Rating: Summary: Fantastic!....(once configured properly!!) Review: This router is absolutely fantastic! At first I was having all kinds of trouble because my DSL connection uses PPPoE with dynamic IP addressing. What was happening was after a varying amount of time, my DSL provider (Earthlink) would change the IP address during my session and the router is not able to recognize the change and therefore, it hangs. You then have to unplug it and reboot your computer. I have read about other people using PPPoE with dynamic IP addressing having the same problems. It was getting frustrating. After messing around with this router for several days, I have finally discovered settings that alleviate this problem. I'm sure many people will find this helpful, and it will save you a lot of aggravation if you are using PPPoE with dynamic IP addressing. First off, you need to flash the latest firmware to the router. You can download the firmware at the Linksys website Make sure you have at least Firmware version 1.36 or higher. In the web configuration utility, enable Connect on demand, and check the Keep Alive box. Now, here is the most important part! Set the idle time to: 9999 minutes. It lets you login to your DSL provider and keep the same IP address for over a week. Try it out! Maybe this tip will work as well for you as it did for me! This router is fantastic and the speed is incredible! It is the best router you can get for the price in my opinion. Even if you don't know the first thing of networking, you can figure it out, it really isn't as hard as you imagine it before you purchase it. Once you have it, it seems to explain itself, and is extremely easy to configure. A great device to add to your office or home network. Definately 5 stars!!
Rating: Summary: Great!(added warning) Review: This product is awsome! It connects all the compters in the house to eachother and the internet. Only one word of advice... Be warry of upgrading the firmware to 1.36 it rejects pppoe support under 1.36firmware. This product is really a time and money saver, if you need a router this is the one to buy
Rating: Summary: Linksys router/hub for DSL Review: The total time from unpacking to completed installation was about one hour. Easy to use and setup. Compact design so does not take up a lot of space. The instructions (yes, I read them!) are easy to understand and follow. If you have any strange setup requirements, they are either convered in the manual or on the Linksys web site.It is a pity that they do not include a cable to connect between the modem and the router.
Rating: Summary: Best Purchase I Ever Made Review: I've been using this device about nine months; it is the single best piece of IT gear of any sort I've ever bought. I am not a network guru, but I have LAN cabling in my house. I just followed their directions, plugged in the WAN and LAN drops to my three computers, about three minutes doing standard configuration, and all three are sharing my cable modem access. No problems in nine months. Firewall seems to be effective; ... used to be able to scan my ports; now it can't see past the router. For those denigrating this machine do a firmware update; it's quick and easy and should solve your problems. BTW, I've added a second Linksys switch via the uplink port and that works fine, too. And I don't even know what I'm doing!
Rating: Summary: They don't support their product Review: I read all the great reviews and plunked down the $150. I installed it and all the basic features worked well. I then tried to use the advanced features and ran into constant problems. I'm sure most were caused by my inexperience, but the flimsy documentation and total lack of support were maddning. When you call tech support, they call you back days later at odd hours only to tell you "Sorry I can't tell you that, we only support the basic features" I thought my questions were pretty basic and I received no help. Good product, bad documentation and REALLY BAD customer support.
Rating: Summary: Would not buy this try the NetGear solution Review: After purchasing this product, I hooked it up to my cable modem on one end and my hub for my house on the other end. I found everytime that I turned my computer back on again, that the linksys had locked up and I had to run down to my basement turn the unit off and then back on again before it would work. I sent this same message that you are reading to the customer support email for linksys to get no reply. I returned the product to the store and purchased a NETGEAR Internet Access Gateway Router Model RT311, plugged it in and no problems, been up for weeks now.
Rating: Summary: Piece of Cake! Review: I'd been using a cable modem for about a year with our home LAN and three PCs. For added security, I choose proxy software and dual NIC in the designated server. Everything worked well, but the server PC had to be on for the others to access the Internet. We also Internet "blackout" periods whenever a certain unnamed member of the household logged on to work via dial-up modem. While I'm sure I could have resolved that issue, I never seemed to get around to it. A friend at work recommended getting a Linksys router. I checked out their website, got some more testimonials from around work, and I was convinced. After uninstalling my proxy s/w, it took less than 10 minutes to get all PCs re-networked. We currently have a mix of Windows95, 98, and Me. I was a little worried about the latter OS because it's not specifically addressed at either the Linksys website or in the documentation, but it worked fine (I don't use the Me networking tool, however). Could be biased thinking, but it sure feels like Internet performance has improved. And no more blackouts!
Rating: Summary: Linksys Software and Customer Support Problems Review: I purchased this unit and ended up spending most of my Saturday night attempting to get it to work. Apparently, the software it ships with has some bugs, such as not letting get past their password screen, which then requires you to download and flash an update. In calling technical support be prepared for long waits. I had to call twice and waited 45 minutes each time only to get a technician that did not completely understand their product. After much frustration, he determined that the router was defective and would have to be sent back. He also informed me that it may be necessary to change the pin set-up on my cat 5 enhanced cable as the router has compatability issues. Due to the product being DOA and poor customer service I would recommend spending a little more money on a better designed product.
Rating: Summary: Incredible piece of work Review: I first got a cable modem and then we bought a new computer no less than a week later. We wanted to share the connection, but couldn't decide on what path to take. I then heard about this product, from my uncle who had DSL. He said it had been working fine and he loved it. So i picked one up, and within about 15 minutes, I had everything running perfectly with no problems whatsoever. This is the best networking hardware I have ever seen, with it, you can share your DSL/cable connection, and even better, the computers that are networked with this can share files at 100Megabits/sec!
Rating: Summary: Easy setup; no problem with PPPoe or VPN Review: I'm sorry to see so many people complain about the Linksys router with PPPoe. Before this, I knew absolutely NADA about hardware or networks. I got DSL from Earthlink/Mindspring, which uses PPPoe, and I had no problem with installation or setup of the router (it has 1.30 version software, too). It was a breeze. I also had no problem installing my company's. I connected a Windows NT machine and 2 Win98 machines to the router with no problem. But also, I didn't need any of the advanced capabilities. One time I had a problem where everything was locked up, but it turned out to be in the DSL line. When I removed the router & connected one computer directly to the DSL, it still didn't work. But after powering everything, then restarting everything from scratch, it was fine. The only other time I've had a problem was when I was using the VPN from more than one machine. Once I stopped doing that, everything has been fine since. I wonder if some of the problems could be from inferior NIC cards? Just a thought... I don't want to start a flame war or argument over that. The Linksys router was recommended to me by my company's network/hardware/WNT guru, who also recommended that I spend the extra money for 3COM NIC cards for my computers (the WNT machine belongs to the company and already had a NIC card). Our company networks just about every commercial version of Unix on workstations, plus Windows NT, Windows 98, and Windows 2000. There are probably close to 800 different computers just in the one building; and that doesn't count the numerous other locations around the world that are all connected via the Intranet. I think that not including a cable is not a drawback; as another person mentioned, Linksys has no way of knowing how much cable we will need; even though my computers are in a fairly small room, I needed a 50' cable for one computer so I could run it up the wall and across the ceiling & down the other side.
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