I just purchased for Christmas the Linksys Wireless router model WRT150N (wireless-N home router), and the Linksys compact wireless-g USB adapter model WUSB54GC. The setup was really easy with the supplied Lenovo login CD, which they want you to install before plugging anything in. Linksys has a program called EasyLink Advisor I followed the instructions and had my desktop connected to the wireless router WRT150N in about 5 minutes. All I had to do was turn on my laptop connect to the connection and I was on in about 2 minutes after putting in the code.
EasyLink Advisor is really good at getting you up and going quickly but the default security is set for WEP which we all know now is super flawed security. You will need to go to my network tab in the advisor and check advanced view in order to really do anything in the advisor but after the initial setup I suggest going to HTTP:// 192.168.1.1 since the instructions for the WRT150N do not say anything about signing in to the router to change the settings. Linksys wants you to use the advisor to set up everything but there are so many things that are not accessible from the advisor, first and most important is changing the password to the router that is set to admin.
I would suggest you go to 192.168.1.1 in your address bar to make the settings changes for security, I went to a few forums and it was strongly suggested to use WPA2 Personal if using at the house. The WRT150N gives you the choices between WEP, WPA Personal, WPA2 Personal, WPA Enterprise, WPA2 Enterprise, and RADIUS. If you choose any of the options you can choose between AES or TKIP encryption. I set it up as the WPA2 Personal and have had no issues at all since and one laptop is using Broadcom 802.11b/g internal wireless, another laptop is using the Linksys WUSB54G USB network adapter, and lastly a Linksys WUSB54GSC which is the compact USB network adapter connected to another desktop in the home.
The WRT150N wireless router has a great range in the home from upstairs, the signal to all the wireless devices is awesome even outside. I have used my laptop from the garage and from the shed in the back yard. I get 3 bars and very little speed difference out in the shed behind the house. If you are looking for a wireless router for the home I would suggest this as a winner for just about any size home if it is centrally located. The EasyLink Advisor could use a little beefing up since it is pretty limited and will take you longer to get the security setup correctly than if you just go to 192.168.1.1 instead and get all the settings updated quickly.
The wireless adapters WUSB54G and WUSB54GSC both work pretty evenly I didn’t see any speed changes in either of them and would say they work evenly. The compact one is definitely smaller and easier to carry around and plug into anything you need to make wireless, though these adapters require you to download the program of the cd before plugging the device in, unfortunately.
If you are a Windows Vista user and you are using that computer to set up the router Linksys does have an extra step for you. Linksys wants you to go to http://linksys.com/VistaSupport. You will need to find your product in the list and save the driver to your computer. Basically follow the directions to install the driver, you may even need to if you are using Vista on the wireless device as well, I did not have to and I use Vista.
Jane Castro is a journalist and media enthusiast. She graduated from the University of Bacolod in the Philippines. She loves skating, scuba diving, and archery on her free time.