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Linksys WPS11 Wireless-B Print Server

Linksys WPS11 Wireless-B Print Server

List Price: $220.99
Your Price: $121.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Be careful what you choose as your SSID
Review: I have no explanation for this, but I could not get my unit to work until I changed my SSID. First, I wanted to use the SSID of "Enterprise". I could not get it to work in the wireless mode. I double checked everything including the 128 key with no luck. All of my other wireless cards worked fine with this setting. Just not the WPS11. So, I changed my SSID to "work" (along with the rest of my network including the WAP etc). Suddently, it was like magic. Everything worked fine! If your having problems getting this unit to work, try using a different SSID. Maybe it did not like how long "enterprise" is?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works Well But Posts Were Right
Review: First I want to thank all of those who posted thier experiences and how to install this thing, without those posts I would have never gotten it working. I have a network that runs pc and mac. Main problem was the linksys router would not recognize the print server. Had to get it over 7 feet away, shut off all power while hitting the reset for 15 seconds, turn everything back on while still holding reset then wait another 15. After five times of doing this it the amber light started flickering. I felt like the mad scientist in Frankenstein "ITS ALIVE" , then for the mac to locate it we had to do it through apple talk, a little tweaking and its great. The manual SUCKS!! You guys are great!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent product; great technical support!
Review: I bought this product even though it had mixed reviews here on Amazon. I expected problems because I had never dealt with wireless networking before. I spent about 20 minutes configuring the print server, then I had to call technical support because I didn't know what I was doing. In about 10 minutes, Linksys support had me up and running! I use the device for wireless printing at work, and it works flawlessly. Range is great, and transmission speeds are excellent. Though the product manual could use improvement, I would recommend this product to anyone. Enjoy!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Difficult to configure ... May not work at all for you.
Review: After really great experiences with the Linksys 4 port DSL router 3 years ago and later a similar product with a built-in 802.11b access point, I was more than willing to give the Linksys Instant Wireless PrintServer (WPS11 ver. 3) a try. What a mistake that was. I spent more than two hours fiddling with it and another hour with Linksys technical support (mostly on hold). I consider myself pretty good with software, networks, and hardware (going on 10+ years as a programmer) but the WPS11 had me beat. I did manage to get the device installed and configured, I just could not print from any programs on my PC -- I kept getting the error message "The handle is invalid" when sending a print job to the printer via the WPS11. That was the problem I called Linksys technical support about. I spoke with two people and the only thing worse than their english was their knowledge of the device. Ultimately, I was disconnected (or they hung up on me) without the problem getting resolved. Some observations: 1) The documentation is terrible. 2) The interface for the program you install on your PC to configure the print server is clunky and amateurish (not very professional looking). The interface for the web browser accessible program that lets you configure the print server is clunky and slow. 3) In order to get the device to go into "wireless" mode after you unplug the CAT 5 cable, you have to power it down and back up again. That little fact isn't mentioned ANYWHERE in the documentation or on the Linksys web. Ultimately, I gave up on the WPS11 and bought the Netgear Wireless Ready Print Server (PS111WNA) instead. It requires the separate purchase of a Netgear 802.11b wireless PCMCIA adapter (MA401) but it was the right decision. Crisp, clean looking configuration software and less than 10 minutes to install. Works like a champ, I wish I had tried the Netgear first.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Linksys WPS11 v3 is a piece of junk ... don't buy it!
Review: After really great experieces with a Linksys 4 port DSL router three years ago and later a similar product with a built-in 802.11b access point, I was more than willing to give the Linksys Instant Wireless PrintServer (WPS11 ver. 3) a try. What a mistake that was. Spent 2+ hours filddling with it and another hour with Linksys technical support (mostly on hold). I consider myself pretty good with software, networks, and hardware (going on 10+ years as a programmer) but the WPS11 had me beat. I did manage to get the device installed and configured, I just could not print from any programs on my PC -- I kept getting the error message "The handle is invalid" when attempting to print via the WPS11. That was the problem I called Linsys technical support about. I spoke with two people and the only thing worse than their english was their knowlege of the device and its configuration. Ultimately, I was disconnected (or they hung up on me) without the problem getting resolved. Some observerations: 1) The documentation is terrible. 2) The interface for the two programs you install on your PC to configure and use the print server are clunky and amateurish (not very professional looking). The interface for the web browser accesible program that lets you configure the print server is clunky and slow. 3) In order to get the device to go into "wireless" mode after you unplug the CAT 5 cable, you have to power it down and back up again. That little fact isn't mentioned ANYWHERE in the documentation or on Linksys' web site and it cost me the first of the three hours I spent trying to get this device to work. I gave up on the WPS11 and bought the Netgear Wireless Ready Print Server (PS111W) instead. It requires the seperate purchase of a Netgear 802.11b wireless PCMCIA adapter (MA401) but it was the right decision. Crisp, very clean looking configuration software and less than 10 minutes to install. Works like a champ - wish I had tried the Netgear first.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not working with all the printers
Review: I have a Canon BJC 5100 but he will not work with this printer driver. Linksys confirms me that 'he is not on the list of tested printers'. THis list is only internal availible

Erik-Jan

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Performance: Excellent -- Ease of Setup: Room to Improve!
Review: If you are able and willing to just pull everything out of the box and use it without any customization, the WPS11 works great. Mine communicates with a BEFW11S4 wireless access point and everything is fast and smooth.

BUT -- and this is a big one -- I have YET to be able to get it to work with anything other than the default SSID or with WEP Passphrase and 128-bit encryption. I've spent around 10 hours hacking around with it so far, about 3 of that with Linksys technical support on the phone, and still no progress. I'm confident I'll get it working at some point, but it's sure a lot of time to invest in something that's not exactly rocket science.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It could have been a 5
Review: I'm using the WPS 11 on a dual platform (XP and Apple OS X) wireless LAN connected to a cable modem via an Apple Airport set up as a DHCP router providing NAT to 5 workstations (2 XP, 1 W98, 2 Mac). Setting up the WPS 11 is every bit as daunting as many of the other reviews of this product claim. My biggest problem was getting Windows and Apple printing protocols to work together. The Win setup is fairly OK following the manual BUT ..... depending on the rest of your wireless network you could spend a lot of time chasing little problems. The WPS 11 defaults to channel 6. That's OK if you're using a Linksys router/access point. If not, you have to move the radio channel, or you'll think it's dead. Setting up via the ethernet port and then re-powering in order to scan the wireless LAN is another problem, but if you let it get a DHCP address from your router and you've got the right radio channel you should be able to access the box from the web admin or the "Biadmin" utility wirelessly. The easiest way to set up Apple printing is through IP printing. With the OS X /Unix drivers available from Gimp-Print you should be able to get almost any printer working. I started with on old Deskjet 560C just to make sure everything was working, before I ordered a new laser printer. Linksys could save their tech staff (which I didn't call) and their customers a LOT of grief if they'd put a few sample configurations in the manual and provided a few resource links. The paltry set of Apple utilities in the Linksys disk are in a folder called "unsupported" and mainly pertain to AppleTalk under OS 9. Don't bother. Go straight for IP printing. Linksys doesn't even tell you the default queue name ( "lp" worked) and it's all the little stuff like that which keeps this from being a 5. When you get it working, it's great and the price can't be beat, but it's really nowhere near up to the state of the plug and play art with either Windows or Apple products. On the plus side, you can adminster the server from an embedded web utility over wireless, so if you're all Apple, you actually can get it running. Just push the reset button while connected to a printer and the box will print it's diags, including current IP address. Point a browser there and you're in. Again, this is not well documented and if you're using a wireless machine, be sure to note the radio channel and reset your WiFi card to the same frequency. I can see why people just send them back though, and for any 'dead radio' issues, be sure all your wireless devices are on the same channel. Lastly, if this server is part of a wireless LAN and not used stand alone, you MUST set it as an infrastructure device, not ad-hoc. Again, poorly documented. I found this by reading the Help file in the Bi-admin utility and it's burried deep. As a rule, always get a diag printout using a short push of the reset button, and make sure the IP address and radio channels match up. This will solve a lot of problems. Linksys products are robust and reliable, and I'm sure now that it's working the WPS 11 will be too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The WPS-11 does exactly what Linksys says it does!
Review: As soon as you take it out of the box follow the Quick setup guide and establish a connection through a switch or router (wont work hooked directly to the net port on the computer). Next, press and hold the reset button for 10 seconds, keep the button depressed and un-plug the unit and leave it un-plugged for 10 more seconds, keep the button depressed for 10 more seconds after plugging the unit back in. The unit will be reset to default and should print a test page. Install the drivers, and call tech support, they will walk you through the rest in less than 5 mins. (I was on hold for about 2 mins.) Thats it! It wont work with all printers but works with most and prints in wireless mode flawlessly.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: worked for me
Review: I had a very easy time connecting this through my wireless system (Linksys wireless router, AOL DSL service, Gateway desktop and new Dell laptop). The quick-start worked for me without changing anything from the way it was configured from the factory. I know from past experience that setting up new devices, especially wireless, can be hit or miss- one small thing not quite right can lead to hours of frustration (as per other reviewers who were not quite so lucky). I had no problems this time and did not need to call Linksys technical support although I would not have hesitated to do so because they have been very helpful in the past.
Good Luck!


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