A+G Access Point actually contains two separate wireless connectivity radio transceivers, which support all three popular wireless networking specifications. The first transceiver uses the 2.4GHz radio band, supporting both the widely-used and inexpensive Wireless-B (802.11b) standard at 11Mbps, and the new, almost five times faster, Wireless-G (draft 802.11g) at 54Mbps. The second radio operates in the 5GHz band, and supports Wireless-A (802.11a) networking, also at 54Mbps. Since the two radios operate in different bands, they can work simultaneously, blanketing your wireless zone with high-speed bandwidth.
Dual-band, tri-standard Access Point communicates with Wireless-A (802.11a), Wireless-B (802.11b), and Wireless-G (draft 802.11g) wireless networks
Protect your wireless investment while preparing your infrastructure for the future
Advanced features: SNMP manageability, and Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS)
Powerful security: Up to 152-bit wireless data encryption (WEP), and wireless MAC address filter
Features of the product:
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MAC Addressing Filtering and up to 152-bit WEP Encryption
Built in Web User Interface for easy configuration from any browser
Firmware upgradeable through Web browser
Free Technical support 24/7
3 Year Limited Warranty
System Requirements (Minimum):
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One Pentium PC (200 MHz or Faster)
64 MB RAM
Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Navigator or Higher for Web-based Configuration
CD-ROM Drive
802.11a, 802.11b, or draft 802.11g Wireless Adapter with TCP/IP Protocol Installed
8 WAP DHCP Problems
Unit is garbage. Only works without security. As soon as you install wap, dhcp starts to flake out. Origially have firmware 1.2, linksys sent me new firware, after installing the new firmware, the device wouldnt come up. sent back to factory, received a new one with firmware 1.4. same problem. this think is junk if you need security.
9 WRT55AG Perf Issues Died on FW Flash
I purchased the router and ran through an initial configuration. After enabling WEP, the router began to lock-up and lose config resetting to defaults. Initial connectivity without WEP or MAC security was outstanding. Great penetration on both G and A however security was a necessity. Tried to flash the router to the 1.04 FW when it completely died....Red Diag constantly on...no joy RMA to store. Trying the WAP55AG and will let y'all know how it performs
10 WRT55AG
I purchased this with high hopes as well to be able to work downstairs without any problem. But I was wrong, the wireless did work well, but for some reason my husbands direct connect failed about every 2 weeks.
The last time we called, they want us to send the product back, yet I don't think I want to go wireless, and stick with a direct connect. It seems safer and also much cheaper.
I don't think I will go Linksys, so I see now that the most expensive isn't always the best.
11 Works in NYC where walls are thick and loads of interference
I bought this router the other day as a replacement for a 802.11b router that fried itself (wired worked, radio dead). It arrived in 1 day and it worked fine right out of the box - I'm using A at home with a laptop that has A/B built in - - no problems, through thick walls in my apt. the range is actually better than my old router using 802.11b. And, the best part is that my cordless phones work much better thanks to no conflict of wireless frequency/channels. Not sure why others are having issues...
12 BEWARE!
I was so excited to get this that I paid extra to have it overnighted to me. What nobody told me is that this device doesn't send a signal more than thirty-five feet!!!!!! That's ridiculous. I called the company and they admitted that's the best the device will do -- 35 feet. I hate it. I had to buy a booster and boosters for every computer in the house, and even then the signal was really weak. I'm VERY disappointed. Buyer beware.
13 Linksys WRT55AG w/firmware v1.04
Orange County's post is right on. This product initially shipped with firmware v1.02. It was a disaster. 802.11a didn't work at all, and DHCP dropped your IP all the time. Supposedly in firmware v1.04 they resolved these issues. However, I am here to tell you that I just purchased this product and it shipped with firmware v1.04. 802.11a still does not work, even using the Linksys WPC55AG PCMCIA card with it. And what a joke that is, the card supports WAP, but the router doesn't! Please Linksys, ...how could such an oversight be possible. I immediately contacted Linksys to inform them that the router still dropped your DHCP even on a PC connected via wire. They are aware of the problems, but not currently working on them, with no ETA for any resolution. I agree with Orange County's April 9 post, ...this thing DOES NOT WORK! And Linksys is not interested in supporting it. Check out the review at "Tom's Hardware Guide" on the net. He is a very well respected hardware tester, and he even agrees that this product is seriously flawed. Just read his review! Again, for those people that have it working, they must only use it to occasionally check email or the internet. If you use it in an environment where a steady connection is needed, it will drop you. This product would be da'bomb, if Linksys would get off of there Speedbooster Wireless-G" and fix the firmware in this thing. Come on Linksys, wake up over there...
14 WRT55AG ...what a joke...
I recently purchased the Linksys WPC55AG wireless PCMCIA card, and the WRT55AG wireless router. Both of these products are suppose to support A+B+G. Any review on here stating that these products work without a glitch are people who have wide open unsecure wireless networks. As for us more advanced users who prefer security, these products are a joke. Both work perfectly with no security enabled. However, enable WEP and BLAM! ...everything stops working. The router drops your DHCP connection over and over. This was supposedly resolved in firmware v1.04, NOT! I have been through one WPC55AG card, and two WRT55AG routers at Linksys Tech Support recommendations. And every single time, it is the exact same problem. What sucks is that not enough people buy the tri-band A+B+G products, so they don't care that it doesn't work. They simply choose to worry about there "G" only products that seem to be somewhat working at this point. Hence the promotion of the new Linksys G-Speedbooster technology. Be smart, don't waste your money on these products. Also, for all you happy customers, try securing your wireless network, then come back and tell us that this router and card are great products.
15 An Expensive Dud
I have used other Linksys equipment with great results, so when I recommended this unit to a friend I was sorely disappointed when it failed to meet his (and my) expectations.
There are multiple problems with using Yahoo webcams via this router. The tech support people have a fix for one (the "superwebcam bug") but are unwilling or unable to understand that it is not the only bug. Regular Yahoo webcams do not function either until the WRT55AG router is taken out of the system.
As observed elsewhere, Linksys tech support treats you like you're crazy or simply ignores your pleas for help.
As a Cisco shareholder, I actually approached this company with a bias in their favor. And I would have been able to forgive them if they had admitted there is a bug and set a date for a bug fix software update. The buggy firmware has not been updated since June, 2003.
As it stands my friend invested $500 on a complete wireless A+G network on my recommendation. I told him he was getting a top of the line system. It has never met his (reasonable) expectations. It has never worked as well as my much cheaper BEFW11S4 wireless router. He has to manually remove the WRT55AG every time he wants to view Yahoo Webcams and later plug it back in again to make his wireless network partially functional again.
In short, if you want a Linksys wireless router, get the BEFW11S4; it costs way less, it's fast enough for use with DSL and cable modems and works so well that you will never have to use their dysfunctional technical support. If you want an all band A+G router look elsewhere or wait until version 1.04 of the firmware for this one has been fixed.
16 Wireless Access Point
i m like to share the data of my own bussiness ,, i have 2 offices but the distance b/w 2 office is 5 kilo meter , so plz give me a suggestion what can i do for share the data b/w 2 offices.
thanx
i m waiting for ur responce
17 Wireless-A is useless in a home, use Wireless-G.
I bought the WRT55AG as a way of consolidating everything with wireless in my home. For the most part, I've found Wireless-A to be useless in my house. Its range drops off easily and the quality of signal fluctuates enough to make it useless to me. Thus, I use Wireless-G as my primary connection mechanism. It's generally been solid, though once every couple of weeks the router flakes out for no apparent reason and I have to power recycle the box.
Were I to do this again, I would not bother with Wireless-A: it's more expensive and isn't particularly effective indoors. Except for the problem mentioned above, the box has been pretty stable, much more so than my experience the Siemens Speedstream (Wireless-B only) it replaced.
18 Setup was a breeze!!! Excellent connectivity!!!
The Linksys WAP55AG tri-mode access point is an excellent unit! Setup was a breeze! It was also very easy to configure all the security access settings. I found it to be pretty much plug-n-play. Configuration only took about 10 - 15 minutes. I have been using it with the Linksys WPC55AG notebook adapter and have had excellent connectivity.
I dealt with the Linksys tech support when trying to configure multiple routers for a small business setup and they went above and beyond the call to solve my problem. I would recommend any products made by Linksys and their parent company Cisco.
19 Buggy
Bought unit when it first became available and it was immediately apparent that the DHCP server was unreliable. Linksys tech support acted as if I were insane, however. Then several months later came along a firmware update that, shock of shocks, stated in the release notes that it fixed a DHCP server that would cut out after 5 minutes.
Now, the unit disconnects ALL 802.11b clients for 1-2 minutes every 5-60 minutes, and Linksys again is acting as if there is no problem. I've tried different channels and the other obvious solutions. I'm sure in a month or two (I write this in 12/2003) there will be a firmware update to solve THIS problem...
20 Poor Performer
I bought this product expecting to get good performance on both the 802.11a and 802.11g radios simulataneously. Boy was I disappointed. Whenever I use my 802.11a laptop, the 802.11g radio range from my desktop machine suffers. How can Linksys really claim this to be a dual-band router? It does not perform as expected. I'll be returning it for a refund. SAVE YOUR MONEY UNTIL A GOOD PRODUCT IS AVAILABLE.
21 Just Troubles
Each day work worsts. Really I think I was rip my money. If I could return it I would. But just only 30 days to return.
22 The first and LAST Linksys product I buy
I purchased this product when it first came out in late June 2003. I picked this router because of it's supposed SNMP support and it's dual band capability.
After receiving this unit I experienced all the problems with WEP as others have reported as well as the documented problem of the DHCP server in this unit failing to work after about 5 minutes. As with others here the WEP and DHCP problems were cured by the 1.04 firmware update.
The SNMP capability, again a key reason for selecting this product, is not really functional. The unit does respond with basic information (name and location, etc) but none of the metrics work. When I contacted support about this I was told that it would be fixed in an upcoming firmware upgrade. This was prior to the release of the 1.04 upgrade and now I cannot get any response about the timeframe of this upcoming release.
Lately the router has begun dropping the LAN connections, wired and wireless, on a intermittent basis. I have contacted support and their only recommendation was to upgrade to the 1.04 firmware which I have already done.
Since the router/switch is the heart of my home network and since the unit is unusable due to continual dropped connections, I am now forced to purchase a new router and am out the cost of this one.
23 Works great, right out of the box!
Being a part-time programmer and game developer; not having to troubleshoot is a plus. I'm using WRT55AG for my Indie game company's main network. I was fearful, based on others having problems with the unit. Suggestion, make sure you buy this unit with the right drivers; Amazon.com sells the right version. Also before you buy, educate yourself on your surroundings, make sure you note most of the signal blockers(stone, pipes, heavy[thick]walls, etc) and then decide if wireless is right for you. If you do choose to go wireless, try to put the WRT55AG up higher than your desk; giving the radio signals a helping hand to clear objects and to help boost your reception. Why do you think radio towers are so high? ;)
My workstation #2 had Quake(tm) 3 Arena set to multi-player(LAN). I took my Alienware(tm) laptop which has 802.11a/b built in, outside, and walked around. Although the signal got weak when blocked or further I walked away from the WRT55AG; I was still able to play Quake(tm)3 Arena in multi-player mode quite nicely. The WRT55AG has to work to push the signal around some of my signal blockers, two of which are concrete steps and some brick layers. Again, placing my unit higher than my computer table should help increase the signal strength.
I would recommend WRT55AG to anyone considering wireless.
Bill B., CEO
BabyBoy Multimedia Productions
Seattle, WA USA
24 Linksys they fail to honor their rebate don't buy
Linksys has failed to honor two rebates from me and no doubt countless others. Don't buy Linksys!!! They are lying cheating SOB's
25 Works Great
I hestitated purchasing this product because of the poor reviews by consumers on this site and others. Most of the technical reviews by "experts" were very positive. I own a laptop that came with A and B and I did not want to buy old technology so I opted to get A and G.
Setup was easy. I just followed the directions on the CD and within 15 minutes it was working. I have not had any problems for the three weeks I have owned the product.
I am not sure why my experience has been so much better than others, but I suggest giving this wireless router a try.
26 Firmware upgrade 1.04 fixes a lot of problems
I purchased this router at the end of July 2003 and immediately upgraded the router's firmware to Linksys's latest offering v1.04. As an earlier reviewer recommended, I configured the router manually, avoiding the automatic setup.
I am using 802.11a with WEP (better than nothing since Linksys has not provided WPA support yet), MAC filtering and the router's built in DHCP server. Only one client attaches to the router. The router has been up and running for about a week and I have not encountered any of the problems mentioned in earlier posts.
My main complaints are with the router's current feature set:
- No ability to disable 802.11a SSID broadcasts (b/g SSID can be disabled)
- No ability to save the router's configuration to a file
- No ability to create/change/use a logon name to administer the router (you simply supply a password)
- Poor traffic monitoring features
But these are minor gripes. Overall, I am very happy with the WRT55AG.
27 Need to upgrade Firmware
This is my second WRT55AG, the first one I send it back, because it was not wooking as it should. When the second arrive, I replace the firmware with the one they just release, so I don't know if the problem was releated or not to the fw.
Linksys have not release yet the g compilant firmware, and the does not tell you when will that be.
Linksys need to do a good job with the firmware, to make this product work as it supose to do it.
28 Doesnt work!! Stay away!!
I was very excited to see that there was a supposedly solid company offering the latest technology in wireless. I purchased this from Amazon, and bought a wireless PC card for my server, and two wireless cards for each laptop. One computer was running XP Pro, one was running 2000 Pro, and the other was running 98SE.
Couldnt get ANY of it working. I am a VERY tech person who works as a professional in the industry so am no moron. Spent DAYS and HOURS on the phone to their tech support. First, it takes almost an hour for ANYONE to answer their phone, so dont believe their "award" for customer service, its [bad]. Then they "tech" people just read scripts to you which are just regurgitations of the FAQ and manual. If you ask them a semi intelligent question they get flustered and revert back to the script. I think their customer service is based in the Phillipines from the accents I heard. I just wish they had some real tech people manning the phone.
The WIRED part of the router didnt even work until we dumbed down all the connections to 10-T instead of the advertised 100-T. Then the wireless cards connected for about 5 minutes then failed. Then the DHCP server stopped working for no apparent reason. Only after about 3 to 4 reboots did it get working but then fail after an hour or so.
I am fed up. Am returning ALL... I am on the hunt for something more reliable. DLINK any better?? 3COM?? NETGEAR?? ANYTHING?!?!?
29 Bad, just bad
Not ready for prime time....how about not even worth the sum of its plastic parts. It's a good thing Linksys was purchased by the larger Cisco, b/c products like this would force them outta business.
I thought, if I get the matching Linsys PCI wireless adapter, things should be pretty smooth...how naieve I was.
For the 5 days I put up with it, and substandard Linksys tech support, in order to get it to work I had to unplug this thing from power and plug it back in for it to serve up any network connection! Sometimes I even had to reboot both cable-modem & PC before it'd work!
The BFRS41 was a good router....the WRT55AG has turned me off of Linksys, probably for good. Yes, the experience was just that bad!!
30 Dual-Band Wireless A+G Access Point + Router
I installed this product in my home-office network and didn't experience any problems. There are 3 computers in the network; 2 are wired to the router, and 1 is wireless. One machine is running Windows XP Pro, while the other two are running Windows 2000. The wireless computer uses the companion Linksys WMP55AG product. Before installing these products, I printed out the user manuals that came on the installation CDs, and followed the step-by-step instructions there, rather than using the installation wizard on the CD. MAC filtering works fine for me.
The higher the products are situated above floor level, the better they perform. The router is currently located about 8 feet above the floor, and the wireless PC is located about 3 feet above the floor in another building about 50 feet away. Signal strength is "good" (according to Linksys monitoring software).
I am using the 5GHz band (802.11a) to avoid interference with a 2.4GHz cordless telephone system, but unfortunately, that band does not have a mechanism to turn off SSID xmission.
Subsequent to the time when I first posted this review, I attempted to enable WEP. I observed the same problem other reviewers posted here: connectivity to the Net could be established successfully, but then would be lost after a few minutes. Perhaps the new WPA support will be implemented soon.
08/04/2003: With the advent of firmware upgrade v1.04, WEP problems appear fixed. However, I observed a 3.6x degradation with 64-bit WEP enabled on 802.11a. I would expect higher levels of degradation with higher levels of encryption. To their credit, Linksys admits that using WEP causes lower throughput.
31 Not Happy with the Product- WRT55AG
I bought WRT55AG a month ago. My main concern is with DHCP server and DDNS feaure.
DHCP server won't serve the IP address until the router is reset.It happens very frequently.
DDNS funcation is always disabled even if you provide all the setting for your DDNS provider.
I contacted customer support 3-4 times but no luck. Customer service is not good.
32 Wep encryption
I had a Linksys BEFW11S4 with a problem with WEP encryption. It would loose connectivity every 3 min . Not enabling IEEE 801.11b certification on the apropriate checkbox... solved it. Seems a problem in windoze not in the router itself (don't know what's the effect of doing that).
33 Warning - WRT55AG
This product is rushed to the market but not yet ready for prime time.
Issues:
1) If you are using VPN to access your companies network - forget it, this product won't allow you to connect (will not pass IPSec-L2TP or PPTP traffic through)
2) WEP encryption doesn't work - yes, you can enable it but after 3 min you will loose connectivity with you wireless network. With WEP disabled connectivity will stay up.
3) MAC filtering doesn't work also - the router will reset back to default (Disabled) setting as soon as you submit changes to it.
4) Changing Internet Filters setting will reset this router to factory default.
5) Firewall is also not performing well.
6) Tech support is "dancing" and you won't give you any type of answer when they will come up with firmware upgrade - they won't allow you to talk to a supervisor also - USELESS.
On my scale from 1 to 5 this product gets 1.5.
RMA
