Linksys Complaint

This is more of a complaint than a question. I just bought a new Linksys wrtg54g version 2 wireless router/access point and a 3com pcmcia wireless card. We run a dhcp/file server with a Cisco Catlyst 2950 with a cable connection. So I swapped out the old linksys besfr41 router and configured the new Linksys router everything worked great except that none of the machines could browse the local area network. So I called Linksys's tech support hoping to get some help not one of the six different people I talked to asked what any of the settings were in the router. I was told various different things by each person I spoke with. First I was told that the router would not do file and print sharing that they were only an internet device then I was told several times that the router was fine that it was my internet settings when I asked why it worked with the old router they informed me that my antivirus software was blocking the ports that allow file sharing. Finally (still without checking the routers settings) they shipped me a new one overnight. I setup the new one same problem so this time I called tech support and was informed that it must be my cable modem that was blocking the port requests for file sharing. WTF??????? After I started digging around in the wireless router I finally found a way to add the servers ip as a static hop which solved the problem. So I checked in Quickbooks to see how many linksys products I sell a year and came up with an average of 119 per year for the last 3 years which I am happy to say will never occur again as long as I own this store.

I have had equally frustrating experiences with the LinkSys support group over the past few years. It seems to have gotten worse since the Cisco take-over last July. I am currently evaluating some Linux (embeded) and other Linux based router/firewall/vpn/file/print servers to begin replacing the LinkSys equipment at the more complicated sites I support. (The considerable parts of the LinkSys firmware is Linux based and under the GPL). The LinkSys products are great, simple, shrink-wrap-in-the-box products, when the work, which is most of the time. They are intended to be "plug-n-pray" and largely they are. But like Dell, and many other large volume technology vendors, they seem to have farmed out support to a bunch of nimrods that couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag! I have had especially poor experiences with their wireless gear, and now will not use it. For low end wireless gear, I opt for SMC now. Are we alone or has LinkSys dropped the ball?

BoH

linksys wap11's are by far the best .11b ap there is though. I don't really care for anything else they offer though. I use freesco and sme for my router/gateway. sme has a built in vpn that works quite well in the little bit that I've tested it.

reboot the modem ( pull power cord )
after modem comes back on line, reboot router

modem will only work with last device connected to it untill it is reset

Shep

Well I am not the only person having a problem with Linksys. I bought a Wireless G router back in June?July that suddenly stopped working on the wireless end. The wired ports worked fine. I didnt bother to contact tech support, I just filled out the online RMA request and they sent me a new one. To my surprise the one they sent me was also defective. It worked fine for about a half hour and then I would lose my internet. I then called tech support and all she had me do is reset the router. I explained to her that I had done that and it will make the router work, but it stops working after a half hour. I reset it anyway to humor her and told her I will be calling back. After they escalated me to a higher support level, I spoke with a guy that said he would send me another replacement router and make sure that this one was tested before it was sent out. Well I got the second replacement unit yesterday and guess what? It didnt work either. After powering this one on the diagnostic light just flashed repeatedly. I could not access the routers settings or reset it. I am now waiting for my third replacement router. I have used many linksys products in the past and never had a problem with them. I work with CISCO equipment all day and I have to say that their tech support is great, but the LinkSys division needs some work.

He-he-he :devil: You need to go find what the 'workers revolutionary party' has to say about scripts & callcentre support ... :D

There's another thread somewhere's asking for good scripts that refers ;) - maybes its linksys support :eek2: :D

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

He-he-he :devil: You need to go find what the 'workers revolutionary party' has to say about scripts & callcentre support ... :D

There's another thread somewhere's asking for good scripts that refers ;) - maybes its linksys support :eek2: :D

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I've called linksys, they don't have scripts... there solution was "I don't know, go get a different brand that will do it if what you have does not work"

I was trying to setup a VPN server, and even in DMZ, would not work, the PPtP protocol is not supported properly for incomming connections, i wanted to see if the router supported it or not.

The majority of my excruciatingly painful experiences with LinkSys in the last few years have been related to just 3 products in their current line up:

The WRT54G (the 4 port router/gateway with wireless G access point)
The WRT55AG (the 4 port router/gateway with dual A + G wireless support)
And finally:
The WUSB11 (a USB wireless NIC).

I also had the blinking diag lights on one WRT54G. Got it replaced. I also had the 30min - 1 hr uptime issue. Turns out, in my situation at least, that the uptime problem is related to their TERRIBLE implementation of WEP. The wireless access point was essentially a first-come-first served device with WEP enabled. Basically, only one device using WEP could connect to the router! What a joke! LinkSys's tech support solution: Don't use WEP. Totally unacceptable! The WRT5x series of devices I was using were "ver 1". Perhaps they have fixed that by now, but I doubt it. I have been using SMC wireless products since this fiasco, and they have worked just fine, with, and without WEP, and with multiple clients connected at the same time! There seems to be a pattern here... the Wireless G lineup, and perhaps WEP? Perhaps those are the bad apples?

Does anyone know if Freesco supports UPnP? (My guess is no, since the majority of the Linux/*nix based routers do not at this time. (Actually none that I could find do.)

BoH

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Originally Posted by BOHICA

The majority of my excruciatingly painful experiences with LinkSys in the last few years have been related to just 3 products in their current line up:

The WRT54G (the 4 port router/gateway with wireless G access point)
The WRT55AG (the 4 port router/gateway with dual A + G wireless support)
And finally:
The WUSB11 (a USB wireless NIC).

I also had the blinking diag lights on one WRT54G. Got it replaced. I also had the 30min - 1 hr uptime issue. Turns out, in my situation at least, that the uptime problem is related to their TERRIBLE implementation of WEP. The wireless access point was essentially a first-come-first served device with WEP enabled. Basically, only one device using WEP could connect to the router! What a joke! LinkSys's tech support solution: Don't use WEP. Totally unacceptable! The WRT5x series of devices I was using were "ver 1". Perhaps they have fixed that by now, but I doubt it. I have been using SMC wireless products since this fiasco, and they have worked just fine, with, and without WEP, and with multiple clients connected at the same time! There seems to be a pattern here... the Wireless G lineup, and perhaps WEP? Perhaps those are the bad apples?

Does anyone know if Freesco supports UPnP? (My guess is no, since the majority of the Linux/*nix based routers do not at this time. (Actually none that I could find do.)

BoH

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UPnP for what if you dont mind my asking

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Originally Posted by Gollo

UPnP for what if you dont mind my asking

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There are a few apps and devices that rely on UPnP to work properly. i.e. X-Box Live, MSN IM, etc. Usually one connection through the *nix router/firewalls is ok, but a second connection to the same server (in this example, an XBox live server) cannot be made. The problem was traced back to the router's inability to implement the UPnP extentions to dynamically set up the triggers and port-forwarding rules. Sometimes even common protocols, like FTP, or "Quake" fall victim to this and require some type of "fixup" module for the conntracker in the kernel to work properly. I just would rather not be held hostage while waiting on a "fixup" module for any new app or device that might need to run from different LAN side ip's simultaneously. So far none of the *nix routers I messed with could handle the UPnP devices or apps.

FloppyFW
Coyote Linux
Wolverine (Coyote Linux's big brother with VPN server)
Freesco

These are all low-end, "simple" "routers and firewalls on a floppy" so to speak. I have not delved into the higher end *nix based systems (i.e. Smoothwall, Open BSD, etc.) but from what I could see, the UPnP support is spotty at best.

Maybe this should be a new thread eh?

BoH

I'm SO glad I got my WRT54G before the Cisco buy-out. It just amazes me that when Cisco bought Linksys, Linksys' quality went down the toilet.

After getting a WRT54G at work and testing it for few months I got one for home. Absolutely no problem, I have been able to use VPN from outside to my server inside my network and from inside to outside. No browsing problems, disconnections, connectivity loss, etc. As a matter of fact the home one hasn't been unplugged in the last 6 months. I wonder if there is a problem with mine :devil:

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Originally Posted by CeeBee

After getting a WRT54G at work and testing it for few months I got one for home. Absolutely no problem, I have been able to use VPN from outside to my server inside my network and from inside to outside. No browsing problems, disconnections, connectivity loss, etc. As a matter of fact the home one hasn't been unplugged in the last 6 months. I wonder if there is a problem with mine :devil:

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Same here. Love my WRT54G. The DDNS feature kicks a$$ too. I can administer my E-Mule from work. :D

This stuff is for home use. If anyone is using Linksys stuff for a piece of mission-critical business hardware, that person should think about asking for a bigger budget.

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Originally Posted by BOHICA

There are a few apps and devices that rely on UPnP to work properly. i.e. X-Box Live, MSN IM, etc. Usually one connection through the *nix router/firewalls is ok, but a second connection to the same server (in this example, an XBox live server) cannot be made. The problem was traced back to the router's inability to implement the UPnP extentions to dynamically set up the triggers and port-forwarding rules. Sometimes even common protocols, like FTP, or "Quake" fall victim to this and require some type of "fixup" module for the conntracker in the kernel to work properly. I just would rather not be held hostage while waiting on a "fixup" module for any new app or device that might need to run from different LAN side ip's simultaneously. So far none of the *nix routers I messed with could handle the UPnP devices or apps.

FloppyFW
Coyote Linux
Wolverine (Coyote Linux's big brother with VPN server)
Freesco

These are all low-end, "simple" "routers and firewalls on a floppy" so to speak. I have not delved into the higher end *nix based systems (i.e. Smoothwall, Open BSD, etc.) but from what I could see, the UPnP support is spotty at best.

Maybe this should be a new thread eh?

BoH

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I know for a fact that SmoothWall has UpNp support. I use it at home.

www.smoothwall.org/get


Hope that helps!

bb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bbtech6650

I know for a fact that SmoothWall has UpNp support. I use it at home.

www.smoothwall.org/get


Hope that helps!

bb

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Cool, I am checking out the docs now. Thanks for the link!

BoH

in order to get it work properly:
http://w1.855.comhem.se/~u85538820/
it is somewhere on the Smoothwall-forum...
I've tested it for XP + MSN6.2. file, chat, voice works. I do not have video, but some one else on another forum with the same config said it works with him.

PS: I was surprised by the ease of installation for Smoothwall 2. Also updating the fixes it quite easy. The firewall is quite good depending whether you enable SSH all ports seem to be stealth at my place.
The implementation of the UPnP mod on the above webpage is a nice example how people like to improve on Smoothwall (the default UPnP seemed to give soem problems).

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Originally Posted by Gollo

linksys wap11's are by far the best .11b ap there is though.

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I prefer my Aironet 350 :D

Ok, it is a good right to do so!
I like the challenge of Linux distros...
BTW: most "hardware" routers are just chips were an operating system, so software (*) is preloaded... those chips wont work without bits and bytes ;) ....

(*)= often a micro-linux.... so what is the difference, except maybe from a smaller housing ;)
Succes with your system!
greetings from NL

I had a bunch of problems when updating the firmware to my befsr41 router. Screwed around with that for hours but finally went back to the older version that I had previously.

Had occasional problems with my wusb11 that took some time to fix, but it's been pretty reliable.

Haven't had any problems with my wap11 I'm using as an ap or my other wap11 that I'm using as a bridge, though.

My old soho router was more reliable than my linksys. =(