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SMC7004VWBR Barricade Cable/DSL router w/ 4-port 10/100Mbps and 802.11b 11 Mbps Access Point

SMC7004VWBR Barricade Cable/DSL router w/ 4-port 10/100Mbps and 802.11b 11 Mbps Access Point

List Price: $69.99
Your Price: $57.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Router fully compatible in Europe.
Review: This router is very easy to configure and work in France and probably in all Europe countries. We cannot find it locally (only the 7004AWBR much more expensive). I saw some comment about the reliability, and disagree. In the scope of HOME network (without WEP keys only SSID configured), it is a very good Price/quality product (the best I found).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: not reliable
Review: I have this router for 8 months.
It has good features, but it is unreliable. I have to reset the
router every few days. The network speed through the
router is much slower than the speed right out of the cable modem. I am about to give up this router and buy another one of other brands.

The printer server does not work with linux/unix machines.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rock Solid Indeed
Review: I have been using this product for months now. It has been extremely stable and reliable, and has exceeded my expectations. It is on the second floor of my home, and I can even connect to it from the basement. I also love the print server feature, so we can roam using a laptop and print from everywhere. The firewall features are helpful, though I wish they opted a little more for flexibility than simplicity for the user here.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Too buggy
Review: This router is easy to set up and easy to use. The wireless networking is great, especially with a laptop. However, the router is a little two buggy.

I've had this router for about a year, and it seems that the device needs to be reset about once a week. The network slows down, particular websites will fail to load, and eventually, the entire wireless network shuts down.

When it works, the device is fantastic, but it is too high maintenance.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Good feature set but very unreliable
Review: This router has a very nice feature set but very unreliable. First the wireless AP stops working if no wireless connection for an extended period. Also 128 bit encryption is not reliable. Have to reboot the router to get it work again. Second the whole traffic stops for no obvious reason randomly. Cant even get the configure page. again have to reboot the router. hit that twice and I am extremely annoyed since I host my own mail server. called the customer service. the guy was polite but knew even less than I do about technical issues. I hope they will release firmware upgrade soon to fix those issues. currently I switch to a netgear FM114P but will wait for a while before I sell the SMC on some local list.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Cable Modem Issues
Review: This review is not to bash or praise the SMC7004VWBR in any way. This is ment as an FYI to potential buyers. The SMC7004VWBR has combatibility issues with the Motorola CyberSUFER Wave Modem. This is an older legacy modem so it may not apply to most. The router worked awesome for me EXCEPT when connecting to the internet. When I connect to the internet the speeds drop to almost nothing... Spoke to SMC tech support and this is a know issue with this router and modem combo. Unfortunatlly, I was disconnected before being able to ask if a future firmware release will adress the issue. On the other hand, my ISP (TW RoadRunner) is going to allow me to swap it out for a newer modem at no charge. As I said, this is just an FYI for potential buyers. Check your modem before buying this router to make sure you wont have the same issues I had to deal with.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rock solid, easy set-up & great value
Review: I'm using this device with a Motorola SurfBoard cable modem to connect to the Internet. I'm communicating with it using a Linksys WPC11 Wireless PC Card from one laptop and a direct Ethernet connection from another. It's worked flawlessly from the moment I unboxed and set it up.

Set-up and configuration is simple and straightforward - connect to it via any browser using the default address given in the instruction manual, select your connection type (fixed or ISP-assigned IP address and Cable or DSL), and you're ready to go - using these settings I was on the Internet within minutes of getting cable modem service. However, the device has many more options and parameters that you can set to provide additional protection, to block workgroup users from certain sites, and to make services such as a web server using a private address accessible from the Internet. More importantly, you can configure it for remote administration.

There are a few minor annoyances - although part of the configuration is to set your time zone, it will not give the correct time unless connected to an outside DSL or cable model service (I suspect it uses Network Time Protocol for to keep time. Another annoyance is the fact that it logs every event even if you turn off security. These are not genuine problems and certainly don't detract from its functionality or reliability.

From a performance standpoint, mine has been so reliable that I take it for granted. I also have had no problems with it dropping wireless connections that were reported by others - it came immediately up as soon as my wireless-enabled laptop was turned on after three, and the laptop immediately connected and was communicating.

If you are considering this device for a small workgroup you should consider the SMC Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router with Print Server (ASIN B00005ARK4), which works identically to this model, but includes a built-in print server.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Router stops connecting after about 12 hours
Review: Like the previous review, my router fails to connect to clients after about 12 hours. Once it's powered off and on again, it works. I tried the SMC 3-port wireless hub with the print server and that worked fine.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Router's wireless signal go dead every morning
Review: As long as you have a wireless client running, the router/AP runs well.
But if there is no wireless client, after 1 night, the Access Point stops providing wireless access.

Every morning I turn on my laptop, the Cisco wireless card of my laptop just keeps searching... without connected, until I restart the Router. (unplug/plug power)

Will go to ask for a replacement to try, then decide to keep it or return.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: frequency interference problem
Review: i tried Linksys- & SMC-wireless 4 port routers for my home network.(and i am using many cordless phones including Siemens cordless2.4Ghz phone at home.) These routers are 802.11b standard and use 2.4Ghz frequency. Both suffered from frequency interference problem, and lost signal strength(to near zero level) every morning when i turned on my wireless laptop to use. I called SMC tech support, and they kindly gave me a clear solution, which is to power off/on SMC router every morning. If anyone has 2.4Ghz cordless phones at home, you better avoid these two routers at least. I will try Netgear and Dlink soon and if they don't work well either, then I will have to choose the costly 802.11a(5.4Ghz) router.

Another bad thing about SMC7004 is that SSID did not work out and there is no way to prevent anonymous wireless log on to your LAN unless you setup 64- or 128-bit WEP. And my wireless adapter does not have WEP option.

One more bad thing about SMC7004; Multiple admin logon to router setup page is not allowed. Whereas Linksys allows it, and I can control the Linksys router setting from any computer.


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