Rating: 
Summary: not compatible
Review: Normally, I love Lynksys products, but after trying to install this myself and it not working on either of my computers I broke down and called techincal support. After 3 hours with them, and three different tech people I was told (even though it could find my printer on the server, it still wouldn't print anything) that the print server was incompatible with my hp printer. I was told i'd have to buy a new printer. Saver yourself the money on this linksys wireless print server and buy a wireless printer instead, it's much cheaper and just not worth the hassle.
Rating:
Summary: WPS11 - Inability to connect wirelessly
Review: I have been following other reviews of the WPS11 here with much interest. I only wish I had read them before buying my WPS11.
I have spent approximately 12 hours trying to get the thing to work. I've spoken on the phone to 4 different technicians and had a similar number of conversations via the LinkChat service provided by Linksys. I've even returned the original WPS11 for a replacement, but this too exhibited all the same symptoms.
The one thing I've learned is that there seems to be no consistent view of the problem and whether there might be a solution. I've had some quite surreal conversations involving disconnecting the server for varying amounts of time ranging from 10 seconds to two minutes. Sometimes with advice to 'hold the reset button, and sometimes not. On one occasion I was even sent the URL of a site which showed how an Ethernet 'crossover' cable should be wired. This despite the fact that clearly I had a connection between the server and router.
I find it extremely annoying that the manual says little about the real hoops you need to jump through in attempting to configure this thing. Nowhere for instance does it even mention that you need to hard-wire it to the router first. I'll not even go down the road of why a wireless device should need a hardwire at all.
I have had no problem connecting wirelessly to my Netgear and the Netgear router detects the WPS11. Moreover, when I first hardwire the WPS11 to the router and set it to the factory default, and then re-boot the router, the Bi-admin software detects the WPS11 and I can run a test print from the diagnostics menu of Bi-admin.
I can also ping the IP address of the WPS11 as stated on the test print. What I can't do is take the next step and start to configure the Wireless settings of the WPS11. As soon as I change the SSID setting from the default 'linksys' to the SSID of my network, I can no longer ping the WPS11 even with the hardwire still in place.
I don't know whether it's significant, but during the course of one conversation with technical support, they asked me to go into setup of the WPS11 by typing an IP address into my Explorer web browser. This brought up a configuration screen, but it didn't seem complete. Where there should have been some Tabs - apart from the first Configuration password Tab, there were just some red X's rather than the names of the other Tabs. This made me wonder if there is something wrong with the firmware of the WPS11.
I've just had another reply which beats them all and is the last straw. I quote it in full here.
"Thank you for contacting Linksys Customer Support.
With regard to this concern, the model of the printer proven to be working on the WPS11V3. Unfortunately, the Linksys Wireless Printserver is proprietary meaning the wireless card you should be using is Linksys Instant PC Card WPC11(V1, V2.5 or V3) in order to get this work. Since, you are using Wireless Netgear card then this will not work. You have to replaced this one and have Linksys Instant Wireless PC Card instead for the WPS11V3.
I'll be glad if this helps. Thank you."
I've just responded as follows:
"Thank you, but this is preposterous.
I bought this in all good faith. There is no mention whatsoever on the packaging that this is 'proprietary' whatever you mean by that. It certainly says nothing about 'this will only work with a Linksys wireless card or router'.
Frankly I doubt this advice in any case. In all the several hours of conversations I've had with your technicians, none of them has ever said it only works with a Linksys card. As I've said several times in conversations with your technicians, there is no problem with the Netgear wireless card / wireless router recognising the WPS11. Similarly when first switching on, there is no problem with the WPS11 Bi-Admin program recognising that the WPS11 is attached. The problem comes when trying to configure the Bi-Admin for wireless mode.
I find it staggering that you can suggest it is a wireless problem with a particular card when clearly a wireless signal is just a transmission of energy on a radio frequency between two devices. The radio signal is the same physically whether it's generated by a wireless card from Linksys Netgear or whoever.
Your own web site says the WPS11 is,
"Compatible with virtually all printers and major operating systems, your data-intensive print jobs will breeze through with maximized speed and reliability. Let the functionality of the Wireless PrintServer customize your network's capabilities to meet your printing needs time and again".
So no mention there of it being incompatible with a Netgear card/router.
In the light of this, would you care to re-consider this advice.
If not and you feel you need to stick by this advice, are Linksys prepared to accept the return of this product for a cash re-imbursement since as I said, nowhere is it mentioned that this only works with Linsys cards?
I have had this device for over two months now and am clearly getting very annoyed at its inability to work. I would appreciate a quick conclusion to my problem."
My advice is unless you're buying this from a re-seller who guarantees to get it working on your system - avoid it like the plague.
Richard Buttrey
PS. Should anyone at Linksys come across this review and actually assist me in getting it to work, I will of course post an updated review.
Admin Note. I've had to give this a one * rating since the Amazon page would not accept a Nil. It does not deserve a one *.
Rating:
Summary: Problems, problems
Review: Too bad, in principle a nice unit, meeting exactly my requirements for wired and wireless operation and connecting to a parallel port printer, but ...
I've justed returned my 3rd unit and have now asked for my money back ! The reasons : After fighting my way through the awfull installation instructions, software that shows different data when you use the Web interface or the Bi-Admin utility I've finally mad one working in wireless infrastructure mode. Alas it only worked for 1 month. After I had to reset it to change the wireless params, the wireless part stopped working all together. This is the 3rd unit that packed up.
Rating: 
Summary: I gave it a 3 for Maybe - See other reviews
Review: I did not buy the B unit, but I did buy the WP11 and it was just an awful experience. Before buying this unit, check with others users to make sure your not asking for trouble.
Rating:
Summary: BAD Product - Don't fall for Free Support
Review: In a nutshell this is one of the worst products I have ever bought. The advertising was misleading and the support was a long drawn out waste of time. Please Note: The WPS11 operates in 2 modes (Infrastructure & Ad-Hoc). This product may work well in Infrastructure mode. I can't say, as I bought it only for wireless print serving and that means Ad-hoc mode. Infrastructure uses other devices, where Ad-hoc is supposed to communicate directly with another piece of equipment ( a USB or a PCI card). I bought the print Server, 1 USB card and 1 PCI card. FIRST PROBLEM: Instructions are atrocious. They are just plain wrong. SECOND PROBLEM: if you can figure out how to set this up (I did after talking to several support people who did not know & 1 who told me to try setting it up using a hardwire), You must use a wire. You cannot set up this wireless device for wireless ad-hoc service, wirelessly. That's right, you must buy a Network card and a Network cable and hardwire it in order to set it up for ad-hoc. The reason is they default the unit to Infrastructure which needs an access point or other device to operate. Once I actually figured out how to set up the print server in ad-hoc (about 2 months later), I finally got it to basically work with the PCI card. At-a-boy Cisco system (parent of Linksys). But with the USB card, it was an extremely painful and agonizing journey just to get it to work. It took a new driver that came out months later. And when I did get it working, it would fail to connect about 30% to 50% of the time on a boot up. Over a period of a year plus, I talked with many support people and tried just about everything possible. LINKSYS DID NOT HAVE MY PREVIOUS PROBLEMS IN THEIR DATABASE. mmmmm No wonder they kept saying, we haven't had many problems with that unit. Their website does not allow you feedback the way Amazon does. They will only put the positive feedback on their website. Very dishonest in my opinion. I actually wrote up a set of instructions on how to set the WPS11 up in Ad-hoc mode and sent it to them. They didn't use it. They still have the poorly written instructions that you cannot follow. And they still claimed you could use it in Ad-hoc mode. THIRD PROBLEM: About 30% to 50% of the time whenever I boot up, the Wireless USB and Print Server will NOT establish proper communication. Sometimes, I get lucky and by clicking on "Connect" twice, it will connect. Yes twice. If you do it once, it will never connect. In fact if it's connected and you click on "Connect", it will disconnect. FOURTH PROBLEM: Customer service is a waste of time and energy. I believe (perhaps wrongly) that they know perfectly well there is a problem, but pretend they do not have it. The last supposedly top level support person was a guy named Lucas. He had me tear out all my cards and remove all other software and tried to claim it was because of the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer). Now lets face it, anyone making a claim like this is just full of it. The old saying, if you can't impress them with knowledge, baffle them with bull crap.. Well, I do understands the HAL, but to verify without a doubt it was not the HAL (he was blaming the newer APCI HAL). I moved the PCI to another computer with the older Standard HAL. Guess what? That's right, the exact same problem. All this guy did was yank my chain. He would tell me things like "It works on my laptop". Oh great, I have a desktop.. No difference there huh? :o(. Or "I ran a continuous ping for two and a half hours and only got two time out". Nice going, what does that have to do with actually connecting the protocol to print? I must have asked him a dozen times to set up a desktop and PrintServer in ad-hoc and use it for a week or two. he did everything but. I tested this on 2 desktop computers (ACPI HAL & Standard HA:) and also on 2 operating systems (windows 2000 & windows 98) and it has the same failure. It will not consistently connect to the print server. I might add that their is always activity between the 2 devices, it's just that they will not allow you to print until they are fully connected. My advice. STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT!!. One last note. Although it appears to be a USB problem at first, I have never had problems with the USB talking to the PCI. I have also noted that when I have the PCI computer up and connected, the USB computer also comes up and the print server will talk to it. It will always connect after removing power from the print server for a few seconds. So I believe the problem may be in the PrintServer, not initiating a response to the USB correctly. Once it's communicating with something, it tends to work as it should.
Rating:
Summary: Bug ridden, and poorly designed.
Review: Troublesome from the very start, it has two ways to do setup, one is web based, and one is a setup client. This product is so poorly made, there are actually settings in the client program that are reversed in the web setup. (Netmask and gateway are reversed.) The online help is useless. If you try to use their support pages, they take you to the support pages for a previously released product. Worse still, they refer to features and settings that this product doesn't even have. (DIP switches!) Don't bother with this one.... get a real print server. If it has to be connected to your network wirelessly, just buy a wireless bridge and a small network switch.
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