his post is part of the Sizzlin’ Summer Sweeps – 31 Days of Giveaways for July 2010, brought to you by Crazy Coupon Mommy and Sisterly Savings! Make sure you check out all the other awesome giveaways you can enter!
I’m a computer geek. A techie dweeb. A nerd. My dad instilled a love of computers, gadgets and gizmos in me since the age of 7. I’ve always been technically inclined. I’ve always been the go-to computer guru at every job I’ve worked at. You want me to take the computer apart, change out components, and make it go faster ? Done. You need me to install and teach you how to use just about any software you could possibly want to use? Sure, have a seat. Need to set up your network? Got it.
The network part is usually what most non-computer savvy people have the hardest time with. It can be confusing, time consuming and all around just a big headache. The printer doesn’t want to talk to the router which is connected to your laptop via WEP instead of WAP, which is being shared with your desktop…wait, what? Even though I *know* how to do all of this stuff, I don’t exactly *enjoy* it.
My existing wireless router was an older hand-me-down from my dad that lately, has been acting up and performing awfully slow. So I jumped at the opportunity to review the new Cisco Valet! The Valet’s tagline is “Home Wireless Made Easy” and wow – it really is!
When you open the product packaging, you are presented with a very clean, crisp presentation-style box with a USB key and the very sleek/stylish Valet.
All you do is plug the USB key into your computer and then click “Connect to Your Cisco Valet” and follow the instructions. I had my Valet up and running on two computers within 7 minutes of opening the box. I was absolutely 100% impressed.
Not only is the setup so easy my 7 mo old baby Whistler could do it, but the administrative/management interface is just as user friendly as well!
With just a couple clicks of the mouse you can add other computers and devices to your network like printers and smart phones, turn on or off a guest account for easy access when you have company over that needs to get on to the internet and setup parental controls that limit access times and websites! How cool is that? And none of it is confusing or technical, just clear and simple. (and for all you experts out there, it does also have the standard don’t-touch-me-unless-you-know-what-you’re-doing router admin panel too so you can get into as much of the nitty gritty as you need to!)
*warning* I’m about to go into geek mode with telling you about some of the specs :) The Valet runs on the latest Wireless-N technology (most current and faster than older A, B, or G technologies) and has (4) 10/100 ethernet ports (these allow you to “hard wire” any devices you may have to your network that are not wireless, but are able to be networked via a cable). ***The M20 model has (4) gigabit ports (which are faster than 10/100).
The Valet comes in two models:
- Valet (M10) – for small to medium sized homes with primarily wireless network devices for MSRP $99.99
- Valet Plus (M20) – for medium to large-sized homes with a mix or wireless and wired devices for MSRP $149.99
Cisco is generously offering one reader their very own Valet Wireless Hotspot (M10)!
Wanna win it? Please take a moment to thank Cisco for the chance by leaving them a note on Twitter or Facebook and then click on the button below to go to the giveaway entry page!
Contest will end 8/14/2010 at 11:59pm PST. The winner will be chosen randomly via computer using “And the Winner is…” WordPress Plugin or Random.org. Winner will be notified by e-mail and a blog post (so be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so that you don’t miss the winner announcement!). Winner must respond within 48 hours or another random winner will be chosen.
Many thanks to Cisco who provided me with a sample for the purpose of this review, as well as one to giveaway on the Sisterly Savings site to a randomly selected winner. No other type of compensation was received. This has no bearing on my completely honest review and the opinions expressed are 100% my own.
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@RobinB – Thanks Robin! I think so too :)
coulduse this
I commented on FB about this, but I’m going to share it here too…. I just bought one of these a few weeks ago and I LOVE it! It really is the easiest router in the world to set up! Honestly, you just plug it in to the wall and your internet connection, put the USB thing in your computer and click a few times and it does everything else for you! Even if you don’t win this, I highly recommend it! The price tag is well worth it!