reasonable router for the cost, lots of configurable options
Written: May 18 '03
Product Rating:
Ease of Installation:
Ease of Use:
Pros: configurable options, port forwarding, DMZ, PPPoE, DHCP, inexpensive
Cons: frequent lock ups, requires reset or waiting for reset
The Bottom Line: Great value, lots of features, reasonably easy to setup and maintain, great if you don't need wireless connectivity. Seems to lock up a lot.
dwichman's Full Review: Linksys EtherFast® BEFSR41 Router
Introduction
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I've had this router for a few years now, originally bought it to share our Cable/DSL connection on a wired LAN. I've since stacked a Linksys Wireless Access Point (WAC) on top of it so we could connect our laptops and PDAs, and put wireless cards in our PCs so we didn't have to run cables in the new apartment. I work in the software industry, so I'm reasonably computer profficient, although I may not spell very well :-) I've had this router for several years and put it through its paces.
Setup
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It's reasonable easy to setup out of the box. Has a nice web browser interface that you can connect to w/ your browser to configure options for your ISP. Maintenance is reasonable as far as updating the firmware. Lynksys has a small utility that you can run from your desktop to update the firmware to the router.
Functionality
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Lots of options for WAN connection to your ISP, such as static IP, DHCP, PPPoE, PPTP. Configurable DHCP server that allows you to specify all the configs, like a starting IP address, number of DHCP users, client lease time, DNS and WINS servers. Some sort of AOL parent control stuff which I don't use, not sure what this is about.
Advanced Options: Lots of good stuff in here. Filter, port forwarding (that really works) so you can connect to your web and ftp servers away from home, dynamic routing, specify a DMZ host to expose one of your PCs to the Internet.
All-in-all, it pretty much has all the feature you'll need to share your internet and expose your resources to the internet if you so desire.
Operation and Reliability
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This unit was quite reliable when I first got it, but this seems to have degraded over the years, possibly bugs in the new firmware, or maybe my ISP (comcast, formerly AT&T) is just buggy. But the unit seems to lock up quite often, atleast a few times a day now, where you can't even reach the web UI. You either have to hard reset the router, or wait for it to reset itself which it does after a few minutes.
I have had trouble FTP'ing to some ftp servers, those that are behind firewalls seem to have trouble even if I have PASV enabled on my ftp client. I think this is a bit of a known issue with many routers that use NAT.
VPN works quite well to my office, using the Cisco VPD client. It connects well, and I can access all resources atht he office as expected. The only drawback here is that the router locks up often, so my VPN connection fails when this happens, and any resources I have open to the office such as Telnet, SSH, etc. are dropped and I need to re-open them once the connection is back up. Quite annoying when you're trying to get work done, and the reason that I'm currently looking to buy a new router.
The Linksys by Cisco EtherFast Cable/DSL Voice Router is the perfect solution for connecting a small group of PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet c...More at ShopLinksys
Got a cable or DSL modem? Then you need this router. It offers high-speed connections from every station on your system, all from the same IP address....More at Best Buy ®
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