Rating: 
Summary: Easy install. Bumps in performance
Review: Bought Feb 2002.
Install was easy. Both the Wireless router and the adapter.Documentation was good. Was able to do stuff easily, like encryption etc. Customer support was good. (4 min hold time.) where it did not perform seamlessly was in advanced uses, like disabling DHCP for port forwarding to a apache server.
On Re-Enabling DHCP, the router would puke on itself and I had to reset everytime meaning, changing password, changing my Network ID etc. Had to download new firmware based on what the technician told me and install that. Works ok now. Overall, Its as good or bad as the netgear router/adapter set.
Buy one which has greater mail in rebate or dicsount.
Rating:
Summary: Convenience of wired and wireless network in one router
Review: I connected the cable ISP service to two PCs at home, one wired and the other one wireless using BEFW11S4. It's nice to have this flexibility. When the task demands the stable network and speed, I use the wired PC, while the priority is the convenience of the location, the wireless PC is the choice.
My wireless PC uses WUSB11 to communicate with the router. During the installation, though I am a computer programmer (not a net work engineer) understanding something about the network, such as topology, OSI layer, Internet security, etc., I had some difficulty comprehend the content of the user guide. For novice, the installation process provides a good learning opportunity, specially understanding the technical terms.
The installation guide was "One size fits all" and it didn't not fit mine. Because my PC operating system is WindowsXP and the user guide was not written for WindowsXP, I had to do some research to find the equivalent instruction in order to proceed the installation steps. Additionally there were areas that the installation guide didn't cover. For an example, I had to acquire the MAC address to configure the router correctly, with assistance from Linksys. My experience with the 24/7 customer support was very difficult one. I had to call them four times to get through the line. For the first three attempted calls, I had to hang up after being on hold for an hour each time.
When I finally had a customer support staff on the phone, the interaction with him was extremely unpleasant. He was very impatient and rude when I was unable to readily follow his fast paced instruction (not to mention the difficult-to-understand technical jargons he used, some jargons are industry standard and some are the vendor specific ones).
It took one weekend to complete the installation, including the time spent on trouble shooting and calling the Linksys customer support.
It's nice to have the flexibility of having the wired and wireless network in one router.
Rating: 
Summary: A real answer to a real problem
Review: ...Setting it up I had an issue that was easily fixed by calling tech support,(only 5 min wait and worth it, the technician was very good). My laptop which will be connecting wirelessly was not connecting no matter what I tried. It turns out that you can't run wireless cards and ethernet cards (mine was built in} at the same time because the machine will always default to the ethernet card. Which is exactly what was happening. We removed the driver for the ethernet card and it began to work great right away. Everything else about the setup was fairly simple and went very smooth the directions were easy to understand. I especially liked the quick installation sheet which is what I used to setup with. I highly recommend this product and would buy it again if I had to do it all over. The distance of the wireless machine is really dependent on terrain. But for my two story house it was great. The only weak spot being downstairs in the opposite direction of the linksys base as far as I could go. However it still worked and was quite able to handle downloads even at the weakest point. You just can't go wrong till they come out with a new beakthrough in technology. But even then the prices will be to high in the beginning. For instance the new 802.11a is several hundred dollars more expensive then this machine. And for what you get I just don't need it. This is a winner. The newest version of the product is BEF11S4 VER 2... The newest version has fixed most of the bugs of the previous version. Good Luck!!! A very satisfied consumer
Rating:
Summary: Check your BIOS
Review: ... Just like many others it took me FOREVER to get this working on my PC, but it is not this product that was my problem! My 1997 Microcenter Clone special had a 1997 vintage BIOS which could not handle the PCI adaptor for the WPC11 wireless card. My Dell 4300 worked immediately with no problems whatsoever. When I finally realized what the issue was on the older computer, I was able to update it's BIOS and the Linksys wireless access point worked perfectly ... just as advertised. It is the coolest setup using this router/switch/wireless access point!!! ... with both wired and wireless capability.Everyone in the family getting access to the DSL line is great! In my mind this is the perfect product for home networking. Don't wait another minute ... you need one of these!! ... Hope this review helps others that get stuck getting this stuff to work for them. P.S. Linksys Tech support was very helpful in helping me work through the install.
Rating:
Summary: It couldn't be easier!
Review: What a dream experience. I order from amazon (what a great site). Get my equipment 2 days later. It takes me 15 minutes to install my Linksys cable modem and configure it with AT&T over the phone. The only information I need to give AT&T is the MAC address of the modem and my NIC card. After getting the modem to work I plug in the Linksys wireless router. I go with the default configuration and clone my NIC card's MAC address. I recycle the modem and the router, and shazam, I have a home network that has broadband access to the Internet. I install the Linksys USB wireless network adapter drivers on my IBM laptop, reboot, plug-in the wireless network adapter, and shazam, my laptop can access the Internet from anyplace within my house. The range is great on the wireless hub. The USB network adapter works great. I have worked in IT for fifteen years (honestly I don't work for Linksys). I know what I am doing, but I honestly believe my 93 year old grandmother could have installed this stuff. I am cancelling my POTS based ISP connection tomorrow. Happy surfing!
Rating:
Summary: I'm so pleased
Review: I am submitting this review after installing this Linksys wireless router this morning. Just so folks who read this understand, I am not a techno-geek at all. On a scale of 1-10 of computer-savviness, I'm about a 5. Also, (not that it makes a bit of difference)--I'm a woman. So, when I say that I had this whole thing (including the USB Linksys wireless network adapter) hooked up and running in less than an hour, you'll understand that it's fairly easy to install. I am thrilled with the results!! I did call their tech support, I'll admit, and the fellow there pretty much walked me through the whole thing, but then--VOILA--it works as advertised!! I have 100% signal strength in our house (one computer is located on the second floor, and this one is located on the floor directly below the other computer). One thing to watch for---I had to go back to Staples to buy the cable I needed for this installation. The Linksys box should have in big letters "YOU NEED ANOTHER ETHERNET CABLE TO INSTALL THIS--NOT INCLUDED!"
Rating: 
Summary: It works well after you get it working...
Review: I originally bought a Netgear MR314. It was MUCH easier to set up, has a metal case and provided keyword filtering. BUT, we are using Symbol 2846 Wireless 802.11b Handhelds (10 of them) and kept getting our connections dropped. Symbol had another case on file with the MR314 with the same problem, so I got the Linksys... Good news, after I got it working (3 tech support calls, use the switches option the hold time was only a couple of minutes compared to over 30 if you chose "routers"!!) we have not dropped a single connection and the coverage is outstanding. Tech support was good, just wished I didn't have to use it. The problem I ran into was after a firmware upgrade. It did not take the first time and eventually we had to reset the switch.. after that it has worked great, but doesn't have keyword filtering, only denies access to certain IP's, at least this is all I can find in the setup screen. I would buy it again only because I have already been through the learning curve. We were able to simultaneosly process 6 handhelds with no problem, if you have ever used multiple PDA's, you know how cool that is...
Rating:
Summary: BEFW11S4 and PC wireless from Linksys
Review: I read the reviews on these products and was worried I would have trouble. I have an HP computer with XP operating system, and another with windows 98. I put the router to the XP system- no problem, it installed itself! Then, I installed the drivers and then the PC wireless card. Voila! my old computer in now on line for the kids. Thanks for an excellent product. I highly recommend this . It offer so much more versatility then another cable line.
Rating: 
Summary: Go wireless, but not Linksys
Review: I purchased this product in May of 2001 and out of the box it didn't work. I had to download and install the latest firmware before it would start talking. Once up and running, it functioned flawlessly for 6 months or so -- until I updated the firmware again, but more on that later.
Unlike others that have reported, I get pretty good coverage upstairs and downstairs, even outside and I live in a noisy congested city. I also use the wpc11 Linksys pc card, I'd advise against this card if you use Linux, it was tough to get Redhat 7.1 to use it. I find that the Orinoco cards are really the way to go.
Encryption is buggy, buggy, buggy. This is a direct result of the firmware, which really is pure junk. The admin functions are accessed via a web page internal to the router and really is quite nice, except that the firmware is buggy. The WEP (encryption) key that you can generate by putting in a pass phrase just never matches the one that you put in on your laptop. And, if you set it in 128bit mode, sometimes it still runs in 64 and vice versa! I wound up creating my own keys and putting them in on both devies. Update: I was able to get a beta version of the firmware from their tech support after complaining about the bugs and this version works great. You can even access the supersecret extended logging function by going to the LogManage.htm page, which will give you more info about who's knocking.
So to recap:
Ease of use - is great (when it works)
Firmware - is junk (loses settings including wep!)
Range - fine for me
Price - can't beat it with a stick
If you are a geek and you don't mind troubleshooting and you like the price, then this unit is for you. If you aren't tech savy and just want to plug it in and have it work, roll your dice!
Either way, the wireless way was one of my favorite purchases in the last few years.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent choice for me
Review: I purchased this item after I researched the different kind of routers available on the market. I think I made a very good choice. The only problem I had was related to my DSL provider (Earthlink) and they did not appear to be very helpful to me. Nevertheless, LynkSys provided me with the missing information and my router works just great.
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