Asus WL-520gU Wireless Router user reviews

Pros Plug & Play! Low heat compared with other routers.

Cons Needs a little tweaking on the Printer Server Connection

Summary Am currently using 2 Wireless Router in our building, one is linksys and recently i tried using the ASUS for my office. Comparing the performance, both basically provides same speed connection in the internet. However, i find the USB option in the ASUS usefull specially for my shared printer. AS for the range i find d asus stronger. The Linksys drops signal when its 2 rooms away but the Asus still gives 1 to 2 bars 3 rooms apart. I also often experience drop in signals and constant resetting of the Linksys as compared with the Asus, so far, none yet for 3 mos now. All of these are base on actual test and not by Paper I tried finding sites where i can compare both since they are on the same price range in my country $50. Unfortunately Asus is not as popular as Linksys & there are none. For recommendation, i will recommend the ASUS. Am now selling the Linksys

Pros I've owned a couple of wired and a wireless routers, but this one has got to be the best one yet. Signal strength is exceptional, its got a wireless print server, the upgraded bios with its Dr. Surf is a dream and its relatively inexpensive to boot.

Cons The manual is totally confusing, insufficient, and in some instances seems like it is meant for a different product. Unless you download the upgraded bios, install, and reboot the unit the installation of this unit is not for the inexperienced user.

Summary I truly love this product, I just wish that it had come with a better manual that explains the fact that you first have to upgrade the bios and how this is done. Otherwise I'm looking forward to a long and fruitful surf affair with this router.

Pros Strong and stable signal received even with thick walls at home

Cons Lousy manual!

Summary I can understand the previous review about the lousy manual and i am not making excuses - the manual is at best dodgy and i think that whole EZ Set up is geared for Vista (am using XP) Had to jack up my modem direct first, scour info on net (i am a newbie with WiFi) but once i got it working it is extremely dependable and works like a charm! Even the print sharing function works brilliantly (again lousy instructions!)I bought mine for US$60 and for that price i am well satisfied with this wireless router that supports HSM and print server function. Maybe the manual and instructions needs a serious beefing up!

Pros Supports WCN via USB flash drive

Cons Lousy manual, buggy firmware

Summary I was only able to set up this router once by using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard. I inserted the USB Flash Drive and everything worked smoothly... until I installed their software on a client, because I needed to configure the router (I wanted to change the channel, for instance) and I didn't know the address of the router's web page (which is not documented anywhere).

After installing their software (which erased the whole list of wireless networks configured on my laptop, by the way), I discovered the home page of the router was 192.168.1.1. I got a couple of glitches trying to connect to the router through their software. Finally, I had to connect an Ethernet cable to get their software to configure the router. Oh, and the initial user name/passwords of the router are located on a tiny label under the thing, and that is not documented either.

Somehow the client software reset the SSID and key that I had set before using Windows Connect Now. Fine, I was able again to get wireless working. Then I changed the time setting, and the firmware crashed. I was unable to connect to the web page. Afterward, I attempted to reset it and set it up again with Windows Connect Now. This would not work anymore. Then I tried to set it up using the web page. Though I was able to apply settings, and enabled radio, no wireless network was visible by any laptop even 1 foot from the router.

I gave up. I am going to request an RMA and return it. The whole product smells low quality all over, from the user manual (2 pages translated in a number of languages) to the web page's lousy presentation (once you have clicked the links, they become pink, almost the same color as the background). That's too bad, because if the router worked properly with WCN, it would be really neat (adding new devices to the network just requires plugging in a USB flash drive).