The Linksys WiFi Experience...

Brother Michael · Nov 25, 2004

...and Mike Miller.

So yesterday my dad and I decided that we had had enough of me running cables all around the house when I came home from school. We went half in on Wireless. W00t!!!

So we went to the store and bought a Linksys Wireless G Router (WRT54G) and two Linksys Wireless G cards (WMP54G)

The set-up wasn't hard at all and went pretty much without a hitch. I even did all the initial set-up work on my Mac instead of the PC's. What can I say I couldn't be happier...with my Mac.

I took my iBook all around the house, upstairs, downstairs, accross the house, even outside. I lose 2-3 bars of signal strength on in the Internet Connect program...the router by the way, is in the left-hand corner of the house. Neat.

My PC's though...I can't believe it. Windows continually drops the connection even when the signal is very good...The signal range is TERRIBLE with the Linksys cards. My PC is one room over with one wall seperating it, the best it gets is Very Good...sometimes. My parents PC is in two rooms over, it has a low strength. My iBook 3 rooms over, is still almost full! What is this? I mean I am using all Linksys equipment, so there is no issue with different brands...

I think I may have to call Linksys and complain about their wireless cards and thank them for making a terrific router for my Mac!

Take it easy all,
Mike

JeffTL · Nov 25, 2004

One solution would be to phase in more Macs, since they seem to work fine; also, you could try another brand of wireless card, but I suspect the problem is Windows -- I have a Linksys 11b adapter on my TiVo and it works just fine.

winwintoo · Nov 25, 2004

I also have a Linksys WRT54G and when I tried to hook up an el-cheapo laptop to it using a wireless card, I had mucho trouble until it dawned on me that I was using the Windows dealy to do the configuration rather than the app that cam with the card. In my case, the card that came with the computer was restricted to WEP encryption so I had to reset the router and all that mess.

When I switched to using the app that installed from the CD that came with the card, I was finally able to connect and kept a strong signal.

Just a thought. You've probably already tried that, but I didn't know about it until someone pointed it out to me.

Margaret

Hoef · Nov 25, 2004

I have a linksys router and a netgear wireless card on my laptop PC. In order to make it work properly I had to fiddle around with the firewall on my laptop. The driver was seeking access and my firewall didn't like that. It all works fine now.... Just a thought

Roger1 · Nov 25, 2004

I have a linksys. How hard was it to set up security. I have tried several times, but always ran into trouble with my Airport card not being able to access it. Any clues??

iHambone · Nov 25, 2004

Timely!

I've traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin from St. Louis, Missouri for Thanksgiving. I've got a 500mhz G3 iBook that goes with me. I'm always curious to see if I can receive signals when I travel. Unpacked my laptop, opened it up and BAM Lynksys showed up as an option in airport.

The closest neighboring home is about 45 - 50 feet away. I'm sending this right now using this rather unusual setup.

Probably not ethical using someone elses service, but I'm not planning any malicious activity.

Fun, fun, fun.

So yeah, Lynksys seems to be a pretty good wireless router.

Dan

winwintoo · Nov 25, 2004

Roger1 said:
I have a linksys. How hard was it to set up security. I have tried several times, but always ran into trouble with my Airport card not being able to access it. Any clues??

You don't say which Linksys router you have - I don't know how different they all are and the only one I know is the WRT54G.

Here's what I do: Hook the router up to the cable or dsl modem, hook an ethernet cable from the router to your computer. Now open a web browser and put 192.168.1.1 into the address bar, hit enter and you should be in the router setup screen.

The version of the setup utility that I have has a section called "wireless>wireless security" It's pretty self-explanatory from there on.

HTH margaret

Roger1 · Nov 25, 2004

winwintoo said:
You don't say which Linksys router you have - I don't know how different they all are and the only one I know is the WRT54G.

Here's what I do: Hook the router up to the cable or dsl modem, hook an ethernet cable from the router to your computer. Now open a web browser and put 192.168.1.1 into the address bar, hit enter and you should be in the router setup screen.

The version of the setup utility that I have has a section called "wireless>wireless security" It's pretty self-explanatory from there on.

HTH margaret

Thanks, I've gotten that far. My issue was with setting up the WEP, or RADIUS. But this forum and another one got my playing around, and I think I figured it out. Thanks for the help though.

Littleodie914 · Nov 25, 2004

Yea, I've also experienced very good results with Macs, but poor results with Windows. I have both our PC and our Yosemite connected physically to the router, and when I connect wirelessly with my iBook, the Mac always shows up in the Network window within a second or so, while the PC takes literally minutes (or doesn't show up at all.) Sometimes the only way to connect to it is to use Command+K and type in the actual IP address issued to the PC... It's horrible

P.S. The router works so well with my Mac I was actually able to wirelessly share my dial-up AOL connection!

Brother Michael · Nov 26, 2004

Roger1 said:
Thanks, I've gotten that far. My issue was with setting up the WEP, or RADIUS. But this forum and another one got my playing around, and I think I figured it out. Thanks for the help though.

I had an issue with WEP so I just went straight for WPA protection and did the TKIP protection. No issues.

Mike

Brother Michael · Nov 26, 2004

So should turn off Windows support for using the wireless cards and use the Linksys CD's and install the applications that make the card work on their?

Basically let Linksys manage my card and connection not Windows.

Mike

winwintoo · Nov 26, 2004

Brother Michael said:
So should turn off Windows support for using the wireless cards and use the Linksys CD's and install the applications that make the card work on their?

Basically let Linksys manage my card and connection not Windows.

Mike

I had better luck when I let the software that came with the card manage the card instead of letting Windows do it.

Margaret

Brother Michael · Nov 26, 2004

Thanks I am going to give that a shot and see what happens. I know getting a Mac is out of the question right now (money issues...surprised that my dad even wanted to go half in on this). But, they would like for the wireless internet to work somehow/way.

Mike

Hoef · Nov 26, 2004

Brother Michael said:
Basically let Linksys manage my card and connection not Windows.

Yep, works better for me

blackpeter · Nov 26, 2004

Former Linksys WiFi router owner here...

I never had a problem with the actual performance of the hardware. It was the software/firmware updates that finally drove me to sell it and go AirPort.

Firmware updates would hobble the performance or signal strength instead of improving the device. The web admin interface is horrible compared to the AirPort Admin Utility. Not to mention that even though the Linksys has two huge antennas, I get a much better signal using my tiny AirPort Express.

Linksys is a decent router if you want to save some cash, but as usual - if you want a high-quality product - spend a little more and go AirPort!

Brother Michael · Nov 26, 2004

Well the big issue with the Airport, no hardwire ports for my Linux Box...I refuse to even attempt wireless with that thing...Believe me as much as I like Linksys I would rather have an Airport Express.

Mike

Brother Michael · Nov 26, 2004

Still having a small issue with Windows. I disabled Windows automatic control of the wireless, but that only kept the linksys wireless program from access the internet.

Mike

crazzyeddie · Nov 26, 2004

Question for all of you WRT54G owners... how is the range? I just picked up two Airport Express units today, but the range is less than spectacular. I was thinking of getting a WRT54G to use as the main router and then using the AX units for boosting the signal. I currently get 3 bars signal strength at about 20ft using my AX, while my old 802.11b had 4 full bars, no matter what.

daveL · Nov 26, 2004

Airport Express can only extend the range of an Aiport/Extreme. There is supposed to be hacked firmware out there for the linksys that allows the Airport Express to be used this way, but I haven't tried it myself. If you read the Airport Express specs closely, Apple mentions this limitation, I mean feature

winwintoo · Nov 26, 2004

crazzyeddie said:
Question for all of you WRT54G owners... how is the range? I just picked up two Airport Express units today, but the range is less than spectacular. I was thinking of getting a WRT54G to use as the main router and then using the AX units for boosting the signal. I currently get 3 bars signal strength at about 20ft using my AX, while my old 802.11b had 4 full bars, no matter what.

I have a WRT54G and I live on the 6th floor of a steel and concrete building that is surrounded by other networks and all kinds of interference but I can get 3 bars on the main floor of the building - that's 6 whole floors away!!

BUT as I've said in this and other threads, when some other network decides to take over the airwaves, I can't get a signal when I'm right beside the router

Take care, Margaret

crazzyeddie · Nov 26, 2004

daveL said:
Airport Express can only extend the range of an Aiport/Extreme. There is supposed to be hacked firmware out there for the linksys that allows the Airport Express to be used this way, but I haven't tried it myself. If you read the Airport Express specs closely, Apple mentions this limitation, I mean feature

The most recent official LinkSys firmware supports WDS.

wrldwzrd89 · Nov 26, 2004

crazzyeddie said:
The most recent official LinkSys firmware supports WDS.

That doesn't matter if Apple implemented it in such a way that it won't work with other brands even if they support WDS (which I suspect is what Apple did).

crazzyeddie · Nov 26, 2004

wrldwzrd89 said:
That doesn't matter if Apple implemented it in such a way that it won't work with other brands even if they support WDS (which I suspect is what Apple did).

WDS is like WPA, its a (not as popular) "standard" that works between Belkin, Linksys and Apple wifi products. Do your homework.

wrldwzrd89 · Nov 26, 2004

crazzyeddie said:
WDS is like WPA, its a (not as popular) "standard" that works between Belkin, Linksys and Apple wifi products. Do your homework.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I learn something new every day that I visit these forums. Thanks for setting me straight, crazzyeddie!

Brother Michael · Nov 26, 2004

I am more than pleased with the router in terms of signal strength and range. The wireless cards on the other hand are a pain my rear...same with windows.

Mike

The Linksys WiFi Experience...

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