| SMC7004VWBR Barricade Cable/DSL router w/ 4-port 10/100Mbps and 802.11b 11 Mbps Access Point |
 enlarge
|
Model: SMC7004VWBR
Brand: SMC
Manufacturer: SMC
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 71
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b
|
|
|
| |
| Features: |
Share your Cable/DSL connection
802.11b High Speed Wireless Lan connection
4 port 10/100 Mbps switch
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) Firewall
64-bit or 128-bit WEP encryption and MAC address filtering |
| |
| Description: |
| MODEL- SMC7004VWBR VENDOR- SMC NETWORKS FEATURES- Barricade Wireless Cable/DSL Broadband Router The Barricade Wireless Cable/DSL Broadband Router is the ideal networking solution for any home and business user. This platform independent multi-functional router combines a 4-port 10/100 Mbps dual-speed switch an 802.11b wireless access point Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall security network management and Virtual Private Network (VPN) pass-through support into one convenient device. The Wireless Barricade Router is the first router in its class to offer an integrated Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall. This firewall provides protection against hacker invasions such as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks by analyzing individual data packets as they pass through the Barricade to ensure that only authorized packets are allowed access to the network. To control network access parents or business owners can block certain web sites by entering either a URL address or just a keyword of the web site. In addition to these incredible features this latest addition to the Barricade family provides hacker prevention and logging functionalities. For example when a hacker attempts to access your network the Barricade can alert you via email so you can take appropriate action. The Wireless Barricade provides a 10/100 Mbps WAN port for high-speed integration into your network. Supporting NAT the Barricade can provide simultaneous Internet access for up to 253 PCs using a single purchased IP address. To manage these connections the Barricade has a built-in DHCP server to auto-assign IP addresses to devices on your network. To install this device simply place the EZ 3-Click Installation CD into your CD-ROM drive and in minutes you will be surfing the web. By using the web-based management system you can configure this router to handle IP routing and port forwarding through the Virtual Server option. For added management this router also has a full-featured Access Control ... |
| |
| User Reviews (71 total): |
Page 1 2 3 4 of Total 4 Pages
|
Fine for 100-BaseT. Useless for wireless., January 15, 2003
By Lori B. Gordon (YARDLEY, PA United States)
I bought this router to use for mixed mode (wired/wireless). My initial experience (setup, reliability, price, performance) was excellent using purely wired connections. I recently tried two wireless PCMCIA cards (one Engenius and one Belkin brand) and was very disappointed with connectivity from both. I expected to get 11Mbps up to 50' or so. I could not get ANY connection at 50'. It works fine within 20-30' of the router, but obviously that's not what I bought a wireless unit for.
|
SMC SMC7004VMBR gets bum rap in reviews, January 11, 2003
By unknown
I did a lot of research before I purchased this product. I was very hesitant at first based on all the reviews that I read about the product. I ended up getting the product because of the rebate, which made this a total steal. I did not care if I had to reset the router everyday at the price I got it for. I purchased this for doing online gaming via Xbox live. My DSL is to far away from where my Xbox is located so after much research I came to the conclusion that wireless was my only option. I looked at every available option on the market that was in the price range that I wanted to spend (anywhere between $ dollars) the problem was that I also wanted to be able to get the Wireless Ethernet adapter that I needed within that price range also. This created a real problem since the average low end router was in the neighborhood of about $ dollars.. and the wireless Ethernet adapter was running any where from 79-120.... I had to make a decision. I looked at both the Linksys and the SMC brand wireless routers. Both had OK reviews but the SMC had less speed loss when you activated you security and on the average was better priced. The big problem was the reviews that stated that the SMC SMC7004VWBR Barricade Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router was very unreliable. I took my chances any way since I could get the Wireless Router by SMC after the $ dollar mail in rebate for about $ dollars, and I could get the SMC Wireless Ethernet Adapter for about $ dollars.. Now that was in my budget. Like I said earlier I did not care if I had to reset the router every day for the savings that I would get. Once I get the equipment I went to work setting up my gaming network. The Xbox work wit the SMC SMC7004VWBR wireless router but not right out of the box you have to do a little work around, which I could have done myself if I could get my computer to recognize the router. I tried for about 10 min on my one to get my computer to recognize the router but to no avail. So I call SMC's tech support, which in all the reviews have gotten a bum rap. It only took me about 10min on hold to get a live body on the line. Which is great being that I call at the beginning of the week an at peak hours. The tech had my computer recognizing the router with in a couple of minutes on the phone. Then the tech went above and beyond his duties and walked me through the setup of my complete gaming network. To say the least SMC's tech support Rocks!!! I was up and gaming twenty minutes later. One of the thing that made me hesitate in snatching up the SMC SMC7004VWBR was all the review that I read. Most of the reviews pointed out the same problem over and over again. It seems that the SMC has a problem with losing the connection between the router and the wireless bridge, which causes the owner of the product to have to do a hard reboot of the router. I also experienced this very same problem after having the network on for about 13 hours. I had to reboot the router by powering it down before the wireless connection would be restored. This happened about 3 times in the first couple of days. Now in all the review they stated that it would happen about every 2-3 day, which at the price would have been fine, but I was now rebooting ever few hours. I was ready to return the product and buy the more expensive Linksys. I decided to take a real good look at SMC's web interface that controls the router and found under tools a link that allows you to do a Soft reset. So I tired this and ever since the router has been working like a champ. I have not had any other wireless disconnects since I found that button. So if you plan on getting this router make sure you have a way to access the web interface and reset the router once you get your network setup. This router Rocks!! And for $ bones it is a total steal.. I really hope the story about my experience help you in you search for the best wireless router, which is SMC at $ dollars after rebate... Oh yeah I never do review but I really thought that this product was getting a bum rap..
|
Overall, a good bang for the buck, January 9, 2003
By chester_p_wong (Brooklyn, NY United States)
Setup was straightforward and it appears to work perfectly fine. I did notice that my wi-fi card was unable to get a signal when I got home the other day. I reset the router and it was then able to get a signal. Not sure exactly what's up, but resetting the router resets everything (password, settings, etc).
|
dont buy this router - at any price !!!, January 8, 2003
By sanjeev (folsom, Ca United States)
i bought it because it was the cheapest wireless router. but it was a mistake. the setup is easy and quick. but my laptop kept losing the wireless connexion. you need to power cycle it a couple of times a day. once the laptop connects to the router, it worked fine but it lost the connexion overnite.
the tech support is clueless and suggested me to be close to the router when i try to connect and then move away. i returned [it].
and the wireless signal was very weak, dropped down to 30% at some places inside my house.
|
Good workhorse router, January 7, 2003
By unknown
I've had this for almost 2 years running. Used with a Win95 PC and now with a W2K. Shared access to a 56k connection via the serial port on back of router, no problems. Now share a high broadband signal 24/7, no problems at all. Haven't reset router in months. Share signal with two PCs. Dell W2K is hardwired to back of router. PC upstairs, thru 2 walls and 1 floor, using an external Linksys USB wireless network adaptor running WinME, no problems. Both get great speeds. Have noticed that friends who have WinXP and router get better speeds. Operating system makes the difference. Print server on back works well, print server may burp sometimes and the print server just needs to be refreshed in router tools. If you are in an apt building, you may want to name your wireless network and register the machines that are allowed access, or someone could tap into your network and steal bandwidth. I have the 802.11b router about 15" from a 2.4Ghz wireless Siemens phone, no problems. Also running a 900mhz a/v wireless transmitter near unit, no problems. 802.11b, 2.4Ghz and 900mhz all play nice. For the price it's a steal. I bought when it was over [money]!
|
Flaky performance at first, stabilized after a week..., January 5, 2003
By Eric (Gaithersburg, MD)
~I've dealt with many brands of routers/switches/wireless gateways/APs before. Names like Linksys, Netgear, Agere/Orinoco, and a couple others. I have never had a problem with SMC Ethernet adapters or even SMC Barricade Routers/Switch (without the wireless part).I recently bought this piece of [junk] and all I've been getting for the past two days is totally unsatisfactory performance. The problems I've encountered so far (even AFTER a 1.20a latest firmware update): CONS: 1) WIRELESS.~~ My top of the line Orinoco/Lucent Gold PC CARD for my laptop stops finding the SSID of the SMC overnight. As previously stated by other users, a "simple" reset of the router will fix that. But come on, every single day??? What kind of [junk] is that? 2) SWITCH. The switch does not seem to use an efficient algorithms to transfer data on a full load from the cable modem to different computers. Also, the maximum data transfer from 10mbps to a 10/100mbps computer was 200KB/s. Usually,~~ it's supposed to be around 400-500. ALSO, I've heard that if you are transfering large volume files from a 100mbps to a 100mbps computer, the switch will CRASH after a little while and you have to manually reset it. 3) SUPPORT. What support??? SMC != Support. PROS: 1) It was .... But ..., you sure get what you paid for. 2) I liked the web-based configuration options. Plenty of control for port forwarding and other admin-based checklists. 3) Did I mention it was ...?~~ I'm giving this product two out of five stars because of its price. Unfortunately, it does not perform anywhere close to what a wireless router/switch is supposed to do. Unless you don't intend to use it for wireless (why would you even buy it in the first place?), you can consider buying something like this -- if you don't mind resetting it a lot.~ ---- UPDATE: After more use (over a week), the router seemed to stablize. It does not appear to randomly reset itself and data performance *seemed* to have increased. The wireless portion of this router stopped randomly disappearing after one night of inactivity. Also, my technical problems were finally answered by a real technical assistant over at SMC and responded to my inquiries (although they didn't really help... but isn't that the truth about all tech companies? :)). I am now upgrading the score of this router to four out of five stars. It performs like a router should. So a word of advice: give hardware time to "adjust" to its surroundings and warm up a little bit before giving the final verdict.
|
Great home network starter router, January 2, 2003
By Tony (Seattle, WA United States)
Setup takes less than 30 minutes; plug in the power, network cables, install drivers and configure router per instructions.For those starting a home network using network cables, this is an excellent starter router with room to expand into the 801.11b wireless network. Some nice features: 1. Built in firewall to prevent hackers. The built-in capability is sufficient for most casual users who want to prevent amateur hackers from randomly finding and hacking your computer(s). Easy setup and management of VPN. 2. Wireless encryption (upto 128 bit): encrypts your wireless network to prevent unauthorized access. 3. Disable wirelss network: useful if you are using only the router for a wired network and do not want to hassle with the wireless setup and encyrption. 4. SMC offers a user friendly website where you can download the latest updates. Updating the firmware used by the router takes only minutes. Missing features:
A built-in print server. SMC offers a more expensive product that is identifical in everyway except it has one fewer wired connection port, but replaces the missing port with a print server connection. The print server connection allows you to share a printer, without having the printer tied a any particular computer. Without the print server, to share a printer means you need to have the computer connected to the printer turned on for the printer to be shared.
|
Awful wireless router, nothing but headaches!, January 1, 2003
By Phil (NY United States)
I have had nothing but problems with this wireless router. The wireless connection setting on the router has to be reset every time I boot-up my laptop in order to obtain a connection. And the IP address from cablevision keeps getting dropped (works fine without the router connected) and must be manually renewed every few days. The tech support people at SMC refuse to believe that it is their router. The wireless card in my laptop works with 3 other wireless access points at my job perfectly. But still, SMC tech supports insists it's not their router. I have tried every thing, even a new SMC router. I finally returned the router and purchased a different company's wireless router. Needless to say, the new non-SMC router works perfectly and I've had it for over two months now.
|
Awful wireless router, nothing but headaches, January 1, 2003
By Phil (NY United States)
I have had nothing but problems with this wireless router. The wireless connection setting on the router has to be reset every time I boot-up my laptop in order to obtain a connection. And the IP address from cablevision keeps getting dropped (works fine without the router connected) and must be manually renewed every few days. The tech support people at SMC refuse to believe that it is their router. The wireless card in my laptop works with 3 other wireless access points at my job perfectly. But still, SMC tech supports insists it's not their router. I have tried every thing, even a new SMC router. I finally returned the router and purchased a different company's wireless router. Needless to say, the new non-SMC router works perfectly and I've had it for over two months now.
|
completely unreliable as a wireless router, December 28, 2002
By sheena_qotj (Austin, TX United States)
This router is one of the cheapest available, and, like all routers, was easy to setup out of the box.However, as other people have mentioned, the wireless connection got dropped fairly frequently (every 30 minutes). I have not had trouble with this at the airport, at work, or with my Netgear 4 port/wireless router. Further examination showed that the wired connections had also quit working altogether. Plugging the cable modem directly into my computer narrowed this down entirely to the router. A firmware upgrade to 1.20a seemed to fix the problems with the wired connections, and seemed to improve the wireless temporarily, but soon shut that out. It needed another power cycle (30 seconds) to turn it back on. Now I am just using the wired connection with a long ethernet cable with the firmware upgrade, but will be returning this very soon.
|
|
|
Big on Features, Low on Reliability, December 24, 2002
By S. Liu (Pasadena, CA USA)
The SMC7004VWBR has an impressive list of features that make it seem like a best buy. I chose the product over competing products due to it's advanced firewall features and it's extremely low price AR. Previously, I was running a software-based linux firewall using IPTABLES. However, the product is prone to locking up. In the first week I owned the product, it locked up on me an average of 1-2 times per day. Even downloading the newest firmware at the time (1.20) did not resolve the issue. I tried contacting SMC tech support, but the tech seemed clueless. After checking online message boards, I discovered that this was a common issue with SMC routers. I also discovered that a beta version of the firmware (1.05beta) tended to be the most stable. After finding it on a message board (SMC does not make available archived firmware) and reverting the firwmare level to 1.05beta, the firewall has been stable as long as I don't turn on the advanced firewall features. This was the major reason for picking this product in the first place. As part of my job, I've setup hardware firewall & firewall/WAP products from Sonicwall, Netscreen, D-Link, Netgear, and Netopia. I haven't experienced lockup issues with any of the other vendors.
|
Works very well for the most part, December 23, 2002
By S. Garfinkle (Austin, TX United States)
Just because of the price, I decided to replace my Linksys 4 port router/switch with this. Mostly, the SMC works very well. The problems reported by the earlier comment *might* have been due to an earlier firmware. Everything works for me, although one of the wired ports seems to, drop the connection occaisionally -- I'm waiting to see if this recreatable. Tech support is OK -- the wait isn't too long and it's toll-free. However, you get connected to a call center in India (how else do you think they can afford free tech support for inexpensive products). Most of the support are very nice and helpful, but they do have a tendancy (like all 1st line support) to go for the easy answer, like "put on the new firmware" or "take off the new firmware." Also, signal strength with WEP enabled is very low -- you'll need a card with high signal strength to do this (like the Cisco 350). Also, the router did freeze up and have to be power-cycled once in the last couple of weeks.
|
Don't buy this junk, December 22, 2002
By Kemo Sabe (Bellaire, Texas United States)
As others have noted, this thing tends to lose track of what it is doing and have to be rebooted- sometimes several times a day. Tech support thinks the product "has a few problems" but isn't interested in dealing with them... Don't give up your full-time money for a part-time product.
|
Does what I want!, December 20, 2002
By Philip M. Erb (Chicago, IL)
I ordered this product because of the price and that it seemed to work with Macintosh also. I have 2 PC's a Mac Desktop and a Mac laptop. The hookup via the ethernet ports was painless, although easier to configure with the Mac than the PC due to the PC coming up with errors when it couldn't find a DNS.
I ordered A Lucent Orinoco Gold PC card for the mac. I finally got it working but needed a call to SMC tech support. Wasn't overly impressed with the tech suppport as he said I needed to contact other people to get the WEP encryption working with the Mac.
Eventually I found out how to do it. 1) Name the ESSID something other than default (He had me name it "ANY). Then I installed Mac OS 9.2.2 (I had to update from 9.1) and install Apple's latest Airport software (2.0.4 on Dec 16th, 2002). That was it to get the connection. To make WEP work, I put in a passphrase on the SMC router, and then copied down the key from 1.
Then under the Mac I opened up the Airport app, clicked on Airport Base Station settings (on the bottom) and then filled out the card encryption info and put a $ in front of the 10 digit key I generated from the SMC. That was it.
Works so far in my house wirelessly up with a full 5 dots on the control strip up to 30 feet away (small house).
I give it 5 of 5 so far.
|
Excellent product to start your home network, December 14, 2002
By Sundeep Mallya (Santa Clara, CA United States)
This product has worked very well for me. Since the router has 3 ethernet ports you can use the router even before you get the wireless LAN setup. Or you can combine wireless and wired connections. This makes this a great way to start your build-it-as-you-go home network. I use it conjunction with an SMC wireless card for my laptop. I heard that equipment from the same manufacturer has less compatibility problems.I've never tested the range but it seems to work well within the 40 ft range that I normally work with. I've never had a problem with dropped connections after I updated the firmware for the PCMCIA card on my laptop. The configuration is a breeze and has good defaults. You can leave it alone or get as fancy as you like in setting up your home network. I was never able to get the print server working since I misplaced the original CD that has the required drivers. Product support is excellent. Be prepared for long wait times though! This product also comes with Linux drivers. Overall an excellent product.
|
Router fully compatible in Europe., December 7, 2002
By unknown
This router is very easy to configure and work in France and probably in all Europe countries. We cannot find it locally (only the 7004AWBR much more expensive). I saw some comment about the reliability, and disagree. In the scope of HOME network (without WEP keys only SSID configured), it is a very good Price/quality product (the best I found).
|
not reliable, December 6, 2002
By unknown
I have this router for 8 months.
It has good features, but it is unreliable. I have to reset the
router every few days. The network speed through the
router is much slower than the speed right out of the cable modem. I am about to give up this router and buy another one of other brands. The printer server does not work with linux/unix machines.
|
Too buggy, November 26, 2002
By johnpozniak (San Jose, CA United States)
This router is easy to set up and easy to use. The wireless networking is great, especially with a laptop. However, the router is a little two buggy.I've had this router for about a year, and it seems that the device needs to be reset about once a week. The network slows down, particular websites will fail to load, and eventually, the entire wireless network shuts down. When it works, the device is fantastic, but it is too high maintenance.
|
Rock Solid Indeed, November 26, 2002
By zds (Shrewsbury, MA USA)
I have been using this product for months now. It has been extremely stable and reliable, and has exceeded my expectations. It is on the second floor of my home, and I can even connect to it from the basement. I also love the print server feature, so we can roam using a laptop and print from everywhere. The firewall features are helpful, though I wish they opted a little more for flexibility than simplicity for the user here.
|
Good feature set but very unreliable, November 17, 2002
By vincentbai2 (CA United States)
This router has a very nice feature set but very unreliable. First the wireless AP stops working if no wireless connection for an extended period. Also 128 bit encryption is not reliable. Have to reboot the router to get it work again. Second the whole traffic stops for no obvious reason randomly. Cant even get the configure page. again have to reboot the router. hit that twice and I am extremely annoyed since I host my own mail server. called the customer service. the guy was polite but knew even less than I do about technical issues. I hope they will release firmware upgrade soon to fix those issues. currently I switch to a netgear FM114P but will wait for a while before I sell the SMC on some local list.
|
Page 1 2 3 4 of Total 4 Pages
|
|
| Copyright 2001-2007 WiFiReview.com |
|