Linksys WRT160N Ultra N Router
My latest computer came with a Wireless N network adapter so that meant that to get good use out of that that it was time to replace the router.
I found a good deal on the Linksys WRT160N router and because Linksys is part of Cisco I expected a great product.
Let me tell you how this all went.
When you unpack the router you find a great looking product nice and shiny black with no external antenna. It comes with a CD that you need to run to get things going (that is what they say).
I started my Mac book pro in Windows XP mode and disabled my old wireless conection (software included only works on Windows).
Got the CD in my drive and it started and start telling me to connect the wires and when to turn on the router.
Then it started looking for the router and after a while it gave me a message that it could not find the WRT160N and that I probably didn’t get the cable connected the right way. The funny part was that when i opend my internet browser the internet worked so the cable was connected the way it should. I tried again but again no luck 
The 3e try i did on my old Compaq laptop and there the whole processes worked. It asked me all kind of question like router password, the name you would like to give id (SID) and the security password for people that want to connect. After that was all done it tells you a little story that you can press the button on the front at the time you laptop is connecting to the router for an easy connection. I tried that No luck.
So now I should be ready to run. The first victim i tried to connect was my Mac still in windows mode. It sees the Linksys Router but it can make a connection it keeps saying limited or no connection availible. Then i tried my Palm and No luck there at all it does not even find the Linksys WRT160N Router. Then I tried that connect the compaq wireless but also there no connections availible.
After that I decided to check out the router settings. You can do this by connection your router with a wire (should work wireless to) and surf to 192.168.1.1 there it askes for you username that would be “admin” and the password you gave it when installing.
Then you can find a lot of settings with a lousy help. I found settings that I didn’t know what they meant and guess what they didn’t get even talked about in the online help.
After fideling with the security settings I was finally able to get my Mac in Mac mode to connect to the Linksys but then the real problem started. It would keep connection for 5 minutes and then the bars started dropping with the result that the connection failed at the end and would not want to reconect any more. Often it would not even see the router any more after that.
A cold boot of the router by unplugging it would make it work again for a couple of minutes but that was the best i got it to work.
My conconclusion is that the product i got is probably one of the few that is not working the way it should but will i get a new one?
No I will not this one gets back and I will look for something a little more user friendly and more up to the job.
Written by George on August 30th, 2008 with
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