Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone ports WRT54GP2A-AT

Rating:
Summary: Wireless Signal Strength Sucks
Review: Firstly, let me say that the wired switch portion, and VoIP components of this hub work very well. I have no complaints there, and signup with CallVantage was easy. Configuration is a breeze for those with previous Linksys routers. But the wireless sucks! This replaced a WRT45G which had excellent signal strenght all the time, with a signal of -50 dBm on average; with this router, in the same location as the other one, I get good-very good signal strength at about -70 dBm. Obviously wireless connection speeds suffer as a result of this. I forked out for some high-gain antennas, which was also a waste of money, as the singal strength didn't improve one bit. Also support is terrible - I don't think any of the Linksys techs I spoke to even knew they have VoIP products on the market.

Rating:
Summary: Callvantage service is better than my old phone service
Review: I got rid of my land line and got Callvanatge service. Callvantage uses your normal phone but it plugs into your router instead of your old phone jack. The installation was very easy. I make all calls for under $30 a month. Some of their features are pretty cool also. When a call comes in, it rings my home phone and cell phone at the same time. That way if I'm waiting for an important call - I can pick it up on either phone. I can also view all my incoming and outgoing calls on the internet, almost instantly. So, I can view my call log while I'm at work and see who called during the day. Also, the quality is just as good as my old land line.

Rating:
Summary: Same problem with dropped connections.
Review: I have a Linksys 802B unit that works perfectly. The CallVantage unit is another matter. I've rebooted the router 3 times in 4 days to get my connection back. The tech guy in INDIA couldn't comprehend what I was trying to get across. He told me to switch channels. Only problem was I told him I was losing the connection at the router on an ethernet connection. Nothing has changed except the router and my wireless phone. It is a 5.8 gig unit with that frequency on the base unit and the handset. Shouldn't be a problem.

I changed my SSID,enabled the WEP, and changed my default password. Oh yeah, perish the thought, I forwarded a port.

I think I'm sending this back and getting the AT&T adaptor. I can always get a little 4 port hub and start at the modem and split into the phone before the router, then have a cord go into the router, then out to my computer etc.

Waiting to hear from Linksys web tech now. I'm holding my breath.

Regards, Owen

Rating:
Summary: AT&T VOIP is fantastic
Review: I have AT&T CallVantage and upgraded to this Linksys WRT54GP. The wireless router has all of the features as the other 802.11g Linksys router, but now has VOIP capability.

If you are familiar with Linksys' other routers, this is a breeze to set up. If you are not, well you are in luck as this is pretty much plug and play. As soon as I connected my modem to this router, a minute later my phone rang indicating it was ready for use.

My ISP gives me 384kbit upload speed. This is pretty standard for ISPs, and many give you even faster. My phone calls sound just as clear as when I was on my regular POTS line. When I talk to people on my CallVantage, they have no idea that I am using VOIP. The only time I ever get any disruption in service is if I am doing a very large upload, filling my upload bandwidth.

I can't recommend VOIP enough. Unlimited calling for one low price, and AT&T gives you plenty of features as part of their standard service. You no longer have to pay your local telephone company for each separate service (such as call waiting, caller ID, call forwarding, voice mail, etc). This is ALL included.

The only drawback I have right now is that this router doesn't come with the service free of charge. Maybe that will change soon.

Rating:
Summary: Trouble! Right out of the box...(Boxes)
Review: I've been using this router for two days now. I've exchanged it twice and spent over 9 hours with Linksys Technical Support.

All the Routers experienced the same problem. The router firmware (Enclosed software on a chip)is very unstable. When I enabled certain features (Logging, disabling DHCP), the router begins rebooting every 600 seconds. Only a hard reset and reconfiguration back to factory specs. clears the problem. If you try to access the router with any security features on, like a firewall, or virus scanner etc. The firmware develops a rebooting loop every 600 seconds.

Technical support, Basic and (Level 2 Advanced) is in a foreign language!! I occasionally can detect an english word. These people knew far less than I, and I'm not a techy! What is the Linksys solution?:
1. Don't make any changes to the router selections. Things like changing the default password to your own more secure password, setting the clock, or any of several others.

2. Use your $12,000 workstation on the Internet w/broadband cable access and DO NOT USE your Firewall, Virus scanner, Spyware scanner etc. Everything will be OK, Your using our router... (This is insanity)!

3. The firmware (to try and reload the software) for this router IS NOT AVAILABLE!

And the VOiP features and functionality? Never got that far. I use a standard PC from Dell with XP-Pro on a cable modem.

Read the various technical forums and discover the severity of this problem for yourself. I found them on "google".

Rating:
Summary: Beefier TA than VONAGE/linksys, but ATT svc has issues
Review: The out of box experience was OK, but AT&T left out the hardcopy router user's, and the linksys 'telephony/VOIP' menu is not visible as far as I can tell.

On to the major problems:

0) Since I'm porting my local number, I cannot check the voice quality at this time. I'll post an updated review in a week or so.

1) I had to call to try to figure out why I couldn't register
with my bestbuy activation info. Customer support is only available form 8AM until 9PM, EST - this could be a problem - it should be 24x7 service.

2)The AT&T provisioning code at www.att.com/bestbuy is broken
(haven't tried w/ IE on Windoze, but it FAILS on MacOS w/Firefox and Linux w/Firefox). I had to 'view source' on the Broken HTML code and manually go to Step 2 (/callvantage/linksys/step_2.jsp)
after retail activation at Best Buy)

function directRequest() {
if (serviceTest.serviceSelection[0].checked == false && serviceTest.serviceSelection[1].checked == false) {
alert("Please select the AT&T CallVantage Service option that applies to you.");
return false;
} else {
if (serviceTest.serviceSelection[0].checked == true) {
window.location="/callvantage/linksys/step_2.jsp";
return false;
} else {
window.location="http://www.callvantage.att.com";
return false;

Rating:
Summary: Router and ATT Callvantage Customer Service Sucks
Review: The router and AT&T service sucks. I had a problem with my service and they were not able to resolve the issue. The customer service is even worse, it takes an eon to get through and they seem to have 24 to 48 hours of turnaround at each level of support.

IF you have to cross three levels, you can only imagine the wait.

I would suggest anybody thinking about switching to ensure that you have a backup cell phone with a lot of minutes!!

In short, I would not recommend it to my friends.

Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Advanced Users Stay Away
Review: This rounter "CallVantage WRT54GP2A-AT" and the "Vonage WRT54GP2" have the same problem that Roger Simon (Orlando, FL) posted I spent about 12 hours between both the Vonage and CallVantage routers. If you leave the factory settings as is then the router works great. When I tried to add my ssh service and change any other parameters that's when the router would become unstable. It kept dropping the internet connection. Soon as i hooked up my old BEFSR41 everything worked great. Bottom line these routers should not be on the market. It is not worthy of one star.

Rating:
Summary: I like this alot!
Review: When I received the Linksys router from AT&T the only problem I had was figuring out how to connect my existing router. I went to the Linksys website and pulled down some documentation but it didn't work. To make a long story short I was making the problem much harder than it was. All I had to do was plug my cable modem into the Linksys router from AT&T and connect one network port from that router to the uplink/cable modem port of my other router and I was done.

The CallVantage service setup was easy. After connecting the AT&T Linksys router to the cable modem I used my browser to connect to the CallVantage activation site. The activation process was four steps. The longest step was when it automatically updated the router. When that was done the phone gave a short ring indicating I could make phone calls. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes. AT&T includes a pamplet with the router that walks you through the process. Its just a few pages with big pictures.

Immediately after activation I started calling friends. I would talk to them for a while before asking them if they noticed anything different. No one noticed anything. Voice quality is at least as good as a conventional phone. The AT&T rep said it would be better but I can't tell. It's certainly not worse.

The phone switch over went smoothly. I was able to keep my current phone number. Dialing the phone works fine. The feature set, like someone indicated earlier, is amazing. There are features included that I didn't know you could get on a home phone. Basically every feature you have now plus some ones you probably haven't heard of. AT&T has a well thought out and organized web interface for managing everything.

Some things to be aware of, AT&T says if you have a fax it may not work across the line. I don't have a fax so I can't test this. They said that some people were able to resolve faxing problems by upgrading their fax machine. Also if your power goes out or cable modem goes down you won't have a phone unless you have cellular or another line. As far as power outages I'm a big believer in UPSs and all my computer equipment is connected to one. You can connect the router phone line an existing phone jack and all your phones can share the line. You have to disconnect the outside line first and if you have a 2nd line AT&T says you need a splitter so that only one phone line goes into the router. You can get a splitter from Radio Shack for a few bucks.

Last thing, when I ordered my service, the rep on the phone was extremely repetitive. They definitely want you to understand all the aspects of setting up your phone service to work over your network. That's probably good for most people but for me it was like enough already.

Anyway this is great stuff. Next thing for me is to get the first phone bill. All of the taxes that apply to a regular phone line don't apply to a VOIP line. I'm interested in knowing what the "real" total will be.

Have fun if you try it. You may not be an early adopter but one of these days this will be the standard. The current phone system will be a thing of the past.