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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: 4 stars
Summary: Quite good.
Review: This is my 2nd BEFW11S4. The first one I had was a version 2.0, and this one is a version 4.0. There are a few differences.
First of all, the newer model is smaller (not as tall) and it has fewer LEDs (only 1 per ethernet connection vs 3 on the older model).
Otherwise, the main difference seems to be the range. I have noticed a considerably better signal since the change, with my wireless TiVo at the far end of the house having averaged about a 50% connection quality previously and now showing a 70+% connection steadily.
Setup is identical and I find (I do have some experience with these routers, so maybe I'm just getting better with them) it fairly intuitive. Just plug it in and type in 192.168.1.1 on your address bar and voila, you're into the system. It may take a little trial and error, but especially with dynamic IPs it's pretty foolproof.
Lastly, I suppose as a consequence of competition, the price has dropped a lot. If you have a combination (wired + wireless) network, you can hardly go wrong with the new Linksys.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: No major problems
Review: After a horrifying expierience with a D-Link DWL-700AP, I tried this product. I didn't need a router, just an access point -- but I didn't have any trouble simply ignoring the router function. And strangely, routers with access points seem to be cheaper than access points alone.

After unpacking and powering up, I thought I was in for another disaster. Nothing I connected to the LAN ports would light up the corresponding link LED on the Linksys, nor would the device on the other side recognize it. I tried various devices and cables to no avail. I finally pressed the reset button, and the LAN interfaces started working. Not a very pleasant out-of-the-box experience.

Once up and running, I had no problems connecting to a Linksys Wireless-B card. I could change the WEP and SSID broadcast settings and still connect with no problems, unlike the D-Link. I've removed and installed the card, rebooted, etc. dozens of times this weekend without a hitch.

I have the unit at one end of my house on the desk, and have been accessing it from on the patio in the backyard near the other end of the house, about 50 feet away. From this location, line of sight is pretty much lengthwise through the back wall of my house, and I am typically seeing a 40% signal strength. I have not seen the link speed fall below 11 mps.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Poor Linksys Product
Review: After several months using this product and trying to get VPN to work wireless, I finally got it working via the DMZ. This is very poor, since only 1 machine can now use wireless VPN. Tech support is almost non-existant. Due to the very limited VPN support, I finally threw it out and got the Netgear equivalent. With the Netgear wireless router, I can now have several PC's using VPN.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just buy it
Review: I have had a computer hard wired to a cable modem. Just got a new laptop with wi-fi. Bought the Linksys broadband wireless router. Total time to setup, connect the router and reconnect the computer was under 5 minutes. Fired up the laptop and it immediately recognized the wireless network. Now a few minutes later I a writing the review by wireless connection. This is way cool. What is the problem? You gotta get this.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This router sucks
Review: I installed it and it completely locks up My Computer when I connect to my VPN. I tried calling customer service and they were no help at all. I am returning this and going with another product all together.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My GOSH!!
Review: I had to get a new router because my old one was unable to connect with my new ISP. I bought the Linksys BEFW11S4 to connect my wired main PC and my wired laptop that I use for work. I also bought the Linksys Wireless USB Network Adapter, WUSB11, to connect my daughter's PC located on the other end of the house.
Man! I have NEVER had anything associated with a computer work so well and so quickly as this gem! In less than 5 minutes of getting the wires connected to the router and the power on, I was up and running. I would hardly call the setup a configuration, it was SOOO easy! The little wireless network adapter for my daughters PC was even EASIER to get going.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Wireless version of a great product dissapoints
Review: I bought a Linksys router a few years ago, and upgraded to this model after getting a new laptop with wireless capability. I enjoy the convenience of wireless, but miss the stability of my old Linksys. The only difference I've seen between the two in features and functionality is the wireless part.

Otherwise, they do the same basic things - connect to the internet via cable or DSL, and provide internet access to multiple machines through DHCP. Only my wireless router doesn't do those basic functions nearly as well.

I have to unplug the power to the router frequently to get it to reconnect to the internet (daily lately), and sometimes it just stops broadcasting a wireless signal.

Pay attention to the reviews by people who have owned the product for a while. Yes, setup is easy. Tech support may be great. But reliability in the long run just isn't there.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Ok router. There are better ones that are cheeper
Review: This isn't a bad router but for the money you could do alot better. I know most home/small office routers are plastic but this one seems flimsy. It also lacks in features in the firmware. You can only forward 10 ports etc.. In my opinion Netgear and Dlink make a better router.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best out there, especially for the money.
Review: I've had two of these routers for over a year now.

I love Linksys's industrial design, especially the "stackable" nature of their networking products. The LEDs on the front are very informative and overall the product has a solid feel to it.

The wireless antenna strength is excellent. With two of these, I can cover my entire 1500sqft apartment with excellent signal strength, even on the balcony.

The web configuration is stellar, with lots of good features like port forwarding, mac address filtering, and so on.

I originally rated this item at 3 stars, because I was certain it was generating needless ICMP traffic. I have since uncovered the real source of the ICMP traffic: an infected computer on our wireless network that somehow slipped by my tests until now. I apologize for my misdirected anger toward linksys; this is a wonderful product and a superb deal.

Ironically, in my testing, I tried two other routers, the Netgear MR814 and the D-Link 604, to fix the ICMP problem. Of course it didn't help, but in the process I got to know these routers and can now confidently say the Linksys is the superior product by far.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works Great!
Review: I picked this because I just moved in to an apartment and found out there was only one phone jack....I always swore I'd avoid wireless. I had the earlier model (version 2.4?) and it was bad from the get-go...the BIOS or something was dead and it was flaky...this was odd and I feel I was extremely unlucky as the earlier version is supposed to be better and also has one extra port for switching...regardless I called Amazon at 2am once I figured this out and a new router was delivered the next day.

This router was version 4, supposedly the 'flaky' one, but I have no problems at all....great connections (even with my wife's Japanese laptop and wireless)...it was a great deal!


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