ASUS WL-500W SuperSpeed N Router

[vince]

I believe there are about 7 other wireless networks in my radius.

That is a definite likelihood. Try placing the router on a channel where these don't preside and recheck. My Belkin Pre-N used to drop occasionally and it was due to neighboring Wifi signals on the same channel.

Orinoco, you say? I'm not familiar with them.

 

[Rob Williams]

Ahh, the channel might be a good idea. I might leave it alone since it's working "for now". But I have another router to review... so I guess I will need to tackle it sooner than later ;-)

Orinoco used to be big a few years back... but I'm not sure they even exist anymore. They might just make chipsets and sell them to companies, I'm not sure.

 

[vince]

Which router is on your plate for review (or would you have to kill me if you told me )?

Also, I'm anxious to know if trying a free channel cleared up difficulties with your wireless connection (if you managed to get around to it, that is).

 

[Rob Williams]

It's the WL-700gE... I should have a review up in the coming days. It's similar to the others, except it includes a 160GB built-in. I plan on testing all that out today

 

[Vince]

Looking forward to that...btw, I liked your last graphic better. Tiesth0's attentiong whoring and twance for the masses doesn't inspire me to appreciate him all that much.

BTW2, there's a new firmware out in the wild for the 500W...but they pulled it because it renders Download Masta' inoperable (no skin off my back, I rarely use that feature :x)

 

[vinnie97]

Ok, finally registered...seems like it's long overdue with the way I've been posting overtime in this thread.

The main immediate reason I joined was to post a screenie of the throughput I've been able to achieve with this router via Ixia's Qcheck TCP throughput test and a client PC using a Linksys WPC300N wireless adapter. See below for the unveiling:

 

[Rob Williams]

Hah, welcome to the forums man. I haven't paid much attention to Tiesto being an attention whore, and have never really noticed it. His music is incredible. That's all I care about ;-)

Interesting program there... I have never heard of it before, but I'd like to download it and give it a try. BTW, the WL-700gE review is finished and should be published next week. It's a great router so far... best ASUS one I've used so far.

I have it using WPA and it still seems unreliable to the PC in the livingroom (only 2/5 bars) but overall it's working well. The download master installed into the admin works real well. Only downside of the router is the price, but it's a given considering it includes a hard drive.

 

[vinnie97]

haha, thanks for the official welcome. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the incredibility of Tiesto's music. I consider him the gateway into electronic music but not much more. I've likened his generic trancy synths to lowest c0mmon denominator in the realm of this music. Here's an act I have immeasurably more respect for (they've been churning out the goods since 1993...separately, longer than that): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Way+Out+West

Back to the As00s, so you think the 700gE runs betta than the 500w?

 

[Rob Williams]

Hah, Tiesto was a great gateway, I agree. I do enjoy his older stuff moreso than the newer stuff, but I still respect him a lot. His music has gotten me through a lot of boring evenings. As for WoW, I own their Intensify album and it's good. I admit to not knowing much else they put out though. Mindcircus was the song that prompted a buy... it's truly amazing.

700gE does work better than the 500w in my opinion, but I haven't had that much time to tinker with the 500w as much as I'd like. As it stands right now, the performance from the 700gE seems better, but I am not sure if it's luck or what. Here is a quote from the review:

The Windows installation program was another I had a problem with on previous models, because it was clunky and would only work as it should 70% of the time. One issue I had with the previous model specifically, the WL-500W, was that I -had- to install the Windows program in order to get the wireless internet working properly. This was a problem with me, since I use Linux primarily. I'm happy to report that this was not the case with the WL-700gE at all. I set the security to WPA-PSK/TKIP and it worked immediately.

 

[vinnie97]

I see...well, luckily, what you quoted was not a problem for me on the 500w...I await the rest with baited breath.

Finally, as far as WOW goes, I would recommend their self-titled debut album (1997) and most recent album, Don't Look Now, from 2004 to complete your package. (if you want to sample before you'd buy, I'd be glad to oblige)

 

[Rob Williams]

Sure if you have samples, I'd love to hear them. I'm sure if it's anything like Intensify, I'll pick it up. I was unaware they had other albums at all... just slews of singles.

 

[Starnuno]

WL-500W Media Share With Xbox 360

Hi all!

First of all, i want to congratulate Rob Williams for the excellent review of the WL-500W router.

One feature in particulary took me to buy this router: the media share with the Xbox 360.

I've bought also a external 2.5 hdd disk that works fine with the router... with my notebook i can access the hard disk and copy/delete/open the files...
What i can't do is to share the media files in my external disk with my Xbox 360. I tried without success to configure these feature.

I can connect to the External Disk like it was a connection to a computer... but after that i can't do anything more...
The only thing i accomplished was to see the sub folders "Music", "Photo", "Video" and "Download" in the "Share" folder. I cannot open this folders or see any of the files in them.

In the review, you (Rob Williams) said that it wasn't quiet easy... so i'm asking you help on this...
Can you help me to configure my WL-500W router, with my external hdd, to work as a Media Share with my Xbox 360?

Thanks in advanced,

Best regards,

Nuno Oliveira

 

[Rob Williams]

Hi Nuno,

Thanks for the kind words. This feature is not one I tested directly (external storage on the Xbox 360), but I will give it a shot tomorrow (Thursday) and see if I can manage to get it to work.

What I think I did, was have the external storage hooked up to my PC, and then set the drive up for network sharing. I have a feeling that might be the best way to do things, instead of connecting it straight to the router.

I'll let you know what I find out once I give it a test.

 

[Starnuno]

WL-500W Media Share With Xbox 360

Hi Rob!

Thanks for the quick answer and for your attention to the subject!

That solution (set the drive up for network sharing on the PC) i didn't tried yet... A thing to test later at home! If it works, fine... it's an alternative solution... but what i really wanted was access the external hdd plugged into to the router without having to power on my notebook. In fact, in your review you said: "The router is also compatible with an Xbox 360. Not only to get Live working, but to grab photos and music from the drive that's plugged into the router."
So i really hope that you succedd in your test tomorrow! Crossing my fingers!

Thanks again!

Best regards!

Nuno Oliveira

Hi Nuno,

Thanks for the kind words. This feature is not one I tested directly (external storage on the Xbox 360), but I will give it a shot tomorrow (Thursday) and see if I can manage to get it to work.

What I think I did, was have the external storage hooked up to my PC, and then set the drive up for network sharing. I have a feeling that might be the best way to do things, instead of connecting it straight to the router.

I'll let you know what I find out once I give it a test.

 

[Rob Williams]

After goofing around with the router for ninety minutes, like you, I got absolutely nowhere. It's confusing, because when I streamed content in the past, it wasn't much of a hassle at all. I think what it all comes down to is that the Xbox 360 sucks horribly for networking of any kind. I can access the router's hard drive -and- USB external hard drive from -any- other machine, except for the Xbox 360.

I ran into the same issues as you. I could see all of the folders listed, including the USBDisk, but executing them did absolutely nothing. One thing you might want to make sure of is going into your IP Config > Misc. and disable PnP, if it's enabled. That helped me in the past with a different router.

Sorry I can't be of more help here. I know that somehow it must be able to work, I am just not sure exactly how. It sees the folders, so it IS connecting to the router just fine. Why it won't display the contents of the folders is beyond me.

I will mention that I no longer have the 500g, but instead was doing testing with the WL-700gE. Both routers are similar though.

You might want to hit up the forums here and pose your question:

http://wl500g.info/forumdisplay.php?f=102

 

[Starnuno]

Hi Rob!

A lot isn't enough to thank you!

You have battled the same problems i did...
I've tried to disabled the PnP like you said... but was the same thing...

So, for now, i've give up to access directly to the external hdd plugged...
Then i tried to create some shortcut folders in "My Music" and "My pictures" to some folders in the external hdd in the router. What i've find out was that the Xbox 360 still can't read those folders. I tried then to add to the Media Library from WMP11 the directory from the external hdd. All the media files from the external hdd were added to the Windows Media Player Library. I thought that maybe the Xbox 360 could read the files in the WMP11 Library... because it's in the WMP11 Sharing Media that you have to configure the access from the Xbox 360. But once again i was wrong... the Xbox will not read the WMP11 Library.
My conclusion is that the Xbox 360 only read the content of the files or folders (and not shortcut folders) in the special folders like "My Music", "My Pictures", etc... both for your current user and for "All Users" directory!
What i remember today to do, and didn't tried yesterday was to customize the category of the folders in the external hdd to "Music", "Pictures", "Videos", etc... Will the Xbox only read those "special" or categorized folders??? That's what i will find out later!

Again Rob, thanks a lot!
I don't bother you more with this issue... but i will keep posting my news, problems and maybe, just maybe, some success's!!!

Best Regards,

Nuno Oliveira

 

[Starnuno]

Ohhhhh.... i forgot... YES, the Xbox 360 really sucks for networking!!!

 

[Mr. Dynamite]

Does the Printer Server works well?

Hi first time on this website. Good reviews...

I want to purchase a wireless-N router and would like to plug an ALL-IN-ONE (printer+scanner) to print and scan wirelessly from a laptop with INTEL PRO/WIRELESS 4965AGN embeded card. This ASUS WL-500W and D-LINK DIR-655 looks a good match especially since they have the Intel dentifier logo: "Connect with Intel Centrino".

http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/connect.htm

Does someone is using an ALL-IN-ONE and can tell me about his/her experience for printing and scanning via the WL-500W router?

- Does all messages sent by the printer appear on your laptop screen? (for example message like 'low ink', 'out of ink', 'out of paper', 'paper jam'... etc).
- How its going when you scan... can you see the scanned picture popup on your laptop screen ?

Also the same questions could be ask for the D-Link DIR-655 router.

 

[Unregistered]

mr.

Hey
And tks for the nice review of the asus wl500w.
I just bought it myself but I cannot update the firmware. How is it done correctly? When I upload the file inside the menu for firmware update, it just cuts of the connection and doesn't come back again (tried waiting 4min.). And in the asus guide on their net they say that after uploading you have to reset to default setting, And I tried that but before I could I had to unpluck the power and put back so the net would come back.

Can you help me?

 

[Unregistered]

Need more info

Thanks for the review on the router, been looking for new router for a while and can not find one that people are not having major problems with. I have a Links 54G x4 I think and had it for some time. Now that I need to block some URL's because of the kid and find out the the whole restriction section in the router does not work, linksys knows it and has not fixed it.

So my question is does this router has some sort of URL blocking portion in it ??

I know Netgear was alwasy good for that option in the router and even the new linksys have it but still not working by some reviews.

Thank You,
Robert