Cisco to dump Linksys

[Quattro Pete]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-16/cisco-said-to-hire-barclays-to-sell-linksys-division.html

Maybe it's a good thing for Linksys. The Linksys router firmware has been raising eyebrows lately with all the "phone home" features. I wonder who will snatch them up.

 

[OVERKILL]

Some of the comments are hilarious. Like Linksys was some sort of benchmark for quality before Cisco acquired them? LOL! Better than D-Link certainly, but they made some garbage just like all the other consumer brands.

 

[Hermann]

It figures, they finally got the lastest consumer version right, and easy to setup, now they will have to start over under some other corporation who pinches pennies. The new one I got in June works great and was super simple to set up the wi-fi.

 

[simple_gifts]

I have a hacky set up in my house and since I dropped POTS a phone cable has been running across my dining room to the router and then thru the ceiling (house is circa 1880) to the second floor; I've stepped on my Linksys so many times @ night that the case has busted open and the router is basically a circuit board with a power supply connection and a network cable. The blue case is gone; not bad for $40.

 

[Quest]

No offense to those linksys luvers but I'm all for Cisco dumping them.

No need to cross over to the other side of the pond, with mediocre performance and lack-lustre reliability.

Linksys will be fine all by themselves and should be able to remain competitive in the lower section of the consumer market alongside with Dlink, Asus, etc.

Q.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Some of the comments are hilarious. Like Linksys was some sort of benchmark for quality before Cisco acquired them? LOL! Better than D-Link certainly, but they made some garbage just like all the other consumer brands.


So true. I've had more bad Linksys products than good ones. Goofy driver issues on a number of adapters. "Is it a v2 or v5 product? Sorry, Windows 7 isn't supported on v2..." or, in another case, "Windows 7 is supported" only to find out only the 32-Bit version of Win7, no 64bit support. Ummm....Linksys, ever hear of Vista 64 bit? Hello?

Other than the famed WRT wireless router that runs Tomato, Not much from Linksys has been top-shelf.

When you're at the bottom, the only way to go is up.

 

[PandaBear]

Cisco bought Linksys to kill it off from advancing into the business grade market. Now Linksys' ambition is destroyed enough and no longer a threat, it is time to dump it. There is not much value in holding a commodity product company.

 

[Colt45ws]

Linksys was the reason why I stopped buying consumer routers and started using a Linux computer as my router instead. I got tired of buying new ones every 3 months which was about average life I was getting out of them.

 

[itguy08]

Never was impressed with the Netgear stuff. Oddly, the best luck I've had has been D-Link. In-laws had good luck with Netgear too.

 

[Colt45ws]

My old switches were the metal Netgear ones. I liked them. I had a 5 port and an 8 port. Both 10/100. I had the 5 port one for a long time. It finally failed in an odd way; Once packets got over 1000 bytes or so they would start getting lost through it. By the time packet size hit 1300 bytes, loss was nearly 100%. Took me months to track down the random issues THAT was causing.
I then replaced the Teapo capacitors inside the unit with Nichicon and it worked like new!
I replaced them with a pair of D-Link gigabit switches a bit after that.. Though, my brother still uses the repaired 5-port. Now Im working on upgrading to Cisco Small Business 'Smart' Switches.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Cisco bought Linksys to kill it off from advancing into the business grade market. Now Linksys' ambition is destroyed enough and no longer a threat, it is time to dump it. There is not much value in holding a commodity product company.


Oh, I don't think there was any risk of that. Even Juniper hasn't been as successful as Cisco and they were/are entirely business focused.

My understanding of the purchase was to allow Cisco to use their brand recognition to push inexpensive devices in the consumer realm for a hefty profit. It didn't end up working out as planned.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Linksys was the reason why I stopped buying consumer routers and started using a Linux computer as my router instead. I got tired of buying new ones every 3 months which was about average life I was getting out of them.


My 54g is on year 9 now at my in laws. I use a trouble free E3000. Not sure what you bought or maybe bad power?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Linksys was the reason why I stopped buying consumer routers and started using a Linux computer as my router instead. I got tired of buying new ones every 3 months which was about average life I was getting out of them.


My 54g is on year 9 now at my in laws. I use a trouble free E3000. Not sure what you bought or maybe bad power?


It doesn't matter. Linksys gear was spotty. Either you got a gem, our you got a raging POS. In comparison, there are hundreds of thousands of 1821's, 1841's, 851's, 871's that haven't had a hiccup since they were configured and plopped in some wiring closet.

There is a MARKED difference between the reliability of consumer gear and genuine Cisco or Juniper products. Consumer gear is a [censored]-shoot, either you get a gem or you get a steaming pile. But the product's designed lifetime isn't all that long. That's what you get for $40.00. In comparison, the old 800-series boxes, despite being Cisco's bottom-rung product would run reliably into complete obsolescence. I've pulled 851's that have been in service since the 90's, deemed obsolete by their 10Mbit WAN port, but still functioning perfectly.

 

[Colt45ws]

I dont remember what model. This was back when they were still making wired-only models. I think it was a BERFS41 or something like that.
I already had the computer at the time, in use as a server. I just bought a pair of Intel Pro/100 NICs off Ebay for cheap and setup iptables. After running it like that, I never wanted to go back to a "router". So much more configurable and powerful even with an old Socket A Duron 1800.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Linksys was the reason why I stopped buying consumer routers and started using a Linux computer as my router instead. I got tired of buying new ones every 3 months which was about average life I was getting out of them.


If it only last you 3 months, something is wrong with your environment.

 

[Colt45ws]

Funnily, I bought a cheap Trendnet b/g access point shortly after I switched to using the computer and never had a problem with it either. I think I still have it around here too. I replaced it with another Trendnet N access point simply for the speed upgrade. So, no, nothing was wrong with the enviroment.
Right now, I have a Ubiquiti WAP, which is a pretty cool device. I wish I had some way of hanging it the way you are supposed to with the ethernet hidden in the wall.

 

[kb01]

I've had pretty good luck with Linksys products.

My primary router/access point is a WRT54G that I bought awhile back (~2005 or earlier). Hooked up to that, I have an E1000 configured as an access point.

I only paid about $20 for the refurbished E1000 on Amazon. It lives on our back porch, so I can get a signal in our detached garage. Between the heat/humidity of the summer and the cold of winter, I didn't think I get nearly this much life out of it. It's been about two years so far.

 

[97tbird]

My WRT54GL (with Tomato) is still going, but I am always wondering what differences I would see in something like an Asus 56U .. (sometimes Netflix streaming gets a bit off in HD movies when I have some huge downloads going on the background...)

I am going to need a Router with USB / external HD connectivity / remote login pretty soon, but keep changing my mind on what to go with..
(and as a result of my procrastination, the RT56u is more expensive on amazon than it was 2 months ago

)