Unusable without a Cisco Management Server
933186
The production description neglected to mention that a Cisco Management server is required in order to make this work.  Had to return it.
2114797
Web interface fails and locks up randomly- Zyxel switches are cannot keep up a moderate network.
 They simply are impossible to manage...
1442864
I have a problem though as I changed the settings of a vertual LAN for the VMWare interface to use a GNS3 router for it's default GW as virtual clients in the vmware subnet needed to use my GNS3 router for their DG and not the VMware default one. It broke RDP to my pc and I can't seem to fix it even thugh I uninstalled workstation8. Other than this, it works well with GNS3, lots of learning to get things like DHCP to work from GNS3 to VMWare though.

I would buy it again.
715722
Incredibly frustrating!  I've set up at least 20 different models internet router over the years from many manufacturers including Linksys.  This router's setup system STINKS!  It is practically unusable: the worst I've ever seen.  In addition, I was VERY concerned with the security of this router.

The CD includes a setup.exe but this program requires a Windows computer with admin rights, so it was unusable unless you happen to have a Windows computer with admin rights handy.  And what security-conscious user would be naive enough to allow their router setup to install software on their computer anyway?

The CD includes a PDF manual which has no instructions except to put the CD in and run setup, which is just what the CD case says.  Useless.

I tried connecting using a browser.  Normally that works painlessly, but not for this router!

I began using the latest version of Internet Explorer and received a "Browser not supported" message saying "we recommend you use the latest version of ... Internet Explorer ..."!  Huh?  That's exactly what I was using!  It wouldn't give me a chance to log in - just the error page over and over again.

I tried Edge instead.  It made me wait 15 seconds, then showed a screen saying "Internet connection is down".  Well, of course, but why is it trying to talk to the internet without my permission?  At least it had a place to enter a password.  Online I learned the default password is "admin" but whenever I started trying to type in the password box, the page refreshed, spent 15 seconds checking the internet connection again, and returned me to the same screen.  There was no way I could find to log into the router using the normal UI.

I tried debugging the web page.  There were about 12 Javascript files, all minified and difficult to debug.  Fortunately I found a workaround:  Instead of trying to type into the password box onscreen, I manually added a 'value="admin"' attribute to the <input type="password"> element then clicked the "Sign In" button.  Finally after a half-hour I was in and could begin configuring!

I was very concerned by the default configuration:  Wireless HTTP management access was on (!), with a default admin password and no wi-fi password.  That means my neighbor can reprogram my router from the moment I turn it on.  They can even update the firmware and make it do whatever they want and I'd never know!  UPnP was also on by default, as was Wi-Fi Protected Setup.

My biggest concern is that in its default configuration, this router is trying to talk to the internet by itself before it even gives me a login screen!  Any router with that functionality has the danger of uploading my router configuration to the internet!  In fact, I read online that if you use their normal setup procedure, Linksys tries to get you to use an internet account to configure your router.  Wow, how's that for scary!

I'll definitely stop buying Linksys routers!
1301696
after 6 months of troubled usage, now does not allow access to the internet wifi or ethernet.  Cisco/Linksys would not offer any support without paying an extra 30$.  Will not ever buy any of their products again, after over 10 years worth of experience with their products
4651938
I have spent hours trying to connect with this thing.  There was no paperwork at all in the package, but it appears that a driver is needed to make it work--if it is not, in fact, defective.  I can't find any technical information or any indication of any Linux drivers for it on the internet.  Just junk without a driver.
4013311
I wanted to check out the installation process in advance so I used the E1500 and newly purchased AE1000 on my own computer. The installation of both was simple and I had the "network" running in about 1/2 hour. The complication came about because I had no experience with Cisco Connect and when I tried installing the network on the computers for which I bought the components I erroneously thought the SSID and Password that I got from Cisco during my trial install could be used with the new arrangement. Cisco technical support tried to be helpful but frankly complicated the process.  When I simply started over from scratch the installation went flawlessly and the network is secure and fast. Unfortunately I wasted over 2 hours and my friends were not happy, but all's well that ends well.<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Linksys-E1500-Wireless-N-Router-with-SpeedBoost/dp/B004T9RR0E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Linksys E1500 Wireless-N Router with SpeedBoost</a>
245128
I found out after the purchase that the router will not function. Since, the company has gone out of business. When entering WAN setup info, your ISP password,and username can not be saved. You will not be connected since there is no longer a web-based management, etc.
3771587
I suspect a configuration issue, but in the Web menu, I did not find the settings. Perhaps SSH access needed. Does not allow DLNA announcements on the network. Non-smart version works like a champ...
1971163
This switch is a joke. It's called a "managed switch" and marketed for enterprise settings, but the management interface belongs on a $50 consumer router. It's missing even the most basic features like logging.

I guess if you want logging you need to buy the $330 "pro" version.

On the flip side, the hardware does seem to work well, but if you have any issues, you're on your own. This router will provide you with virtually zero diagnostics (other than cable testing)

Going to be returning it to buy a Cisco instead.
4691567
In its defense, version 2.0 of the firmware will make it a real bridge and pass thru the DHCP requests to the DHCP server, and it will assign itself an address from the DHCP server.  But this is not the DEFAULT configuration, so you have to install their configuration (PC-only) utility to force that mode (BTW the password is "password").
After upgrading the firmware and seeing 12 hours of fine performance, I started getting HUGE packet losses.  I'm running 3 PCs and 2 Mac OS X boxes thru it. Rebooting cleaned up the problem for about 5 minutes.  It is UNUSABLE in this state.
I called their customer service -- which they've outsourced to India -- a corporate trend I cannot support.
It's going back to the store >:-p
3902969
I spent hours trying to get port forwarding to work, then finally called tech support. They said it's a known issue and recommend using the DMZ host as a workaround, although this forwards all traffic to one host instead of different ports to different hosts as I desired. They said I could return it for a full refund but I already threw out the box :(
744798
I bought a couple of these to work with a pFsense router.  Not many of you will know what that is, but it is essential an obscure but highly secure router/firewall software package, based upon FreeBSD.  It is likely this has nothing to do with your life, so take this with a grain of salt.
3429179
My Cisco wireless router wouldn't recognize it. An issue with the router, as it doesn't recognize usb hubs and this is essentially two drives connected to a usb hub.
2860274
My roomate and I have been trying to set this thing up all afternoon and she is still on the phone with Cisco/Linksys support- has been for two hrs.  They said that if we pay $59 they will fix the problem remotely. This was two hrs ago...
I decided to check the reviews using my phone.  Yaykes!!!  If we ever do get connected I'll be sure to ask how to opt out of this Cisco cloud mess.  Thx for the warnings
1520403
I bought this router to set up an ipsec tunnel to Amazon's Virtual Private Cloud.  The router works fine for that purpose, but purchasing it was an ordeal.

I initially purchased it via Amazon from another vendor who shall remain nameless for reasons I will explain later.  The first router was a Cisco CISCO881-SEC-K9 88 Advance IP Services Router. The box and the sparse documentation indicated this model. But the license for the embedded software had "-NPE" appended to the designation.  The "NPE" stands for "No Payload Encryption." You may not know what this means.  I certainly didn't.

Here it is:  Universal images with the universalk9_npe" designation in the image name: The strong enforcement of encryption capabilities provided by Cisco Software Activation satisfies requirements for the export of encryption capabilities. However, some countries have import requirements that require that the platform does not support any strong crypto functionality such as payload cryptography. To satisfy the import requirements of those countries, the `npe' universal image does not support any strong payload encryption.

I hasten to add the these countries do not include the United States where both the seller and buyer are located in this case.

Or in other words, the router is totally useless for setting up an ipsec tunnel to Amazon or anyone else.

I notified the original vendor that they had sold me a crippled router, certainly not designed for use in the United States, but rather for some benighted places which deny their subjects the use of decent encryption. After a little hemming and hawing, the original vendor agreed to accept the return.  They indicated that nothing like this had ever happened to them and implied that their distributor had furnished them with this router, unsuitable for use in the United States.

I returned the router and sent email (via Amazon) to other vendors of this router. I asked:

Re: Cisco CISCO881-SEC-K9 881 Advanced IP Services Router
Is the IOS image and license a "No Payload Encryption(NPE)" product?

I emailed about 20 vendors and then Amazon forbad my sending additional emails on the same day, indicating that they limited the amount of a customer's email to vendors for "security reasons".

Most of the responses that I received were rather incoherent and suggested to me that the vendors had no idea what an NPE image was or if they were selling it or not. The best response I received was from Origin Micro, Inc.  The response indicated they "didn't think" they sold NPE images.  Believe me, this was the best response I received by far.  They were also the first to respond and their price was good.  I purchased the router from them, it was not an NPE image, and I am very happy with it.

I didn't identify the original vendor who sold the crippled router, because I give them the benefit of the doubt that they were unwittingly screwed by their distributor and they were ultimately gracious about the return.  Quite frankly, I think they should have reimbursed me the $20 for my shipping expenses, as I don't think they sold me what I ordered.

Ultimately, I think the fault is Cisco's.  The routers  with crippled encryption should have different a model number and not merely three letters squirreled away in the license fine print.
785118
I'm the lead engineer at a large university, I've run cisco wireless environments with >500 access points & 3000 clients.  The setup software or this printer is garbage.  On all 3 computers I tried (2 Win7, 1 Win8.1) after the software connects either via usb or direct wireless, it is able to read the the factory settings, it then sees the wireless network at my house & asks me to enter the network key.  Then it tells me invalid security settings for WPA2 when I give it the same password the other 10-15 devices in my house use to connect just fine every day.  I looked at the troubleshooting info on samsung's page, it's useless, they assume it was working & broke which seems to also be a common complaint, instead of never connecting at all.  I gave my old ML-1740 to my parents, and was thinking it would be nice to have a network printer, it still will be, but it sure won't be this one.  Consider it not worth your time.