| Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Router |
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Model: BEFW11S4
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 1078
Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4, Windows NT 5, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, Windows
Operating system: None
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b
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| Features: |
Connects to a broadband modem, a 10/100 Ethernet backbone, or wireless network
Long wireless operating range supports 300 feet indoors and 1,500 feet outdoors
Provides roaming, best access-point selection, load balancing, and network traffic filtering
Configurable through your networked PC's Web browser
Can act as a DHCP server for your existing network |
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| Description: |
| The Linksys BEFW11S4 is your all-in-one networking device This wireless router features support for the 802.11b protocol, which lets you wirelessly access your network and the Internet from up to 800 feet (outside), or 300 feet (inside) away |
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| User Reviews (1078 total): |
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READ THIS IF YOUR Ver.4 ROUTER STOPPED WORKING!, September 19, 2004
By Mr. Scott L. Leather (Tucson, AZ United States)
After I upgraded the firmware and loaded Windows XP Service Pack 2 this trusty router which had served me well for over a year (maybe almost 2 years?...can't remember) suddenly started dropping its connection to the internet. SOUND FAMILIAR? After tearing my hair out, talking to Linksys tech support 5 times and scanning the internet for solutions I finally thought why not try an earlier firmware revision (as except every few days or so, it would lose connection and then I'd have to unplug and replug in the power supply but lately it was happening after 15 minutes). So that's what I did. I just happened to have firmware revision 1.5.10 still saved on my computer. So I reinstalled that and voila! I've been up now for over 2 hours. We'll see if it works. Anyway, seems to be a problem with the firmware revision as far as I can tell.
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For the Price, you can't beat this router, September 16, 2004
By Joseph Young (Tallahassee, FL)
The set-up is simple, the controls are intuitive. You can buy routers with greater features, speed, etc, but for the price conscious person who needs a simple home network this is a great choice.
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An unfortunate product, August 25, 2004
By phizzadore_phisk (oakland, ca United States)
Clearly, there is something flaky with the hardware in this thing if so many of us have to reset it all the time. I upgraded the firmware to the latest and it made no difference. If you buy one, it seems to be a crapshoot whether it will work or not.
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Works fine for me!, August 24, 2004
By RaZZia (Champaign, IL)
I dunno what other people's bad experience with this router, but it works just fine with me. I connected my dsl modem to this baby then run the setup CD, and it was all done! Connection is rock solid with no drop whatsoever. Been using this router with three of my apartment mates and a friend who ocassionally come to share our internet connection wirelessly with his laptop.
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Great product, easy install!, August 16, 2004
By RussianDancer (Brooklyn, NY USA)
Great deal for a good router. First I just plugged it all in and everything just worked from the start, no problem. Then I went into the web setup and everything is pretty simple. It just works on its own - all you gotta do is change the setup password.
Wireless works great, too, although I mostly use it through wires. I networked two computers without many problems and I'm very satisfied.
Just a word of advice - set up MAC filtering and don't broadcast the SSID for wireless if you don't want your neighbors stealing your connection. Many people tend to overlook the setup utility once they plug it in and everything works, and then they wonder why their connection is acting up.
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Warning- Stay Away from LinkSys, July 26, 2004
By John
I have experienced little more than frustration since I purchased my Linksys router. It constantly goes down and has to be reset. I have talked to others who have had the same problem, so I don't think that mine is just a lemon. It is very annoying to have to reset your router 2 or 3 times per session at the computer... I have lost more time to this router than I care to think about!
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If the router doesn't work, you are out of luck, July 13, 2004
By unknown
I bought a Linksys router in October 2003, and still have not gotten it to work wirelessly. The box did not include the installation CD, and I was told by Linksys that I could BUY one if I wanted. I have emailed, faxed, wrote, and of course called, with no help. I have asked for an RMA, and was told "I think that has something to do with returning the product". Linksys tech support is terrible. Buy at your own risk.
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Crashes often and DON'T UPGRADE FIRMWARE, July 6, 2004
By unknown
I have always been a very happy Linksys customer ... until I bought this unit. It seems that Linksys quality control is going downhill now that they are part of a big and established company.My router crashed at least once a day (which killed my VPN to my office), and required a power cycle to get working again. Not only would the internet connection die, but I could no longer access the router using 192.168.1.1. This was with the latest firmware at the time (1.50.10). I think that the router especially has problems with PPPoE connections. A week ago, I noticed that the new firmware was available, and I was hopeful that it would fix the crashing problem. I upgraded the firmware to 1.50.14, and after about 45seconds or so, the Linksys software said that the upgrade completed successfully. At this point, my router locked up and quit responding. After all the warnings about not power-cycling the router or computer during the upgrade, I was paranoid about doing so. I waited for 10 minutes to be absolutely sure that the upload had finished. At this point, I power cycled the router, and all that happens is the power light flickers on and off, and the router is now an expensive paperweight. I will never buy a Linksys product again!!! I have heard that the version 4 of this router (the current version) doesn't work very well, but I was shocked when the firmware upload made the unit completely useless!!!
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An abysmal product, July 1, 2004
By Northwest girl (Portland, OR USA)
I have had this Linksys router for about a year, and it has been a living nightmare! It constantly drops the signal and has to be reset, and it stopped working altogether one day. After two hours on the phone with Linksys tech support, I was able to get the Ethernet ports working again - but not the wireless. I've commiserated with many others who've had nothing but trouble with their Linksys wireless products.Now I have a new D-Link wireless router, and it works great. It took me less than a half hour to set up and get running with all three of my laptops (including using WEP security), and the signal from the D-Link router is much stronger throughout my house than the Linksys ever was. I couldn't be happier now that I've ditched the Linksys!
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Range better than Netgear, by 25%, June 26, 2004
By brownboynyc (New York, NY United States)
Had some trouble getting online until I realized someone else in our apt. building was sitting on the same channel. Quick channel switch and everything went smoothly. Works fine with Macs and PCs.The range is much better than the (slightly) cheaper Netgear solution. Solid product. Only rant? Always could use a bit more range! ;)
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Frequent disconnects. Bad quality control., June 19, 2004
By unknown
Do not buy this router. The quality is a hit or miss. And there have been quite a few misses now that cannot be ignored anymore. I just wished I read about this first. The router may suddenly fail to work and requires a reboot by unplugging it. This isn't ideal when you have it stuck in a location that is hard to reach. Running the latest .14 release of the firmware (6/2004) and still has the problem. For some it may occur once a month and for some every 30 mins. Please do not even consider this. If you are skeptical about these comments check out the forums in dslreports.com and search for 'post your BEFW11S4 issues'
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Easy Setup Worked Great --for 3 months..., June 18, 2004
By Keith Goglin (Cottonwood, AZ USA)
I'm a big fan of Linksys, I have used many of their routers for my customers, so when it was time for me to switch to wireless I naturally bought the BEFW11S4. Installation was simple and setting up security is a snap. The unit performed admirably for 3 months and then I started having problems. The unit would need to be reset occasionally. I could live with that, but now it happens once or twice daily. Very annoying. Also the DHCP server has stopped functioning altogether. I'm able to get along by setting up static ips for my pcs and resetting the unit constantly. I have version 4 of the device. I'll stick with Linksys for their wired routers, but time to try someone else for wireless.
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Drops connections after an hour or so, June 17, 2004
By unknown
I have a version 3 that has worked fine for many months, and wanted to get another one for traveling. I bought a version 4, thinking "newer is better" but found that after being connected for about an hour, the thing would lock up. To get it to work for another hour, I had to unplug it and plug it in again. Then it would work for another hour or so. I took it back, and got another one, but had exactly the same problem. I took that one back also, and lo and behold, there was one of the earlier models on the shelf (actually version 3.2), so I bought that one. It has worked flawlessly for the last year or so.I would recommend staying away from version 4, unless they have resolved this problem 100%.
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I'm on my 3rd one in 18 months! BLAH!, June 17, 2004
By unknown
I bought this in Nov 02. Never have I been able to set it up myself. I can generally follow directions, so I think if I need this much help, it's the product. Any time I lose power or the DSL goes out, this wireless router quits working and I have to call Linksys tech support. It's ridiculous. They've already sent me two new ones and they all do the same thing. This is a terribly unrobust product. I am in the process of getting a refund from Linksys and I recommend that you try it, too. DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT! There are a lot of negative reviews here. Give another company a chance.
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Easy, Easy, Easy, June 15, 2004
By Kyle (Duluth, GA United States)
Right out of the box, set it up, and both the wired and wireless worked with no problems. Its been great to have the wireless capability for my laptop. I highly reccommend this product. Works great with Centrino.
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here's a thought, June 11, 2004
By joe234 (nyc)
Why pay when you can get it free from Verizon DSL?
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Happy with results, June 10, 2004
By David Mellick (Denver, CO United States)
I had purchased this router after review many others. While it is not as fast as others (using B rather than G), It has performed flawlessly over the past couple of days. I have it attached to my desktop through the ethernet port and conect my laptop through the wireless. I did not use the included CD Rom to install, the web interface was complete with all the information you need to set-up. One think to remember (those of you that happen to use Qwest DSL) is to change the DHCP for your network as the Linsys defaults to the same IP address as Qwest DSL (Arescom 800). I have yet to "play" with all the features that are on the router, but was happy enough to get connected within a half-hour.
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Version 4 is terrible, June 9, 2004
By unknown
The version 4 of this router is nightmarish.
The router works for a couple of hours and then needs to be reset.
Very often it loses its routing tables.I have an older version 2 also and it works fine.
It would be best to keep away from the latest version.
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Our Workhorse Router! Home and Work!, June 9, 2004
By rsvp (MENLO PARK, CA USA)
We got both the B and the B+G protocol versions of this router. The B outperformed the G which was newer but not nearly as stable, so we installed one at home and one at the office. We have not had one single problem. The thing has worked perfectly from day 1. I love the four ports hub that's included so we put it near a printer, T1 router, and one computer that are all wired in and all the wireless clients could not be happier - so easy to get on the network. Security is great too, not only is the WEP, but we also use the MAC table to restrict access to only those hardware addresses we know will be using our wireless router in advance. There's just no access to this wireless device unless we know about it first! We turned the SSID broadcast off too so we don't show up on anybody wardriving around the area either. There is so much flexibility in configuring this little guy - we got to make a perfect set up for our needs that gives us great performance and peace of mind security! Can you tell I used to work in marketing? Anyway, it's such a good little device, I had to write a review.
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Should have went with my first impression, June 3, 2004
By Danny Reeves (CA, USA)
The best thing I can say about Linksys is their personal support team. They were very helpful when it came to replacing my router which was defective fresh out of the box.... except for the part where I had to pay for the shipping. A year later I wanted to do some advanced stuff like port forwarding and and connecting to my computer remotely. Boy was it a pain to get port forwarding working! In fact I never got it to work so I thought I might need a firmware upgrade. Well this is a huge problem with Linksys! Somehow I got linked to the BEFW11S4 v2/3 firmware upgrade page and did not notice. In my own erroneous fashion I went ahead and installed the wrong firmware, and what is worse is the software has no versioning checking! So I erroneously fried my router. This wrong version even made it such that you cannot set back to factory settings! So I am putting that all behind me and buying a netgear. Be careful when dealing with linksys, I hope you don't get burnt doing firmware upgrades.
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