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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: 1 stars
Summary: A big headache...
Review: I may not be the most network savvy guy but I program device drivers for a living and this device has just been one big headache trying to get it to work right with constant firmware upgrades. just keeps disconnecting. though latest firmware seems to work better.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Wireless with windows XP is a mess
Review: It was a piece of cake to get this set up for my mother with a Mac and a Windows 2000, both on wireless. Then she bought a laptop with Windows XP professional and everything went to hell. We managed to get wireless set up, but the connection was extremeley flaky -- it kept on dropping and we got page not found errors. A search on google brought up a host of newsgroup discussion of problems with firmware. They say that the latest revisions of the firmware are worse than earlier ones. We eventually got the connection to be a bit more stable, but now we get periodic messages saying, "One or more wireless networks is available. To see the networks, click here" and have to click connect to keep our connection (after an annoying delay). I'm about to order a different router from Amazon and toss this one in the trash. This review is my penance for not taking the trouble to ship this back to Linksys and make them give me a refund or a new one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A home network dream...
Review: I've had mine for two years, supporting two laptops via wireless, and a Mac and Win2K Server through 10/100BaseT. Works great, and the Linksys support (which I only had to use once, about a laptop link, and they sent me a new one, no questions asked) is second to none. I've had great experiences with Linksys, and so have brand loyalty. There may be even better out there, but I can't imagine it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The most hackable router ever?
Review: Initially the product worked well for me, although there were some config issues to begin with, due to old firmware. However after about 6 months the router began to reset randomly - at first I thought there was a problem with the router until one time I came back to find someone trying to surf my network - turns out that the default setting for the wireless option is enabled with no WEP encryption - so a LOCAL hacker had taken to resetting the router using an easy network call and then surfing into my network using the wireless link...it got so bad I had to change to a new product. The forums are alive with postings that show how easy it is to hack this product. I would not advise the use of this router if you have confidential information on your network.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: set up a little rocky, but flawless in use
Review: My installation of the wireless adapter card for this unit did not go well (on a win2k laptop) - my own fault, but I put the card in first, then started installing the S/W... Call to Linksys support was VERY unsatisfactory. Rude and in the biggest hurry to get off the phone! Lowest marks for customer support. After having to clean the registry(!) and re-install the drivers, everything was fine.

Of course the install on my mac went flawlessly the first time.

Using the laptop downstairs, upstairs, in bed, in front of the tv while still online is such a pleasure! The unit works very well.

The web based interface for the router's settings is just fine. Created some firewall rules - for port forwarding to one desktop in my lan - everything works very well.

Get this if you want to go wireless! Just make sure you save yourself a minor headache during the setup and RTFM!!

I would definitely buy this unit again - it is worth it!

I'd give it five stars except for the crappy support from linksys. Four stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works flawlessly
Review: This wireless router was very simple to configure, the instructions were great and I did not even have to re-configure it after re-formatting my hard drive. I have had zero issues over the past 12 months even after multiple power failures (hurricanes and other acts of God) and two weeks of being disconnected when I was on vacation. You can use it wirelessly or use cable connections for 4 additional ethernet devices. It obviously is more cost effective to purchase a router for multiple ethernet connections than to have to pay your cable company for additional connections. I use it to access my company's secure network from home and the difference in performance between connecting from home or connecting at work is negligible.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hmmm.......
Review: Works good for me, dont know why anyone else has such problems. Usually get connection speeds of say 1.4 - 1.9 mbs on wireless. Try it yourself at www.bandwidthplace.com. I use mine to connect a laptop with Win2000 Pro(pcmcia), a desktop with WinXp home(usb), a Dell Axim PDA with PocketPC(compact flash) all wirelessly and a hard wired laptop running WinXP home. I also play games on wireless via the internet (intense games such as Battlefield 1942) with no problems (connection or speed) at all. Great product, great range, I am happy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Version 2 still working... Version 4 almost worthless.
Review: I've had a Ver 2 of this router for about a year, and the thing works flawlessly, and I can't remember any major problems with it, once I got the latest firmware for it. I got this Ver. 4 for traveling, so I can connect to relatives' networks and use my wireless features. As a router, in a network, it would work fine for a while (an hour or two), but then would stop responding, even via hard wire. Anything going through the router would be blocked. Even the reset button wouldn't reset the box. As a gateway to my cable modem, it would never pick up its IP address from the ISP, so the entire network was without internet.

I took that one back to CompUSA, and they gave me another one. This one has worked perfectly. Now... it starts doing the same things as before. Every once in a while, it will just stop responding. I've tried a few things, like turning logging off, and enabling MTU. We'll see how it works, but I'd stay away from this one. I'm partial to Linksys, but with these problems, it's just not worth it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Linking My Sys
Review: I bought this product around 4 years ago. I use it daily to share my cable internet connection between my two computers. This thing is great. I never had any problems whatsoever with it. You can connect up to 4 computers via Ethernet up to this baby. On top of that you can connect as many other computers as you wish via the wireless network. This particular router/access point is using the 802.11b standard. This means that the maximum wireless speed you will achieve is 10megabits which is really not bad. My slave computer (the one without the direct cable connection) can download files at 200k. Installation is very simple and the instructions are well written.

The router is designed very well. It's made from a sturdy plastic material which seems to bend a little. I haven't really dropped it but I am sure it can handle a beating. I like that the antennas pivot to a direction of your choosing and actually make the thing look cool as well. I would recommend placing this on top of a table or on any open area so that there is less interference for the wireless network(less interference equals faster connection).

Even though this product is 4 years old, it is still not outdated. I upgraded my main computer and it is now equipped with a gigabit Ethernet. Although this product doesn't support the gigabit it does support the 100mbit, which is very adequate for any home use.

I would definitely recommend this product to anyone thinking of sharing an internet connection, however, I would advise you select one of the 802.11g wireless routers since they offer higher wireless speeds.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't expect your rebate
Review: If you are looking to purchase this router, weigh this router's merits based on the full list price. After carefully saving my receipt, clipping out bar codes, and filling out forms I still had to wait 10 weeks to be told that my purchase was made outside of the qualifying period.

Overall, the router is fairly easy to set up. Encryption was slightly less straight forward, but still logical if you keep notes as you go.

The router signal strength is adequate but not impressive. I had to try two wireless cards in my PC before getting a signal (but this may have been the fault of my first wireless card). I have range of about 120 feet with my laptop.


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