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Linksys by Cisco EtherFast Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router 4port Switch (Linksys-BEFW11S4)
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Bottom Line
A reliable workhorse, the Linksys BEFW11S4 is easy to set up and offers extensive firewall configuration capabilities. PC Card performance was sluggish, but the gateway performed well. Documentation and support are excellent, as is the hardware design.
Linksys EtherFast Wireless Access Point + Cable/DSL Router w/4-Port Switch
EtherFast Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router 4port Switch (Linksys-BEFW11S4) Review, by Becky Waring July 27, 2002
The Linksys EtherFast Wireless Access Point + Cable/DSL Router w/4-Port Switch (BEFW11S4) is a solid overall 802.11b gateway, with very good firewall features and excellent hardware performance at a nice price.
The well-designed purple-and-black case offers a full set of informative LEDs, so you can easily troubleshoot your LAN and cable/DSL connections. Dual antennas strengthen its range, and it has a useful four-port ethernet switch with uplink port so you can daisy-chain it to another ethernet hub.
The gateway equaled the best performance of the Orinoco gateway--but only with the Orinoco card. For some reason (probably the drivers), Linksys's own $70 PC Card yielded subpar results, though the $75 Linksys USB adapter did well.
Card and gateway setup went smoothly, though we'd have preferred a quick guide or basic configuration wizard for the gateway (wizards were included for the cards). We installed the gateway quickly by skipping the online setup guide, and checking a few pages of the printed manual. For a new gateway user, however, the Linksys docs give almost too much information. For example, "Cabling," the first step in the setup procedure, delves into the pin-outs for both straight-through and crossover ethernet cabling. Though having the right cable is important, so much detail may confuse novice users. At best, it takes too long to wade through.
Firewall options include the ability to designate one computer as a Web server (with direct connection to the Internet), along with port filtering and forwarding that enable specific applications to bypass the firewall when needed. You can also manage the gateway remotely from outside the local network.
UPSHOT: A reliable workhorse, the Linksys BEFW11S4 is easy to set up and offers extensive firewall configuration capabilities. PC Card performance was sluggish, but the gateway performed well. Documentation and support are excellent, as is the hardware design.
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Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
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Reviewed by: neo111
Strengths: inexpensive. signal strength and range are decent.
Weaknesses: relatively slow with the g-card and it was not so easy to hook it with the verizon's dsl modem - both somehow share the same ip address.
Overall: for $35 that I've paid for this router it is worth the money - gives you the freedom to run around the house with your laptop and stay connected. give it a try.
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Reviewed by: ViperMage
Strengths: Ease of Use, Tech Support
Weaknesses: Long term quality, Tech support
Overall: I have had a very mixed experience with this family of products. I had a Ver 2 that worked fine for about a year, but it was not X-Box compatible. When I showed tech support a website proving that, they agreed to exchange it for a ver 4 at no cost. They sent me 3 different refurbished ones that were DOA. After I got very angry, they sent me a brand new one that worked for a little over a year. A few months ago it started requiring a reset every few days before it would work correctly. Recently that became everyday, and the WAN Port just died completely a few days ago. I called tech support, but they would just run me through the generic, reset, upgrade firmware, and call us back. As far as actual wireless use, it always worked fine without security. The moment I would use any type of wireless security, I would have to fiddle around, change settings, and change them back to get it to work. It was way too big of a pain in the a$$ to use it with security, and I didn't want to use it without security...so I rarely used the wireless features.
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Reviewed by: Tnred57
Weaknesses: Works at 2.4 GHZ. Cordless phones that are 2.4 interfere with the routher causing a connection problem.
Overall: To speak to tech help must speak with India. The tech help is free but it takes a long time to work through a problem with them. This unit was purchased after owning two of the same model. The first was replaced by Linksys. We had many many problems connecting over a period of a year before they finally said it is incompatability with our cordless phones.
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Reviewed by: M3wThr33
Strengths: Easy config
Weaknesses: Can't handle trafficWeak power connection
Overall: This thing is a pile of crap, but many other reviews can show you that. For some reason it likes to conk out when doing ANY traffic beyond simple crap. I can't run any P2P stuff without it buckling under the pressure and needing a reset. I do NOT recommend this at ALL if you use your computer for an internet connection.
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Reviewed by: mnemonicj
Strengths: Easy to operate, great menu system, good for beginning networkers.
Weaknesses: Wireless goes faulty, larger antenna needed for distances that it should be able to handle.
Overall: I purchase and set up all the networking for myself and my girlfriend. She and I have owned a total of 5 of these units with only 2 in use at one time. I purchased my first Linksys wireless router about 2 years ago and purchased one for my girlfriend not long after. They were very easy to set up, got WEP working with little problems, and everything was running smooth. Within 3 months my router was resetting itself and losing all of its configurations. I figured out, somehow, that if a computer was connected to ports 1 or 2 on the router that it would reset, but if a computer was connected to ports 3 or 4 it wouldn't reset. For a month I lived with this until I finally needed to have it fixed. Called Linksys tech support, which I would rate as average sometimes and excellent others (you get lucky sometimes), and after some resets and power downs they were sending me a new router. Received the "new" (refurbished) router and the wireless was not working at all. Called again and had the 2nd router replaced. The 3rd one worked fine. 1 year and 1 month after I purchased my girlfriend's router, the wireless stopped working. Purchased a new router since it was out of warranty (1 year). The new one works well. About 1 year and 4 months after I received my refurbished router, the wireless stopped working last week. I hope that Linksys has been able to solve the wireless problems. I am going to read up on 802.11G routers and hopefully Linksys will have improved over the 802.11B quality.
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