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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: 3 stars
Summary: Good at the beginning, bad after a month...
Review: I had no trouble to use this device out of the box and worked great for a month or so. After that, the wireless radio began to disconnect ramdonly. Called Linksys Tech Support and were very professional with the trobleshooting and the attention. After that, they got me a RMA number and sent the device to their Warranty Department. I got the replacement unit, in fact, the same unit I sent and after 15 minutes, I got the same issue... wireless constantly lost connectivity and sometimes the access point dissapears from the network. Very bad experience, having in mind I expected after a couple of weeks of waiting a fixed device. Now I have a [price] paperweight... I really trusted in Linksys and now feel defrauded... All my network adapters are from them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Linksys Rocks!
Review: I was told "Wireless... You're brave." That was bunk. This unit was easy to setup and works flawlessly. I'm running three PC's - one's CAT 5 wired, one's a wireless notebook setup, and one's a wireless PC setup. I'm also running a wireless printserver. The entire system is Linksys and the performance exceeded my expectations across the board. Oh, I'm also running a Linksys cable modem, too. The modem, router/WAP, and wireless PCMCIA card were very easily configured. The wireless PCI card and wireless printserver were poorly documented and actually took some thought to get running. None of it, however, required that I call for help... Great stuff!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: What Is It?
Review: I have no idea what this contraption does but I set it inside my car thinking it was one of those "radar detectors" that pick up police cars and it didn't do a thing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ideal SOHO wireless solution
Review: Items discussed in this review:

WPC11 ver 3 - wireless PCMCIA card (PC card) for laptop
BEFW11S4 v2 - wireless router/access point (AP)

Other hardware:

Gateway 800Mhz desktop PC, with two NIC cards
120Mhz Cyrix (old Pentium clone chip) desktop PC, with one NIC
Toshiba 233Mhz laptop (borrowed for this test), no NIC

Existing network:

I have a roadrunner ISP. To share that ISP, I bought a hub, and physically ran cat 5 between the computers. I then downloaded/used a free "proxy server" software program called AnalogX. This worked ok for sharing the internet, but the client computer couldn't access AOL IM and other handy stuff, due to proxy server limitations I think. I'm really not an expert - I kind of fumbled my way through and got that setup working.

How it worked before:

Roadrunner is set up for DHCP. This means that theoretically every day you could have a new IP address (mine is always the same), and that you must have your computer/NIC which is connected to roadrunner set up to accept a DHCP address. So one of my NICs in the Gateway was set up for DHCP, while the other was a static (non-changing) IP address. The old PC also had a static IP. This is important for future steps.

How I physically installed the router:

I turned everything off and unplugged it. Then I unplugged all my cat 5 connections to my old hub. I plugged the cat 5 coming out of my cable modem into the router. I then ran another cat 5 line from my router's #1 port to the NIC card in the Gateway which was set up for DHCP. I then connected the cat 5 which goes to my old PC to the #2 port of the router. At this point, I plugged everything in and booted up.

Software installation:

I put the CD in, and the wizard to add computers to the router came up. I clicked next a few times, always taking the default, and then I was finished. I could immediately connect to the internet. I then repeated this at my old desktop PC, with only one change. After adding it to the router, I couldn't connect to the internet. I went into the Internet Explorer TOOLS/INTERNET OPTIONS choice, selected the connections TAB, clicked the LAN connections button and UNchecked the "Automatically Detect Settings" checkbox. I also had to set my IP addressing to DHCP on the old PC, by right clicking on "Network Neighborhood", selecting "properties", clicking the entry in the list titled TCP/IP, clicking the "properties" button, and selecting "Obtain an IP address Automatically", then clicking OK a couple times. This requires a reboot. When it came back up, I was on the internet here too.

So, I'd say about 45 minutes to get two "wired" PCs on the internet with the router.

WIRELESS PORTION:

I opened the box and read the directions for the PCMCIA (PC) card. they said basically to reboot and put the PC card in the slot. I did, and it was detected immediately. The laptop had been configured to connect to a Novell wired lan, so I was prompted for my OS CD a few times. After that, the install went fine and I rebooted one last time. When the laptop rebooted, I still had to go UNcheck that "Automatically Detect Settings" box to get on the internet. I did not see any mention of that in the documentation. So good for you if you read this deeply into my review.

PERFORMANCE:

SPEED and RANGE - excellent:
Outstanding. Whether on the laptop or desktops, throughput is great. My house is a two story stucco and Brick exterior house. Inside, I went about 30' laterally and 20' down with no discernable loss in download speed. I next went out the back of my house, off my deck and to the back of my patio. At this point, I'm about 60' laterally and 25' down from the router. The connection is still fast and clear. I next went around my house to the front, and across the street to my (generous) neighbor who had loaned me the laptop for this test, and proceeded to surf while on his front porch, approximately 125' from the router, and 25' below. There is also one interior and one exterior wall between the laptop and router. The connection is clearly much slower at this range, but I never lose my connection or time out. It's just slower downloading. I went into his house, and couldn't get a connection. But it would have had to penetrate his stone front house and a couple interior walls to get to me. Overall, the range is very good for my purposes (surfing downstairs/outside).

SIGNAL INTERFERENCE - minimal:
I have a newborn baby, and we were lucky enough to get a 2.4Ghz video baby monitor. I was really concerned that these devices would drastically interfere with each other. I've heard stories, and they made sense to me, that other 2.4Ghz devices could completely disrupt your wireless connections. So I turned on the monitor and positioned the laptop so that the baby monitor transmitter was between the router and laptop. I couldn't detect ANY difference or interference during this test. The laptop internet connection worked identically to how it was with the monitor off. When I turned on the monitor receiver, there was some slight interference - the picture was still clear, but there was an occasional very narrow horizontal band and an associated "tick" sound about once/second. It wouldn't prevent the monitor's use, but it would be irritating if you had the volume up much at all. Since I returned my friend's laptop right after my testing (I was at his house anyway), I just went into the setup program and disabled wireless. This immediately eliminated the interference. I was afraid the disabling would just block throughput but not stop the actual broadcast of a signal. But apparently it stops altogether, which is good for me.

Overall, I can't say enough about how easy it was to install, and how well it all worked. I am a fairly computer-savvy person, but I'm no network expert by any means.

SUPPORT:

Since buying my router, I have not needed support. Before the purchase, I emailed Linksys support to ask them if the baby monitor would be a problem. They emailed me a generic "here's what can goof up your wireless connections" document in return. I wasn't impressed with that. But the next night, a Linksys support technician calls me at home to discuss my email and the document. We end up talking for about 20 minutes, and they've never sold me anything. I was impressed with that, and that's the biggest reason I chose Linksys. In addition, I called the tech support line and asked them about 2.4Ghz phones and monitors. My call was in the middle of the day, and was answered by a technician in about 15 minutes, which I thought was fine.

Overall, it's a great product that's almost "STUPID PROOF" easy to set up, and works well. I highly recommend both the NIC and router.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Mixed experience
Review: Installation was smooth, and I was up and running in minutes. This device solved the problem of the horrible PPOE driver from my DSL provider (SBC/SNET) that didn't work. I was initially excited about the connectivity, but the wireless range is poor. I have a wood frame house, and I seem to drop the connection as soon as I get about 35 feet from the router. However, I'm usually within 25 feet, and connectivity there is good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Product, Easy Setup, Must've Fixed the Earlier Flaws
Review: This is one great product. Im extremely impressed. I just got the UPS today (Super Saver Shipping takes WEEKS). The first thing I did was plug in the power cord. Great, it lights up. Next, I hooked up the closest computer to it through one of the wired ports. Great! Now I can configure etc etc (though the default settings were enough for me). Next I started dumping the stack. I had had a lot of protocol setups already there for the USB cable modem and for a network card as well as VPN... Most of them I didn't need and I knew they would cause me trouble. So, I took out everything except for the network card and TCPIP for it. Cool, still works. Then I went to hook up the other computers (I did the internet last). Installed software, plugged in USB device, DONE! No kidding, I began writing messages on the other computer right after that. VERY EASY comparing to the 5+ Hours it took me to set up ICS (a whole other story). Anyway, PCI card. Same thing. Install, open case, take out old wired card, put in new card, hook up antanne, power up. Then, I ran into some slight trouble. After going through a couple bad network cables and finally finding a good one, I noticed I still couldn't go to Yahoo Google Etc. Using my keen eye developed in first setting up the modem (our tech dude just plugged it in and left) I noticed there was no DNS. There was the problem. The Router was supposed to get this information off the modem (since it was under Automatically Detect Settings with DHCP and all). So i reset the router, still nothing. I "Power Cycled" the modem (ie unplugged it and replugged it from the power) then reset the router and I'm writing this message now from a completely wireless computer (aside from all the other associated cords). Highly reccommended. If you can't figure it out try tech (though they're supposed to be terrible :( or call a friend. I love just not having to have a computer on 247 in order to have router like features.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Subject to interference
Review: I live in a highrise appartment building in New York City and have had significant problems with this wireless setup on the 802.11b standard. I disabled the WEP Security hoping that it would help performance, however; I keep getting disconnected from the access poing every 20 minutes on average. I also get dropped every time I answer my phone 2.4ghz phone. The problem is not so much with Linksys, the product does work as advertised, but with the overcrowding of the 2.4ghz band. The FCC allows manufactures to produce many types of products in the 2.44ghz range (802.11b).

I plan on returning my unit and see if I have better luck with the Linksys WAP54A which runs at exclusive 5 GHZ bandwith.

Overall, I will say that the product does work as expected, once you update the firmware to the latest version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect for the Home Network
Review: This model combines 4 Ethernet ports plus 4 more 802.11b wireless ports. This is the perfect device for a small home that wants to share a single cable connection. I set up my home network in under 30 minutes. Even though documentation was somewhat lacking, set up was a snap. (The only difficulty was configuring Norton's Personal FIrewall to let each computer address each other's drives.) I have not yet tested the wireless connection but thus far this product has worked without a glithc for 6 weeks!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: linksys
Review: this is no good. we have one set up, and the two computers are not even that far away. The one that is linked directly works fine, but every once and a while the other one (which is separated from the original by one floor and one room) cuts out a lot. It just stops receiving the signal. This can last a few minutes, or a few weeks, and there seems to be nothing you can really do to make work. Other than that, when it is working properly, it works great. It's very fast. If only it worked all the time, it would be great.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just thought I would throw in my 2 cents
Review: I just bought this recently off Amazon, as I now have my desktop, my work laptop, and my girlfriend's laptop to network together. The installation was super easy, even for someone like myself who has proven to be networking challenged before. An hour after opening the box from Amazon I was sitting outside a hundred feet or so from my apartment reading work email through my corporate VPN. All with the built-in 64 bit security. My only gripe: the manual doesn't emphasize the security features enough.


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