lettcco
join:2003-12-04
Valencia, CA
| [Other] any review on airlink ar680w?
Hi, I bought this airlink ar680w N router a week ago, but I cannot find any kind of review on this. I don't even know what chipset it is based on...
I am trying to see if I should keep this or go with a name brand (linksys,dlink,netgear) instead (although I have tried them all in the past and they are all crap shoot.)
I will throw in my experience with it so far: web UI does not seems to be a intuitive as Dlink's but it works. I have couple of wired and wireless device connect to it and it seems to work fine. however I have a PCI G wireless card that's also airlink (4030) that has a certificate error when in WEP mode. Switching to WPA solves the problem. |
|
alexc
@comcast.net | so far i'm very happy with ar680w (both wep & wpa works fine) and especially like "QoS" feature with kids @ home (have it for ~ a month). One thing can't find out is how to disable ports #0 & #1 on the router - they are still visible from outside. |
|
lettcco
join:2003-12-04
Valencia, CA | thanks for your reply. I wish some review site would pick this up and review it (smallnetworkbuilder, I am looking at you) cause the price is just unbeatable. |
|
preacherphil
join:2004-07-20
Willshire, OH
| reply to lettcco
Lecco if you decide not to keep the ar430w let me know. I was at fry's black friday and can kick myself for not buying one at that price. I would also trade you a Belkin F5d7230 I have both ver 1112 and 1443.
I just like to tinker and this looks like a couple of days of tinkering too me. |
|
m971596
join:2008-01-22
San Diego, CA
|  reply to lettcco
I've tried two of the AIRLINK101 AR680W routers. For the most part, I like them. However, I'm taking them both back to the store and getting some other brand. The first time I configure the router with port forwarding, it accepts the changes and they are reflected in operation. However, every subsequent attempt to change the port forwarding results in a success message but no actual change. I can completely remove all port forwarding entries or change them all around and hit Apply. It goes through its settings save and restart and when I look at it again, it STILL has the old settings. I have to use the physical reset button and start the entire config from scratch to make my changes work. NOT acceptable, especially when I have half a dozen MAC addresses I have to add to the MAC Access filter list every time.  |
|
webaccount
join:2005-02-18
Anaheim, CA
| reply to lettcco
Not a bad router
Got it at Fry's for $29, I was able to connect a Dlink G 54mbs and a DELL laptop G 54 using Intel wireless chipset to the router without any problem, also stable under P2P, I ran bittorrent, Emule and copy large files between computers and it doesn't reboot once unlike my DLINK 624 which would reboot as soon as I start a search in Emule
Bandwidth maxed out at around 15mbs copying file between wired and wireless (G 54) and about 10mbs between wireless computers (I have no security turned on, using MAC filtering instead)
Wireless signal is STRONG, 100% in fact when I would only get about 40-60% using my old DLINK 624
UI is ok, not better or worse than most other routers, a matter of preference IMHO
only had it for a couple days but happy so far, will update once I spend enuf time with it
Need to go get an N adapter to see what kind of bandwidth i would get |
|
user2008
@northropgrumman.com | reply to lettcco
Re: [Other] any review on airlink ar680w?
Update
there seems to be a problem while playing COD4, my connection keep dropping, could be the modem since that also happens with my old DLINK DI624 but less frequently than the AR680
Will test some more with gaming |
|
meaculpa2
@verizon.net
| reply to m971596
Port range forward has problems keeping the settings. The device restarts after you make changes and click on "apply". It should not restart. Another poster mentioned this problem, so it is not an isolated case but may be true for a batch of these. This problem is only true for the port forward page. Unfortunately, I need to have this capability. I'm back to my good old dlink di624. |
|
User1
@pacbell.net | reply to lettcco
This router is wierd, I'm not able to connect to www.wamu.com from a wired computer but able to connect to wamu.com from a wireless computer or a virtual PC (even running on the wired computer)
Never seen anything like this before |
|
jojoba
@sbcglobal.net |  reply to lettcco
Have anybody tried to make the DDNS worked?
I registered a free account at dyndns.org and try to make the router update the ip address to the dyndns site and failed |
|
Zorst
@cox.net
| reply to lettcco
I have the router but it's going back tomorrow, tried it for two days, it works but the wireless signal will lock up for a minute or two then work again. I like to play chess online it causes me to get kicked off. Steaming is ok for about a minute or two then locks up and I have to wait for it to come back. I have used many routers in the past including another airlink 101 router. Most have been pretty good until they just break. But the airlink ones have been trouble out of the box. |
|
kdzHp
@sonic.net
| reply to lettcco
I just bought Airlink 300N for $29.95. It's the best value modem out there today with N. The range is incredible, no drop or signal loss throughout the house or yard. You will need to lower the transmission power to 1/8 so it won't broadcast down the block. You can always increase the power to 25, 50%, 75% or 100% if you need to bring your notebook down the block.
I've used WEP, WPA2 with Mac Filtering and it's been very reliable with no drop and continuously stong signal. I've used NetGear and it had problem with weak dead signal. Many people wasted money on getting a repeater which cost more than $29. I highly recommend getting Airlink 300N. |
|
prestonlewis
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-13
Sacramento, CA
 ·VoiceStick
 ·Comcast
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
·DSL EXTREME
·Vonage
·VoicePulse
| reply to lettcco
The chipset in the AR680W N router is from RaLink, a small Taiwan based chip maker with offices in Cupertino, CA (www.ralinktech.com).
Reviews for Airlink products are virtually non-existent because RaLink (chip maker) and Airlink (brand name) are both very small players in the router market with most Airlink sales coming from Frys.com and it's sister web site, outpost.com
As far as ease of setup, connections, etc., I give pretty high marks to the AR680W router and it's NIC clients (I use PCI, USB and PCMCIA in my home, all from Airlink N). Connections are reliable and steady.
Despite all my Airlink client NICs claiming to connect at 300mbps or 270mbps, I'm measuring throughput at around 195mbps using a USB nic (no external antennas might be lowering the speed some). I haven't gotten around to measuring the throughput on a PCI Airlink N NIC which might fare better with it's 3 external antennas.
Not bad and right at the 200mbps mark that draft 2 N wireless routers are supposed to meet. If the AR680W was a gigabit router, LAN speeds might be better than they are but 195 is good enough for me for the low prices I paid for these products.
I had been waiting to buy any N products and Trendnet draft 2 was on the top of my list. However, when I found out the IEEE had postponed the final N specifications until 2009, I went ahead and purchased. When I went to Frys to buy, they had the Trendnet N router but not any NICs to go with it. Airlink N was on sale big time so I went ahead and bought that brand. So far, I'm glad I did.
195mbps, if I measured it correctly, is not bad at all for this low priced product line.
If you mainly surf the net, you won't get great speeds anyway if you're using DSL or regular speed cable which usually enters your home at 10mbps at the modem. The real issue with N is if you are streaming media through your local LAN network (which I do). For slower DSL/Cable connections, say under 10mbps or 15mbps, the Airlink N is probably a good economical choice. If you have a really high speed fiber connection or superfast cable, I'd probably go with a gigabit N router from another manufacturer. |
|
tm99
@comcast.net | reply to lettcco
Did anyone get ar680w to work with dyndns? I'm able to get apache to work on port 80 over dyndsn, but I have no luck on getting tomcat and ssh to run on port 8080 and 22 respectively. |
|
prestonlewis
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-13
Sacramento, CA
·VoiceStick
·Comcast
·Pacific Bell - SBC
·DSL EXTREME
·Vonage
·VoicePulse
edit:
February 18th, @09:49PM
| said by tm99 :
Did anyone get ar680w to work with dyndns? I'm able to get apache to work on port 80 over dyndsn, but I have no luck on getting tomcat and ssh to run on port 8080 and 22 respectively.
I set the Airlink AR680W's DYNDNS setting and waited a while. Then went to dyndns.org to see if my dynamic IP address had updated. It had not. Perhaps there is a time period before it updates, they don't tell you, you have no idea but I'd assume it should update immediately if you set it so apparently this is a flaw or poor firmware writing from my perspective.
I'd check your router logs and see if your router is receiving any data for ports 8080 or 22 then see what it did with it (refused, etc.). Or put your server in the DMZ and see if 8080 and 22 data gets through. Of course, you are port forwarding, right? You sound like you know what you're doing.
One "kink" I noticed with the AR680W was in setting static local LAN addresses. There's an "add" button right below where you put in the MAC/local IP address for a local device you want to have a permanent IP address. At the bottom of the page is "apply". Seems straitforward enough. However, the AR680W demanded that I first press "apply" with no data entered before I could enter IP/MAC and press "add" then "apply". Odd.
However, With Airlink we're talking about a very, very small player in the router market which already has razor sharp profit margins. Airlink is selling discounted product in an already competitive market. You get what you pay for. A few quirks here and there is worth the savings to me. You can always get a software DYNDNS updater for free from download.com I paid $39 for the Airline N router and $19 for each USB/PCI/PCMCIA NIC cards. As long as the throughput is there, which it seems to be at 195mbps using a USB no antenna NIC, I'm happy.
Edited add on negative:
I do a fair amount of usenet downloading. I noticed my usenet download speeds had dropped dramatically (from about 1000 kb/s to under 100kb/s using the Airline AR680W so I went into the QOS section, turned it on, and prioritized the newsreader port (119). No help. Went back and gave my computer priority on ALL ports: no help. Turned QOS off and suddenly my usenet speeds go back up to nearly 1000 kb/s.
I believe the AR680W has a number of firmware issues. Hopefully, they'll be fixed with future firmware upgrades. I can live without QOS and DYNDNS which appear to have problems in this router since everything else works fine and the throughput meets the requirements of over 200mbps for a draft 2 N router. Some Airlink products can use alternative firmware. I wonder if this one can. |
|
mtnmedic
@comcast.net
| reply to lettcco
I just bought one of these for $29.99 at Fry's. Good router throughput and responsiveness. Good value for the price. HOWEVER...port forwarding and DMZ...doesn't seem to work. I want to view my internet cameras remotely so I need port forwarding. The settings I put in the port forwarding range page cannot be changed. It keeps defaulting back to them. I was on the phone with tech support and after all the things we tried, he consulted with someone else there. Come to find out, PORT FORWARDING and DMZ CANNOT BE USED. They're supposedly "working on" new software for those features. I told him "Wow. How dumb is that? You release a product that supposedly has these features built in and nobody can't even use it because you don't have the appropriate software for it?" He gave no indication as to when they'd be able to release software for port forwarding. Well, that's too bad because I thought I had a good deal. I'm taking this thing back unless someone out there has been able to get port forwarding to work on THEIR AR680W. |
|
auburn_fan
@comcast.net |  I have port forwarding working on mine. However, when saving the settings, it might hang, depending on the number of entries. |
|
sjthinkpader
join:2008-03-09
Cupertino, CA | I use a separate router so this AR680W is used as a wireless AP like other AP before it. I've install a 11n NIC card into my Thinkpad and added the 3rd antenna. So far very surprised at the speed. It even connected 11g faster. |
|
sjthinkpader
join:2008-03-09
Cupertino, CA
| reply to prestonlewis
said by prestonlewis  :... Reviews for Airlink products are virtually non-existent because RaLink (chip maker) and Airlink (brand name) are both very small players in the router market with most Airlink sales coming from Frys.com and it's sister web site, outpost.com ... They are a smaller player for sure. But the Buffalo WZR2-G300N uses the same basic chipset.
I opened my unit and it has all the same basic chips as in other much more expensive units; Spansion Flash, Hynix RAM, Realtek ethernet chip etc. Nothing particularly cheaper than other routers other than non-removable antennae. |
|
seecoolguy
join:2008-04-30
| WOW,
I just picked upt the AR680W and upgraded to firmware 1.01. I have to say this little guy is awesome. I have 1 macbook pro, 1 windows xp, 1 linux (ubuntu) the mac is running on the 802.11n connection and is blazing fast, the ubuntu machine is wired in, but I may consider adding a usb wireless card on that guy. the windows machine is also running on the g network and it is all running pretty nice and fast, I may just end up upgrading the two other machines as it's cool to have my server (files) hooked up and getting max speed from my macbook to the wired drives on the server.  . so far no negatives, I did go to shields up and notice that ports 0 and 1 are blocked instead of stealth on the firewall, I couldn't find any method of manipulating the firewall but i am still learning.
Thanks for the excellent points of reference, I'm glad that Google picks up on simply keywords: AR680W + Review. |
|
