| Cisco Linksys WRVS4400N 4-Port Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router with VPN |
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Model: WRVS4400N
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 34
Operating system: Linux
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
LAN Ports - 4 10/100 Mbps RJ-45
WAN Ports - 4 10/100 Mbps RJ-45
Firewall - SPI, IDS, Web Filtering
VPN Support - Yes |
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| Description: |
| The WRVS4400N 4-Port N Gigabit Security Router with VPN from Linksys offers enhanced firewall, encryption and authentication features to protect you from network threats. The WRVS4400N implements draft 802.11n (Wireless-N) technology with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) Router that features a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet switch. By overlaying the signals of multiple radios, Wireless-N's Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology multiplies the effective data rate resulting in greater throughput and coverage over 802.11g. At the same time, Wireless-N is backwards compatible with Wireless-B and G devices. The WRVS4400N has incorporated enhanced firewall and intrusion protection (IPS) features to secure your network from external threats - threats that can seriously disrupt or damage your business by stealing your valuable data, slowing down your network and interfering with business-critical applications. The VPN tunnels give your mobile workers a secure and easy to use way to stay connected. In addition, the VPN gateway-to-gateway IPSec tunnels facilitate branch office connectivity through encrypted virtual links. Compliant Standards - Full duplex capability, firewall protection, auto-sensing per device, dynamic IP address assignment, DHCP support, NAT support, VPN, PAT support, auto-negotiation, Syslog support, Stateful Packet In IPSec VPN Tunneling, Built in Web UI, IDS/IPS Network Intrusion Detection and Protection Services, User Definable Access Control Lists, QoS Support Data Link Protocol - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft) 300 Mbps System Requirements - Network Adapter With Ethernet Network Cable and TCP/IP Protocol Installed Per PC, Web-Based Configuration Java/Cookies/SSL-Enabled Web Browser MD5, 128-bit WEP, 64-bit WEP, SHA-1, PEAP, WPA2, WPA-PSK Line Coding Format Routing Protocol Dimensions - Width 7.8 x Dep |
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| User Reviews (34 total): |
Page 1 2 of Total 2 Pages
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I want my money BACK, July 18, 2008
By Jacob Eraklidis (Mill Valley, CA United States)
5 Reasons why not to buy this product
1. It squiels like a pig (high pitch sound) 2. Its slow 3. Tech support is in India 4. When you upgrade the OS it goes even slower. 5. THE WORST UP TIME I'VE EVER SEEN. I really wanted to use this for a cross product (mac,pc,ps3, and Wii) node to a fast internet connection... I didn't get that. Trust me please look else where. In the end if they don't give me a refund I'll have to say I'm going with D-Link :)
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Horrible router...stay away, June 28, 2008
By an Engineer (Orlando, FL US)
After having several Linksys routers I kind of trusted the brand, well I wasted my money on this one, it has nice features and that is why I found it attractive but simple things like enabling the firewall will block remote management, there may be a workaround but you don't want to buy this thing to spend hours of googling workarounds, so far that is what I have done, simply put don't waste your money. So far I have had no luck on getting the VPN going...will update when I get it running but it is not straight forward as you would expect.
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DO NOT BUY THIS DEVICE, June 19, 2008
By R. W. Davis
Problems ive had includes the device randomly forgetting configuration. I also patched the device to the lastest firmware and the device started needing to be rebooted every two to three hours. I located the issues on their website from over 6 months ago and they where all known issues with the firmware that they recommend. When i voiced these concerns 'in a very constructive manner' on their forums they removed my comments from the forum. They sell this device as business class yet support it like a 30 dollar end user print server. This is the most dissapointing network device i have ever owned. Do not buy this device!
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Big Problems with VPN, May 17, 2008
By Barton Berg (Virginia, MN USA)
This router has major VPN issues. Check the Linksys forum for details.
Basic routing functions seem to work ok.
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Waste of time and money, March 19, 2008
By J. Phelps
The GigE wired speed was the only benefit of this device. The VPN doesn't work - or at least didn't out of the box. After upgrading the firmware, you can get the VPN to work (kind of), but it breaks FTP access.
The wireless disconnected randomly then finally stopped working all together... did I mention that the first one I'd bought failed to boot up at all and I had to exchange it?
I finally got tired of fighting with it and re-installed my old 4 port router w/wi-fi.
Wait until they have a product that works before buying into this line.
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Look Elsewhere, February 27, 2008
By Greg Coley
This device was purchased for a small office with around 10 employees. It was an upgrade from a much older and less expensive Linksys G router.
This device however is riddled with problems. It routinley drops CPU's from the network, hardly works with any print servers, does not retiain settings, etc...
I'm not saying that it doesn't work at all...but you can expect to be resetting connections on a regular basis.
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Worthy of a class action lawsuit, February 26, 2008
By RHODY401 (Rhode Island United States)
I have two of these devices, purchased in January of 2007.
While the specs on the box are impressive, the unit is only as good as the company that stands behind it.
These units have been plaqued with buggy firmware since day 1, and not a single version has performed nearly as reliably as it should. Some folks experience a loud whining noise from their units, vpn issues, problems with wireless, problems with it not allowing FTP transfers, firewall issues, etc. It has to be rebooted daily, just for basic functionality.
It is bug ridden, and the company is non responsive. In fact, if you call tech support they claim they are not aware of these issues. Their forum is full of claims supporting these known issues, yet it has been over 4 months since a new firmware was released.
I have been a Linksys/Cisco fan since the start, as someone in the IT field, but this product is truly a disappointment. Save yourself some hassle and get another brand.
Consumers who are stuck with one of these should be outraged, and considering some kind of class action compensation from the vendor.
ADDED MAY 19th: Here we are 7 months later, and Linksys has yet to acknowledge that there are problems. There has been NO fix. This is supposed to be a BUSINESS CLASS piece of equipment. In it's current form, it is unusable. It should be pulled by retailers until most of these serious issues are addressed, IMO. This is COMPLETELY unprofessional and unacceptable.
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Very Good Router, February 7, 2008
By T (USA)
We purchased this router to provide internet access to our christian school. We know that this was designed for Home use, but our budget was small. However, in a small network of about 20 PC's and 20 wireless laptops, it works very well for basic internet access. This router is connected to a network with 3 GIG switches and 8 wireless access points. We have not had to re-set the router as indicated by the previous reviews. We do have the router connected to a UPS. Works very well in a low budget network. I recommend configuring the router with OPEN DNS as your DNS server to provide content filtering on your network. This service is very good and it is free.
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High pitch sound, Wireless Drops out, February 4, 2008
By R. J. Miles (Tulsa, OK)
The title pretty much says it all. Was a very promising product. Unfortunately, that's all it was... a promise.
My unit makes a high pitch noise that will drive anyone insane.
The wireless either won't grab an IP address or it will drop out shortly after.
If this product isn't recalled, then there is something wrong with the world.
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Not worthy of the Cisco logo on it...., January 24, 2008
By Web development geek (Madison, WI USA)
Initially this product seemed like the perfect mix for me.... Gigabit switch, Wireless N, and site-to-site VPN tunneling. Well, it turns out it's too good to be true. There are a lot of things wrong with this product.
The firmware that came on it was as buggy as ever, and in order to upgrade to the latest firmware cleanly, it involves multiple resets to factory settings (otherwise you might brick the thing).
I had issues holding my VPN connections (using it for site-to-site tunnels to Cisco PIX's at other locations) with the old firmware. I upgraded to the latest firmware, but then ordinary FTP would not transfer files anymore, in active OR passive mode (making FTP useless).
So I downgraded again, this time to firmware in between what came on it, and the newest. FTP returned, but the VPN tunnels would tend to drop and/or not negotiate from time to time, and Wi-Fi would drop out from time to time. Every once in a while Internet access would drop out completely, and the reboot process on this thing is woefully long (about 2 minutes, taking down the network) as compared to the consumer-grade Linksys routers that boot right away. The ongoing problems with this thing consumed my time, and I was less productive because of it.
I don't know if it's ongoing firmware woes, or just bad design, or trying to pack in too many functions in one device. Suffice to say, the thing's not reliable. I returned it and bought a Cisco ASA 5505 instead (if you use this for remote office purposes, this thing costs more, but it rocks).
True, I don't have a gigabit switch or wireless included in the package anymore, but I do have a rock-solid device that takes advantage of my 10 meg service, and I can always go out and buy the other devices separately if I really need them.
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BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, January 12, 2008
By Eric (Aurora, Co)
I went through a total of 5 of these routers trying to find just ONE that worked reliably. Every sigle one exhibited the same problems even when using the factory default settings.
Constant lockups requiring a power reset. Unreliably wireless and wired connectivity as well. This router was never ready to leave the development area, much less be sold.
Adding inslut to injury, Linksys trying to market this as business class. It does not even qualify for single user use at home. They work better as oversized plastic paperweights.
After over 80 manhours of work and over a dozen hours on the phone, Linksys showed themselves to be wholly incapable of resolving the problem. The only answer they had was "upgrade the Firmware" and "Go get another one from the store". In all aspects, their job appeared more to delay the buyer until after most stores 30 day return policy.
I finally packed everything up and returned the routers to the store for my money back. Luckily I was able to do so due to the extended return policy for the holidays. If I could only get my money back for the wasted time spent on these blocks of garbage.
Save yourself the trouble, avoid all the Linksys "business" class devices. They are a waste of money.
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The worst wireless router I have ever bought, December 9, 2007
By Signed (USA)
Drops wireless connection everyday. I have to reset it everyday. Wireless range is very poor. It is not worth the price. I am using the latest firmware 1.01.03 which is released on 10/25/2007. No improvement even after the firmware update.
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Useless, wireless cuts out frequently, December 4, 2007
By T. Ouimet (USA)
The wireless cuts out frequently and the VPN was difficult to configure. If you're set on this product, wait until the next firmware update--at least.
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VPN that is only compatible with Linksys products, November 7, 2007
By science fiction writer (California, USA)
This is a nifty router and pretty to look at, don't get me wrong. You plug it in, bring up the controlling web page, and soon it will be connected to the web and to both your wired and wireless machines. Problem is, I bought this router to tunnel into a Lucent IPSEC VPN gateway at work. I also tried to connect to a Netgear VPN router. In both cases, some of the options you need to make the connection work are missing. Put simply, use of this router to tunnel to an outside VPN gateway or router will probably not work unless you are going to connect to a Linksys (or perhaps a Cisco) solution. Linksys tech support, while good, can only demonstrate that the router functions with their own equipment (which they easily set up by remote management of my router). In conclusion, for VPN from the router to an outside VPN gateway or router, it appears that the WRVS4400N will only support Linksys at the other end of the tunnel.
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Roy Brooks, September 27, 2007
By Roy E. Brooks
I am very pleased with this product, I have a big house, over 3,000 sq, feet and the router I had before, made it hard to get good reception in some of the rooms up stairs, and downloads were really slow.
But this one works great!, I would recommend this router to anyone needing a good router, Linksys makes the best products.
Roy
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One of the worst products from Linksys, September 5, 2007
By Tech Guy (Maryland, USA)
I have multiple linksys routers and this one had two very powerful processors instead of usual one but the performance is terrible. I believe the firmware is full of bugs. The wireless draft.N is unstable as well as my connection to the internet. My connection speed was variable between 10mbs to 10kbs with no apparent reason and I was disconnecting almost every hour. I returned the router and put my old one back and everything is back to normal.
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Only the basic works, July 2, 2007
By Smarthomer
If you are looking for a basic router, it will probably work. However, if you are planning to take of the VPN functions beware. For reasons still uknown, this router doesn't work with our VoIP PBX. Linksys has confirmed the problem, but has yet to provide new firmware. Ended up having to swith it out with a WRV54G. It is old, but it gets the job done....
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Poor performances - now improved, June 28, 2007
By Tritius (Milano, Italy)
==================================================================
REVIEW UPDATE
- Nov 13 2007 -
Linksys released on Oct.30 2007 a new firmware (ver 1.01.13).
I updated the router immediately, and after 15 days I could say that I noticed much more system stability.
Configuration interface has been deeply modified also to implement new functionalities (like IP address pre-assignation).
Many bugs has been fixed, some still exists.
Menues are still confusing sometimes and help text have to been improved.
Wish that these matter will be kept in consideration for next firmware release.
Wireless seems to be more stable even if performances are not 100% as expected.
This product has been greatly improved, but still Linksys
have to do some work to release a better firmware version.
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PREVIOUS REVIEW
- June 28 2007 -
After one week of testing in my home network in conjunctoin with LinkSys AM200 ADSL modem I would like to report this way:
Firmware version: 1.00.13
PROS: Good firewall performances, uptime, gigabit switch, nice looking, excellent phone technical support, tiny wall AC adapter.
CONS: Very poor and instable Wireless "G" performances, dramatic Wireless area reduction in comparison with my old D-LINK, impossible to preassign IP addresses, high-pitched continuous noise, limited MAC filtering (just 20 entries), heat, web interface hangs, front LEDs are useless if you don't watch them just in front, web interface sometime confusing or -at least- not clear.
This is sold as a "professional" WiFi router, so customers are expecting
adequate performances.
I wish that serious guys like Linksys will suddenly fix the major cons, WiFi "G" performances and IP pre-assign in particular.
Otherwise a much cheaper "home" product will work absolutely better at one third of the cost.
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Solid router, June 26, 2007
By Sifounak
Pros:
Very pleased with this router. So far, can't take advantage of the gigabit connectivity since only one of my computers has the gigabit capabilities (a private file server). The increased bandwith helps my LAN tremendously since LAN file transfers will not max out the router's bandwidth on the WRVS4400N (where it would bog down the WRT54g and even affect internet speeds). Simple, straightforward setup that is exactly like any other linksys router.
Cons: You can hear a high-pitched hum pulsing in sync with high network activity. This is hardly noticeable for most people, but I am very particular about hardware noise.
Also, this router gets a bit hot when set horizontally on a table (haven't tested a vertical arrangement). The heat is not really a con, I was just a bit suprised because it was hotter than I thought it would be.
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WRVS4400n LOCKS UP., June 14, 2007
By Omni (Rhode Island)
We have a small business network and purchased this router primarily for internet access. The router LOCKS UP several times per week and must be powered down/up to get it restored. Even that proceedure can take 2-3 attempts before you get it back up. This major problem makes the router unreliable and completely useless in our application. We spent MANY wasted hours trying to trouble shoot this problem and believe it may simply be a design flaw in the product. We will be relocating it to the dumpster and researching a higher quality product from a different manufacturer.
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