Once upon a time, at the dawn of the WiFi age, Apple’s AirPort Base Station was a not-ugly plug-and-play option for computer users looking to untether from ethernet cables. In spite of having got off to such a great start, Apple’s router business has sagged since — and now it’s being put out to pasture. [More]
routers
Your Home Router Was Probably Out-Of-Date And Insecure Before You Even Plugged It In
By 1.19.16
Here’s some depressing news for your morning: even if you set up your home network yourself and followed all of the best practices for doing so, it’s probably got some big fat vulnerabilities in it. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Have Your Router From 2003
By 5.22.14
There is nothing wrong with this Linksys wireless router, exactly. It was a best-seller, and there are many of them still in use. It was the first of a very popular product series. Unlike some unplayable online games featured in our Raiders of the Lost Walmart series, you can even use it for its intended purpose. It’s just… really old. [More]
Item Is Right On The Walmart Shelf, But Site-To-Store Will Take A Few Days
By 12.3.12 — Updated: 9.18.14
Retailers generally don’t price-match their own websites. Walmart, Sears, Best Buy, Gap, Home Depot… they’re separate operations. Lee didn’t know that, though, and tried to get Walmart to match its online price for the router he wanted. They refused. That’s not worthy of publication on Consumerist, but what happened next is. He whipped out a smartphone and ordered the router sitting on the shelf in front of him for in-store pickup. Hurray! He beat the system! Until an e-mail from Walmart arrived telling him that he could expect to pick up his new router sometime next week. [More]
Vacation Condo Charges Me For Causing Internet Outage, But It Wasn’t Me
By 7.30.12
Visiting a beach town on business, Dontel stayed in a condo building that’s oriented more toward tourists. When he checked in, he learned that some guests were having intermittent Internet connection issues, and was told to report any problems he had to the front desk. Okay. He didn’t have any problems. When he returned home, he learned that the condo management had conducted an investigation, and blamed the outage on…Dontel. They claim that he tampered with his unit’s access point, messing up Internet access for that whole part of the building. They’ve billed him $120 for their trouble. He says that he didn’t touch the access point, and didn’t even know that there was one in the room. He asks the Consumerist Hive Mind for help: is there any way that he can prove he’s not behind the fateful hard reset? [More]
Sorry, Current Equipment Is Only For New FiOS Customers
By 5.29.12
Marvin is experiencing a very modern problem, one that our great-grandparents would probably be unable to wrap their brains around. His new video baby monitor for his new baby doesn’t get along with his Verizon FiOS-issued wireless router. They use the same frequency. That means that when his baby goes to bed, so do his Internet speeds. There’s a potential solution to this issue: get a newer router that operates on a different frequency. Verizon has them in stock, but not for Marvin. They’re only for new customers, not for him. His best option right now: to pay $130 to upgrade to one of the new routers. Which he still won’t own. [More]
How To Lose A Customer Forever With Just One Faulty Router
By 4.19.12
Jessica is a network engineer, so she has some idea of when a piece of networking equipment isn’t working properly. Her Netgear router isn’t working properly, so she called up their tech support. She patiently sat through all of the normal troubleshooting procedures that are used for people who can barely tell a router from a toaster. Then she learned that they weren’t going to accept the router for repair or replacement after only eight months. So she did the only sensible thing: went out and bought a router made by a different company after being loyal to Netgear for more than a decade. [More]
Boost Your WiFi Signal With A Beer Can
By 8.5.11
Stressed out because your WiFi is too slow to get your work done? Crack open a cold one. Then dry it, slice it, and mount it on your router’s antennae. That’s right, you can boost your wifi just by doing some simple surgery on a beer can. [More]
Netgear Tech Support: Pay Geek Squad $139 To Troubleshoot Your $79 Router
By 9.29.10
What should you do when you have trouble with your Internet connection? N. tells Consumerist that his combination DSL modem and wireless router from Netgear simply won’t work. According to the ever-helpful technical support team at Netgear, there’s nothing left that they can do, and his only option left is to call the Geek Squad to perform a house call. If it didn’t require a $139 house call to troubleshoot a $79 device, N. might go along with this plan. [More]
Don't Call In To Complain About How You Can't Steal Wi-Fi
By 3.1.10
Someone named Jennifer called in to the Leo Laporte show a week ago and asked for help on how to get back online. She’d been able to access a Wi-Fi hotspot for over a year and a half from her apartment, but “that’s disappeared now for three weeks.” She bought a wireless extender and that didn’t solve the problem at all. Laporte gently tries to point out that she’s being a freeloader, but she’s not buying it. [More]
"Chuck Norris" Virus Commands Your Router For His Botnet
By 2.23.10
Is there a “Chuck Norris” virus hiding inside your router and subjugating it for his secret botnet army? [Prague Daily Monitor] [More]
Developer Finds Security Hole In SMC Router Provided By Time Warner Cable
By 10.22.09
If you didn’t provide your own wireless router when you signed up for Internet access from Time Warner, you may have been given an SMC-branded modem/router combo that turns out is ridiculously easy to break into.
Linksys, LinkSucks
By 5.4.09
Christoff knew the dangers, but he went ahead anyway. He bought a Linksys router. And lo, it broke. The day had come for him to deal with their outsourced tech support. Over four hours of conversation and hold time, mainly hold time, later, he has a 2nd replacement router. Both replacement routers had the same problem as the first. Read of his trials and tribulations, inside…
Canceling Vonage Early? You're Going To Have To Repay That Instant Rebate
By 4.11.09
If you cancel your Vonage service before the end of the first year, you’re going to need to pay $70 for Vonage’s proprietary router on top of a $29.95 cancellation fee. Don’t even try to return the soon-to-be useless router because that’s simply not an option.
Verizon Breaks Your Router With An Unrequested Firmware Update, But Won't Replace It Because It's Out Of Warranty
By 9.25.08
They acknowledge the router got an upgraded firmware image automatically (forget the fact I had explicitly disabled that feature for this very reason), but I’m shit out of luck. Even though the fact my formerly perfectly working 6100 is now bricked because of something Verizon did without my approval or knowledge, they will not provide me with a new one for free because the router is out of warranty.
Vonage Destroys Router, Refuses To Issue Refund
By 9.15.07 — Updated: 10.11.16
I have been a loyal Vonage customer for 3 years. Within the last year (I can’t remember when) I purchased a new Linksys WRTP54G router to replace my existing router. This router has built-in Vonage voice ports. What Vonage and Linksys do not tell you when you purchase this router is that Vonage has 100% full access to your router and can do with it what they choose.
Pith & Vinegar & Electricity
By 6.7.06
• Lil’ ‘lectrician kit at Amazon. They’re never to young to learn about sticking stuff in electrical sockets. [Amazon]
