Rating: 
Summary: Great Product
Review: I purchased the BEFW11S4 and 3 Linksys WUSB11 USB Adapters. I was interested in a home network and sharing our DSL. 4 of us worked on it. I had my wife and 2 daughters (12 and 15) configure their own. I have always believed you should know something about the devices you are using. Now my daughters are far from computer illiterate (they build thier own computers and have been on computers since around the age of 3) but we had the whole system linked (4 computers to DSL and networked printer) in under an hour.It is working great and I have a very strong signal at all times from the downstairs computer to the ones in the upstairs. Excellent product and easy to configure.
Rating:
Summary: Absoluteley Amazing!!!
Review: I have one computer in the basement connected to a cable modem and another computer upstairs on the second floor with no modem. It was very difficult to send wires to the two computers so I went with wireless even hearing some negative things about range and floors inbetween. Well, am I glad I went with it! With two floors inbetween and the Wireless router being in my basement, I still get between 85-100% link strength ALL THE TIME! It tooks literally 10 minutes to set up and I now can share my cable modem with both computers AND network the two. This thing is AMAZING! I got the wireless USB adapter for the upstairs computer...works GREAT! I RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Easy setup but doesn't work reliably!
Review: Received the Linksys BEFW11S4 and set it up without much hassle. Hooked up 3 desktop PCs (2 wireless) to it and got them all up and running. Then after about 1 minute of surfing from one of the wireless boxes it just stopped working. Called technical support and they returned my call 2 days later. They wanted me to download new drivers to the wireless ethernet card (also Linksys), which I did. Again everything worked for awhile and then stopped. After several days of deinstalling and reinstalling on the PCs, I got everything working once again. Downloading to the hard-wired PC was quick, but downloading the same file to one of the wireless PCs had 1/10th the speed. At this speed I might as well go back to dial up access instead of DSL! To top it off, both wireless PCs again lost their internet connection and wouldn't connect again. I have now given up hope and am sending all the Linksys wireless stuff back. Who needs this kind of headache?
Rating: 
Summary: Better than D-Link
Review: I just exchanged my D-LINK wireless access point for the Linksys. The Linksys looks and feels more sturdy and have marginally better radio coverage. None of the access points manages to cover the entire house though. I am a wireless engineer and have checked 10 different locations and measured the entire house for all those locations and in none does it cover both up and downstairs. The coverage is no more than about 30 to 50 feet in a normal house whatever they claim. My D-LINK PCMCIA card in the laptop had no problem recognising the linksys as soon as I changed the SSID to "linksys", it seems to be fully compatible. I have yet to be able to configure my old access point as a second access point for the upstairs, more info to come. Overall, the Linksys is great and the browser set-up is superior and also automatically confirms that you are communicating properly between your PC and the access point. It also includes PPPoE which meant I could replace the PPPoE from my ISP with what is built into the Linksys, this gave me much better uptime to my ISP and fewer to no disconnects anymore (I use IDSL from Covad)
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Product
Review: After six weeks of reading reviews like this and doing a little research, I decided to scrap my Intel hub and purchase the Linksys WAP w/Cable/DSL 4Port Router and Linksys Wireless PC Cards. Actually it was a Christmas gift from my wife...lucky me. Anyway, I had a desktop and two laptops that I wanted to link together and share my cable modem with. Setup was relatively easy and only took about 30 minutes. I decided to simply plug my desktop into one of the ports rather than make it wireless since I had no plans on moving it around regularly, which saved my wife about $150. I opted for 128 bit signal encryption and enabled the DHCP server so that all three of my computers could share Internet access off of one IP address. The system is working terrific. I have a 2400 Sq. Ft. one level home and have no problems with range or speed. Even outside on the back patio the signal strength is still excellent. Linksys may need to upgrade their signal monitor though, because even when it says that there is no signal, I can still surf the web and transfer files between computers with great speed. Most cable modem users will never see speeds above 1.5MBPS anyway, which is actually very fast, so the fact that Linksys only estimates speeds of about 11MBPS up to 30 feet should be a moot point. Unless you regularly transfer huge files between computers and have something like a T3 line, then you will likely never see a loss in speed. Most people who purchase this system simply for the capability of being mobile with their laptops should be pleased with the speed of their Internet connection just about anywhere around their house. Also, with my laptops and desktops being assigned IP addresses from my Linksys DHCP Server rather than from my service provider, they can't be scanned or pinged by outside intruders, which makes them invulnerable to little hacker kiddies. The router itself has an effective built-in firewall of sorts, and the firmware utility that allows you to configure your router through your web browser is also excellent and easy to use. Although I have not tested any other wireless products such as this, I see no reason for anything more than what Linksys delivers in this system. I have absolutely no complaints and am more than satisfied with this product. The only other thing Linksys may need to improve on is the spelling in their online manuals and instruction sheets. Who writes those things anyway?
Rating:
Summary: Nice Unit, Works Well, Setup can be tricky
Review: Linksys BEFW11S4 - I received this unit from my wife for Christmas in 2001. I had it connected to my cable modem on the 26th. The documentation was a little sparse, but I was able to get the thing going pretty quick. When I first had it set up, I was able to see the internet on all my machines, but they could not see each other. Turns out having Windows XP Professional on all the computers was part of my problem...File sharing and permissions have to be set up correctly for the computers to share their info. Let's blame that one on pilot error :-) Visiting Microsoft's ExpertZone for networking tips led me down the correct path.
I encountered troubles on my second day of ownership when my Cable Modem provider, Comcast, switched over to their own service from @Home (Which is going bankrupt). I was still able to see my network in the house: One laptop with a wireless PC card from Orinoco, my desktop which was connected to the router directly, and my daughter's desktop downstairs in the kitchen with a Linksys Wireless USB adapter (See my review on that puppy, awesome) So I knew the issue was in one of my new settings with Comcast's distribution of IP addresses. Going into the setup, I found that even though I had told the router to obtain an IP address automatically, it would not, or could not. It just told me my WAN address was 0.0.0.0 Not a good address for the 'net. Hooking my cable modem directly to my computer instantly allowed me to obtain an IP address and Internet connectivity. I used IPCONFIG in a command prompt to get my new IP address, then went into my Network Connections to get my physical address (MAC address) of my network card. I then hooked up my router to the computer and the cable modem to the router. I used the Linksys control screen advanced settings to clone my network card's MAC address (In case Comcast needed the actual address of the card they supplied). I then manually entered the IP address and DNS I found earlier with IPCONFIG and Network Connections. Bingo, I was on the 'net, through my router. Knowing my IP address said the lease was set to expire in one week, I didn't want to wait a week and have to do this all over again. So I reset the Router to obtain an IP address automatically, and powered down my entire computer, cable modem included. Powering back up, the router found a new IP address, and my entire network of three computers was set up and running on the Internet. I am not sure if spoofing my MAC address was really necessary, but I left it as is and the network runs great. Wireless is the way to go if you can spare the extra money when compared to pulling wires. I get about 5 Mb/sec connectivity from my daughters desktop down ion the kitchen one floor down, while the Linksys router is upstairs in my office. I get the same for my laptop when I am down on the couch in the living room. When it warms up here in New Jersey I'll think of heading into the yard with the laptop to check on connectivity range outside the house. RonGoltsch at Hotmail dot com
Rating:
Summary: Linksys Cust Supt - Don't Expect Any!
Review: Bought complete system including printserver. Working with just ADHOC connectivity between machines was ok. Setup is horrible. I had all 3 machines and printer in lab area. Followed directions (*switched to infrastructure) and had everything cabled together for setup. Could not get the flash update to work for the router. Frequently unable to get the setup page to activate. Unable to achieve connectivty on SBC DSL. Printserver is supposed to have an ID code on bottom barcode - it did not. Tech said to use the setup software and it would pick up the code automatically to id the printserver. It did not. Tech said the unit was bad. He had no idea what the number on the barcode on my unit was about. Tried to get through to support and accomplished this once after wainting 45 minutes. Other times they answer and ask for your number so a tech will call back. Only once did I get a return call - on a Saturday when I was not around! Categorically, the worst CS experience in my many years of networking. Website is also useless for the difficult questions. I'm not a newbie and have been in networking for years. Even build my own PC's and Servers. Suggest that you avoid this product unless you are a friend of a Linksys exec who can get you priority support. Try another product.
Bob
Rating:
Summary: Does what I wanted it to.
Review: This was the best choice for me. I did not want or need the hassle of running wires through 3 floors of my home. I experimented with a location and found a closet on my first floor that reached most of my home. Most not all. The range is limited but at any signal strength you get the full speed you need. I use Roadrunner and the set up was super easy. It worked right out of the box and with no tweaking. The firewall works great. My Black Ice showed absolutely no attacks after I installed the unit.
You can add additional access points to cover your whole house. Just don't think that one access point will serve your needs for a large mulit level home.
I would recommend this product for a typical home wireless network.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfied Linksys BEFW11S4 customer
Review: When I bought this unit I was looking at some key points: 1) VPN support
2) 128 bit WEP encryption
3) Performance
4) Range (Portability)
5) Built-in switch
6) Basic firewall support The first and fifth point had to be met or I would have to buy multiple pieces of equipment to set up the network. Of course, 128-bit encryption. However, this only reduces the risk of a security issue and not eliminate it. I have a DSL connection that is running at 1.5 Mbps. If I can't get that from the wireless I'm probably going to go with a home PNA 2.0 solution. Range and portability are virtually synonymous in this case. If I have to be in the same room as the router with the laptop, the wireless solution is useless. A basic hardware firewall is nice; however, there are software solutions that would work. I can say the BEFW11S4 satisfied all of these conditions. My performance is a little over 3.0 Mbps w/128-bit WEP and at a distance of 50 ft indoor (a floor and a couple of walls in between the router and the laptop). There is only one user on the wireless network. Also, installation was a snap. Literally, 30 minutes to internet connection via wireless. Another 10 minutes to re-install my VPN software and get it going again. I have to say this in combination with the Netgear MA401 802.11b wireless PC Card is an awesome combination. This card is always indicating a link quality of 70+% and signal strength of 60+%. Also, I placed the laptop in the same room as the router and got 100% on both link and signal. That actually surprised me. In conclusion, I'd say you can't go wrong with this pair. Both are easy to install/setup (using XP) and great performers.
Rating:
Summary: Works great, need to use your head...
Review: What a great product for the money. If you follow the directions posted in these review, you will be fine. As for the wireless speeds throughout the house, you need to use your head. Chances are you will only use wireless in several of your rooms -- plan the location of the router accordingly. Try to have the unit above or under the area that you will utilize wireless on different floors. On the same floor, you should be fine. Of course, wall construction makes a difference. If you have a huge house, consider multiple access points. These things are not that expensive, especially if you have own a house where distance is an issue!!! If you want to use wireless by the pool, chances are you can afford to have a wireless AP near a window =) Use your head and you will LOVE this device. As a side note, I've used Linksys PCMCIA wireless network cards, and even the USB wireless device. All great products, and 11mbps on multiple floors in the house.
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