Rating: Summary: This is way too easy! Review: I bought the Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router online from amazon.com. ... It comes with an instruction leaflet (folds out like a map) and a startup CD. To illustrate how easy it is to install, I never used the CD at ALL. It took me about 15 minutes to install (using the leaflet as a guide) on my primary computer, which already has a NIC Card for my cable modem. Easy Web Interface to configure, saved setting, and done. It took me another 15 minutes to setup my second computer (laptop) with a wireless card. All I had to do is enter my network name from the Primary computer setup and BAM...I was cruising all over the house, back porch, yard. Signal strength stayed at "excellent" where ever I went. This is a winner...now I don't have to wrestle with the kids to get online! 2000 square foot Raised Ranch, Primary Computer with Router sits on bottom level of the house, Router sits at desktop level..works like a charm.
Rating: Summary: Fantastic customer service - Best I have ever seen Review: I have this router and a wireless card. I have had several problems with connection due to my cable service provider trying to kick off my extra connection. I have now called the linksys customer service three times and every time they ave worked with me to completely resolve my problem. Possibly the best telephone service center I have ever encountered and for that reason, I would recommend Linksys as a wireless gateway for your home. Add to that the benefit of being able to use your cable ISP on two or more computers as well as sharing printers and files and I wonder how I ever lived without it. WONDERFUL!
Rating: Summary: A good start, but needs improvement Review: Most of the features worked just fine, and did exactly what you'd want. There was a single exception, which was in port forwarding. I wanted to put a mail and web server behind the router so that the Linksys would be a firewall for other ports, but could not get the forwarding to work. This feature was described in the manual as "unsupported" meaning, I suppose, that Linksys knew it wasn't 100%. I understand there's now a BEFSR41 v2, and I'm hoping that the new version is better.
Rating: Summary: Will never buy linksys any more Review: 1. Wireless connection is not smooth at all. Keep getting stuck. Have to manually reset it quite often. 2. Have been updating new firmware whenever a new one is available. Hoping the quality would improve. However, with every new firmware, the quality seems gettign worse. 3. Now, after 8 month of troublesome experience, the wireless signal is totoally gone. Both my laptop, pda cannot identy a wireless signal at all. Have to call linsys to replace one tomorrow. I won't buy linksys anymore!
Rating: Summary: Incredible ease of use and quality Review: It amazed me how easy it was to set this thing up. It came ready right out of the box, and after I connected it, it allowed my two computers to share a lone cable connection without any further tinkering with settings. This is a great buy for anyone looking for a user-friendly way to set up their home network.
Rating: Summary: My first Wireless Router, and I'm happy with it Review: Linksys Router's seem to be the personal choice and recommendation of every computer expert I know. My wife wanted to be able to use her laptop from her job, with our broadband connection at home, so I started shopping around. The problem I was coming across though, was that wireless routers made by other companies only accepted wireless connections. Which meant I would have to buy a wireless PCI card for our desktop computer, in order to still receive the high speed connection it already had. In addition to the wireless card for the laptop, and the router. Linksys has the answer though, the BEFW11S4 is capable of connecting up to four computers through RJ45 cables, in addition to sharing a wireless signal. Everything you need comes in the box. There is an RJ45 cable to connect the Router to your computer, and the current RJ45 you are using can connect the modem to the Router. The instructions are very easy to follow with photos to show you exactly what to do. Be careful not to make the same mistake as I did though, and instead of jumping in, read the instructions fully before you start. There are two things that you will need to do to make installation speedy and simple. The first is to contact your ISP before starting on the installation, just to make sure you have all the relevant information you need. The Fast Start guide includes a list of the questions you should ask, and what information you should have before you start. I just wish my ISP had been as helpful at giving me the required information as the guide for the Router was. Secondly you need to make sure that you start running the installation CD before you connect the router to anything. This way the setup program will start gathering the information about your current settings that your computer is currently using, so that it can transfer it to the router later on when you connect it. Configuring the Router was an extremely easy task. The instructions are fool proof so it was nearly impossible to go wrong with them, with detailed screenshots showing you what to do. There are also seperate instructions for each Operating System, with screenshots showing exactly what to expect during installation. I had the router up and running within 15 minutes and had I read the instructions first and gathered all the information I need first, I have no doubt that I could repeat the process in even less time. I have not had any problems with the Router at all and it was definitely money well spent as far as I am concerned. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a way to share a high speed internet connection between computers with wired ethernet connections and wireless connections. We also used a Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC card for the laptop, just because some of the reviews for the Linksys equivalent gave me the impression that installation was going to be a pain. There hasn't been any problems with compatability and we're now enjoying a broadband connection on two computers in our home.
Rating: Summary: Straight out of the box! Review: Open. Place cd in cd-rom. follow steps. 5 minutes later. Up and running. Desktop OS WIN XP. Laptop OS Win XP.(Wireless USB adapter WUSB11). Printing in five minute to the shared printer. It took me longer to unpack the equipment then it did to set up. Great price! Don't bother with the latest and greatest. Remember this was the latest and greatest not to long ago. I'm not an expert. but I can get around ok with a computer...I guess that makes me dangerous! Good luck.
Rating: Summary: Still working well after 1 year Review: Update: I finally had enough of this unit -- daily hang-ups despite having all firmware upgrades installed. Constant DHCP problems. So two months ago, I bought the Netgear MR804 and threw out all of the Linksys stuff -- a step that I have not regretted for a single second so far. Reboots of the Netgear unit in the last two months: 0. DHCP issues: 0 DHCP lock-down: Great, but not even supported by Linksys. In short -- get the Netgear unit over Linksys. I have this unit for about a year now and it works quite well. I only had two issues: First, I kept losing Wi-Fi connections after operating the unit for approximately 30 minutes. It took me a long time to figure this one out, but I used an Intel-based card in my notebook and there was a conflict in preamble text settings. I kept switching the preamble text setting manually from Auto to Long until Linksys came out with its newest firmware upgrade in December. That fixed the problem. Secondly, when Genuity went out of business and I switched to Covad, it took me a long time to configure this unit for PPPoE support -- poorly document. The firmware upgrade helped again. Speaking about the firmware upgrade -- it took me three times to get it administered. Twice it died in the middle, but eventually I succeeded, so keep trying! Overall, I can very much recommend this product
Rating: Summary: F.Y.I.awsome Review: I purchased mine from radio shack and i have to say that though I found wireless keyboards and the mouse as well to be disappointing this Linksys has been anything but. I really am happy with my purchase and love the mobility I now enjoy. It does not exagerate it's claims.
Rating: Summary: Excellent item Review: I have used this router for about 3 months and it is extremely reliable. 802.11b is perfect for Internet sharing as the faster standards (802.11a or 802.11g) won't increase your speed unless you are transferring files on your own home network.
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