Hi everyone,
I left a message to the tech people asking for these problems and had not received a response yet. So, I'll try my luck here.
Got this router on sale being an draft-N and wanting more speed than my 3 other G routers. I also bought a cheap Comstar draft-N USB dongle adapter to work with it cause it was cheaper than the Buffalo version and has a Realtek chipset.
Ok the router is set to AP (mode in in Auto) and am using the DLink Game Lounge G router as my main link to the net. I am using stock 1.60 firmware. When it's working right, it is FAST and responsive. When it is not and it happens often, it disconnects, long latency delays, crashes when another WIFI device logs on and needs to be powered off and on again. When it's working right, it is WITHOUT using any security (Open). As soon as I activate any kind of security like WEP/WPA using the manual settings mode as you would with an old Linksys G/Dlink G router, the problems came back. I can't even transfer a 20MB file without crashing the router. Not only that, I can not get my Comstar N USB dongle to talk to this router at 300mbps when the security is activated and frequency bandwidth set to 40Mhz.
However, in non-protected mode (OPEN), I can get 300mbps and the connection is solid! So what's good with a N router that can not be used in security mode at all! I almost wanted to return this bloody piece of junk back to my dealer. Then a thought came. Why not try using the WPS (Wifi Protected System), that AOSS button ontop. Incidentally, my Comstar USB N dongle comes with this feature built into the software. So, I synced both and the router went into WPA/TKIP?AES shared security mode (better than I could ever set with a super long key string set), but what happened was incredible.
After initiating this link up, I get
1, 300mbps RX/150Mb TX with a strong signal (impressive)
2, Website loads super quick with no delay (was a delay with G setup and normal WPA key coding)
3, Able to maintain Gigabyte file transfers from my NAS fast and stable. (Did a 5Gb transfer with no hiccups)
4, Speedtest.net was on par wtih my Dlink Game Lounge (before it was pathetic slow with frequent disconnects)
5, Getting on is instant rather than count your fingers
While the link is solid, I can not get on this SSID that has already been paired with my Comstar with an Ipod. So, tried multi-security and as soon as I use a normal WPA passphrase and connecting with the iPod Touch, the Touch will use SSID 2, but locks up SSID1 and then the symptoms come back. Slow xfers, crashing etc..
I suspect the fault is with the WPA/WEP security implementation. Buffalo is not the only one that had this problem. When Linksys came out with the disasterious WRT-54G version 6, I had to wait 2 years to get this unit working reliably.
The question to Buffalo tech is this, do I have to wait 2 years like what Linksys did to me on my lemon WRT-54G version 6.0.
My principle is this, if I spend money buying something, I don't need to run DD-WRT to get it working right. It should work out of the box. Well, in this case, it didn't. However, I am willing to accept this limitation for now because I got the router on sale.
Rick.