Siemens SpeedStream wireless DSL/cable router user reviews

1.5 stars

"Dies after about a year." on January 6, 2007 by winchester18

Pros: Great features and printer access for my parallel port NEC printer. Set-up and Mac fitering easy to use.

Cons: Dies after abou 1 year. As others mentioned below, I suspect heat problem with board design. Wireless range is only fair.

Summary: I have gone through 3 of these units so far. The first was a warantee replacement. The other was because I could not find a wireless router with parallel printer support anywhere in this price range. For the price I paid it was worth a shot. This last one worked fine for about 1+ year. But I was carefull to lay it down at an angle to allow air to flow through the small holes in the side of the case. One corner of these units seems to get very HOT. Two days ago I was re-aranging my set up and made the fatal mistake of re-positioning the unit and laid it flat. It died shortly after. I have seen these red & green lights before and went through all of the procedures I had gone through before with Tech support when my first one died. It's gone. All three died the same way. Read other reviews below.

5.0 stars

"Excellent Range" on June 21, 2005 by hypnotic

Pros: No quality issues, functions perfectly, good coverage

Cons: came across no problems

1.5 stars

"Great while it lasts, but dies after 1 year" on June 11, 2005 by firedrill0

Pros: good performance, very stable until it suddenly dies

Cons: suddently dies after about 1 year of normal use

Summary: I had two of these. I bought the first one, and the second was a free replacement because the first one died while still under warranty. The first died after a year of use. The second died after a year and a half of use. While they were alive, they worked fine. Good performance on both the wired and wireless ports, and good range on wireless. I did not expose the routers to any unusual conditions (sitting on a shelf in my office), so I don't know why they would suddenly stop functioning. I did observe that the routers got very hot during normal usage. Perhaps the heat exposed a reliability issue in the design of the chips or the board. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to replace their router every year. If the reliability were acceptable, I would have given it a 7. But because of the short lifespan, I'm giving it a 3.

4.0 stars

"No Problems for Me" on January 12, 2005

Pros: Built in Print Server. Easy to set up. Worked with SBC dsl out of the box.

Cons: Doesn't seem to work with Comcast.