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US Robotics 22Mbps WLS Cable/DSL Router

US Robotics 22Mbps WLS Cable/DSL Router

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Print Server just to watch
Review: ...

From the experience I've had the last 2 weeks with this wls router, all I can say is that it's a fine piece of hardware. My house has 60 to 70 square meters in each of the 3 floors. I have a quality signal above 40% at the farest pont in the house from the router (router installed in the 2nd floor). This is a brick/cement walls house.

As for the print server, what a mess USR has made!!! This is an SPP peculiar port. I needed to contact with USR support so they could say to me the parallel port specs ("SPP - unidireccional port. does not work with adavnced printer features, like photo settings"). What about an HP Dj520 printer? This is a 1994 model, very SPP compliant (works with an 80286 Olivetti PC!!) and prints garbaje, locks, ejects before time. With a recent HP P1100 I have the same result. Directly connecting the printers to the PC is fine but through print server is a mess!!

USR doesn't support Linux, but it works using Macintosh settings ... but not with an HP520 or 1100 printer. List of compatible printers? USR support says "We don't have a list of compatible printers", and "If a printer is not a Winprinter and does not require bidirectional communication, then it should work".

If you need the print server, try it with your printer first or look elsewhere!

...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Router
Review: Easy to set up. very well built and no failures yet.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great features and price - terrible performance and setup
Review: I fiddle-dinked around with the USR8022 unit for hours trying to get it to work with my Cox Cable modem (Motorola Surfboard) with no results. I could get the unit to grab an IP address from my LinkSys router (which I hoped to replace with the 8022 to go wireless), but it refused to get an IP address from the cable modem.

I called Cox, and they explained that the cable modem should self-register any device attached to it (i.e. the MAC address) but it was not working with the USR8022.

Finally, I went into the configuration for the USR8022 and cloned the MAC address of the LinkSys router (which was working with the cable modem) and voila! it worked.

Now the only problem is that the signal strength is TERRIBLE! I am using a laptop with a Symbol 802.11b card and a Toshiba e740 PDA with built-in Wi-Fi. Neither of them will work from more than about 25 feet away from the device, regardless of the antenna position...

I wish I had read the other reviews on this site before buying the unit - the comments about performance are very consistent with what I have experienced. Maybe it would be better with a USR Wireless card in my laptop, but I want to use this network with other devices that have BUILT-IN Wi-Fi antennae (like my PDA and Tablet PC)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great features and price - terrible performance and setup
Review: I fiddle-dinked around with the USR8022 unit for hours trying to get it to work with my Cox Cable modem (Motorola Surfboard) with no results. I could get the unit to grab an IP address from my LinkSys router (which I hoped to replace with the 8022 to go wireless), but it refused to get an IP address from the cable modem.

I called Cox, and they explained that the cable modem should self-register any device attached to it (i.e. the MAC address) but it was not working with the USR8022.

Finally, I went into the configuration for the USR8022 and cloned the MAC address of the LinkSys router (which was working with the cable modem) and voila! it worked.

Now the only problem is that the signal strength is TERRIBLE! I am using a laptop with a Symbol 802.11b card and a Toshiba e740 PDA with built-in Wi-Fi. Neither of them will work from more than about 25 feet away from the device, regardless of the antenna position...

I wish I had read the other reviews on this site before buying the unit - the comments about performance are very consistent with what I have experienced. Maybe it would be better with a USR Wireless card in my laptop, but I want to use this network with other devices that have BUILT-IN Wi-Fi antennae (like my PDA and Tablet PC)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Junk
Review: I have been using for 6 months, apparently with more luck than other reviewers.
I network 2 PCs and one laptop. I am using USR 1120 (USB) and USR 2414 (PCI/PCMCIA type II) 11Mbyte/sec adaptors on the other machines. All use Windows 98SE.
I get the full 11Mbyte/sec over distances up to 80', though several walls in the house - one computer located upstairs, the other on the ground floor. Where computers are in the same room I get signal strength and link quality reading of 100%. Across the house I get readings of 60-70%, but good communication/connection speeds which is what counts. I have not tried running at 22Mbyte/sec as the other computers all have 11Mbyte/sec access points - I bought the higher speed router as there was no price difference for an 11Mbyte version.
Maybe the unit works better with other USR Wireless access points than it does with those of 3rd parties- I have not seen the communication speed issues reported by other reviewers.
Installation was easy, once you get used to running the set-up via your web browser. But I would have preferred more comprehensive technical reference manuals than seem to be available from USR. There is little on their website, nor on the CD that comes with the equipment.
I like the serial port feature, which allows the use of a regular of ISDN T/A as backups. I used these with an EICON DIVA T/A no problem. There is an "Extra settings" line on the modem set-up menu that allows you to add "AT" commands for the modem. This is not explained anywhere in the sparse documentation supplied. I had to phone their technical support who answered the phone quickly and were efficient and friendly. But a decent manual would be good.
The broadband internet connection comes via a Westell wirespeed 890 DSL modem supplied by Verizon. No compatibility issues. Just plug and play.
The 2 ethernet ports are useful and work with no problems
The printer port does not support 2 way communications. This is useless from my perspective, so I stopped using it. I find it better to just let other computers share a printer connected directly to one machine on the network. This means the machine connected to the printer must be on to allow printing. Not always convenient.
I am very pleased with the way other devices (scanner, cameras) can be shared.
I mailed my rebate coupon on Jan 02, got the check back April 16.
Overall I find this reasonable value for money. As long as it works with your hardware, it is low cost, easy to use and reliable.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Apart from the printer port, works well at 11MByte/sec
Review: I have been using for 6 months, apparently with more luck than other reviewers.
I network 2 PCs and one laptop. I am using USR 1120 (USB) and USR 2414 (PCI/PCMCIA type II) 11Mbyte/sec adaptors on the other machines. All use Windows 98SE.
I get the full 11Mbyte/sec over distances up to 80', though several walls in the house - one computer located upstairs, the other on the ground floor. Where computers are in the same room I get signal strength and link quality reading of 100%. Across the house I get readings of 60-70%, but good communication/connection speeds which is what counts. I have not tried running at 22Mbyte/sec as the other computers all have 11Mbyte/sec access points - I bought the higher speed router as there was no price difference for an 11Mbyte version.
Maybe the unit works better with other USR Wireless access points than it does with those of 3rd parties- I have not seen the communication speed issues reported by other reviewers.
Installation was easy, once you get used to running the set-up via your web browser. But I would have preferred more comprehensive technical reference manuals than seem to be available from USR. There is little on their website, nor on the CD that comes with the equipment.
I like the serial port feature, which allows the use of a regular of ISDN T/A as backups. I used these with an EICON DIVA T/A no problem. There is an "Extra settings" line on the modem set-up menu that allows you to add "AT" commands for the modem. This is not explained anywhere in the sparse documentation supplied. I had to phone their technical support who answered the phone quickly and were efficient and friendly. But a decent manual would be good.
The broadband internet connection comes via a Westell wirespeed 890 DSL modem supplied by Verizon. No compatibility issues. Just plug and play.
The 2 ethernet ports are useful and work with no problems
The printer port does not support 2 way communications. This is useless from my perspective, so I stopped using it. I find it better to just let other computers share a printer connected directly to one machine on the network. This means the machine connected to the printer must be on to allow printing. Not always convenient.
I am very pleased with the way other devices (scanner, cameras) can be shared.
I mailed my rebate coupon on Jan 02, got the check back April 16.
Overall I find this reasonable value for money. As long as it works with your hardware, it is low cost, easy to use and reliable.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Solid Router
Review: I have been using this router over a month now and it has not given me one single problem in terms of network connection. The wireless range is far much better than the SMC Barricade 7004AWBR. I initially bought the SMC 7004AWBR because it has been out on the market much longer and most people have given thumbs up to it. But it literally keeps locking up on me when I tried to transfer a 120MB file from one computer to another over the wired connection. The U.S. Robotics, however, never gave me one single problem. The setup was fast and painless (like 10 minutes or so) and everything just work.

The only slight issue I have with this router is that the printer server does not behave as I expected. If I turn the printer off, the admin screen will show "Device Printer" error and sometimes I have to reset the router. Also, the router only comes with only 2 wired LAN connection, whereas most other ones come with either 3 or 4.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: no better than speedstream 2624
Review: i looked for a wireless router with print server port. so far speedstream 2624 and usr8022 failed my test and expectation. both can work in WEP disable mode. if i'm enable the wep 128. these two start drop signal every 15min. they may work with other speedstream or USR only. for sure they are not work with netgear, ipaq and belkin usb wireless router. avoid at all cost

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Junk
Review: I took this router - tossed it in the garbage after spending an hour on the phone with the "tech" - (the phone call at my expense) after the hour his comment was "well maybe it is defective" - I then went out and purchased a D-link router and junked this one - they wanted me to pay $25 to expidite the replacement - or I could wait two to three weeks while I shipped mine back (at my expense) so that they could fix it - by the way I won't be buying any other US Robotics junk any more

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Complete Garbage becomes somewhat acceptable with tweaking
Review: Like others, my box would lose its internet connection every 15 minutes or so. The wireless feature was dropping off at two feet! WEP was making the connection, but I was unable to get any further.

I found that my 3.2GHz phone was causing the wireless distance problems. I figured the power supply may not be supplying enough current, so rigged a connection to my computer's power supply, which provides the necessary 5V. The system now only loses the internet connection about 5 times a day.

I conclude that this device is garbage, but I am stuck with it for now. DON'T BUY ONE!! In fact, (and I would never have said this 5 years ago) don't buy USR products at all.

Funny.. just found out my interent connection was down when I tried to submit this. had to reboot my box yet again. GARBAGE!


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