| Linksys WRT160N Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband Router |
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Model: WRT160N
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 71
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Features
- Internet-sharing Router and 4-port Switch, with a built in speed and range enhanced Wireless Access Point
- MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels farther and reduces dead spots
- Much faster than Wireless-G, but also works great with Wireless-G and -B devices
- Wireless signals protected by wireless encryption, and your network protected from Internet attacks by a powerful SPI firewall |
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| Description: |
| The Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband Router is really three devices in one package. There's the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires. There's also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. The Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. The Access Point built into the Router uses the very latest wireless networking technology. By overlaying the signals of multiple radios, Wireless-N's Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology multiplies the effective data rate. The robust signal travels farther, maintaining wireless connections much farther than standard Wireless-G. Wireless-N can dynamically enable double-speed mode for Wireless-N devices, while still connecting to other wireless devices at their respective fastest speeds. In congested areas, the Good Neighbor mode ensures that the Router checks for other wireless devices in the area before gobbling up the radio band. To help protect your data and privacy, the Router can encode all wireless transmissions with industrial-strength 256-bit encryption. It can serve as your network's DHCP Server, has a powerful SPI firewall to protect your PCs against intruders and most known Internet attacks, and supports VPN pass-through. Configuration is a snap with the web browser-based configuration utility. The incredible speed of Wireless-N makes it ideal for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and Voice over IP telephony, and gives you plenty of headroom to run multiple media-intense data streams through the network at the same time, with no degradation in performance. With the Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router at the center of your home or office network, you can share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers, and multi-player games, and run media-intensive applications at incredi |
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| User Reviews (71 total): |
Page 1 2 3 4 of Total 4 Pages
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It's small in size, but the coverage range is real Ultra, August 18, 2008
By user (San Francisco, CA USA)
Our business building has 8 offices on 2 floors (metal-studs construction in all partition walls). Since we experienced some difficulties in receiving wireless phone (including cell phone) signal in some area inside the building, we were very concerned about using a wireless network. But amazingly, this small Ultra Range Plus can work nicely to transfer strong signals wirelessly across all offices..
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Great wireless-N router for the money, August 12, 2008
By user
I have been looking for a wireless-N router to replace my old Linksys wireless-G router for a while, and I saw this one, decided to give it a try (was thinking switch to D-link). This router looks great and also works great, the wifi signal is reliable and stable and a lot faster than my old Linksys router, thanks to the Wireless-N, it also makes the LAN faster than before, so far I am very pleased with the router, and would recommend this product.
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Awesome choice for Mac owners, speed issues aside, August 12, 2008
By user (Boerne, TX USA)
I have to start this review by admitting this router wasn't my first choice. After struggling with an old 802.11B router for a while, I decided it was time for an upgrade and went shopping. After a great deal of time and research, I settled on the Belkin F5D8233-4 N Wireless Router, an inexpensive Draft-N solution that got good reviews.
It worked well -- for about a month. Then, the router and my MacBook decided they were no longer going to play nice. My connection would drop every ten seconds, and sometimes it would fail to reconnect for hours on end. The Belkin, I decided, must be destroyed. I read the reviews on this Linksys model, and decided to go with it instead.
Thankfully, this solved the problem with my MacBook. Indeed, I have that laptop and another MacBook Pro hooked up to the Linksys, both without a single connection issue. Other items on the network are a desktop PC, a multi-function printer, a VOIP line, two iPhones, and a Tivo. All have behaved well. Better yet, the frequent power blinks we get here don't seem to phase the router -- after a brief power cycle, it gets back on its feet quickly.
The range appears to be quite good, but I have to admit that my duplex isn't exactly cavernous. Nonetheless, I've taken the MacBook and the iPhone well into the backyard, putting some distance and a couple of brick walls between the devices and the router, and have experienced no loss of coverage.
Speed, unfortunately, is the only spot where I've been less than enthused. Don't get me wrong -- it's pretty quick, especially if you're accustomed to an 802.11B connection. However, the Belkin I first tried put this Linksys to shame. Well, when it worked, at least. It was blazing fast, and I found myself a little disappointed at being slowed down. I haven't done any official tests for this, however. Moreover, the Linksys is plenty fast, and I'm a relatively high-demand user, much to my ISP's chagrin.
Setup is easy and, if it's important to you, this router is one of the most attractive on the market. Better yet, I didn't have any MAC address issues like I've had in the past with other routers (that is, Belkin). Within 10 minutes, I was up and running, cursing Belkin and praising Linksys the whole time.
All together, this router is a solid purchase. Reliability has been wonderful, and I can live with slightly decreased performance. If you're a highly wired weirdo like me, don't hesitate to buy!
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won't work with intel 4965 n adapter, August 11, 2008
By user (bay area, CA)
I was really excited to get this product as I thought it would speed up my network overall for legacy G devices while allowing my new laptop with the N adapter to use. Sadly, I was extremely disappointed by the performance. My old laptop, with a G adapter, immediately dropped link speed to 36 Mbps from 48 Mbps. It doesn't bother me from an internet access point of view (as Comcast tops out at about 6 Mbps on average) but I have a network hard drive for which I would like to maximize the speed.
Even worse, after I had configured the Intel 4965 N adapter on my new laptop (btw you have to ensure the WRT160N is using WPA2 security with AES for the Intel Adapter to work in N mode!) , I found that the maximum bandwidth possible was 130 Mbps and invariably, it was less than that - more like 78 Mbps. The reason for that is apparently the N routers need to use both the 5.4 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz frequencies to provide speeds of 270 Mbps.
Yet even worse, for some reason the internet download speed through Comcast was far lesser - about 800 Kbps. If I disable the N mode on the laptop or the WRT160N, I got my original download speed of 6 Mbps but that was just not acceptable. I tried a variety of options but could never find a right combination. Others have stated that phones and other devices like microwaves might cause interference available but the funny thing is my phones are at 5.8 Ghz and the microwave is downstairs and far away and hardly in use.
The device does look good and fits with the furniture a lot better, but I think I will wait for a more solid device with compatibility issues ironed out and cheaper N adapters available for legacy laptops/devices.
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Very disappointed, August 10, 2008
By user
Linksys WRT160N Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband Router
I thought the wireless N router would allow me increased distance/signal intensity and let me eliminate my Linksys wireless G booster that improves the signal greatly with my Linksys G router giving wireless access to the back of my house. I have returned the N router; it is useless for my purpose.
In fact the signal intensity was actually worse (with the N router) and the booster (even though I re-configured it to work correctly with the wireless N router) stoppped boosting!
Extra details: Our family has 2 wired computers, often 3 wireless computers, 2 wireless Tivos and a Netflix Roku (for wireless streaming)in the most distant part of the house. The Linksys wireless G router doesn't allow me to reach the Rocku (or a laptop streaming in the same location)without the booster. Unfortunately the booster often causes ip conflcts and my kids insist I disconnect it so they can use their laptops.
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Worked great!, August 7, 2008
By user
Pulled it right out of the box and it worked great. I had Comcast installed that afternoon, hooked the router right up and did the normal setup and did not have one problem.
The router seems to have a problem with the WMP300N network card but I will put the review on that side. All three of my laptops get 5 bars and great speeds so I am placing the blame on the desktop card.
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Great Product, August 5, 2008
By user (Houston, TX United States)
Bought this product and have had no poblems with it. I am not super techy and I just needed it to use my new laptop around my house. No problems so far. I get internet connection upstairs and downstairs. I had a small problem at upstart but a quick call to support and they walked me through rather quickly. Very pleased with this product.
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Excellent Performance, August 4, 2008
By user (NY, NY USA)
The Ultra RangePlus wireless-N Router is a very high quality product. Vastly increased speeds over Wireless-G Routers due to the dual band transmissions with the N router. Increased range and penetration through interior structures and to outside porches and patios.
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Great wireless router, August 3, 2008
By user (Massachusetts)
I purchased this router recently. It was very easy to install and works wonderfully.
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Not worth upgrading from a G router!, August 1, 2008
By user (Ottawa, Canada)
I upgraded from a Linksys WRT54g ver 1.0 router in order to get more range (as I had heard that wireless N provided this even with G adapters). I was very disappointed.
The installation process was fine (assuming you know Linksys), although their software configuration tool crashed repeatedly. I got the router working with no problems.
Then I noticed the range was much worse on this router. I conducted my own tests using my internal Intel Wireless G adapter on my Dell Inspiron laptop. I conducted the tests with WirelssMon software program. I positioned the routers in the exact same spot each time, and the laptop was also in the exact same place each test. Here are my results of my signal strength testing:
Basement (right next to the router):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -40 dB = 67%
Wireless N (40 MHz): -32 dB = 75%
Wireless N (auto): -37 dB = 70%
WRT54G: -29 dB = 79%
Main floor (one floor above router):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -53 dB = 51%
Wireless N (40 MHz): -55 dB = 51%
Wireless N (auto): -54 dB = 50%
WRT54G: -44 dB = 62%
Front Porch (one floor above router, a bit farther):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -86 dB = 16%
Wireless N (40 MHz): not conducted
Wireless N (auto): not conducted
WRT54G: -71 dB = 32%
Main bedroom (two floors above router):
Wireless N (20 MHz): -74 dB = 27%
Wireless N (40 MHz): -72 dB = 30%
Wireless N (auto): -71 dB = 32%
WRT54G: -65 dB = 39%
Clearly there is a benefit to the WRT54G (by about 5-10%) in terms of signal strength. I have returned this router. I might try another Linksys with a stronger antenna (?WRT610N), but I was very disappointed with the performance of this router.
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Improvement over my previous Linksys, July 31, 2008
By user (California)
I previously used a Linksys wireless G router which was pretty good but after many years I think heat got to it and it became flaky so I tried this one.
I seem to get much better signal strength from the same distance and through several walls (two of them stucco-based). I've not tried further distance yet or more barriers.
Management interface is very similar to the old version which made configuring very easy. One difference is, it seems much easier to get encryption working than I recall for my previous router. Not sure what the difference was but this time took me about 60 seconds.
I'd recommend this product for sure if you're replacing an older model or if you do a lot of file transfers between computers in your location.
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Excellent product, July 28, 2008
By user
Easy to install, good range - full strength in the backyard - and looks good.
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Big house? Not for you., July 22, 2008
By user
I ran this as N-Only and compared its performance and range to my existing WRT54GX2. For reference I am running Vista64 and use a Belkin N adapter (F5D8053). I am spanning a distance of three floors and about 80 feet horizontally with lots of obstructions (walls, windows, doors, etc).
Range was significantly less than my older router, went from Fair/Good (2-3 bars) to Poor (1 bar) with frequent timeouts to the router. I assume the internal antennas in the WRT160N are not as capable as the external antennas on the WRT54.
Performance was dramatically diminished. I clocked performance on SpeakEasy bandwidth tester. Direct (wired) connect to cable modem was 20+ MBPS. WRT54GX2 (wireless G) clocked at 9.8MBPS. WRT160N (wireless N) clocked at 2.8MPS. Obviously this is due to the poor range.
If you are looking to traverse a long distance with lots of obstacles, this not the router for you.
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Stable Router, July 15, 2008
By user
I purchased this router with the sole intent of having a router that would not require me to constantly reboot it to reacquire a signal for the wireless machines in my home to work, or to gain new ip addresses. I've been pleasantly surprised with this router. I've had 2 other Linksys routers in the past (including Linksys srx200) and this one trumps all. For the last 3 months, barring power outages in my area, I have not dropped a single connection and have not been required to reboot the machine. Additionally, I have port fowarding set on this router, and this router handles the traffic very well.
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INSANELY EASY, July 14, 2008
By user (Edgewater, FL USA)
According to the directions, you put the CD in BEFORE you do ANYTHING, which is what I did. This thing literally was installed, hooked up and running in mere minutes! It's awesome! I'm in my living room typing on my laptop right now. I have never had the need for a wireless router of any kind until now so I have no experience apart from today with this sort of thing. I highly recommend this on all counts...easy to install, easy to set up, easy to use, works great!
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works with Xbox 360 Live, July 12, 2008
By user (Colorado)
I purchased this product for better range in the house, since the router is in my office on the second floor, the laptop is on the main floor and my son's Xbox is in the basement. I immediately got better range than my previous Linksys G router, but could not get the Xbox live to have an "open NAT" for full use of the Xbox Live feature (it only gave him moderate). After going to Xbox Live the Guide, I did the port forwarding, and now it is working great!! It may not be one of the "approved" routers for the Xbox, but I really wanted an "N" for the better range. One tweak, and now it's working great for for the Xbox and the laptop.
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Almost Perfect Product, July 12, 2008
By user (CA)
WRT160N has everything a router should have and anything complicated automated. I am not a professional IT technician, but found this product EXTREMELY easy to be installed by the home user like me. I was able set up this router with restricted access for items on MAC list only and reserved IP addresses for my home computer and devices (one wireless laptop, a network printer and a hard wired desktop) - in less than an hour, no sweat!
However, the only downside: it does run a little bit too hot; therefore the one star off.
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This is it., July 12, 2008
By user
I like this product a lot better then the earlier one. I did need help in getting it up and running right when it says it is easy to get going.
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Not So Easy..., July 10, 2008
By user (Las Vegas, NV)
So I read how easy it was to install the Linksys WRT160N. Not so, for me.
If you have Zone Alarm Pro, you may want to dump it, and get another firewall. That's what I did, after many hours of fighting with this thing.
I am running XP with a DSL modem if that helps.
The router itself, seems very nice and fast, although one thing you may want to consider is that it seems to run a little hot, and has vents on the underside.
All is running well since I dumped Zone Alarm, but I will downgrade my assessment if I get any more problems.
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Easy to use, excellent signal, July 10, 2008
By user (iowa city, ia)
Easy to use, excellent signal. Have had no problems connecting to all my wireless devices.
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