Rating: 
Summary: Solution for home nerwork
Review: It's a full solution for your home network. Connect your computers via wires or wireless, delivering internet via single IP. Works as router (including dynamic routing) and DHCP server too.
Firewall, NAT, Router, DHCP, Web Management, 10/100 Switch, Access point, many other features - all in just one small box at affordable price.
BTW There is some security issue as latest versions of firmware has undocumented web server at port 5678.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Box but Poor Documentation for Use with Others' Cards
Review: I've never written a review, but I got so much help from others' reviews I thought I would return the favor.Setting up the BEFW11S4 using my desktop computer, which was linked by an Ethernet cable, was easy. What took me a loooooong time was getting the Wireless connection to work with my laptop's Cisco Series 350 PCMCIA Wireless LAN Adapter card. At the end of the day, I would have been time and money ahead just to pay [the extra money] and get Linksys' LAN Adapter card, but I didn't want to juggle two cards and two wireless profiles. It took me some time to realize that Cisco's "Aironet Client Utility" or "ACU"---a separate program under Start/Programs---, and not my Windows 2000 operating system, controls the important wireless parameters for the card. Once I found that out, I was able to set the channel, infrastructure and other parameters to make a wireless connection. However, I couldn't get WEP encryption to work at all until I upgraded the firmware, driver and ACU for the Cisco card past my apparently outmoded (6 point something) firmware version. Cisco now bundles firmware, drivers, and ACU upgrades together in packages for downloading from its Website. But you have to be very careful to select the right bundle. Each numerical series of Cisco LAN adapters has many products with names that look and sound alike, and some joker listed two bundles (not applicable to my card) as for "Windows 2000" while, further down on a long list, listing another (applicable to my product) as "350-Windows-98-2K-Me-Bundle-2.exe." My aging eyes missed the buried reference to "2K," so I downloaded two wrong packages before finally getting the right one. Once over these hurdles, all proceeded smoothly, except that neither Linksys nor Cisco told me to set the ACU for shared encryption keys. I found that out by trial and error. Cisco has good instructions on its Website for downloading and installing the updated firmware, drivers, and ACUs. Its newer ACUs allow nonadministrative users to set up separate profiles for such things as home networks, and there is a setting which is supposed to sense which network ("enterprise" or home) is transmitting and switch automatically to it. I haven't tried this yet, but a colleague tells me it works well. What this means is that you can leave the Cisco card in its slot as you move the laptop between home and office, and the software will switch automatically between your home and office networks as you move from one to the other. I still couldn't get WEP encryption to work on the Cisco card at 128 bits. This is not surprising, as Linsys' documentation implies that its 128-bit protocol is proprietary. I did, however, get WEP working at 64 bits (called 40 by Cisco). I could cut and paste the encryption keys directly from Linksys' Web-based access point manager into Cisco's ACU, as long as I remembered not to "apply" or "OK" either one until both were set the same. Linksys' "passphrase" utility was useful for generating the four "64-bit" encryption keys. I noticed that just changing two or three characters in a 31-character passphrase completely changed all four keys, suggesting a robust random-number generator. Once fully set up, the wireless access point worked well. After some fiddling, it gave me 40% to 50% signal strength through my house's aluminum siding and out to the edge of my back yard. You have to play with the two little antennas, however, to get the best signal strength. I found the best strength resulted from having one antenna in a nearly horizontal position and the other slightly off vertical. (Be sure to set your parameters for both access card and LAN adapter to "diversity," which uses both the antennas.) People who gripe about signal strength should remember that they are dealing with high radio frequencies. The network uses 2.5GHz, a frequency much higher (and therefore much more susceptible to reflection and interference) than the ones used by FM radio stations. Just as your body moving around the room, as well as many other things, can interfere with FM radio signals, it can interfere with a home network wireless signal. For example, it makes a difference whether you sit between your LAN adapter card and the access point, and whether your LAN adapter card's antenna points toward the access point. Short of repealing the laws of physics, adding a monster antenna to the access point, or increasing its power (probably to more than the FCC allows without licensing) there's probably not much anyone can do about this. I give Linksys high marks for a good physical product, but mediocre marks for its documentation of wireless. I doubt I'm the only one who wanted to adapt an office network card for home use; and there's no reason to have to juggle two different LAN adapter cards. I would hope that Linksys would give a few hints in its documentation about how to get its base station to work with others' wireless cards, particularly Cisco's, which seem to dominate the industry. But maybe I'm just dreaming. The woeful industry custom seems to be: if you use someone else's products, you're on your own. Maybe that's why tech stocks are at an all time low.
Rating: 
Summary: easy shared internet access
Review: I just found it wonderful to share internet access. With cable modem, both access are super fast without any delay. However, I could not share computer files, but I am not sure where the problem is.
Rating:
Summary: The way to do Wi-Fi in the home
Review: Based on the many favorable reviews from those who have purchased this wireless router, I took the plunge -- and I was not disappointed. Despite the horror stories I've heard about configuration problems, reception problems, hours on the line with tech support, etc., I found the set-up and installation of the Linksys system remarkably easy. In my instance, I networked two laptops (wireless) and one desktop (wired) to the Linksys, with the WAN connected to the Net via a Charter Pipeline cable modem. I'm running WinXP, which makes network set-up easy, and I never once had to call tech support for help. The Linksys documentation is very well written and concise and the online set-up is well designed. All in, it took me 20 minutes to get my entire network running smoothly. :) As far as reception and distance goes, the WPC11 v.3 wireless PC cards offer an acceptable range, but the bit rate falls dramatically the further one moves from the router. I live in a single-story home with few structural impediments, and don't have other wireless products operating in this spectrum, so I did expect a wider range. Bottom line: if your PCs are not too far from your modem/router, I enthusiastically recommend this product. For the money, quality and convenience it offers, it can't be beat. Good luck and I hope your Wi-Fi project works out as well as mine!
Rating:
Summary: Bulletproof
Review: Only regret is that I now live in France and the frequencies used aren't strictly legal
Rating:
Summary: An excellent product!!!
Review: The Linksys Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router fits my definition of an excellent product... It literally worked great right out of the box... I had not even installed the included software, and I already had my desktop on an Ethernet connection, and my laptop on the 802.11a... I had all sorts of concerns before hooking it up, because I'm not much of a network hacker, but this WAP is truly a great piece of network equipment... I recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: This thing rocks!
Review: I was real hesitant about ordering because of all the bad reviews concerning range, but I haven't had any problems. I did buy the ORINOCO silver card for my laptop and it works great. I have range everywhere in my house, even through plaster walls. I don't know if I'm lucky, but I can be anywhere in the house and usually pull 5Mbs. If your on the fence about buying one, just do it. They are so cheap now. The Linksys unit is so easy configure, took 5mins.
Rating:
Summary: Another Linksys Gem
Review: Just purchased and setup the Linksys Wireless router to replace my older Linksys wired router, so I could carry the laptop around the house. Also got the Linksys WPC11 PC card adapter. Setup was a complete no brainer, both devices installed and setup in under 5 minutes. Proving once again why I'll only buy Linksys networking products.
Rating: 
Summary: poor wireless range
Review: Linksys' wired router works great and easy to set up.
However, wireless range is too short. (i've tested with three different pcmcia cards....SMC, Linksys, D-link....all didn't pick up signal only from a wall away(and about 30 ft)). Buy something else.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is an excellent product. Works great. Highly recommended.
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