Rating: 
Summary: Networking: Not just for techies anymore
Review: I'm a "techie" guy. I'm not a professional but I know plenty about computers. I configured the advanced rules on my software firewall myself, I've built computers using other people's instructions and parts lists, and I've programmed in C++ for fun.However I had never really done any local area type networking. I knew it was something I could do but just hadn't tried, partly because I was kind of intimidated. It was time for me to get over it though. I wanted a hardware firewall with "Stateful Packet Inspection" for my home system because I just switched to a Vonage phone and I now have to leave my cable modem on 24 / 7 or the 'net phone won't ring. Knowing that this would mean my computer would be more exposed than I was comfortable with, I decided to pick up one of these routers to put the PC behind, and also to permit me to try building a small home network for fun. So I ordered one of these bad boys. So what did I learn installing this thing? Hardly anything. Why? Becuase the included CD does the whole thing for you! I really couldn't believe it. You pop in the CD, and it examines your net connection. Then it tells you to plug in the router. Presto, you're networked. Repeat for all computers you want hooked up to the net and you're done. Now - why have so many people had trouble with this thing? Well, I managed to break (and then fix) this thing in about 10 minutes just "fiddling" with the settings. Since I know nothing about LAN type setups, I started experimenting with the router's settings. Cluelessly, I changed the IP address of the router to the internal IP address assigned to my computer by the router. Ah, this screwed everything up instantly. Having done this I could no longer pull up the configuration utility in the router. So I had to unplug all the wires and hold down the "reset" button for 30 seconds to restore the factory settings, then reinstall. In short: LinkSys may have made networking seem deceptively simple, but that doesn't mean that a n00b can't break the thing. I broke it without hardly trying, and as I said, I'm no n00b. Once I stopped breaking the thing with my curious-george type antics, there were no problems, no conflicts, not the slightest bit of a stutter. For the more tech inclined: I left Sygate on my system. You know all the "noise" traffic (ie ICMP) that hits your software firewall if you're hooked up directly to the net? Every drop of it is gone, of course, because the hardware firewall is deflecting it and discarding it if it's not relevant. Tech specs: I'm using a Win 2K machine, p4 1.5 with 640ram, with a Motorola Surfboard cable modem and a 3Com Ethernet card. So if a friend called me and said: "I need a firewall router, but I don't have anyone to install it for me. Is there a 'For Dummies' book I can get?" I'd tell them to forget the books and just buy this router. If a techie oriented friend called me and said "You got a favorite firewall?" I'd say this one - with one caveat. The included firewall, while seemingly sturdy, is very limited in it's configurability, especially when compared to Sygate. (Possibly an unfair comparison - I don't know.) For example it only allows the forwarding and blocking of UDP and TCP traffic. I would have liked a firewall that let me work with ICMP too - the firewall seemingly just "deflects" all ICMP. Regardless: If you'd like a router and improved PC security, I'd highly recommend this thing. You don't need to know a single thing about networking to both improve your computer security ten fold and get up to 4 PC's hooked up online.
Rating: 
Summary: Not too happy with it...
Review: I had 2 of these routers and both died. After the second one die, I went with netgear. The NetGear does not have a lot of the detailed features that the LinkSys had, and I miss them. This NetGear (rp614 v2) has been giving me problems as well. I say pass on them both...
Rating: 
Summary: Not a very good VPN
Review: For the price you pay for this, you'd think it might actually work. I used this for approximately four months and waited for a new firmware patch over that entire time. I just wanted something newer than the almost two year old firmware that it came with, but nothing. Spoke with tech support a number of times, but nothing was resolved and they didn't really help much at all anyway. What was wrong with it? Basically, it functioned great as a stand alone NAT router. It did that part well. But beyond that, it did not do the advertised features. For instance, the VPN endpoint wouldn't actually allow me to connect at all. Configuring the VPN client under Windows without third party applications is nigh impossible, so I tried out SSH Sentinel. SSH Sentinel works great as a product because I've used it to connect to other IPSEC VPNs, including the Linksys BEFVP41, but it would not connect to the BEFSX41 at all. Secondly, the port forwarding doesn't work. Say you want to forward port 80 to a computer in your network, you can do that from outside the network (i.e. a machine outside your network can enter your WAN address and get your internal machine) but if you enter your external WAN address hoping to get access to your internal machine while inside the network, it won't work. It will time out. I had to set up a DNS server inside my network to point to the internal IP address in order to get around this failure in the product. All in all, this router is severely lacking and isn't worth your money. If you really want Linksys, get the more expensive BEFVP41, it actually works as an IPSEC VPN endpoint. However, I recommend getting something else. Personally, I decided on the Zyxel 300 Series router and a permanent Linux VPN server and that works ten billion times better.
Rating: 
Summary: Works Great
Review: No problems using this product with my SBC Yahoo DSL.
Rating:
Summary: Firewall does not work
Review: I wanted a simple firewall to allow only certain machines full access to the net and block the rest. Inspite of some experience with network routers I could not get the firewall working. Even going thru entire manual and the help section in linksys website and new firmware has not helped.
Dont waste your money on it.
Rating: 
Summary: bad, Bad, BAD
Review: This router sucks. That's right ladies and gentlemen. I saw this thing for $50 a day ago. It looks like right after the holidays the demand went up and so did prices. It looks like people started doing their work / using Internet right on Dec 5 and decided to go router shopping. Terrible! Now I must wait for the price to drop again.
Rating:
Summary: Installation wizard didn't work on Adelphia Cable
Review: The installation wizard could not automatically detect my cable Internet setting (Adelphia). The electronic manual and paper installation guide did not help to correct the problem. I was able to manually set the IP address, but that would have required me to do this every day (Not acceptable). A search of the Linksys Web site (Under their Knowledge Base section) provided me with a paper on how to install their routers on an Adelphia Cable network. It worked like a charm. Besides a little frustration in finding my answer, the firewall/router works like a charm. I have connected two computers to it and they both access the Internet with no problems. The logging feature allows me to observe the traffic in and out of my system, as well as the attempts by possible hackers to access my network. Overall I'm happy with this purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Easy Installation
Review: I'm running a Compaq pentium 4 with an RCA DCM225 cable modem connection. I wanted a firewall router and I purchased BEFSX41. Installation and configuration was easy and the installation documentation was perfectly adequate to get it hooked up. I've only been running it a few days, though, so I give it 5 stars at this point only based on ease of installation and what looks to be perfect functionality right out of the box
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed!
Review: I looked all over for firewall/routers that would allow a PC and Mac to share the same cable-modem internet connection safely, and this one seemed to fit the bill. I haven't really tried getting the two machines to talk to each other. Both are able to simultaneously access the internet safely, and that's all I was looking to accomplish. Very easy to set up, and no problems (so far).
Rating:
Summary: Sets up in minutes!
Review: Great value for the money. Perfect for a small home network sharing one internet connection and files. When I bought this router, I was using the free Motorola SB4200 modem from Cablevision OOL. Screen pop was okay running through the router...not as good as running the modem straight to the pc (which was decent). Thought I'd try the Linksys Ehterfast Cable Modem with this router...POPITY POP POP! What a difference! Great combination. You can't go wrong. Don't bother with crappy hand-me-down modems, break out the crowbar and buy a Linksys modem and a Linksys router and hit the net.
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