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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: I love it so much that I did it again!
Review: I've never networked anything before using this, and I have successfully created two different wireless networks. I used the BEFW11S4 to set up a wireless network in my two story house (~1500 square feet), and I don't have a dead spot in the entire house. Not only that, but I am able to use my laptop at the pool, over 100 feet away. It was a little bit tricky to set up because the router had the same IP as my modem. But after getting this figured out and simply changing the IP of the router (which is extremely easy with the setup utility), the network worked very well.
Now I am in a house in Mexico which is made out of solid concrete and rebar. This does create an issue with distance, but we fixed that by setting up the router in the middle of the house, that way we still get our 11 Mbps here in the office and on the other side of the house. The greatest benefit of the router, though was its MAC address cloning ability. Even though our ISP here limits our access to a single computer which it recognizes (I learned after a couple hours of messing around with different options) by the MAC address of the network adapter card, we were able to connect an entire house of computers (>5) with the hub by simply (again using the awesome configuration utility) having the Linksys router change its MAC address to match the network adapter of the old computer. Now we have wireless access in the states, and we can bring the laptop to my parents house here in Mexico and instantly get service here.

PROS
*Can use inexpensive ISP service to a single computer to give internet and network access to multiple computers.
*Can offer both wireless and wired (up to 4 computers wirelessly) connectivity.
*Maintains speed up to 50 feet away through 3 6-inch walls filled with concrete and rebar.
*Easy to set up.
*Great configuration/setup utility which is accessable through a web browser (firmware is also upgradable by downloading an update from the website.)

CONS
*It does show a loss in speed or even in connectivity in certain "dead spots" in the house. (To fix this, you just scoot over like 3 feet in either direction and it goes from 0% to 50%).
*Poor customer support over the phone.

I bought a second one based on my experience with the first one. As I discover more and more about what this unit is capable of doing, it makes me more and more willing to recommend it. So that's what I'm doing: "I recommend that you get this router/WAP."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good solution
Review: This is a good solution for a basic networking setup. I use it at the dorms in college (3ft thick concrete) and get ok to good reception, and at home it's near perfect. I have no complaints. If you have a laptop, go wireless.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Decent for most applications. Slow on firmware release
Review: This wireless router lags behind in features to the more popular "non-wireless" linksys routers. One major feature missing is UPNP, which allows certain applications to function: MSN Messenger for example. If you need to use meesenger for voice chats, look else where.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: NOT Dependable
Review: I have a big house (3 stories), and everyone in my family depends heavily on internet access nowadays. We got fed up with usual dial-up nonsense, so I (the oldest of three children) suggested getting cable modem with Road Runner. Instead of sending Ethernet cables all over the house, I also suggested purchasing a wireless router.

The major reasons I chose this model was because it was the cheapest one at the store.

Bottom line: Linksys made a great router, but they made a poor Wireless access point.

For the not-so-computer-savvy users that want instant connection right out of the box with no configuration tinkering, the BEFW11S4 delivers. By default, the Wireless signal is already transmitting, and DHCP is enabled to allow dynamic IP assignment to all computers. Just read the Quick Install card to setup your computer's wireless adapater to gain access to the wireless connection. Very easy. In the unlikely event that your wireless connection goes down, this device comes with 4 ethernet ports so that you can just plug in your computer with a regular ethernet cable (assuming that your computer has an ethernet card). The wireless connection and ethernet can be used simultaneously.

However, after 6 months of happily surfing the internet wirelessly anywhere in my house, the wireless signal suddenly died on me last week. I tried EVERYTHING to fix it - hitting the reset button, unplugging the devices for 10 seconds, and flashing it with the latest firmware (version 1.39 at the time of writing this). i HIGHLY recommend you upgrade the firmware on the wireless router if you decide to get it.

Tech support was helpful (didn't have to wait very long on the phone to speak to a Tech rep), and they would take me through the troubleshooting procedure just to make sure I didn't overlook anything I might have missed.

But my story still has a happy ending. Linksys is going to replace my wireless router. I mail them the bad one, and they'll mail me back a new one.

Seriously, if you want reliablity, don't be afraid to spend a little more money. Do the homework, and find a dependable one like Orinoco.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Worked but only on factory settings
Review: The router along with the WPC11 pc card worked fine until I tried to change the SSID and enable WEP so I could sleep at night knowing I had some security enabled.

The instructions say use the "admin" password when entering the setup the first time. No problem there. But when I make my changes and click "apply", it askes for a password again. Only this time "admin" doesn't work. I've reset the equipment many times, talked to tech support, etc. to no avail.

I've given up and will be trying someone else's product.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Straight forward operation
Review: Good out of the box operation but must use original power supply which is huge (3 amp). As I bring stuff to South America, I usually leave the power supply in favor of a 220 V one. Tried with a 500 mili amp and would work for a while but crashed often.

PC cards are working fine but USB ethernet adaptor is careless...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lost Router
Review: Loved the set up, got the wireless network up and running no problem in 20 minutes. Worked great for two weeks, then I could not connect to Bell South DSL, Had to power down the router and reset the settings. This happens about every two weeks. Talked to Linksys tech support and suggested new firmware, hopefuly this will fix the problem.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works without a hitch
Review: Set it up and connected to it via Cisco Aironet PC Card in less than 15 minutes. From a directly connected interface, I download at ~1.5Mbps and speed only drops to ~1MB from far upstairs corner of house away from the router (approx. 50 ft., through the floor and 2 walls)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Quick and easy
Review: I'm using pacbell/sbc dsl services and was able to get up and going within 30 minutes. There's nothing difficult about this hardware. After researching Wireless Network Cards, I chose the Netgear card and have been extremely happy with it. I heard the linksys card is a nightmare to use. No problems with mixing vendors, and it only took a 2 minute call to netgear support to get up and going (my own issue, not the hardware) I'm running XP on a dell laptop. This was totally worth the investment.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Poor Performance
Review: I was very disappointed with this product. Advertising said 300 feet, I was lucky if it did 30 feet. Even at 30 feet it would loose the connection and I would have to power every thing off to get it working again. A waste of money!!


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