No More Linksys Products

This will be my last Linksys purchase. I have relatively good experiences with them in the past, but after yesterday's fiasco with Linksys techicians and the lemon I bought for $100, I have come to the conclusion that the company's is more interested in milking its brand recognition for greater profit at the expense of its customers and good product design.

I bought Kyle a Linksys WPS54G Wireless-G 802.11g print server for Christmas last year. It was a practical gift that I thought will allow us to print, scan and fax without having to hook our laptops to the HP Officejet 6110 All-in-One printer.

GREAT idea, BAD choice.

I finally gotten around yesterday to install the print server. The product does not come with a detailed user manual (you have to download that from Linksys website). The only instructions to set up the device is a quick install manual which is straight forward enough. I was able to follow the instructions and finish configurating the device. For a second, I was elated. However, when I tried to print a test page, it failed. I went over the set up again but this time, the print server did not recognize our printer. Even when I hardwired my printer to Kyle's laptop, his computer did not recognize it. Apparently, when I was setting up the print server, the server erased the printer driver.

So, I called Linksys' technical help line. BAD idea. I got hold of a human quickly enough. She took all my information and the nature of my call and then told me that she really could not help. She had taken the info so that she can pass that to a senior technical assistant. She put me on hold for 5 minutes and then a new guy took over my case. He was another gatekeeper and quickly determined that my problem is to be referred to someone higher up. So I was put on hold again. This time, the hold was 20 minutes.

While I was left to wait... and wait... and wait...

I decided to do a little research on the internet about Linksys WPS54G Wireless-G 802.11g Print Server. The feedback was not pretty. Here's a few:
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From Amazon.com - Linksys Quality Control: it doesn't exist, December 28, 2004
Reviewer: Brian (Dallas, TX)

I know people are going to find this dubious, but after spending two hours on the phone with Linksys I can confirm that Linksys themselves say that WPA does not work with this product and they have no ETA whatsoever for when it might work.
I was suckered into buying the original 802.11g print server, the wps54gus, which didn't support WPA and never got a firmware update adding support. Then I see this new model has been released, so I call Linksys, because if you've bought one of their products in the past two years, you know that you should CONFIRM EVERYTHING, preferably in a notarized letter from Linksys itself.
For whatever reason Linksys has AGAIN shipped a product that is broken by design, untested, pre-beta quality. Just like so many of their other wireless products, bridges, etc., this puppy just will not work properly and Linksys does not seem very interested in changing that. I guess they blew their whole budget on those snazzy product designs.
I repeat, WPA does not work with the WPS54G, it may never work with it, and this is from a Linksys senior technician himself and confirmed by customer support, who will tell you Linksys doesn't have a print server that supports WPA, period.
So, in light of this, does Linksys remove references to WPA support from its own web site and marketing materials? Of course not! You see, if they can get you to buy it, they can probably get you to wait for that miracle firmware update that will fix every problem. But, as I have learned, those firmware updates sometimes never materialize.
Seriously, at some point a class action lawsuit will be in order. Linksys hasn't just released one dodgy, broken product with flaws it was fully aware of, it has done this several times. You poor suckers who bought this thinking it would give you WPA encryption had better do something.
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From Amazon.com - piece of doo-doo, February 9, 2006
Reviewer: Chet Marino (Walnut Creek, CA USA)

If it doesn't work with multi-function printers, then why don't they say that on the box?? It didn't even work with my Epson C80 printer which isn't multifunction. The documention is non-existant and the setup program does anything but. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with some chick from India with an accent so thick I finally told her "I'm sorry, but I just can't take this any more." You couldn't give me another LinkSys print server.
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From http://reviews.cnet.com - "Warning: Does not work with many printers!", August 21,2005
Reviewer: jgoodman1 (see profile)

There is no disclosure on the box but this print server will NOT work with most multifunction printers and many regular printers. The device was easy to set up but it then could not detect my printer (the USB light was not lit). Linksys tech support told me to exchange the print server and after another trip to the store, the problem remained. Linksys then told me that they knew about compatibility problems between the print server and MANY printers. The most annoying thing is that they don't mention this on the box. EVEN MORE ANNOYING IS THAT THEY WILL NOT PROVIDE ME WITH A LIST OF COMPATIBLE PRINTERS!!! So, if you have a multi function printer (fax/copier/printer), don't waste your time buying this. And if you have a regular printer, make sure that you can return the print server before buying it, because there is a good chance it won't work with your printer. Very poor job by Linksys product development here.
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My experiences are no better. The senior technician finally answer my call. He was not very helpful either. When I told him that I alsready gone through with the set up steps twice and still could not get the print server to work, he replied that he probably couldn't help much either and would not want to waste my time going through the steps again. Also, he stated that since my printer was a multi-functional one, even if we manage to miraculously get the print server to work, it will only be able to do the printing job. Furthermore, if I were to hardwire my computer to the printer to scan or fax documents, I will have to set up another port so that my computer can do these jobs.

The final blow came when he told me that Linksys would not take back the print server, even though they have acted in bad faith by designing a piece of crap and did not disclose on their product packaging that it would only work on a very limited number of printers especially all-in-one types. I could try my luck with the retailer though, he added sheepishly.