Rating: Summary: Working Great (but it took awhile) Review: My main reason for setting up a wireless network was to be able to share a broadband internet connection with three PC's. After 11 months of hell (weak signals, lost signals, etc.)I FINALLY got the right person at Linksys technical support who recognized immediately that the router was defective. After a no-hassle return, I had a new router within a week and am now running smoothly. Be aware that this was not easy to set up and you'll probably be making some calls to technical support (still free and for the most part helpful)but in the end you'll be happy. I know that some reviewers have complained about range - currently the router is "hard-wired" to a PC on the second floor. I have wireless cards on one PC which is also on the second floor and another on the first floor (and opposite end of the house). Occasionally I'll take a notebook out on the patio with no signal problems.
Rating: Summary: i wish i could give it a ten Review: i had a netgear mr314(terrible) i couldnt get it to work so someone suggested this router. I bought it, hooked it up, and did some configuration. that easy and the connection is great.
Rating: Summary: Documentation lacking, but great product. Review: Although the router only came with a basic quick-start guide and a Setup Wizard CD that wouldn't run on Windows 95, it got me on the net W/O wires in about 5 minutes. The router talked to the "Linksys Wireless PC Card" without any configuration at all.I already had a switch in my house and a DHCP server in my cable modem, so I didn't use any of the routing/switching functions of the Linksys router, and it took me awhile (and a friend) to figure out how to bypass all the routing features, but once that was accomplished, the product worked great! Although signal quality indication on the laptop wasn't as strong as I expected, the card still functioned amazingly well, and game me wireless access anywhere inside my 3,800 sq. ft. 2-story home, and even worked on the opposite side of the street. IN SHORT - configuration of this router's advanced features can take a while to figure out, the documentation isn't that great (although there is a GOOD manual on linksys.com), but once you get it going, it is an impressive product, and well worth the effort required to get it going!
Rating: Summary: Why the bad reviews? Review: I must admit, I was a bit skeptacal with the bad reviews people had gave involving this product...speed, setup, customer service, wireless phones, etc...However, I decided to use the amazon 30-day money back guarentee and purchased it Friday night. By Monday morning, the product was at my front door. It did take a few hours to set up, which I fully expected, but that wasnt the product's fault. It took a lot of rebooting and installing the Linksys Wireless PC card, which you need if you want the wireless option. The speed is fine, both computers can be online at the same time at a very good speed for cable internet, and we are both networked, so we can share printers and files. This product gave me NO trouble at all, and works like a charm...Ill write a review in a couple of weeks to see if it still works, but there was nothing to complain about so far...I would recommend it to anyone wanting to network computers in other rooms, even across the house, and wanting to share an internet connection.
Rating: Summary: Plug and Play Review: I wasn't really sure what I was getting into in trying to create a wireless network in my house. I had read several articles that gave conflicting signals on ease of installation. Although I am comfortable using computers both at home and at work, I am by no strecth a techie. My network was to consist of an IBM desktop and an iBook with an Airport card installed. I decided to take the plunge and picked the Linksys based on nothing more than it being available and at a good price. The installation of the router could not have been simpler. Within five minutes it was installed and my internet connection was working perfectly. It went so well in fact that I was convinced it couldn't be that easy. I was sure that the iBook would never connect. Imagine my pleasant surprise when the iBook connected perfectly and at a speed that I could not discern from the wired desktop connection. One note, forget the printed instructions. The included disk gives step-by-step instructions that worked flawlessly.
Rating: Summary: just plain awful Review: Set this up on a desktop running Windows 2000 and a laptop running Windows XP. The setup utility that came with the linksys was just awful, it was difficult to setup, the configuration did not work with XP, and new drivers were needed that still don't work properly. By comparison, an install with dlink went seemlessly and has performed without fault from the start. In my opinion, I'd go with the d-link everytime...
Rating: Summary: Awesome Product! Review: I got this to eliminate my phone line across the floor. It was a breeze to hook up and configure. Only have one PC now but hope to get a pocket PC soon. Can't wait to see how that works with wireless access via a CF card. I have the router downstairs behind some furniture and out of view. PC is up stairs. Everything seems to be OK . Connection is good to excellent. So far I am sold on wireless technology.
Rating: Summary: Wireless Problems Review: I would hold off on buying this one ( Model BEFW11S4 V.2 ) Anytime a cordless phone is used in the house it knocks out my wireless connection. Otherwise it works great when the cordless phone is not used. They do have a new version 5 Ghz. Too late for me,
Rating: Summary: Linksys Does it Right! Review: I have the Wireless Router and PC Card and love it! I've owned it over 6 months so I have the older version of the router. I downloaded the upgraded firmware and found the system worked better (rarely do I have to do a soft reset on the router). Buying the new PC Card WPC11 (v3) also increased the range so now I can receive good to excellent signals throughout my whole house. The only problem I had was with security. WEP caused me problems when I went on stand-by on my laptop. I removed WEP and changed: the password on the router, the SSID code, enabled MAC filtering and turned off SSID broadcast. These changes makes my Wireless network more secure and is still stable.
Rating: Summary: Solid! Review: I installed this unit and it works great. Out of the box I read the easy set-up instructions and connected the router to my cable modem and then into the desktop computer (hard-wired into the router with a cat-5 cable). I had then realized that the internet connection was lost on the desktop computer. I figured that nothing would be that easy although it would have been nice to get going right away. I ended up just having to re-boot the computer a couple of times for Windows ME to recognize the router and then it was smooth sailing. My best buddy put his Linksys Wireless Router on his computer, which runs Win 2000, and that was a flawless setup. A day later the Linksys wireless laptop card came in the mail and it was literally plug-and-play. I believe it had to be rebooted once or maybe twice. No signal loss at all. I have read all the reviews about people having serious troubles. There is a ver 2 of this router which I got and I would assume anyone who bought it from today on would also recieve the same version. Remember, computers are very touchy! They are all set up in many different ways with many different software configurations. If people cannot get these things working then it is probably the computer. If your computer is prone to problems or you have had troubles installing items in the past then don't expect this to be a cakewalk. The tech reps from Linksys are only there to help you set your router up. If there are problems then they will try and determine if their product is defective. If not then it isn't their problem. They are not there to reconfigure Windows or anything else on your computer. That is what Microsoft or the other SOFTWARE manufacturers are for. Yes, this product did install some-what smoothly. Yes, I had relatively little trouble with getting everything to work. However, I am rating this product according to its performance. If I had troubles installing this equipment I would still give it a five-star rating. It is a very solid piece of equipment. There is no signal loss between the Linksys Wireless laptop card and the Linksys router. The speed is fantastic, and I am going to add another desktop computer to see how good the Linksys Wireless PCI card is. Also, remember that it is always good to have the brand of the wireless cards match up with the brand of the wireless router. I realize that they are supposed to work with any router but it's always beneficial to keep the number of brand names down to a minimum. Good Luck!
|