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55 Karma

Review on ๐Ÿ“ก Cisco-Linksys E3000 Wireless-N Router: Superior Speed and Reliability for Seamless Internet Connectivity by Justin Gerrero

Revainrating 2 out of 5

It's PITA to be tech savvy and want to use all the features this router claims to have!

I worked in remote computing and application software development and support from 1961 until I retired a few years ago. This router is the first WiFi router I have installed and attempted to use in my home. My network was configured with a 4-port 100 Mbps router connected to a cable modem, which I replaced with an E3000. Management of "non-advanced" settings. Working with my wired clients (configured as Windows for Workgroups with my own workgroup name, not the default name) I was having trouble finding the correct fields to make the storage attached to the router's USB port "visible" to my network. " close. and I still can't create files or rename directories on the 1TB USB drive I attached to my router. When I chatted with Cisco E3000 support, the foreign support chat agent incorrectly told me that it was possible to use NTFS as the file system for the mapped drive. He directed me to have the router reformatted and he took a 1TB drive and downsized it to 900GB FAT. The Cisco documentation is sparse for people like me and lacks detail when it comes to many of the finer points. At this point, it seems likely to me that the only way to move files to and from a disk is to treat it like an old-fashioned shared volume on a UNIX host that has FTP support. If so, I would be tempted to return the Revain or Cisco router if their support organization couldn't provide firmware updates to be able to use it as their support rep and marketing materials suggested. I'm sure there are nationalized firmware versions for this machine and I suspect some of them are different from those sold in the US. I don't want to update my firmware from a UK support site or work in German to get what I need. In a month with the router, I've been able to use it with three different wireless devices. My Samsung LED TV (2009 vintage) has infoLink support, and by plugging in the proprietary wireless USB plug they sell, I can get weather, news, and stock information from the internet through my router. Unfortunately, Comcast appears to have decided to block the free weather service as it is running and recently stopped while news from the Stock Exchange and USA Today continue to flow normally on the air. I've had similar issues with them over the years since they took over the infrastructure from the smaller cable provider here. The second device is an older Acer 5000 Wireless G laptop. This worked great right out of the box and I used it to initially set up the router using a combination of wired and wireless connections. The wearable device works faster when both networks work at the same time! The latest device is a new iPad that I got my wife for her birthday this week. It came right into a small wireless network and for some reason messed up the security keys in the router's memory when we first tried to set it up to use a secure network. It worked as a "guest" until I finally had to reset the router after a power outage because Comcast was struck by lightning and my cable modem after the router lost connection to their network. When I reset everything, lo and behold, the security key was fixed and I was able to use Cisco Connect again to manage the router from my three network client computers. The iPad connected directly to a secure wireless network that I had set up and which was working fine apart from a "bug" in the online web software provided by my ISP (comcast), the Apple Safari for iPad dislike and doesn't work Don't let my wife put the cursor in the email body when using the web interface outside of the comcast link I provide at home. There, hosted on my secure wireless network connected to Comcast, he speaks Pop-3, sends and receives email etc using his own little built-in applications that retrieve their address book data from their Outlook 2007 email -Client tapped on one of the cables. Computer when plugged in was just fine. I'm still working on "setting up" two wireless channels and solving a strange problem with the E3000 which appears to wireless clients as if the router is increasing its signal strength over the time the client is using it and decreased. Obviously, it should help prevent the router from "polling" for new devices that are unlikely to join my network by disabling some of the "automatic" options it offers as defaults, as well as others G and N frequency settings make them optimal for each of my "regular" devices. I'm still figuring out how to do this and Cisco isn't much help.

Pros
  • Excellent Overall
Cons
  • Doubtful