Cyron <mdigitale@yahoo.com> hath wroth:

>In summary, I will never buy another Linksys or Cisco product again.
>If you choose to, you may get something that works, but don't hold
>your breath based soley on the brand name. Also, always purchase from
>a local vendor so you can return garbage and get your money back.

Welcome to the reality of buying bottom of the line. It's not just
Linksys that has problem products and marginal service. Literally
every one of the bottom of the line networking vendors have a few
products that should never have escaped from engineering or
manufacturing. That also applies to automobile manufacturers,
appliance vendors, and computer system conglomerators. All of them
have lemons.

You made a few minor mistakes along the way. The WRT54G v6 was not
the first of the series of lemons sold by Linksys. What apparently
happened is that the V1 thru V4 mutations were becoming too expensive.
There was also the "problem" (depending on whom at Linksys you ask)
over alternative open source firmware. To solve these non-problems,
Linksys shot themselves in the foot by releasing a downsized product
with admittedly marginal VxWorks firmware. It seems that the
excellent reputation of the WRT54G line was based primarily on
recommendations from hackers using these as Linux platforms. The
first mistake was the V5 followed shortly thereafter by the V6. The
V7 changed the wireless chipset from Broadcom to Atheros. The V8 went
back to Broadcom. See:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrt54g>
for some clues as to what's inside. I won't touch a v5 or v6. I have
successfully setup v8 routers and had no problems. I haven't even
seen a v7.

Then the V5 was initially introduced, there were numerous reviews
citing problems.
<http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/06/08/linksys_wrt54g_v5_really_is_a_lousy_router/>
The one you probably haven't noticed yet is that it can barely handle
6 active wireless connections before the CPU starts to choke. See
charts at:
<http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189/chart,124/>
and notice how the v5 and v6 appear near the bottom of the lists.

There were also numerous complaints and problems cited in the Linksys
support forums, various mailing lists, and this newsgroup.

Altogether, you're no better than Joe Sixpack buying a vehicle based
on "faith" in the manufacturer. Purchasing such a complex machine
based on color would have been more consistent with you selection
method. To be fair, I've been guilty of the same thing. I once owned
a Kenwood TM-731 ham radio. Great radio, but it was stolen from my
car. So, without the slightest bit of research, I purchased the
TM-732 (allegedly a replacement model of the TM-731) and discovered
that everything had changed and that I had purchased a piece of junk.
Ok, so I'm not perfect but I also try not to repeat my mistakes.

The basic problem is over generalizing. On the basis one bad router,
purchased from a non-authorized dealer, you declare the entire product
line, the company, and it's owners, to be equally defective. I can
see the logic, but the real world doesn't work that way. I usually
give vendors and suppliers a 2nd or even 3rd chance on the basis that
it's difficult to cross over burned bridges. You may need them some
day. For example, I'll continue to purchase Buffalo products even
though they cheated me out of a $10 rebate.

Incidentally, you'll find that there's only minimal interaction
between Cisco and Linksys. Unlike other Cisco acquisitions, Linksys
has been largely left to run things themselves. Also, why stop the
blame for your purchase at Cisco? Perhaps the owners of Cisco should
also be considered at fault. Here's a list:
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=CSCO>

So let's see if you're going to repeat your mistake. What brand are
you going to recommend in place of Cisco? By your logic, it's
acceptable to purchase solely by brand name or manufacturer. I'm
curious as to which brand you find acceptable in that they don't sell
any lemons.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558