Virgin Thread: Is there any reason to buy the WL-700gE?

[Sebastian78]

I'm sitting here, looking around for a new wlan router to replace my old, booring one.

I WAS looking at the WL-500g Premium because I want to hook up an external HDD on it (and the download function). BUT then I found out about the wonderful WL-700gE!?

BUT what excactly have I found out about it? It's seems there is STILL a lot of problems and bugs with the daaaaaaaaarn thing. IS THIS TRUE? Are there a lot of problems with this box? What doesn't work, why?


WHY should I buy it?
WHY SHOULDN'T I buy it?


Help me become a TRUE member og the Asus Klan.....(

[AverySimonsen]

I just got mine a couple of days ago and, granted, there are still many features I haven't yet played with, but my overall impression is that there are many rough edges in this product. On the up-side, the shortcomings all appear to reside in the soft/firmware and as such they are likely to be addressed in future upgrades. I think the hardware is top notch (which kind of matches my previous experience with Asus products).

Even if Asus fail to release fixes to the numerous problems, I consider it very likely that somebody will release an alternative firmware with the features most people want.

/Lars Ole

[infoanarchy]

please please give us a better sense of the problems. i haven't plunked down and this would be so-o helpful. few/no reviews online that actually include testing or bug discussion.

[AverySimonsen]

A few more hints then:

Things that are slightly annoying or just plain don't work:

1) I find that the choices of built-in applications in general seem like the developers just didn't care about the usability of the router. For one thing I read somewhere in this forum that the bittorrent client is a port of an open source project that died two years ago. Why didn't they pick a newer one?
2) The router supports dynamic dns as promised, but only a few pre-configured ddns services can be used. Here in Denmark we have a completely free ddns service, which is relatively simple to use except it requires a bit of manual setup which is impossible on this router.
3) I have not yet played with the ftp/http servers as I have heard many people reporting problems with them. Also they are of little interest to me, when I don't have ddns up and running (don't have my own ip)

Things that worked out of the box (and stuff I find generally useful):

1) Printer server: Attached my brother HL-2030 and presto! A printer was available to windows on the network.
2) Windows share: I didn't have a file server running before I got the router because of the power consumption and noise of most servers/desktop pcs.
3) Media server: Bought a Terratec Noxon 2 and it is now playing internet radio (allows adding one's own stations) and my mp3s/wmas etc from the wl700gE.
4) Allowed me to shelf my old AP and switch and router and just have the wl700gE out in stead. Looks a lot nicer. Also helps that it has an internal power supply.
5) I'm not a large scale bittorrent leacher, but I do dabble occasionally and for this purpose, the built-in torrent client is just adequate. Don't use the 'Download master' application as it's extremely buggy. Use the web interface instead. It gives a bit more information of what's going on.
6) User made firmware: It will come. It is just a matter of time, and when somebody finally manages it, I will be able to do most of the things I can't today, as the router will behave mostly just like any other linux-box.

These were just some random ramblings. I thought I would throw in my 2 cents as I too found it a bit strange that so few had written about actual real life experience with this product. In case it's unclear from the above, I have no problem recommending the router to others. :)