Broadband-Access Reviews

The big issue I had was I couldn't get the PC card to work right away. I called SMC tech support and after telling them the model number (the 4AWBR), the technican told me to open up the box and the internal PC card was loose and to re-seat it. That worked fine. Apparently this model is notorious for this. But the quick fix and HONEST answer by the technican caused me very little grief and the speed was well worth the effort. Better than sending it back.

I strongly recommend getting one of these and wireless cards.

The downside is that the instructions for the PC card could be simplier - or at least have a most-commmon-installation guide. I had to guess at a setting or two. But then it worked perfectly.

I then got my Mac laptop out and plugged in my wireless LAN card (I have an older, pre airport model) and there it was. I just had to type the name of the network I had just created, and I was surfing a shared broadband connection. It got it's IP dynamically from the SMC wireless router.

The range is fine, at least comparable to or greater than what I had gotten with the Airport base station at another location. I had an initial problem reaching the extreme back edge of my patio, but one tweak of the antennas fixed that. Although the documentation didn't mention Appletalk support, the router does in fact handle Appletalk handily. As well as every other protocol and port I've thrown at it (SSH, FTP, VNC, etc).

Many of the competitors require you use platform specific configuration software, needlessly limiting their market. Not so with the SMC. The embedded web server handles all configuration changes nicely, so it doesn't matter what kind of platofrm you are using (Mac, Mac OS X, Linux, peecee, etc.). Just type in the IP to your browser, and the SMC intercepts it and takes you to the configuration pages. They are VERY straightforward.

If it matters, I'm now writing this on a 1997 WallStreet Powerbook running OS X, a LinkSys wireless card, with an open source beta wireless card driver ... I can only assume the router works as well for Windows, but since there's a lot of info out there for those customers and a lot of disinformation out there for Mac users, I wanted this review to make a contribution for that audience. Even if you don't use macs, it's worth considering a device that doesn't depend on platform-specific configuration software to operate properly.

I recommend this product without any reservation.

While there is no printed manual, a disk version can help you run through some of the issues you might have with this machine, but even then the support is poorly written and relies too heavily on jargon and terminology that might be unfamiliar to new users of this technology. Even now, with the system up and running, I remain unsure as to how to configure a number of the customizable features that make this unit so powerful.

And it is powerful. The printing connection is extremely useful and the wireless signal is strong. I haven't had any problems beyond installation (and again with adequate documentation I don't think I would have had these problems).

Finally, while the unit does have a kind of polished high tech look. It's overall veneer is kind of plasticky and cheap. The two rubber antennas connect loosely and easily fall over. It was also packed in such a way that the power adapter prongs sat on top of the device so that they left superficial scratches on the paint. This does not impair the functionality of the router, but cosmetically it is disappointing -- especially when you pull the router out of the box.

I have had better experiences with netgear routers and would recommend them over this item. I find they are more sturdily constructed and come with far superior documentation and support. I chose this unit for home use because of the printer connection and its price. I would probably choose differently if I had to again.

Cons: no support for bi-directional communications with my HP LaserJet 1200se (e.g., it no longer tells me I'm out of paper, etc.).

After scouring the Web for insight and equipment reviews (the PracticallyNetworked site was especially helpful) of the myriad of router options, I decided on this one from D-Link. My housemate and I needed to share our newly installed cable Internet service in our three-story house, so wireless seemed like the easiest option. I put the router in my office on the second floor, and he has no trouble accessing the Net by laptop from his office on the first floor, and I can usually get 500+ Kbps (on a PII-333 laptop running a NetGear PC card) in the living room on the third floor. 2Wire's bandwidth meter clocks about a 1.5 Mbps connection for my P4-1.2 wired directly to the router.

I haven't had to call D-Link for tech support, so I can't speak to their abilities/response time. I did use their Web site to download a firmware upgrade. All told, I had our wireless net up and running in less than an hour (which also included a call into RCN to get them to tweak our cable modem on their end).

One thing to bear in mind: pick access clients that are solid performers, whether they're PC card or USB devices. Routers like this are only the access point portion of the wireless equation -- speed and range can be easily hobbled by anemic clients that can't hold up their end of the bargain.

I purchased this product to share my cable modem Internet connection at home with a Desktop (purchased D-Link DWL-500 11Mb Wireless LAN PCI Network Card) and Laptop PC (purchased D-Link DWL-650 11Mb Wireless PCMCIA LAN Network Card 802.11b).

1) Went to the website... and downloaded the ZIP file containing the latest Firmware and saved it on my laptop PC.

2) Installed the wireless PCMCIA on my laptop (very easy).

3) Unpacked the Router/Access Point and plugged in the Cable Modem UTP to the "WAN" port on the router and powered it up.

4) Went to the Router Admin Tool in my Web Browser and configured the "hostname" of the Cable Modem provider and upgraded the firmware.

5) Powered down my Cable Modem and Rebooted the Router (via the web browser).

Everything worked perfectly. I installed the NIC card in my desktop PC and everything worked there. I am surfing on both machines and walking around with my laptop and eventually moved my desktop to my office (away from TV where cable modem is located).

If your needs are similar to mine, I advise you to buy this product. ... for a 2 PC wireless network at home. Awesome.

The setup's easy. I powered everything down, removed my old router, plugged in the new router, and powered everything back up. The router configured itself, and I was connected just like that!

The SS2604 includes a lot of smart features. I use the print server with my Epson Color Stylus 880 and have no problems (in fact, the printer port is what prompted me to buy the router). The Web administration is pretty simple. Basic users don't have to wade through the advanced stuff, but advanced users can get right to it, and you have a lot of control. A really nice touch is that the router uses DNS PC names (rather than IP addresses) within the setup software when setting a DMZ or opening specific ports ("virtual servers"). Therefore a power drop doesn't require a complete re-config. There's also a site log and a filtering function, which I have yet to use.

Before you set up the Speedstream, DO download the firmware upgrade from speedstream.com. And make sure you have Acrobat installed. The only printed doc is a quickstart guide. Everything else is on CD in PDF format. I'd prefer a paper manual, and including a CAT5 cable or two would be nice.

All in all, it's a great SOHO router, currently selling for about 1/2 the price of comparable products from Netgear, D-Link, and Linksys. If Siemens marketed better this box would sell bundles.

I did - and eventually decided to return this garbage and go with a different brand.

I have a new IBM Centrino XP Pro laptop. When I connected to the router through wireline I could get an internet connection, but as soon as I enabled wireless on the router, my whole network was put out of action. Linksys insisted I must have a problem with the laptop, but it works fine when I connect to T-Mobile at Starbucks. Reading some of the other product reviews it is clear to me that Linksys has some serious problems with their wireless products.

Shame, I bought my first Linksys product back in 1999, and I used to love the brand.

I've considered upgrading but will keep it since the 802.11a works for me.

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.

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.