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Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Router

Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Router

List Price: $69.99
Your Price: $49.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless worked GREAT!
Review: Please do not be discouraged by the negative remarks for this product and the WPC11 PC Card combination.

I have no experience in networking computers (and I am not associated with Linksys) but it took an effortless 1:45 hours to put up a home network. Everything worked well. I can now lug my laptop to any point in the house and still surf the net at high speed and access my desktop computer's files.

Just make sure to download the latest firmware and use "infrastructure" rather than "ad hoc" and you're on your way.

Your range will vary depending on your environment, if you are near powerlines, 2.4GHz phones, brick walls, water pipes... etc, your range will diminish.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Worked great. Went Dead. Tech support 24-7, but ...
Review: I have owned this, along with the wireless notebook card, for 6 months. I was cruising the internet and sharing computers with ease (HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY), and months had gone by like dust in the wind. Then, it happened, the dust turned into a sand storm as if I were in the Mohabi Desert (translation - everything stopped working) I thought it might be my cable company, but this had not been the case. I tried the install process over and over an over, as if I were a musician trying to compose an award winning song. Finally, I gave up.

Since people have showered this company with compliments about their incredulous products, I decided to give them a holler. Dialing with enthusiasm, I anticipated that an endearing women or man would answer my questions with hallowed response. ( Note to self, scratch that thought) The result, hours upon hours of being on hold as if I were "Waiting for Godot". (Note :This is for the wireless products) I even cooked dinner watched a movie and sang Soprano while on hold for help. Finally, I emailed them and they told me I could return the products as long as I had the receipt. Well , I threw those away in December. I emailed them back stating that if I can talk to your support, maybe we can work through this . Well, I am still "Waiting for Godot" ...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Slow, frustrating setup; great product overall.
Review: I'm writing this from the comfort of my bed. Not that I'm tired (though I should be), or that I particularly like working for the bedroom, but because I CAN. After a frustrating evening of installing the Linksys wireless cable router and PC card, it's up and running and I'm flying through the Internet with not a single wire attached to my laptop. The documentation was the biggest obstacle for installation. It's just miserably organized, jumping from operating system to operating system without page headers or footers. But if you pay attention and follow the instructions, you should be okay. (Mind you, there's an EXTRA page of instructions that explains, page-by-page, all of the mistakes in the original documentation.) Tech support was fantastic both times I called. But the waits were astounding: 35 minutes on the first call (for the router) and 70 minutes on the second call (for the PC card). I got my lifetime dose of smooth jazz hold music. The two pieces of advice I can offer are 1) Before you do anything else, call your ISP and ask them to configure your new router (you'll have to provide some numbers that are on the bottom of the router) and 2) Reboot your system AND the Linksys wireless router (by unplugging it, waiting 30 seconds and plugging it back in) each time you make some sort of major configuration change. I thought it still wasn't working and then I rebooted for probably the 12th time this evening and suddenly I found myself online. I'm one room away from the router right now and surfing at super-fast speeds -- maybe just a hair slower than "normal". If you've got the patience for it and an evening to spend setting it up, I highly recommend this product. It was frustrating, but now that it's up and running, I'm looking forward to springtime and working from the backyard hammock.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Easy Wireless
Review: Installed this along with a cable modem and hard wired one desktop and configured two laptops for wireless connection. Installation was easy and I was up and running in a few minutes. Don't have to be an engineer to get this installed and running. The wireless range is pretty good throughout the house. I am able to get a good signal upstairs with the router downstairs in the study. This is certainly a good addition to a home network.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Impressed by this product...
Review: I purchased this wireless router for my home and expected the installation installation to be somewhat cumbersome. I also expected to sacrifice some of the Cable Modem speed...

To my surprise, this product was not only easy to install, but it also exceeded my expectations as far as speed. I highly recommend going wireless, especially if you own a laptop. It's very convenient, I'm mobile around the house while surfing the web and checking e-mail.

Two thumbs up!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EASY!
Review: Installed in Minutes. I actually had less trouble setting up my wireless network than I had with my wired network. I was up and running in an evening. I spent weeks playing around wth my wired network. I took the advice of one of the other reviewers and bought the Orinoco silver card also for the laptop. It worked great too just be carefull to download the new install program if you are using XP. Bottom line: you can mix and match brands of hardware with this wireless networking stuff.
Back to the Linksys. It set up so easy that I only needed the quick install sheet. It came with a CD rom, but I don't know what it's for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wireless Router could be better....
Review: I have a cable connection that I wanted to use in two different rooms. I decided to buy this router along with the wireless Linksys PCI Card to avoid the hassle of running wires through my attic. It was easy to install, but along with the wireless card, the connection is not consistent. The computer that is directly connected to the router is consistently fast, but the computer with the wireless card is sometimes VERY slow. This is just the internet aspect of wireless networking, but I feel it is the most important. Nonetheless, wireless networking is made easy with Linksys's great products, and I would definately recommend it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Does not support Dual Return Modems
Review: Warning to those with a dual return (Telco return) mode... I have Comcast as an ISP using a Motorola SB3100D cable modem, meaning the modem utilizes the cable for incoming transmission and a dialed Telco connection for outgoing transmission.

Before I purchased any Linksys equipment, I called their customer service and explained how my ISP/cable modem worked. They suggested the BEFW11SW router and the WUSB11 wireless USB Network adapters for the remote PC's.

My problem after connecting the hardware was accessing the internet from the remote PC with the WUSB11 adapter. The PC hardwired to the router worked fine, but if the remote PC wants to access the internet, the hardwired PC must establish the internet session (dial the Telco return connection) before the remote PC is able to access the internet. This defeats the purpose of having the PC's networked as far as the internet is concerned, in that the remote PC can not access the internet independently. After several hours on hold with Motorola, Comcast, and Linksys, there seems to be no way around this problem. I also sent an E:Mail to Linksys support and they responded saying the router does not support Telco return modems. I suggested they inform their customer service folks who suggested the equipment in the first place!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good value for the price
Review: For the price, this is a good deal. I had to call tech support because the router could not handle DHTP with my laptop, but they fixed the problem pronto. My other machine configured and worked fine right away.

I thought the signal would be much better than it is. The average throughput is generally 1 to 2 megabits/sec versus the 11 megabit/sec theoretical. I do find that the signal is lost on occassion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This box rocks!
Review: I was interested in this unit primarily for it's ability to handle IPSEC pass-through so I can connect to the corporate VPN through my private LAN, wireless was secondary.

I replaced my old Dlink 701 (no IPSEC support, otherwise a great device) with this Linksys unit. I loved it right away! I was able to get my Windows 2000 work laptop up and runing with no hassles. It only took me 2 hours to get my other laptop running on wireless (Toshiba Tecra 8100 with Redhat 7.2).

I can see where others have trouble because there are several configuration parameters that must be set. If you are not familiar with how a wirless LAN works, do some research on the Internet, it will pay off during install.

I am going to experiment with external antennas to see how far around my neighborhood I can go and stay connected. My neighbors have already seen me walking around outside with my LINUX laptop (testing max range), when I show them that I am on the Internet they are amazed. I have again proved that I am the biggest geek on my street.

--Spencer Suderman, CCIE #5761


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