Cisco-Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Router

10 Review to this product

• 

  Anonymous
  December 30th, 2010 on 5:40 am

  Rating

  This thing is everything I’ve been looking for all in one package, it’s great. It took me about 5 minutes to set it up and get everything running (my first time dealing with WiFi) The instructions are simple to follow. My only problem is that my house has really thick walls, and the signal doesnt transmit too well through them. Also I have a couple of 2.4 Ghz Phones… which really interfere with the signal. So after some searching I found out that the small antennas on the back of this device can be unscrewed and swapped out for more powerful antennas. Upgradeability at its finest. I don’t think that any of the other brands offer this, so I just wanted to give credit where credit is due, on Linksys’s part for leaving this option out there. Techsplanet.com offers a great solution to this, they have a whole antenna package tailored especially for this wireless access point. Mine’s working great now, I can walk anywhere in my house, and have strong signal, no dead zones. I’m a happy camper.
• 

  Anonymous
  December 30th, 2010 on 8:11 am

  Rating

  Items discussed in this review:

  WPC11 ver 3 – wireless PCMCIA card (PC card) for laptop
  BEFW11S4 v2 – wireless router/access point (AP)

  Other hardware:

  Gateway 800Mhz desktop PC, with two NIC cards
  120Mhz Cyrix (old Pentium clone chip) desktop PC, with one NIC
  Toshiba 233Mhz laptop (borrowed for this test), no NIC

  Existing network:

  I have a roadrunner ISP. To share that ISP, I bought a hub, and physically ran cat 5 between the computers. I then downloaded/used a free “proxy server” software program called AnalogX. This worked ok for sharing the internet, but the client computer couldn’t access AOL IM and other handy stuff, due to proxy server limitations I think. I’m really not an expert – I kind of fumbled my way through and got that setup working.

  How it worked before:

  Roadrunner is set up for DHCP. This means that theoretically every day you could have a new IP address (mine is always the same), and that you must have your computer/NIC which is connected to roadrunner set up to accept a DHCP address. So one of my NICs in the Gateway was set up for DHCP, while the other was a static (non-changing) IP address. The old PC also had a static IP. This is important for future steps.

  How I physically installed the router:

  I turned everything off and unplugged it. Then I unplugged all my cat 5 connections to my old hub. I plugged the cat 5 coming out of my cable modem into the router. I then ran another cat 5 line from my router’s #1 port to the NIC card in the Gateway which was set up for DHCP. I then connected the cat 5 which goes to my old PC to the #2 port of the router. At this point, I plugged everything in and booted up.

  Software installation:

  I put the CD in, and the wizard to add computers to the router came up. I clicked next a few times, always taking the default, and then I was finished. I could immediately connect to the internet. I then repeated this at my old desktop PC, with only one change. After adding it to the router, I couldn’t connect to the internet. I went into the Internet Explorer TOOLS/INTERNET OPTIONS choice, selected the connections TAB, clicked the LAN connections button and UNchecked the “Automatically Detect Settings” checkbox. I also had to set my IP addressing to DHCP on the old PC, by right clicking on “Network Neighborhood”, selecting “properties”, clicking the entry in the list titled TCP/IP, clicking the “properties” button, and selecting “Obtain an IP address Automatically”, then clicking OK a couple times. This requires a reboot. When it came back up, I was on the internet here too.

  So, I’d say about 45 minutes to get two “wired” PCs on the internet with the router.

  WIRELESS PORTION:

  I opened the box and read the directions for the PCMCIA (PC) card. they said basically to reboot and put the PC card in the slot. I did, and it was detected immediately. The laptop had been configured to connect to a Novell wired lan, so I was prompted for my OS CD a few times. After that, the install went fine and I rebooted one last time. When the laptop rebooted, I still had to go UNcheck that “Automatically Detect Settings” box to get on the internet. I did not see any mention of that in the documentation. So good for you if you read this deeply into my review.

  PERFORMANCE:

  SPEED and RANGE – excellent:
  Outstanding. Whether on the laptop or desktops, throughput is great. My house is a two story stucco and Brick exterior house. Inside, I went about 30′ laterally and 20′ down with no discernable loss in download speed. I next went out the back of my house, off my deck and to the back of my patio. At this point, I’m about 60′ laterally and 25′ down from the router. The connection is still fast and clear. I next went around my house to the front, and across the street to my (generous) neighbor who had loaned me the laptop for this test, and proceeded to surf while on his front porch, approximately 125′ from the router, and 25′ below. There is also one interior and one exterior wall between the laptop and router. The connection is clearly much slower at this range, but I never lose my connection or time out. It’s just slower downloading. I went into his house, and couldn’t get a connection. But it would have had to penetrate his stone front house and a couple interior walls to get to me. Overall, the range is very good for my purposes (surfing downstairs/outside).

  SIGNAL INTERFERENCE – minimal:
  I have a newborn baby, and we were lucky enough to get a 2.4Ghz video baby monitor. I was really concerned that these devices would drastically interfere with each other. I’ve heard stories, and they made sense to me, that other 2.4Ghz devices could completely disrupt your wireless connections. So I turned on the monitor and positioned the laptop so that the baby monitor transmitter was between the router and laptop. I couldn’t detect ANY difference or interference during this test. The laptop internet connection worked identically to how it was with the monitor off. When I turned on the monitor receiver, there was some slight interference – the picture was still clear, but there was an occasional very narrow horizontal band and an associated “tick” sound about once/second. It wouldn’t prevent the monitor’s use, but it would be irritating if you had the volume up much at all. Since I returned my friend’s laptop right after my testing (I was at his house anyway), I just went into the setup program and disabled wireless. This immediately eliminated the interference. I was afraid the disabling would just block throughput but not stop the actual broadcast of a signal. But apparently it stops altogether, which is good for me.

  Overall, I can’t say enough about how easy it was to install, and how well it all worked. I am a fairly computer-savvy person, but I’m no network expert by any means.

  SUPPORT:

  Since buying my router, I have not needed support. Before the purchase, I emailed Linksys support to ask them if the baby monitor would be a problem. They emailed me a generic “here’s what can goof up your wireless connections” document in return. I wasn’t impressed with that. But the next night, a Linksys support technician calls me at home to discuss my email and the document. We end up talking for about 20 minutes, and they’ve never sold me anything. I was impressed with that, and that’s the biggest reason I chose Linksys. In addition, I called the tech support line and asked them about 2.4Ghz phones and monitors. My call was in the middle of the day, and was answered by a technician in about 15 minutes, which I thought was fine.

  Overall, it’s a great product that’s almost “STUPID PROOF” easy to set up, and works well. I highly recommend both the NIC and router.
• 

  Sheldon
  January 1st, 2011 on 7:14 am

  Rating

  The reason I like this product is ease of setup, and the fact that it has some wired ports. Some wireless routers have no place to plug in a CAT 5 cable, so even if your main computer is only a foot away, you will have to buy a wireless network card which adds to the cost of your system. My main desktop computer is plugged directly into the Linksys, and my notebook operates wireless. The manual is pretty good, and after making sure that your computers are set to DHCP (not hard to do) the Linksys will work as a rounter and gateway to the Internet by just plugging everything into the right holes. If you use Linksys wireless network cards and adaptors as well, the entire operation is pretty painless. Orinoco PCMCIA cards have a bit more range, but you have to jump through few more hoops to get things right.

  Some tips: 1. Don’t expect miracles when it comes to distance. A lot of factors come into play, including what your home/office is constructed off, and interference from other devices in your home/office. Try to get the unit up high for best coverage. 2. While the rounter does act as a firewall, if a hacker does get to it, and knows the default password (hardly anyone ever changes the default password) they could get through. So, change the password. 3. Change the SSID address. When used as a wireless router, this “should” keep your neighbors from using your router as a gateway to the Net, or getting into your computers when files are being shared. I took my notebook to my neighbor’s home and was able to get into my files and surf the Net with no problems. 4. If you are sharing files and folder, use passwords. While I don’t want to make anyone paranoid, these are simple changes that should help with security. 5. Linksys support is okay, and it is 24/7, but you have to get the right person. If things don’t work out call back. You’ll never get the same person twice.

  If this is your first adventure into networking or wireless networking, Linksys makes the process pretty painless.
• 

  CEM INALMAN
  January 1st, 2011 on 4:47 pm

  Rating

  Wow… this is an easy fix that most people would love to know. I have been a wireless user almost from day one and at all times LINKSYS has been my best choice.
  I have been reading articles and problems all along and up until last month, I never had any problems. But funny enough, like the most user I started to have the same disconnection problem all of a sudden for no reason at all. I had this machine for almost a year now.
  I have tried everything that was “said and heard”, asked linksys support 4-5 times on the same day for over a week but no luck.

  It would just drop connection and would pick it up after 3-4 hours or sometimes longer or shorter. Power on and off, all types of current or previous firmware upgrades would not fix the thing. But NOW it is working just fine for over 3 weeks no problems. I have around my house 7 different wireless devices working (all neighbors) most of the time. I thought it was one of them that was causing the problem but not so.

  FIX :
  1. make sure you backup your configuration to your PC (must learn that)
  2. while power is ON press and hold reset switch at the back for almost 90 seconds
  3. while pressing and holding disconnect the power with your third hand (!) and keep holding for another 30 sec
  4. while pressing and holding reconnect the power back again and keep reset switch pressed at all times
  5. wait another 60 or 90 seconds while power is on and reset button pressed
  6. no you can let go the reset switch
  7. connect to your BEFW11S4 using 192.168.1.1 and your password is again back to the original “admin”
  8. once you are connected, restore from your backup (step 1)
  9. never experience disconnection problems again (I hope)

  Note: This is technical food:_ After programming the EPROM that is on the mainboard, linksys manufacturers must do a hard reset on the device. That will clear the stack buffer and some registers. But it looks like they don’t do that and even you switch off the thing, stacks don’t get initialized and cause stack overflow (DHCP is most likely). Machine will still pump packets out but packets are all messed up you can not connect. Well, if you don’t have the problem, you or someone must have pressed reset more than 60 secs at some stage. It doesn’t matter what firmware you use, HARD RESET is a must after programming the EPROM.
• 

  Driver Ed
  January 3rd, 2011 on 1:49 am

  Rating

  I am very satisfied with my home network and it is exceeding my expectations. I wanted to set up a small home network for two PC’s in a two story townhouse condominium. High speed access is provided by cable modem and I have an HP Officejet K80 connected to a USB port on a Windows 98 desktop PC. My other PC is a Dell notebook running Windows 2000.

  After reading numerous Amazon customer reviews on wireless routers and adapters, I decided to buy the following:

  Router – Linksys Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL router (BEFW11S4 v.2)
  Wireless network adapter – Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC card
  10/100 Lan card – Linksys LNE100TX 10/100 Lan card
  Total Cost – about $210

  I chose the router because Linksys seemed to have less problems than other brands. I chose the Netgear wireless PCMCIA adapter because users reported excellent signal strength over varying distances and it had a built-in antenna. I also didn’t want to use my one USB port on the notebook for a network adapter. The Linksys 10/100 Lan card was just a great buy for under $20.

  Setup was relatively straightforward. I installed the 10/100 Lan card first into my desktop PC and then connected it to the cable modem just to make sure the card worked properly. Next, I followed the quick start instructions for connecting the router to the cable modem and to the desktop PC. Then I used the setup wizard on the CD to guide me on configuring the router. At one point during the router configuration, I had to power off and on the cable modem before the router detected the Internet. Once it did, it automatically picked up the information it needed to configure the router with my ISP’s assigned addresses. Note: the network patch cable that came with the Linksys router is only about a foot long, so you may want to get a longer one.

  Once I verified the desktop was accessing the Internet through the router, I setup the Netgear wireless PCMCIA card for my Dell notebook. Again, I just followed the setup instructions and it connected to the router without any problems. I placed my notebook PC on the first floor of my condo and the Netgear utility program showed the signal strength and link quality at 100% or Excellent. The router is on the second floor approximately 30 feet away and about 3 feet off the floor.

  Once I set up file and print sharing on the desktop PC, I was able to print easily from my notebook to the HP Officejet K80 connected to my desktop. The only quibble here is that the desktop PC has to be on for the remote printing to work. I may invest in a Linksys Etherfast Wireless USB Print Server (about $80) if it gets too inconvenient.

  The last thing I did was read the Router’s user’s guide to set up the WEP security for 64 bit encryption. I used a passphrase for both the Linksys router and Netgear wireless adapter and it worked without a hitch. I also changed the router’s web-based utility default password for additional security.

  All in all, I found the setup to be straight-forward and I did not need to talk to any technical support people. Every product I purchased lived up to the reviews that I had read, so I hope this review will help someone, too.
• 

  Doug
  January 4th, 2011 on 4:59 am

  Rating

  I am not sure what all the others had problems with but my Linksys worked great out of the box. Setting it up I had an issue that was easily fixed by calling tech support,(only 5 min wait and worth it, the technician was very good). My laptop which will be connecting wirelessly was not connecting no matter what I tried. It turns out that you can’t run wireless cards and ethernet cards (mine was built in} at the same time because the machine will always default to the ethernet card. Which is exactly what was happening. We removed the driver for the ethernet card and it began to work great right away. Everything else about the setup was fairly simple and went very smooth the directions were easy to understand. I especially liked the quick installation sheet which is what I used to setup with.

  I highly recommend this product and would buy it again if I had to do it all over. The distance of the wireless machine is really dependent on terrain. But for my two story house it was great. The only weak spot being downstairs in the opposite direction of the linksys base as far as I could go. However it still worked and was quite able to handle downloads even at the weakest point. You just can’t go wrong till they come out with a new beakthrough in technology. But even then the prices will be to high in the beginning. For instance the new 802.11a is several hundred dollars more expensive then this machine. And for what you get I just don’t need it.

  This is a winner. The newest version of the product is BEF11S4 VER 2. Many of the reviews done in this section were about the
  BEF11S4 its the same model number but lacking the ver.2 after the BEF11S4.

  The newest version has fixed most of the bugs of the previous version. Good Luck!!! A very satisfied consumer
• 

  Joe Reilly
  January 4th, 2011 on 10:33 am

  Rating

  This product is (a) an incredible value, given its feature set, (b) a breeze to set up, and (c) as reliable as a home-consumer product can be. Home wireless technology has its limits, and Linksys is not immune to any of them. I think this accounts for most negative feedback on the product. But, be aware: Linksys has packaged the best combo cable/DSL router, mini-switch, and wireless access point on the market. Competitive products use the same hardware technology, but the browser-based set-up and administration functions offered by Linksys set this device apart. For the novice, it is easy to set-up. The default configuration will work for most. For the networking enthusiast (me), it offers capabilities not expected from an inexpensive home-consumer product (static/dynamic routing, port filtering/forwarding, DHCP server, logging, etc). If this “one size” does not fit all, it comes damned close. I likely sound like a Linksys employee or stockholder, but I am simply a satisfied consumer impressed with this versatile product. Good stuff. And fun to tinker with.

  To folks considering wireless networking: Do it!
  To folks considering this product: Buy it!
• 

  E. Porres
  January 4th, 2011 on 2:19 pm

  Rating

  I purchased the Linksys router (V2) along with the WPC11 card (V3) just last week, and am pleased to report that both are running exceptionally well, especially considering that I live in NYC. Many negative reviews have been posted about this suite of products, and perhaps some are valid, but most are backlash from earlier versions of each component working (or not) with each other. Linksys seems to operate on the belief that getting a product out into the marketplace with a few kinks is better than getting it out there perfectly (and therefore with a significant time delay to market), and I respect that rationale (think of how many service pack updates you’ve had to do with any of your Windows operating systems over the years! ) Below describes my experience thus far with this suite of products; your experience will likely be different if you have a different OS, have lots of 2.4GHz phones in your house, your house is make mostly of steel, etc. But we’ll get to that….

  BACKGROUND:
  Those of you who are looking to get into the wonderful world of wireless networking should freshen up on the good, the bad, and the ugly of what the 802.11 standards are. A good resource is 80211-planet. This site has several articles (search for “Jim Geier” or “Minimizing 802.11 Interference Issues”) to help explain why you can potentially expect interference depending on the location and conditions around either your router or your network card. Bottom line = there are many variables that can affect performance of any 802.11 product, but you won’t know unless you dive in and give it a go.

  INSTALLATION:
  I’m running a Thinkpad T21 laptop with W2K, and have RoadRunner for cable modem service (Toshiba modem). I popped open the box for the Linksys router, briefly skimmed through the long booklet directions, and then carefully followed each step of the 1-pager quick-installation instructions. The router connected to the cable modem without a hitch (note that RoadRunner uses DHCP…what’s DHCP you ask? Go to webopedia and do a search on DHCP for details). Please note that I used all of the default settings. Time to connect cable modem to router and router to laptop = 11 minutes.

  I then popped open the box for the network card, and again followed the directions line-by-line on the quick instruction sheet that came supplied with the card. Once again, I used all of the default settings, and lo and behold, the card began communicating with the router without a hitch. Time to connect the card to the laptop and the now ‘networked’ laptop to the router = 7 minutes (including software installation).

  PERFORMANCE:
  I live in a duplex in lower Manhattan, and so at first I was skeptical in light of the reviews I had read before about performance relative to distance from the router, etc. However, I am able to move anywhere on either floor and get a consistently good signal (the router is upstairs and I’m writing this downstairs, whilst streaming music…no lags). I have downloaded hundreds of MBs worth of data thus far without any problems, streamed music and videos, emailed, surfed the web, uploaded files, etc. I’ve connected another wired computer to the router and it connected without a hitch (again, make sure you’re familiar with DHCP…makes things a lot easier). The signal did fade to a whisper when I went outside, but I’m not entirely surprised, given that the router was 3 floors away, and trying to communicate through several walls of brick, wood, and steel. I’ll probably toy with the position of the router in the house to see if I can boost my response outside. I haven’t tried a network game yet, but then again, I’m not using the laptop for that purpose. I also haven’t attempted to update the firmware of the card (as it prompts me ever so often to do) yet, as it is working now. Instead, I have placed an email to Linksys for their recommendation, and will post an update to this review when I have an answer.

  RECOMMENDATIONS:
  If you’re ready for the wireless world, the Linksys set of products work very well, especially now that they (and Amazon) ship the latest version of each. Some helpful tips:
  - Don’t install the router next to a 2.4GHz phone or a microwave
  - Placement and positioning of the router and antenna are key. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, getting your wireless network up and running smoothly may take a bit of fine-tuning.
  - If you find unbearable interference, change the channels. Just like on your portable phone, you can potentially see dramatic improvement.
  - Make sure you have an extra CAT5 cable around for the installation. You’ll need one to connect your DSL/cable modem to the router and then another to initially connect the router to your computer.
  - Tinkering can get you into trouble! If you don’t know what a configuration is, then don’t tinker with it…a classic way to burn your fingers on the hot stove of curiosity.
  - READ THE DIRECTIONS! Following each step slowly but surely in the short-run can significantly reduce your headaches in the long-run.

  If you’ve done your research, you should know by now that no 802.11 product is a panacea for every possible wireless situation. It simply may not work for your home or office, given the variables in play. But like the intrepid explorers who found the new world, you too can find happiness–and new working freedom–with a wireless network….
• 

  Anonymous
  January 5th, 2011 on 4:55 pm

  Rating

  Yes, It is totally compatible with apple airport card, so you don’t have to buy the much more expensive airport base station.
• 

  Anonymous
  January 6th, 2011 on 12:44 am

  Rating

  The set-up was incredibly simple…just plug in and follow a few easy directions. They tell you exactly what information you need from your IP. I have an IBM thinkpad I bought with the wireless card and windows XP. I didn’t have to do a thing to it after I set up the router and my desktop. It was ready right away! The whole thing took about 1 hour (most of which was talking to the cable people to get the IP adress. I’m having no problems with signal. The router is on the first floor study and I take my laptop up to my bedroom.