U.S. Robotics USR8011 Wireless Cable/DSL Router

Rating:
Summary: WRONG PURCHASE DECISION!!!
Review: I wish I read the previous review before I purchased this router.

Yes, this was a plug and play router. Just plug the broadband/cable connection and viola! Instant internet connection. No disconnects, no problems.

Why stupid? Whenever I turn WEP on, the router becomes useless. How stupid is that? WEP (security: either 64 ot 128 bit) is important but USR failed on this issue.

PURCHASE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

I trusted the US Robotics name because they made good modems. Now I know they are good only at modems. :(

Rating:
Summary: A solid piece of equipment
Review: I've been using mine for a couple of years now, and it's been great around the house. What really knocks me out is the solid metal box construction and beefy antennae. Certainly a cut above most of the plastic garbage on the market. I keep 3 PC's wired into it, as well as a network printer. It's as flawless a switch as I've come to know.

On the wireless side, there are a few weak spots around my house, but I have a sprawling (and well insulated) home & most of the dead-zones show up around plumbing. Although I've read reports here about non-functional WEP, I have yet to experience a problem. My guess is that those who fail are not setting it up properly or are not using compatible equipment. Everything I've thrown at it - from generic WiFi cards to 3COM equipment, to the wife's PDA - has performed flawlessly.

Nice to have access to DMZ's and virtual server setups.

Little secret: it's compatible with the SMC7004AWBR firmware, so upgrades can be kept a little more current, although it comes at the expense of the onboard printserver. This is not such a huge loss these days, however, with the huge run of USB printers. The parallel port is a little obsolete anyhow!

Rating:
Summary: A solid piece of equipment
Review: I've had two of these for about a year and a half now. Have only had one problem with the wireless in that time, and all it required was a reboot. Never had any problems with the wired connections either. The print server is an awsome feature... no more having a computer as a dedicated print server. Although you must use a printer with a parallel port, and bidirectional stuff won't work (like all in one, printer and scanners), but that's pretty standard for any printserver. I also have no complaints about the firewall.

To be honest, setting up WEP can be tricky, and I wonder if problems that these people have had with the WEP is because they don't know how to set it up properly. Windows XP wireless encryption and the router's encryption setups are different, so you need to know what your doing. But rest assured the WEP works fine.

That's my Two Bits.

Rating:
Summary: I don't know why it's got such a Bad rap...
Review: I've had two of these for about a year and a half now. Have only had one problem with the wireless in that time, and all it required was a reboot. Never had any problems with the wired connections either. The print server is an awsome feature... no more having a computer as a dedicated print server. Although you must use a printer with a parallel port, and bidirectional stuff won't work (like all in one, printer and scanners), but that's pretty standard for any printserver. I also have no complaints about the firewall.

To be honest, setting up WEP can be tricky, and I wonder if problems that these people have had with the WEP is because they don't know how to set it up properly. Windows XP wireless encryption and the router's encryption setups are different, so you need to know what your doing. But rest assured the WEP works fine.

That's my Two Bits.

Rating:
Summary: Works, kinda....
Review: Initial setup is pretty simple, takes 5 mins, and that's if you've never setup a router/wireless network before. Range seems good in my 1000 sq ft apartment. Haven't throughly test it yet by going outside, but I'm able to get 11 mbps anywhere in my apartment. Getting the wireless to work in default settings is also pretty quick and straight forward. Only problem I had is once I started using WEP security, the router will freeze for both wired and unwired activity, even after reboot, it will freeze again after a couple of minutes. Will talk to USR, will revise review if problem gets resolved. Otherwise the unit works pretty well. Reference: PC Card I'm using is the USR2410.