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SMC SMC7004ABR Barricade Cable/DSL router with 4-port 10/100Mbps switch and Integrated Print Server

SMC SMC7004ABR Barricade Cable/DSL router with 4-port 10/100Mbps switch and Integrated Print Server

List Price: $110.00
Your Price: $75.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super router / great support
Review: I have to add my $.02. This is a super little machine. I had some initial set-up problems/questions - but SMC's on-line support team is great. I had a very good response time with each of four emails until they convinced me that the problem was on my end. You do need to download the latest firmware - which is ver 1.40 as of Dec 1st. As another reviewer posted - (and this is not in the instructions) you need to remove/disable your old PPP adapters, in each of your computers, before you attempt to connect them to the router & then to the internet. I used the PPPoE protocol to connect to T-Online DSL here in H'berg. If you aren't familiar w/ routing you need to note that your router has a fixed IP on your network side, 192.168.2.1, and that it serves/DHCP's 192.168.2.xx IP's to your computers. But - and this is important - the router DHCP's an IP from your DSL server. Don't be tempted to select "Dyamic IP address" just because you know the router needs to get an IP from your DSL server - PPPoE is the correct protocol for most of the big DSL providers. You won't regret this purchase ...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful product all give and no take
Review: I give this router 5 stars because it provided everything I was looking for and more, but also did not take anything away from my online experience. Using DSL with the router I was able to hide my LAN from the world, share a printer, maintain all access from the client PCs, use two VPN solutions, NAT/firewall, remove clunky DSL client software, put the router behind my printer and FORGET ABOUT IT.

There is nothing I need from this hardware that it does not do. It was easy to configure and manage. The only reason that it took 30 minutes out of the box was the reboots to configure TCP/IP on Win98 PC and the printer monitor installations on the the client PC's.

Excellent product, excellent value.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Time Warner and SMC work welll together
Review: I bought the router about 2 months ago. I also purchased a couple of Easy 10/100 NIC cards from SMC to avoid any problems with mixing manufacturers.
the good news:
the installation is a breeze. I was online right away. As I mentioned, the router works flawlessly with Time Warner Cable modem.
FW updates are really easy (u will need them, see below)
the bad news:
SMC offers a mail in rebate. I sent mine in time (40 $) - needless to say I never seen a dollar out of them.
the FW of the router is outdated out of the box. Every 2 days the router hanged, requiring a hard reboot. I downloaded the new FW from their web site (no mention of this issue in the README !!!) and never had a problem since.
Overall I am very happy with its performance. For the money I paid, I did not mind updating the code manually.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Watchout for new firmware 1.40!
Review: It was very easy to setup and took me only less than 20 min to replace my 4 port hub with this small and powerful router. I have ADSL from PacBell. With the old hub, only one computer can use internet. Now, two computers could get on internet at the same time. VPN worked fine. I was very happy for the first few hours. The following day, I decided to upgrade the firmware to latest version 1.40 posted on the smc website. Unfortunately, 1.40 firmware doesn't work with my VPN client, no host could be connected. Called the customer support, got 1.30 via email and installed it. VPN is back and everything is normal now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SMC Routers pretty much ROCK!
Review: I received my router just a day ago, removed it from the packaging and had it up in about 30 minutes. This thing was easy to configure, the manual was easy to follow, and the options of configuration were endless. Previous to purchasing the SMC Barricade I was paying an extra $10/month for two extra computers on my network at home. As soon as everything was up and running I called AT&T and cancelled the other computer addresses. To think that you can have up to 253 systems without them even knowing. The only problem I ran into was when I changed the IP address of my router. I had to change it on my computer and then log back into the router which had stopped responding. I realized that I had basically lost connection with this router and my computer could not see it on the network any more. Also, I do not have to leave one computer running at all times in order to print from other systems. All of that is taken care of with the built in Print Server. I haven't yet fooled around with the DMZ option nor the opening of ports into my network. I will save that for later.

Conclusion- I do not receive long lists of attacks on my computer in the Zone Alarm logs. I feel much more confident knowing that I have a real Firewall/Router blocking those "black hat" hackers from my system. Considering this router was so easy to install and configure I would recommend it to all considering a Cable/DSL Router option.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It does everything well.
Review: Not having the pppoet software on my pc has made my pc more reliable. The time to connect is easily 5-10 times faster than having the connection go directly to your machine. The failover modem support works great (allowed me to email customer support when ADSL was down). The print server also worked like a charm though software to get my printer to work with a networked Mac was missing.

This is by far the best Cable/DSL router for the price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Easy to setup and it works
Review: I bought the Barricade as a firewall for my @Home cablemodem connection and so far it works very well. Since I already had a network card, the power supply and 5 foot cable included in the package were all I needed to connect and configure it for my single system. The Barricade also includes features I don't use such as a four port switch, a serial port for use with an external dialup modem and a parallel port so it can act as a LAN print server.

Setup was easily accomplished via my browser within an hour, including an upgrade of the Barricade's firmware. The Quickstart guide included was easy to follow and complete for basic setup. Just make sure you heed the advice about checking for and disabling any programs that may be acting as a proxy server! My system now gets its IP address dynamically from the Barricade and the Barricade obtains an IP from @Home's DHCP server. Simple.

So far, the Barricade works well as a firewall with no upload or download speed penalty I can detect. Most importantly, security and port scans indicate that my system is invisible to the world outside.

I highly recommend this router.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Cheep Router
Review: No problems and does (mostly) what the docs say it does. Docs are sparce and you must get the latest firmware from SMC site along with updates to the docs. Only problem I have encounted is with VPN. Since the docs are so sparce and their web site is also sparce on help, it's trial and error until you can resolve an issue (direct tech support is almost non-existant).

As far as the router itself, works great and is easy to set up. The print server is extreamly handy - just be awair that some HP printers (typical home user types that requre an ack from the computer) may not work with it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works great -- manual could use an update
Review: We've got 3 PCs networked using PPPoE with PacBell DSL. I give the product 5 stars. I knock it down a star because the manual isn't updated to reflect the new firmware; you've got to read the erratum sheet enclosed pretty closely to figure out how to set the thing up. (Since it took me 15 minutes to figure that out, maybe it's me I should knock down a star for being such a knucklehead...) Once you do that, though, set-up is a breeze, and subsequent PCs just plug right in. And so far, the product seems to work great. One note: the printserver doesn't work if you're simultaneously using a virtual private network.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Flawless out-of-box experience
Review: I purchased the 7-port version of this switch/router for home use, but as a network administrator for a resource-poor not-for-profit, I ended up bringing it to work to serve as a switch and print server for a small temporary network. The SMC is super easy to install, and works flawlessly. The ports are clearly labelled (the switch ports are distinct from the WAN port), it's small enough to fit nearly anywhere, and the print server works like a charm. I couldn't be happier with this device! I've always had an affinity for SMC equipment, and my experience with the Barricade just reinforces my loyalty.


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