Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys WVC54GCA Webcam 640x480 802.11G Wireless Internet Home Monitoring Camera

I guess I'm a little disappointed. After all, the outside of the box claimed the camera provided high quality video. Not exactly. The video is barely acceptable, and while getting an image on your computer from your network is a cinch, when you start trying to make it available on the web, things start getting difficult. Neither the set-up wizard, the printed instructions, nor the full manual on the installation CD described how to do this. I had to go into the camera's advanced browser based set-up and start looking for clues. Even after I figured it out, it wasn't easy. Unless you're technically savvy, I wouldn't recommend this.

I have purchased a number of Linksys products over the years and have had only good experiences with them all. On the few occasions where I needed a bit of guidance their Tech Support was excellent. I expected nothing less when I bought this webcam but I was in for a shock. Camera setup for continuous mode was quite easy but after only a few hours of recording to my hard drive it became intermittent with long periods when nothing was recorded. Setup for Detection Mode does not seem to allow for recoding to the hard drive, the choices are limited to sending a clip by e-mail or making an FTP connection. Linksys seems to have now outsourced it's Tech Support to Asia. I had great difficulty in understanding the support staff . The first one I got put me on hold for 15 minutes after which I hung up and called again. The second one did not seem familiar with the camera at all and had to repeatedly put me on hold to 'go and check something'. He was not able to resolve any of the problems after over an hour on the phone and ended up telling me that a higher level tech would e-mail or call me in 24-36 hours. By the time I did get a call back from Linksys three weeks had passed and by then I had returned the defective camera to the vendor. I will not be so willing to buy Linksys products in the future.

I'll try to make this short and to the point. I think the camera does quite a bit of positive features for the cost. Setup can be a headache; it took me 4 hours to set the first camera up and about 30 minutes for each subsequent camera (3 in all). I'm using Vista and a Linksys router and attempted following the linksys directions step by step on the disk...bad move. Vista must first recognize that a new device has been added to your network, otherwise you will beat your head into the wall; it took me hours to realize what was going on. Once your operating system recognizes the camera, then use the setup disk to install the camera. My advice is to first plug the camera into your router and don't attempt the install until the operation system i.e. Vista recognizes the camera. The only issue I have is that the camera looses it's connection and needs to be turned off and back on every day or two; I'm trying to research the problem, but haven't found a solution yet. With regard to accessing the camera remotely via the internet, make sure you setup the port forwarding correctly; I had to do some reading on the net to find this out, the camera's manual doesn't explain this aspect. This site is was very helpful: [...]

This camera was not possible to set up with my network. I had to return it.

This is a bad company. I purchased a wireless router from them and, truth be told, it never really worked right. The speed was ok, but it was impossible to set up without tech support and every so often it would simply stop working. When that happened I would be forced to call tech support and spend 30-60 minutes on the phone fighting with them about resetting the router. I recently purchased a new computer and decided to save a little money by moving this router to it. When I called tech support I was told that the router was out of its warranty period and they could not help me... unless I would pay them to. That's right, I would have to pay for the assistance on their product - a working product because it was not under warranty.

So be warned that you are only buying the option to use Linksys' products for a limited time - that is if you have any problems whatsoever that require tech support. I am now trying a Trendnet. Let's see if they are any better.