Cisco Linksys WRV54G, VPN functionality doesn’t..
| Overall Rating |    |
 |
VPN functionality doesn’t quite work…
I bought this item from Amazon even though the reviews I read were less than stellar. I just assumed most of the problems were user configuration errors. After all…. it is easy to mess up a VPN configuration, especially if you are using Windows IPSEC policies because the UI for setting that up can be a little misleading. However after setting it up in my home lab I discovered that… it just didn’t work as a VPN device. I connect with a VPN client called SSH Sentinel (it is a little dated but works on every other VPN I have used). I could get a connection fine but it refused to route traffic inside the LAN at all. Even setting up the route recommended by Linksys it still would not work.So I decided not to give up yet and searched out Google groups for people who have solved this issue and I found… no one. Everyone complained at the constant problems with each firmware release and the inability to VPN into the router properly. I was surprised because quite frankly all the other linksys hardware I have work great. I rarely have any problems with their print server, kvm switches and other routers… why in the world would Linksys drop the ball on this product.Well it seems this particular router is different than any of Linksys’s other routers because it is running an embedded version of Linux. It would seem that Linksys and this Linux vendor are having some big difficulties getting this thing to work and perhaps it got pushed out the door too soon.Well I went out and bought a cheaper BEFVP41 VPN router from Linksys (it is not wireless but I had a spare WAP-G) and I was able to get a VPN connection the first time. So.. if you buy this router to VPN into your home network you will have some serious problems. I also had some flaky wireless problems with it but I must admit… after reading all the problems with this model I put the thing back in the box and bought something else that works…I hope this isn’t the end of Linksys putting out good products and being responsive to their clients…
Update (5/17/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.
The featured review for this product, Cisco Linksys WRV54G Wireless-G VPN Router Electronics, was written by Dennis Mabrey.
The average rating for this item is out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.
- Related posts on bad
- How Bad Really Were Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C …
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sells many copies (plus bonus rant!)
- Related posts on boingo hotspot
- SkypeAccess: Nice idea, but …
- Airports
- Boingo Software Available in Most Popular Mobile Marketplaces
Related posts:
- Cisco-Linksys USB100M, Speed limited to 12Mbps
- Cisco-Linksys EZXS55W, Excellent Little Switch -..
- Panasonic BL-C131A, Excellent camera, excellent..
- D-Link DWL-G650 Wireless, Good performance and..
- Belkin F5D8053 N, Good Range
Tags: bad, boingo hotspot, hopeless, junk, router, so bad, so very bad, trouble, vpn router, wi fi, wireless, wireless router, wrt54g wireless router, wrv54g
Posted on: March 19, 2010
Filed under: Reviews
Reviews (3)
Steven Cagney
February 12th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Had major issues trying to use this router
I currently have a WRT54G wireless 54G router and wanted to upgrade to the WRV54g for the VPN feature.The minute I plugged in the WRV54G I had problems. I have a WPC54G Wireless PC card, a WET54G Wireless Bridge, and a WMA11B Wireless media adapter (all Linksys products) that all work great with my WRT54G router. The only client I could get to work with the WRV54G was my wireless pc card. I never was able to figure out why. since every client had the exact same configuration when working with my WRT54G.I also had an issue with my FTP server. When an outside machine would connect, the router would lose internet access and then would have to be rebooted.I was never able to get the VPN working either. The directions are very confusing and there are too many variables that can cause an issue and it is very hard to troubleshoot.My recommendation is to stick to the WRT54G wireless router until Linksys gets some updated firmware to fix these problems.
Dennis Mabrey
February 12th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
VPN functionality doesn’t quite work…
Rated 2 stars.
Watson
February 25th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I’m glad my boss is willing to take risks
So, I was really against this product. The reviews were awful for him. But there were some criticisms, claiming that the product is not right with the new firmware version. So … my boss wanted to VPN, wireless, so he decided to get this router anyway, despite the assessments. I was against it. … So I installed it. The VPN server was easy as sin to setup. As long as you have a static IP address, and a bit about networking, you should be good. The VPN was not at first - a reliable connection. Which proved to be our ISP (satellite access), and since we have a new ISP has (DSL), everything works perfectly. The VPN is great, easy and WLAN is also nice. I had the VPN server to download things for 3 hours with no connection problems. This router is used for a small company of about ten machines in it. Just FYI. Works great. Has not died yet (1 month) Hope this helps. Oh, latest firmware is a must.
Leave a reply