I apologize for not responding to your emails and comments during the past few days. I have been offline trying to debug a botched Linksys product offering.<\/p>\n
![\"Wre54g_1\"](\"http:\/\/ripples.typepad.com\/photos\/uncategorized\/wre54g_1.jpg\" "\\"Wre54g_1\\"")
The product team at Linksys has managed to take a brilliant product concept and turn it into a frustrating customer experience and a support nightmare. This is not a simple mistake. This is the work of inspired dunderheads! The Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander – WRE54G should have been a slam-dunk success, but a group of designers and marketing execs managed to make this product one of the worst new product releases since the Jugo.<\/p>\n
My take on it is that the product team pushed this abortion out the door in a hurry so they could meet a deadline and get their bonuses. This was not the work of one person. This catastrophe required a lot of people to turn a blind eye to the effect this would create on a typical customer. In my opinion, Linksys owes their customers an apology.<\/p>\n
UPDATE 03\/04\/06:<\/strong> 229 Linksys customers reviewed<\/a> this product on Amazon.com and the vast majority of them could not install it because of the botched product release. Does anyone at Linksys keep track of what customers are saying?<\/p>\n The concept of a range expander for your wireless network is right The Linksys expander would seem to be the answer to this because you Let’s see how this works out in practice. <\/p>\n I purchased the expander from the same store where I purchased a The expander would not recognize the router although they had been I returned the expander for credit, and since there were no more in Upon investigating, I found a note tucked in the box that said the WRONG AGAIN!! The download page on the Linksys website had no such firmware.<\/p>\n So I called Linksys customer support to find where they were hiding I asked the technician where I could get the required firmware. She I thought this was a great solution until I downloaded the firmware So, I decided I would go back to plan A where I would find the One of the downloads was an executable file which supposedly would By this time I had spent two days working on the problem and still My conclusion is that this is almost a completely botched product I have bought many Linksys routers, switches, etc. but this Linksys needs to recall this product and replace it with a product If someone from Linksy cares to enlighten me as to how this is I think that many more customers have had the same experience and I have decided to return this second range expander and will find a What do you think? <\/p>\n Tag: Linksys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I apologize for not responding to your emails and comments during the past few days. I have been offline trying to debug a botched Linksys product offering.<\/p>\n My take on it is that the product team pushed this abortion out the door in a hurry so they could meet a deadline and get their bonuses. This was not the work of one person. This catastrophe required a lot of people to turn a blind eye to the effect this would create on a typical customer. In my opinion, Linksys owes their customers an apology.<\/p>\n UPDATE 03\/04\/06:<\/strong> 229 Linksys customers reviewed<\/a> this product on Amazon.com and the vast majority of them could not install it because of the botched product release. Does anyone at Linksys keep track of what customers are saying?<\/p>\n
\non the money because the first problem you run into with your new
\nwireless network is that it doesn’t reach all of the locations where
\nyou need connectivity. You have your wireless router in the basement,
\nfor example, but you want to use your laptop out on your deck where
\nreception is spotty, at best.<\/p>\n
\nonly have to plug it in and you will have a relay point which send
\nsignals to the furthermost parts of your network. As I said, the
\nproduct concept was brilliant!<\/p>\n
\nLinksys wireless router a few days before. This expander and wireless
\nrouter can be found in thousands of stores across the country. The
\nrouter had gone in without a hitch and worked perfectly except where I
\nwas using a laptop in a room 75 feet away from the router. I expected
\nthe expander to give me the same predictable results. WRONG!!<\/p>\n
\nsold next to each other on the shelf at the store. I read the
\ndirections again and went through the installation procedure several
\ntimes. The upper indicator remained obstinately red, indicating the the
\nexpander could not recognize the wireless router.<\/p>\n
\nstock, I went to Office Max and bought another WRE54G there. I took it
\nhome, set it up and had the same dismal result. The expander would not
\nrecognize the wireless router.<\/p>\n
\nexpander would work with the wireless router only if the router
\nfirmware was level 2.02.2 or higher. The brand new router firmware was
\nlevel 1.06. I thought that was pretty poor product coordination, but I
\nwould fix that by going to the Linksys website and downloading the
\nrequired firmware.<\/p>\n
\nthe required firmware. I spent ten minutes talking to a charming lady
\nin India who kept trying to get the name of my ISP and my operating
\nsystem. It took a while to get her to understand that I wanted a
\nparticular piece of firmware, because I could only understand one word
\nin four. She was unfailingly polite, but her rapid fire delivery made
\nit very hard to understand her. Finally she said she would connect me
\nwith a technician. She did this very professionally because she made
\nsure that the technician actually picked up the line.<\/p>\n
\nsaid it would be on the Linksys download page. I pointed out that fact
\nthat the page contained no such firmware. After a little research, she
\ncame back and told me that the problem had been solved with a firmware
\nupgrade for the expander. <\/p>\n
\nupgrade and found that I couldn’t transmit the expander upgrade to the
\nexpander because it wasn’t recognizing the router in the first place!
\nHow clueless could I be? How can I transmit an upgrade to a device that
\nisn’t receiving signals!<\/p>\n
\nsecret cache where Linksys technicians hid all the good bits they use
\nto make bad products work. I called customer service again and spoke to
\na friendly technician in some far off land. I was able to understand
\nmost of what he said and he directed me to an ftp site which had all
\nsorts of useful downloads. I downloaded the firmware I needed for the
\nwireless router in several different formats, because by now I was
\nexpecting the worst. <\/p>\n
\nhandle the upgrade automatically. It started off swimmingly by finding
\nthe wireless router, but hung up shortly thereafter with a cryptic
\nmessage about scrambled code. I crossed that solution off the list and
\ncontinued by proceeding to reinstall the wireless router all over again
\nfrom the beginning.<\/p>\n
\nhad no joy after about three hours working in a cold workshop. When the
\nwireless router decided that it could no longer connect with the
\nInternet, I decided to call it a day. My network was down and I needed
\ntime to think of a new approach. <\/p>\n
\nrelease. The product team spent all the time necessary to ensure that
\nthe distribution channels were properly provisioned, but never took the
\ntime to ensure that the product would work with the products in the
\nfield. The expander product requires changes in the products it
\nsupports, but the changes are not available, even to their customer
\nservice people. <\/p>\n
\nexperience has wiped out my trust in Linksys products. If I buy Linksys
\nequipment again, it will be only after someone else tests it. <\/p>\n
\nversion that works. This release has no place in the lineup of
\nwell-designed Linksys products. The entire product team needs to be
\nretrained.<\/p>\n
\nactually a good thing for customers, I will be happy to provide room
\nfor a rebuttal. If I have found the only two bad units out of millions
\nin the field, I will be happy to acknowledge that I have drawn
\nunwarranted conclusions from a very small sample. <\/p>\n
\nwondered why the top indicator on the expander stayed red. Incidently,
\nthe product instructions cleverly omit any information on what the
\nindicator colors mean. Both indicators must be blue in order for
\ncorrect operation. Many people may have installed these devices and
\nnever noticed that they didn’t do the job they were supposed to do.<\/p>\n
\ncommon-sense solution that does not require buying any more Linksys
\nproducts at this time. I will probably do better by moving my wireless
\nrouter where the signal carries to all spots where I need wireless
\nreception.<\/p>\nThe product team at Linksys has managed to take a brilliant product concept and turn it into a frustrating customer experience and a support nightmare. This is not a simple mistake. This is the work of inspired dunderheads! The Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander – WRE54G should have been a slam-dunk success, but a group of designers and marketing execs managed to make this product one of the worst new product releases since the Jugo.<\/p>\n