Written by Nathan Phelps
Posted on: 10.19.2009 at 05:09pm
Section: Hardware
Introduction
The Linksys WRT160NL Wireless-N router has the potential to be both an excellent wireless router and also a simple to setup and run file and media server. The “Powered by Linux” logo and the claims on the box sound like a great recipe, but was it baked properly? Read on to find out.
Overview
The WRT160NL boasts an impressive feature set. Real draft Wireless-N networking (unlike the WRT160N that shares most of it's model number), built in network storage and media server hardware, and the above average routing features usually found in Linksys products. Gigabit ethernet is the only “paper stat” that I would have liked to see. Let's see how it performs in the real world.
Upon opening the box, I was greeted with the usuals-the router components, a small user manual, a first time setup guide, Linksys's traditional setup cd, and an ethernet cable. To top it off, Linksys provides a short USB extension cable for the storage port, in case your harddrive or flash disk's plug is too large and interferes with the adjacent ports. It seems trivial, but it's shows thought was put into the practical side of actually using the router, not just it's feature set.
As someone who has setup multiple routers before, I discarded the CD and went directly to the online configuration of the router. Here you're greeted with the standard (above average) Linksys interface. Setup was a breeze. This router supports one button press configuration for supported devices, unfortunately my computer is too old to test this feature. Once setup was completed, I switched to my laptop and logged onto the wireless with no problems. Overall I was impressed with the ease of setup.
In use, I found no complaints against the router. The connection was stable and consistently high in quality, my iPod connected to it easily and has streamed hours of Pandora radio without fail during numerous study sessions. I have no dead spots in my two bedroom two story apartment and have had no connection problems.
Performance
We've all seen reviews and manufacturers that claim ridiculous amounts of throughput for their routers. “N” is supposed to get 108 Mbps, “G” 54 Mbps, but how does this translate into real life? Not very well. Reviewers and manufacturers often have large open rooms to test their routers to get optimal results. Not here! This router was tested in my apartment with competing routers next door, walls to go through, everything that makes your performance so much different from what you've read in magazines and on the box. It may be unscientific, but it's real, and in this application that's what matters. Of course, I don't have a large empty, signalless room to test in either, so it's a win win.
Using Jperf on my Mint install, I achieved a maximum throughput of 28 Mbps adjacent to the router, measured with jperf. This seems somewhat low to me but is more than acceptable for every day use. My best guess to the lower speeds than expected is that the Linux drivers for my wireless card do not take advantage of all of the Draft-N features the card is capable of. To test this I booted into Windows and turned all the Draft-N features of my network card on, and achieved an average throughput of 39 Mbps at 30 ft-a marked improvement. In either case, my internet connection is only 1.5 Mbps so for web surfing it will never be an issue. I used a sniffer program to detect other networks in the area and chose my channel based on that output, and after switching channels a bit this is the best I came up with. Something to note is that leaving everything set on auto, the router chose my second best test result channel, which is good for your average person wanting a wireless router. The automatic settings are very usable. See the graphs at the end of the article for more detailed throughput info.
I also ran a few tests transferring large folders of music, videos, pictures, etc. and found that the Jperf data was accurate. Something to note is that there seems to be some inconsistency in the wireless speed. Jperf output graphs with large variations in throughput when repeated testing was done in the same locations. This leads me to believe that the instantaneous throughput is somewhat unstable, bringing the average throughput down. (Jperf measures throughput per second, so even if it dips during that short interval, throughput measurements would fall). This seems like a firmware issue and lets hope Linksys can fix it soon. It is not a huge performance detriment for most uses, but it would be nice for local file transferring if we could achieve a higher average throughput.
Storage Link and Media Server
A unique feature of this router is it's “Storage Link” system. A portable harddrive or USB Flash drive can be connected directly to the router and then accessed over the network as if it were a shared folder on another computer. This is a very handy feature as it allows you to have network storage without another computer running, and if you have files you want to share between multiple computers it does not require you to leave the host computer turned on, as regular file sharing does.
I hooked up a drive and set the router to share the entire partition, and then looked for it under both Windows and Linux Mint 7 Gloria. Both could see and access the drive with ease. Playing mpeg videos from the drive was smooth as was audio playback. Overall a very nice feature. I can't wait to get a larger drive to attach.
The feature has the ability to setup numerous accounts with different permissions, so that you can allow roommates, children, spouses, friends, etc. access to the drive but keep them from deleting or writing files to the disk, a nice touch.
With the media server option turned on, Windows Media Player picked up the router right away and I was able to play music from it seamlessly. It is also compatible with UPnP media player devices, but I do not own one and as such was unable to test this feature. Judging by the easy setup for use with Windows Media Player, I would say using one of these devices with it would be very simple also. My only complaint is that so far I have only figured out how to use it with Windows Media Player, which is an absolutely horrid piece of software. In my opinion, if you aren't using a networked media device a better option is to use a better media player and just manually point it to the files on the disk.
Reliability
I have had no reliability issues with the router. It has been running for ~4 weeks with no problems.
Linux Compatibility
As this is a Linux oriented website, compatibility with Linux computers is vital. What good is a Linux powered router that can't connect to Linux computers? It would be borderline treason! Fortunately, this is not the case. The online configuration utility is 100% compatible with Firefox on my Mint machine from all testing I have done, and connecting has not been a problem for the most part.
The one exception is WPA Personal. I have been unable to get WPA Personal working with any Linux distro I've tried so far. WPA2 Personal works fine, and of course unsecured works. For some reason, this combination does not work well. This is only a problem if you are running a mixture of Windows XP and Linux boxes on the wireless using the built in wireless tool for XP instead of a manufacturer supplied one that supports WPA2 Personal.
Conclusion
Overall I would recommend this router. The storage and media server features are great, especially at the price. The throughput is a little lower than I expected, but more than acceptable for most uses. This combined with the Linksys interface, options, and support make it a great choice for someone looking for a reasonably priced draft Wireless-N router. If Linksys can produce a firmware update that will improve the throughput inconsistency, we'll have a real winner on our hands. The Linux firmware? Well that's just the icing on the cake.
