Cisco-Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch
by Linksys
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Our Price: $78.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.94 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch
Customer Review: Easy to Install. Easy to use.
Summary: 5 Stars
I worried this product would be hard to install, configure and use. This sounds silly since I'm an engineer working at a dot-com company, building a large Internet network. Even engineers get stuck with computer hardware they can't get to work. Also, being net savvy, I tend to want my network hardware to work MY way and not in some configuration deemed "good" by marketing monkeys. All fears quickly faded, however as the router was up and running with my network 15 minutes after opening the box. Ease of use is important, as I frequently distrust technical support for networking products. No fault of Linksys, but years with inept customer service apes, trained only to hold phones, ruined me. If I can not get a product to work in short order when other, equivalent products exist, I quickly return, exchange and try again. Thankfully, I did not have to do so. The Linksys jumped all hurtles without effort.
Ease of use goes past the install to the packaging and into the web-based configuration. The packaging comes with a quick start guide. Smart. Impatient males with more eagerness than brains don't want to read manuals, even short ones. The quick start has everything you need to get online in short order. If you need the advanced features, like port redirection, a DMZ host, or PPP over ethernet, the manual is friendly and the configuration screens are kind. Five minutes after surfing the web, I reconfigured my PC to have a static IP address (rather than the DHCP generated address, given to me by the quick start guide), and set up port redirection for my web server.
DHCP is great, especially if you take tote your laptop between home and work. DHCP is a service, run on a network, allowing computers on the network to ask what their IP addresses, gateways, DNS servers and subnet masks are. The DHCP server replies, allowing computers to dynamically configure themselves based on what network the computer is on. Thus, you can conveniently carry your laptop into work, hook it up without reconfiguring the networking. If you're me, you're likely too lazy to set up a UNIX computer on your network just for a DHCP server. So, having the Linksys Cable/DSL router provide DHCP is a big bonus.
Net novices may wonder if this router is a risk to have. With all the media attention, you likely think an army of computer and network savvy teens are just waiting for you to go online, so they can infect and hack your computer. I've never had a problem, but then, I'm cautious from where I download software and with whom I interact. One risk is placing a bad password on your router, allowing others to reconfigure your network. I envision several lazy people not bothering to change the default password on their Linksys routers, creating some minor havoc.
However, because the router uses network address translation, you have the potential to be safer as outsiders see only the IP address of your router and not your host. So far as I know, the only listening port on the router is the embedded wed server and any in-bound port-forwarding you set up, so people trying to get in, from the outside, will likely rely on you to do something dumb. A few dumb things include an easily guessed password on the router -- your first name, or the word "router" are really terrible ideas -- downloading software from any web page with the words "d00d" or "kewl," or setting up a web server from an old Linux distribution without checking CERT advisories for known security holes. More dumb things exist. Use common sense, but never fear making mistakes; it's just a computer.
If you have several computers in your home and want them all to be networked, the Linksys can do the job. Yes, only 5 ports exist on the back, but 10 megabit per second (MBPS) hubs are less than $30 and 100 MBPS hubs are around $100. Multiples of either hub can be added, to get up to 255 computer on your network. Though, if you have 255 computers, just using hubs will lead to frightening performance problems, but one hopes, anyone with so many computers, knows better.
Customer Review: Cheap, solid security for DSL or Cable-modem users
Summary: 5 Stars
The Internet can be a scary place, especially to those of us with DSL. I have Qwest MegaBit Deluxe service and have both a full-time connection and a static IP address. This means that hackers can connect to my machine at any time and could potentially wreak havoc. I tested a web-based security program and found that it knew the name of my machine, my shared drives, and my printer. Could my Quicken data file be next?I tried valiantly to turn an old Pentium 200 box into a Linux-based firewall. (...) Finally, I did some rough estimates of the time I'd spent on this project and decided that even applying a very low hourly rate, I would make out much better by buying this box.
Goals.
I had two major goals for this purchase:
1) Securing my PCs
2) Sharing DSL connection among different PCs
Setup.
The BEFSR41 comes with a slim manual and a slick one-page quick install guide. I still haven't cracked the manual.
I already had network wiring throughout the house, so installation consisted of plugging the power brick into the wall and into the back of the unit and hooking up the network connections.
The power stuff went quickly.
The network stuff took a little bit longer. There are 6 RJ45 network connectors on the back of the machine. One is for the WAN connection -- the line that comes from the DSL box or cable modem. Three are standard switch connections, and two are shared -- one is an uplink port (for connecting to another network hub or switch) and the other is a standard connector. It took me a little about 20 minutes of futzing with the connctions and wondering why I couldn't see the Internet before I remembered that a direct connection to my DSL box required a crossover cable, not a standard cable. Once I figured that out, everything worked perfectly.
Note: unless you have a network switch (you probably have a slower, cheaper, more-popular network hub), you should plug the machines that you want to connect most quickly directly into the unit.
Operation.
How do you administer this new network? Through your web browser. In addition to its other features, this little gem has a built-in web server.
Once you've got the network cables connected correctly, you simply open up a browser and type 192.168.1.1 into the address box and hit enter. Once you've entered the password, you get a straightforward administration screen.
You'll need to go through some of the same steps you did when you set up your DSL in the first place. If you have a dynamically-assigned IP address, you can simply take all of the defaults, reboot your computers and everything will work as if by magic.
If you have a static IP address, you'll have to enter that and tell the BEFSR41 your Default Gateway and DNS server addresses.
You may need to change network settings on your individual PCs.
By adding about 10 minutes of network tweaking and computer rebooting to the first 20 minutes of cable untangling, I find that I spent half-an-hour from opening the box to a running network.
It does come with a setup wizard disk, but I haven't even looked at it.
Customization.
The BEFSR41 provides a great deal of customizability. In its default state, your network is entirely hidden from the world. Your web servers won't be accessable through the firewall, nor would a mail server, or anything else.
To get information through, you can go to the advanced options tabs and choose Forwarding. This allows you to route the ports you specify to specific IP addresses on your network. Tell it to route port 80 to a machine inside the firewall, and your webserver will be back in business.
Conclusion.
I love this box for the same reason I love my DSL service -- because it just works. Once it's set up and working, I don't have to think about it any more.
Customer Review: I don't know what these people are complaining about!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've purchased 3 of these over the past 18 months, for my parents, myself, and a friend. I've NEVER had 1 second of trouble with ANY of them. Maybe these people complaining on here got bad ones somehow, but I haven't seen these problems. No lockups at all.However - Every cable and dsl modem I have ever seen or spoken to anyone about occaisionally DOES lock up. No exceptions. I live in the boonies, and electricity isn't very clean, there are frequent dips, spikes, and outages. When the power starts flaking, you can bet the dsl modem will lock up, everything else runs like a charm. Sometimes it locks up for no aparent reason at all. My parents cable modem like clockwork will freeze once a month. My dsl modem generally makes it 2 or 3 weeks excluding power problems. Cable modems tend to need to be powered off for about 20-30 minutes, then turned back on and allowed to reset. My ADSL modem can be powered off and back on again, and it will take a few minutes of blinkinlights and reset itself. Since my isp (and the others I've setup) uses DHCP, after a connection is broken like that a new connection needs to be made and a new ip address assigned. When using one of these, it's the router that connect to the internet/isp - not your pc! So when I need to reset the dsl modem, I also power down everything else, including the router. I power on the dsl modem, let it do its thing, and only after it has finished do I power on the router. When the router turns on it will log onto the isp, get an ip address, gateway, etc. Then any computer in the house can be turned on again, and get a new ip thru DHCP, and surf away. I have a hub in another part of the house connected to this router. Between me and my roommate we have 5 desktop machines connected to the internet and each other via this router/hub arrangement(with up to 5 operating systems too, some machines are dual or triple boot). We also each have a laptop that we connect sometimes as well. There are NEVER any problems with the internal LAN, even if the dsl modem is wiggin all the machines will talk to each other just fine. This is a completely platform agnostic device and I haven't found a browser yet on any platform that couldn't connect to it and go thru the configuration screens. The firmware upgrades tho typically require windows of some flavor to run.
I suspect the complainers in these reviews are putting the blame on the wrong component in their internet setup, particularly the folks who claim to have returned them and had the same problems with the replacements. I'd put money on it that's the problem for the people that have gone thru 3 or more.
All in all this is an unbelievably fantastic deal for a home network setup. For the price, I am completely blown away by the performance and flexibility of this router. The built in switched hub is awesome. Firmware upgrades only make it better, and with no software necessary to install on anything to configure it, this makes it a great choice for anyone no matter what they are running. I've read a lot of great things about the NetGear router too, but have no personal experience with them. It's been a long time and I don't remember why I chose the Linksys over the NetGear, but I've bought 3 of them and have no regrets. Never had any problems with any Linksys products - always great products at extremely reasonable prices, very affordable for the home.
Customer Review: A reliable, solid router
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had my Linksys router now for over 5 years. While the this one is clearly a newer version (mine only has a 10Mbps WAN throughput) the overall quality has not changed, as I have sat down to tinker with the newer versions.
What impresses me about this model of Linksys router is how user friendly it is. The router design is simple, with easy to read information readouts via LED lights, and the device is light weight with ample room underneath for ventilation.
Setup is virtually plug n' play. I tend to follow this hookup for ideal connections (avoids random drops and DCHP problems locally). Connect everything as instructed to the router but make sure all devices are off. With all devices OFF
1. Turn on the Cable Mode / DSL modem and let it connect
2. Turn on your Linksys Router (it should turn on, and then detect a network aka.. the activity light is being well, active!)
3. Turn your devices on.
This lets the router fully handshake with your ISP, and also allows it to hand out local IP's while within the ISP's network. Is it crucial. Not at all, but it does make for a more solid handshake which can reduce the chance of being dropped / resetting the router.
The interface for the router is very simplistic compared to other brands. While some options can be fairly advanced, for the most part the router comes pre-setup for a good experience and it is advised to put a password in the router to avoid people remotely accessing it w/o your permission.
In my 5 years using the Linksys router I have yet to experience a random reset, lost connection or the router failing to handshake with my ISP. It has been incredibly reliable. There has been no packet loss due to the router having communication problems (multiple devices demanding information at once.. a bad router would get screwed up and start sending data to the wrong places) This router also works for all games I've played, including WoW, LoTRO, Age of Conan, Aion etc without having to open any ports (my old Netgear router constantly required me to open ports)
** The only negative I can say about this router is that it is fairly sensitive to 'voltage' change on a line. For example I plug a vacuum cleaner into the outlet in my bathroom to do some cleaning in the hallway. the bathroom outlet and my PC room are linked, when I turn the vacuum on 1 in 50 times the router will drop and go to "standby" (red light on activity) because it acted as if it had lost power for a moment. My netgear didn't have this problem; but that said my netgear router lasted me 5 months before burning itself up. This has gone for over 5 years. ** I am mentioning this because sometimes people complain a router drops a lot and resets itself. This isn't always the router's fault as it could be that it is sensitive to voltage fluctuations; which can be a good thing as it does protect the device to a point.
Anyhow! Overall I have been very pleased with this router. My cousins actually use the WIRELESS version of this router and for the past 3 years they have been problem free w/ no drops. Linksys makes quality routers at a good price. I have never had to deal with their customer service so I can't comment on the company as a whole, but their routers are top notch in my book
Customer Review: Great possibilities, pitiful documentation, non-existent svc
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been using the router for over a month now, and have hadtime to get to know it, it's manual, and service people enough to make a comment or two on the unit. First, let me say that you can't touch it for the price. Whatever shortcomings it has (and there are definitely shortcomings), for [the money]there is nothing that does what it *can* do, or do it as well. If you simply need to split a dsl or cable modem connection between several machines, it's the only game in town at this admission price.
If you don't mind losing the firewall protection, even it's issues with identifying (if you talk on Dalnet, it needs to be configured differently. You can email me on this) can be rectified. Be sure to go to Linksys' home page and download V1.33 or higher firmware, it makes it lots easier.
The documentation is so far below the standard of the unit it "describes" that I could write a book on it's lack of information. For the basic features, it should be three times as in depth. I think Linksys didn't research this market well enough to know that most purchasers of this unit are amateurs to networking, and not Information Systems techs. A little "why and wherefore" explanation would have went a long, long way. And there is no, and I mean that exactly as written "NO" support for any advanced feature. Not in the manual, not at the oddly named "customer service" line. This is ludicrous, these features are the very thing that makes this unit flexible enough to get any real usage from. It is, possibly, the worst manual I have ever seen to come with a unit that was obviously intended to be a powerful tool for the masses.
Email or phone support was pitiful, with one glowing exception. Nicholas Mack with Linksys sales not only got involved in helping me, but stayed involved until we both figured out how to make the router do everything I needed it to do. He sent me advice, firmware updates, and we emailed repeatedly and found solutions to the problems. In return, I reported what each step accomplished on my machine for him to pass along to others. Without Nicholas' intervention, I would have sent the router back long ago. Linksys should give that boy a BIG raise. He is the reason I recommend this unit today.
So, here is the lowdown. The unit is capable beyond it's pricerange, nothing does what it can in this cost area. The manual will help you if the very most basic setup is ok, and you have some idea of how to get around on your machine already. Otherwise, get someone who does. Beyond that, the manual works good for leveling short legs on the kitchen table, that's about it. Customer service will answer direct questions about the unit only (once you get them on the phone) and will not help you with any software (including the microsoft network software it is designed to work with). So if it isn't "where do I plug this cord" you will probably be left frustrated and heading back to the refund line. If you are lucky, you may get one of the few Linksys people who not only know how to make it work, but don't mind telling you.
In short, this is the most amazingly capable, absolutely non-suported device I have ever used.
As a PS- My "setup wizard" disk was not packed with the unit, and a short Cat 5 cable would be a very welcome addition to the package.