The SMC was relatively easy to set up. With an extra patch cable I connected my Linksys 4port router from it's uplink port to the SMC, giving me a total of seven ports. I then cabled two Linux machines, two Windows PCs, and a port replicator for my Thinkpad. I loaded the Orinoco card, which actually took a little longer then the router setup, and fired up my laptop. I then proceeded to walk to all corners of my house (3000 sq. ft) and back yard and maintained very good signal strength. The Orinoco software has excellent diagnostics, including a link test tool that will do real time packet tests between your card and the router (or any test station you designate) allowing you to monitor your signal to noise ratio and releative Mbps.

I recommend this router strongly. The print server also worked flawlessly. I'd suggest to SMC to add a stand/cradle to the bottom of the unit as it does run very hot (as stated in other reviews). Also, better documentation, particularly on the WEP and NAT features would be useful, even online docs. Great product overall.

I needed a system that would handle IPSec and X-Windows as I connect to work via COX @work cable and Nortel Extranet.

Everything worked perfectly, first time. No tweaking of any kind. Performance is great.

I am amazed.

Other cons: the indicators is too small and do not look clear, and it is very hot when running. I am running web server on one of my machine, but it comes some problem for my DMZ hosts to visit the website using its external domain name.

The appliance is running in my basement and I can use it from anywhere in the house and in much of the yard. I have a 2.4Ghz phone within a few feet, but have not experienced any of the problems that I've read other products have. I've got cable modem service from AT&T (MediaOne), two desktops connected via CAT5, and I pop a wireless SMC2632W PCM card in my company laptop when I get home at night. In addition my Epson Stylus is utilizing the print server port (I no longer have to keep a PC running as a print server). The Epson Stylus did require special setup instructions, but I found these quickly on the SMC Support Web site.

Update OCT08 - I've had the unit running for about 2 weeks without any incident. The only reboot done was to turn on the 128bit security feature for the wireless connectivity.

Not sure if this is a bug or a feature but by default the SMC box comes up as an open 802.11 server with no network name and no WEP key (i.e., if you think that you aren't using wireless your neighbors may well be cracking into your network).

My old SonicWall was a lot better. It also timed out ssh connections after some idle time but you could change the default from 5 minutes to 9999.

*** okay, after a (relatively painless) firmware upgrade, the SMC no longer drops connections. But I still ripped it out of my network because I wasn't comfortable with the idea of a by-default open 802.11b base station.

I am currently networking two Dell Laptops running Win 98, Win 2000 and a desktop running Win 95. One laptop is wireless using an Orinoco Gold card and Orinoco's client software. I highly recommend Orinocoys card and software. I am not using the encryption function.

The HTTP based configuration screens are very straight forward for basic setups and have all the bells and whistles for customization one would ever want.

I did have some minor issues. One day after I first set up the unit, the IP address on the wireless connection started to drop after about 10 minutes. Installing the latest firmware (also painless) fixed the problem.

Also, as someone else also stated, the case gets hot. I bought some 1/4" self-adhesive feet to prop the unit up a little and this seems to help ventilation.

On the cosmetic front, I do not like the front panel on this unit. The lights are hard to read from an angle and are poorly labeled. Small issue, but I think the Linksys equivalent has a much better case design.

I have not tried the print server. I have a USB printer and am not sure what I will to with the parallel port on the unit. Any suggestions?

So, some minor issues that are to be expected with any piece of hardware, but once set up, it works like a champ.

My son and I connected it to our network without reading the documentation - it worked immediately with the new SMC wireless PCMCIA card we purchased along with the router but not with the Cisco Aeronet 340 card that I use with my company provided laptop. After a bit of snooping around using the web browser interface to the SMC box, we discovered a parameter referred to as "SSID" that was set to DEFAULT. It was also set to DEFAULT in the SMC card, but something entirely different in my Aeronet card. After changing the Aeronet card SSID to match, we were able to establish a link with two laptops and a fixed PC, albeit not a very good one.

With the wireless router and laptop separated by two walls and about 30 feet, the link was marginal at best. After a few minutes of operation, we'd lose Internet Connectivity not only on the wireless link but also with my fixed computer connected to the SMC box with CAT5 cable. I tried to figure out what was wrong from the documentation, but the CD-based manuals weren't really geared to troubleshooting. They were very much procedure based and didn't provide a great deal of useful information on what all the parameters and settings really did.

I finally checked the SMC website and found that there was updated firmware available for download. As a point of reference, if you've ever flashed the BIOS in your computer, installing new SMC Router firmware is much easier - basically download it to your computer's hard drive and execute it. The executable "finds" the SMC box, establishes communications, and automatically uploads the new firmware. Make sure you don't pull the power in the middle of this operation or your SMC box will be toast.

With the most current firmware, the 7004AWBR was a completely different box - I could establish and maintain a link at 50 feet through two walls and get reasonable data rates (5 - 11 MB/S) (I haven't walked out into the street with my laptop to determine maximum range, but I think that the published 55 meters @ 1 MB/S is probably optimistic.) The problem with frequent dropouts in Internet connectivity went away as well - both the wired and wireless nodes on our home network are quite stable.

To summarize, the SMC Router provides acceptable to good performance for home networking provided that you are willing to tinker a bit to get it set up - it's definitely not "plug and play". Effective range is adequate for a typical house, but not much more The browser based U/I is easy to use, however, the front panel status lights are too small and cryptic to provide any meaningful information. The documentation ... - the tech writers clearly didn't understand the product beyond the most superficial level. While this probably doesn't sound like a glowing endoresement of the product, I enjoy using it and it meets my needs. It's a kick in the pants to position myself in any room in the house and be able to cruise the internet and answer e-mail from my laptop without dragging 100' of CAT5 down the hall. I'd recommend the product for anyone who is fairly PC and network literate. If you're not, you might want to consider finding a friend who is prior to embarking on your wireless home network adventure with this product.

The big issue I had was I couldn't get the PC card to work right away. I called SMC tech support and after telling them the model number (the 4AWBR), the technican told me to open up the box and the internal PC card was loose and to re-seat it. That worked fine. Apparently this model is notorious for this. But the quick fix and HONEST answer by the technican caused me very little grief and the speed was well worth the effort. Better than sending it back.

I strongly recommend getting one of these and wireless cards.

The downside is that the instructions for the PC card could be simplier - or at least have a most-commmon-installation guide. I had to guess at a setting or two. But then it worked perfectly.

At first, the wireless range was disappointing. Then I realized that I had the router sitting right next to a big Faraday shield - my computer case! After getting a couple longer UTP cables and experimenting with locations, I was able to dramatically increase the wireless range. I now get the full 11 Mbps bandwidth in and outside of my house. I also get useful recpetion, but somewhat reduced speeds at distances of 100 feet outside of my house.

So, don't just plop your 7004AWBR in the place that is most convenient for the cords - it probably won't be the best location for the wireless network. Play around with it a little and find the best location. If you use Orinoco PC Cards, they come with a very nice utility that makes it simple to analyze the speed and quality of your wireless connection.

One of the earlier reviewers noted a decrease in bandwidth when using the wireless connections with DSL. This is most likely due to the use of encryption for the wireless connection (WEP). I have read that the use of WEP will cut bandwidth in half.

The print spooler has worked flawlessly for me.

All in all, this product has been a real "silver bullet" for me - filling my need for a firewall (NAT), a router, a print spooler, and a wireless access point. Highly recommended.

Oh, by the way - the box gets quite warm, so be sure to put it somewhere that it gets good ventilation and can't accidently have anything flammable fall over it.

The instructions were very easy to follow.

One negative comment though. Since I didn't know much about WEP (the encription protocol) I had to do a little experimentation to implement the 128 bit encryption setting both on my laptop and the router. It would have been nice if there was more documentation on this.

Nonetheless, using the default settings, I was able to get my system up and running in about half an hour.