EtherFast Cable/DSL Router With 8 10/100 Switched Ports
A simple and inexpensive way to share your one IP address over your entire network, the Linksys EtherFast cable/DSL router connects up to 253 PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet connection or to a Fast Ethernet or Ethernet backbone. Configurable as a DHCP server or client, the EtherFast cable/DSL router acts as the only externally recognized Internet gateway on your local area network (LAN). The router can be configured via SNMP to filter internal users' access to the Internet and serve as an Internet firewall against intruders.
The router features advanced functions such as dynamic and static port routing, DMZ hosting, filtering, forwarding, and quality-of-service capabilities. All of these functions can be easily configured through any networked computer's Web browser.
The Linksys BEFSR81 router comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Note: All Linksys routers now include a special edition of Norton Internet Security! Claim your free CD-ROM by calling (800) 814-0180, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific, seven days a week.
1 Maybe older is better.
I bought one of these units when they first came out. As a version one unit, it did have a few problems with mysterious disconnects and such. I downloaded the latest firmware at that time and it worked much better. I would check back regularly and upgrade the firmware whenever it became available. There were many times I would have my computer online for weeks at a time with fairly heavy traffic both ways without a hitch. Once in a while for some strange reason, certain websites became unavailable or file transfer across the local network became very slow. This could happen once a week but many times it was months without a problem. A power down and up would restore the connections. Transfer rates from the Internet would consistantly be at the max allowed by my ISP. (1500k down and 125k up - PPPOE ADSL) Port fowarding worked in the few applications that needed it, but I'm not a gamer so I can't comment on any problems there might have been in that area. I finally retired the unit last month (February 2005) after about 5 years of use. Several users here have complained about reliability of this unit but maybe the later versions were/are made cheaper or something as this one never quit. 1 star short of 5 here because there was still an occasional reset needed.
2 Easy to set up, but unreliable and limited lifespan
I got this router two years ago and used it to share my DSL connection among my computers. Setting it up was very easy. I did get disconnected once or twice a week, but I never investigated if it was the router or my DSL provider who dropped the connection. Now it's been two years and the dreaded Diag light went solid red the other day. I contacted Linksys tech support through on-line chat from their web site and got a quick response. Unfortunatly they told me the router is broken and there is nothing they can do. Easy installation, low price, good tech support, but possibly dropped connections and limited lifespan -- that comes out at two stars in my book.
3 Port Forwarding Nightmare
After having the BEFSR81 for about two years it fizzeled out so I went out and bought a replacement the BEFSR81 V3. This was step back for Linksys. With the first router I didnt have many problems and was able to setup port fowarding for online gaming very easily. With the V3 router I couldn't even get on the internet until after a firmware upgrade.
Then I tried to forward ports for TeamSpeak and running online game servers. I could not get it to work. After a total of six combined hours of trying to setup the router and on tech support calls I have given up and it is going back for another product.
4 Terrible throughput
Apparently some have success with this unit and some don't. I bought the V3 unit and put the 2.50.2 firmware on it and 50k is the best download speed I can get. Spent time on the phone with LinkSys and they said take it back. Weird thing is, my upload speed is over 200k, about what it should be.
5 throughput problem...
I liked the specs on this device so I picked one up today. I was especially looking for the QOS abilities as I often have a download in progress (ftp, scp, etc) and I want to give my web and ssh connections priority so I can do real work while the downloads are in progress.
Set it up, nice interface. Set the QOS to the way I wanted it.
Did some web browsing, file transfers, ssh connections.
Then after about 5 minutes I noticed that ftp's would suddenly 'stop' for 10-15 seconds, then resume (using hash mode so I could see progress). This is a linux to linux xfer.
It got really bad, then my web pages started slowing down. I was using MRTG to plot the traffic flow on graphs since the router does SNMP. Traffic showed an average of 56kbps on a 1.54mbps dsl connecting to servers one hop away!
I rebooted my pc, the dsl modem, the router, my flourescent lights and the the kid next door. (ok, I'm kidding about the lights. And the kid) Still jerky downloads, even when NO other traffic on the link.
After about a half hour of frustration, I put my 'old' SMC Baricade (about 2 years old) back. All the issues disappeared.
Sure wanted the QOS, but getting it meant I lost QOS. I hate to say it but I have had problems with other linksys stuff (56k wireless).
Taking it back to Best Buy, sorry guys you'll have to make Linksys pay...
Cisco Makes great stuff. I hope they can apply some of their abilities to Linksys. I hate to put in a negative review, especially since there (may be) other positive reviews. This is just my experience. Also, I am not an 'average consumer' but someone who has experience with 'real 'Cisco stuff, especially ds3 and gigibit routers. Please Cisco, fix these guys stuff!
6 Good for about 9 months - then flaky - then fialed
I set up a fairly comprehensive home network with all linksys gear. Three 8 port switches, a BEFSR81, a BEFVP41, and Linksys cable modem. All worked great for about 1 year.
After that time I started losing my internet connection. The problem was the BEFSR81. Only unplugging it/replugging it would clear it. Sometimes the diag light would come on, most of the time everything looked normal. It worked well for a year, but I had it in a very comfortable environment (in my dry basement with fans cooling all - cause I thought all this hardware ran a bit hot.) It seems from all the reviews here that this is the usual way this device goes. As a last ditch effort I was going to reload the firmware and see if that helped, even though I had reset the device several times. When using the linksys firmware install program the install died in the middle of the process and now I can't communicate with it or reset it at all.
I'm done with it. Don't waste your money or time on this product. So far my other linksys hardware has been OK, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
7 Throughput problems
I bought this router so my wife could share our cable connection.
She works from home, and often participates in online "webinars"
with a live audio conference feed. The throughput was terrible,
with audio dropouts rendering the presentation unintelligible.
Bypassing the router and using the modem directly proved it was
the router, since all other computers on the network were off.
Amazon sold us the latest v3 version of this product, which had
the latest software from late 2003. After complaining, Linksys
replaced the router with another, which had NO throughput. They
then replaced that one with an older v2 model. That model has
given us no problems, but we essentially got no work done for
two weeks.
8 BAD LINKSYS ROUTER
I use routers to share a connection so i can run a bf1942 server this is the third router ive bought from linksys ive had a wireless that eventually would disconnect a couple times a day. so i then decided to get a non wireless router which was a 4 port and i had it about a month and it started disconnecting regularly now i bought the 8 port lol it worked for 1 day on the server now it will disconnect everytime i try to connect 2 computers to a bf1942 server linksys stuff is cheap it should only be sold at walmart linksys is so worried ABOUT THERE WIRELESS STUFF BUT THERE HARD WIRED STUFF WORKS LIKE CRAP AFTER A MONTH OR SO TRUST ME I CANT TELL YOU WHAT A GOOD ROUTER IS BUT IM TRYING A NET GEAR OR BELKIN NEXT MAYBE THEY WILL HAVE CUSTOMER SUPPORT THAT SPEAKS ENGLISH TOO
9 BEFSR81 Causes Packet Loss Problems
I have had this router for 18 months when I first experienced packet loss problems. I confirmed that the problem is with this router by connecting my PC directly to the DSL modem and pinging yahoo.com. When my PC was connected directly to the DSL modem, I had zero packet loss. Next, I returned the BEFSR81 to my network and connected my PC to this router. Pinging yahoo.com resulted in 25%-50% packet loss.
It took a while to figure out the problem with this router. Web pages would load very slowly, which I initially thought was due to network congestion. Only when I lost connectivity today did I realize that this router was making my Internet access unstable and slow.
I would not recommend purchasing this router.
************** Update on Linksys Tech Support
I contacted Linksys Tech support using their website. It has been over 4 weeks and they have not even bothered to respond.
10 Nice price, great product
If you need to connect moren than 4 pc's (max 8) to the internet (e.g. (A)DSL at your home or office) this is a very good solution at a great price. Lots of features that you may or may not need but might come in handy after all. Some providers for example use the hardware address of your computer's network card to allow you to connect to the internet, and luckily this router has a built-in feature to manually provide this address. Configuration is very simple and it's cheap compared to other 8-port routers.
11 Won't go the distance
I bought this router about a year ago. It looks nice and sets up easily and would be a strong recommend--if it would continue working properly.
After only a few months, I started noticing the occasional internet access outage. Never even really thought about it. Then it grew progressively worse, up to 15 or 20 times a day. Not being a network guru, it's taken quite a bit of time and effort to trace the problem back to the router. Linksys tech support didn't even answer my emails (and phone support is now a 900 number).
Don't buy this product unless you hate yourself and enjoy having your internet access fail whenever you seem to need it most.
12 LINKSYS BEFSR81 EXPERIENCE
I bought a BEFSR81 and worked fine for about month and a half.
Then begun to experience connection drops 2-3 minutes, every day more frequently. One night it dropped connection 3 or four times within an hour and then WAN port stopped working. It was connected to a Cisco 575 VDSL provided by my ISP. Extensive check out with ISP tech support pointed to the BEFSR81 router.
I returned it to my supplier for tech support but couldn't make it work.
I bought a second BEFSR81 and guess what...never worked either!
Then I bougth a D-LINK DI-604 and a BEFSR41.
BEFSR41 had again a connection drop at the fourth day, I had to reset it.
D-LINK is been working solid, not even a glitch. Hope this be useful for Linksys buyers, since, for worst, Cisco -now the owner- said not to support Linksys gear.
I emailed LINKSYS support at support.la@linksys.com
No replay at all.
13 Limited lifespan
I bought this router and it worked perfectly out of the box. However after about 9 months the router failed with the Diag Light on solid. Unpluging and a hard reset did not correct the problem. I shipped the unit back to Linksys and they promptly replaced the unit. This unit also worked perfectly out of the box. However after about 5 months this unit has also failed with the same problem. The Diag Light is on solid. This time I'm out of warranty. I fear that this router has a limited lifespan and plan to buy a different brand.
14 Great initially - flaky after a year
I've had this router installed in our home network for almost a year. It installed quickly and easily and performed flawlessly for nearly a year.
However, recently we'd started to experience frequent connection drops to the Internet. Down for 3-5 minutes, then back up, several times an hour. Network troubleshooting pointed to the router, and after reading some of the comments here and other places, I replaced the Linksys with an SMC Barricade. Our connection has been solid ever since.
Most of the components in our home network are Linksys products, and they've always installed easily and worked great. It does worry me though that they too might have a limited lifespan.
15 Unreliable to the point of being unusable
BEFSR81 features are great, such as port forwarding. However, for a year or so this router has crashed unpredictably, on the order of once/day, requiring a trip to the basement to reset it. Linksys tech support was useless if well-intentioned. Note that Linksys hasn't updated the firmware for this product in years, it's effectively an orphan. After the router crashed five times in a row within a half hour recently, I broke down and bought a new 8-port "Barricade" router from SMC (SMC7008ABR). Installation was a little tricky but now it's up and running fine. Too early to claim success.
16 No Brainer
This Cable/Router with 8-Port Switch is a breeze to install, configure and use. I had my computer up and running within 10 minutes of unpacking the product. It took about 5 minutes to configure each of the other 5 computers on my home network to see the local network and connect to the Internet.
When my son wanted to connect to on-line games and needed to open some non-standard ports, it was easy to do through the web-based interface.
This product works as advertised. That's the best endorsement I can give to any product.
17 You could do better
I owned this unit for about 2 years and it worked but as mentioned in some of the other reviews it locks up every so often. Because there is no reset button easy to access (there is a tiny recessed button on on the back) we ended-up unplugging the unit a lot. Eventually the power connection became flakey and the unit began powering down randomly. The software is also not that nice--they released few new features in the firmware and a few releases back they tried to add firewall capability that they yanked out in the next release, never to return.
I replaced it with the SMC Barricade 8 Port 10/100 Mbps Broadband Router which is a superior product (see my review for brief comparison).
18 Switch to the Best!
Been using Linksys routers for several years. I am network engineer, and while these are by no means Cisco routers, they are very affordable and perfrom great for home or small business networks.
**Be careful of the new security/filtering feature for AOL. This option is worded strangely and the wrong choice will block Internet access. Suggestion--don't waste your time with AOL, get a real ISP.
19 Mine works great as a switch, but not as a router + switch
Prior to purchasing this Linksys product 2 weeks ago, I was very satisfied with Linksys and owned a number of other Linksys products, including a KVM switch, wireless access point, wireless LAN card, and 1-port Cable/DSL router.
I bought this product because I wanted an 8-port switch. The fact that they had a combo DSL/Cable rouer + 8 port switch convinced me to buy this product since I could save space and power, and I would also be able to use my 1-port router for other stuff like creating a separate subnet.
However, I had problems with this product when I replaced my 1-port Cable/DSL router with this one. I had to reset it (unplug and re-plugged in) multiple times per day. Finally I gave up and went back to using my 1-port DSL/Cable just starting using this thing as an 8-port switch. Since then, I haven't had any problems with this product.
From reading other reviews, this doesn't seem like an isolated issue. Linksys looks to have a defective product, and there are no firmware updates available (yet) on their website.
20 One-of-a-kind features!
Not only great at the basics but the *only* model from any vendor I can find that offers QOS (Quality Of Service) by port. What that means is you can set one computer (or other device) to have higher priority. Great for video games, voice over internet, or a home or small office LAN to make sure the right application/devices get enough bandwidth.
I don't think even Linksys realizes how importaant this feature will soon become.
21 Pretty good little box - just a couple things
Easy setup. It took me about 30 minutes. I use my router on home network with 4 computers, a printer server, and wireless bridge. This router is connected to my Alcatel DSL modem. For general use (meainging websurfing, SSL, VPN, FTP) this router works great.
On occasion, this router will hiccup, and stop routing network data. This only happens when I'm really taxing it. To be specific, when I'm having online game parties (3~4 computers) connected to an outside server, this router looses it. It's annoying, but it's easily fixed by unplugging and plugging it back in.
Like I said, if you're not hosting network parties at your place, then this is a great router!
NOTE: Definately make sure the firmware in this router is up to date. Linksys is pretty good about releasing fixes for this router.
22 Worked great until it failed
My experience is exactly the same as another reviewer, Mark. My router was flawlessly serving 5 home-networked computers for six months. It was easy to set up and never once showed any signs that it was on it's way out. The router was attached to a Linksys Cable Modem and a Linksys 5-port hub was connected to one of the router ports in my home office. I had the exact same experience as Mark did when contacting Linksys help.
I would give the router 5 stars for it's performance, but being it crashed after six months, not so good tech support and their terrible RMA process, I knocked it down to 2 stars.
I wonder about my Linksys cable modem and hub....
23 Linksys BEFSR81 is Great Until it Fails
I have one of these which worked very well for six months. At that point however, it failed. Be aware that if this happens to you, you will be at the mercy of Linksys's antiquated RMA process. After spending 1/2 an hour on the phone, doing several hard resets, the very nice woman informed me that my modem had "gone bad" and that the process of getting an RMA number sent to me via email would take 2-3 days. She then informed me that I should fill out the emailed RMA form and return it with the defective device. She said I should expect to receive a new device 7-10 business days later.
I cringe at telling my spouse and kids that cable modem access will be out for the remainder of the month.
All told, they appear to have a well designed product that was fairly easy to get running. But I find their response to a clear product failure six month's after purchase to be woefully inadequate. My recommendation would be to find another product.
24 Superb Router. Allows easy expansion
This router is the backbone of my fairly complicated network, consisting of two Macs, two Win2K, three WinXP, and a wireless access point, also by Linksys, all leading out to a Linksys Cable modem. Let me tell you, it was an unholy pain in the a$$ to set up the 1st computer. It kept crashing, tech support couldn't do anything, etc. I finally configured the router, somehow even though the PC was crashing literally every 4-7 minutes. The other PC's were a breeze to configure, and it turns out the first PC I was configuring was using WindowsMe, which in case you don't know, is easily the worst Windows OS out there. I changed to Win2K, the stablest Windows OS available, and it was fine. The router has been on 24/7 for over 4 months, and has had no problems, delivers over 1Mbps internet access to every PC, hasn't overheated, and is the backbone of an excellent Linksys network. Go with Linksys, their performance is excellent, and I have a long history with them, which has been completely pleasant so far. I recommend this router without reservation. Windows Me, however....
25 ppoe does NOT work
Can connect directly using pacbell's ppoe s/w. Cannot connect using the Linksys router. Wasted way too much time trying to get this thing to work. Worked fine with previous cable modem connection. Switched to ADSL (ppoe) and it started dropping to very low bandwidth. So then I upgraded the f/w. Now it won't reconnect on its own. Need to first connect and disconnect using pacbell's s/w then switch the cables and try again with the Linksys router. Big pain switching to NetGear rp114.
26 Best Buy!
Except for a defective model arriving in the beginning (a completely cracked case), this router has been amazing. A router is a smart hub because it evenly distributes broadband. With a 900k DSL connection, you will have 900k connection on each computer, no matter how many computers, because all Routers only send packets to where they are needed most, not distributing the packets meant for other computers to every computer.
This Router provides Dynamic and Static IP fowarding and DHCP server, meaning you dont need to buy a separate IP address for each computer. This works with almost any kind of broadband internet connection.
One suggestion is to make sure to disable the firewall on some ports to allow network games to be played, as well as creating your own webserver.
I would definetly recommend Linksys and their routers.
27 Great product - decent customer support
Background: Experienced computer professional with over 20 years managing enterprise systems.
I bought this router/firewall to replace a failing UGate firewall. The BEFSR81 worked out of the box and I've got a mix of Linux and Windows systems connected to it. SNMP also works like a charm - I use mrtg to get the stats. I have had no issues at all with Shiva VPN tunneling to my office.
I started to have issues with the BEFSR81 locking up every day or two, and after exchanging a few e-mails with tech support, they agreed to cross-ship a replacement. I plugged the new unit in, and it's been flawless ever since. I couldn't ask for more.
A bunch of people in our office also have Linksys units and are all satisfied. I recommend Linksys to anyone who asks.
28 wish I'd looked here before buying mine...
I bought mine at a local Micro Center. I wish I'd looked here first. The Linksys was easy to set up and would probably work fine for 99 percent of people. I also like the fact that this is not an 802.11b base station. I prefer to have the security option of unplugging the wireless base station and therefore it needs to be a separate physical box.
What about those 1 percent of users who won't like this product? If you like to keep TCP connections open for a long time, e.g., if you're a developer using ssh or telnet, this Linksys is problematic. My old SMC router, after upgrading the firmware, was rock solid and I could keep an Emacs up and running on a remote server for days or weeks. With the Linksys connections will mysteriously die. I haven't changed my cable modem or my cable service.
29 Inconsistent connections
I replaced my Linksys 4 port switch that I had used to share my internet connection with Windows 2000 built-in Internet Connection Sharing support with this Linksys 8 port Cable modem router. My prior solution was flawless as long as the server used to share the internet didn't crash. I wanted to be certain my internet connection stayed up for all stations whether or not the server was avaiable.
I purchased this product to address that situation... Now I find this router fails to keep a live connection on the order of 10 to 15 times a day. I have upgraded the flash rom to the newest version available from the manufacturer to no avail. I'm certain my cable modem is fine due to the fact that I had a previously stable connection. I'm going to return the device and ask for a replacement. I have to believe there is something wrong with this particular router. Hope you have better luck than I have had.
30 Looks Pretty, but has a MAJOR problem
Linksys' router is something we've always dreamed of: A simple box that does everything for us, even allowing us a pretty user interface to change the settings to our liking. However, routers are meant to share an internet connection, not what I'll call a 'busy signal'.
Linksys' router resets connections without warning, displays incredible lag, and has very minimal tech support for this issue. I have been in correspondence with one of there engineers for about 6 months discussing on possible solutions to the problem, but to no avail. This router is NOT for you. Trust me. Unless you like lag, and shelling out money for meaningless boxes, I would recommend something else: anything.
31 Linksys - the easiest to setup
Having read all the reviews of the rapidly expanding products for home networking I chose the Linksys BEFSR81 Router/8 Port Switch. I have 5 computers networked together all sharing connectivity through a cable modem. The hardest part of the setup was being patient enough to connect everything. The equipment operated flawlessly with vitually no user setup required. You need to make sure that you have TCP/IP running and setup to automatically accuire an IP address from the Linksys. Then reboot and your off. I checked for new firmware updates and the unit I purchased had the latest. The claim to speedup your internet is very true if your coming from using ICS and a hub to share through. Individual download/upload speeds remain the same but when you have four people downloading at the same time you never see a slowdown. As an example, I was downloading the trial version of PhotoShop while my wife was donwloading the latest updates from Microsoft. My file size was 45.1 mb and it only took 3 min 15 sec to complete. My recommendation is if you need to share an internet connection, whatever the type, Linksys has what you need for simplicity and operabilty.
32 Nice Try Linksys - my Router is for Sale
Well, it's really sad that this router has 1 fatal flaw, cause other than that is works great. The thing that separates this router from the flock is that it has 8 switched ports for a reasonable price. Unfortunately it has a severe bug:
CONNECTION RESETS DURRING HIGH TRAFFIC VOLUME!
When you are downloading a file from a fast server, or even worse, hosting a nice game of Quake, the router will just spontaneously freeze up and disconnect from the ISP. Unplugging it and reconnecting eventually will get things back online. Obviously this is a huge bug with this router. It has been happening consistently for the entire time that I have owned the thing, which is over a year.
Tech support knows about this problem, but the only help they could offer is to upgrade the firmware. Of course I had already tried every firmware revision they have and still got the same problem. This makes the router completely useless for my needs. I just can't understand why I have put up with it for a year, constantly unplugging the thing and resetting it. I think I was just hoping for a fix in the next firmware upgrade, but alas, they can't seem to fix it. For now I am using my old Mac to do the routing, and just using the router as a hub.
I have talked to several other unhappy owners of this router who have experienced the same problem. By their recommendations I'm going to purchase an Asante FR3004 which I have been told works flawlessly, and has been tested to have higher speed when transferring files across the network.
33 Wireless or Wires? Why I bought this product...
Background: 29 year old, Good computer knowledge but I wouldnt say I am an expert although in the computer field and have my own computer business. I just tell you this because sometimes you wonder who is writting these comments, professionals or what have you.
Why I went with wires:
I decided to buy this product for a few reasons. For 1 the reviews for this product(BEFSR81) were better then for the wireless product(BEFW11S4). The wireless part, if you read those reviews, seems to me like it needs more work. Two, there are added costs involved, wireless cards..etc. Not to mention the BEFW11S4 itself is more and I didn't want to sink so much into a router to find out that I couldn't use the wireless functionality as planned. Three, I didn't have to go wireless, I was able to go through the wall where the TV cable comes out. Four, the one that finalized my decision was that I went into a local store and talked to a guy who had set up the wireless and he too said that the 11Mps unrealistic. He said it would hardly go down the hall. Maybe one room next to the router is ok but anything else FORGET IT. So why pay so much for technology that still needs work? No thanks.
Installation:
I have to say, I never thought it would be this easy. I think 10mins max I had my computer working off the net. Another 5 to have my roommates in the other room working. Very well documented. It's a READING documentation instead of a LOOKING documentation. That is few pictures. I was very suprised on how well this router was for easy set up. As for now, I don't have any complains and the router has been working for 2 weeks. I haven't called technical support so I can't tell you how good it is but how good does it have to be with a device that is so great and easy to install without support?
Suggestion:
If your thinking of wireless then make sure the computers are still close to each other until technlogy gets improved. If your thinking of hooking up a computer in the kitchen way down the hall or downstairs..forget it.
Last:
Thanks everybody for the great reviews. I'm just giving something back to the great comments I got here BEFORE buying this product.
34 LinkSys does it again - Great product
Linksys BEFSR81 EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 8 port 10/100 Switch is one of the best broadband routers out there. This router/hub allows you to share your single internet connection provided by cable modem or DSL to multiple computers.
I used to own the 4-port of the same box and decided to buy the 8-port version when my brother took my 4 port box. This box contains 8 auto-sensing 10/100 ports. Installation is a snap and no software is needed. This box has such advanced functions as dynamic and static port routing, DMZ hosting, filtering and forwarding, and Quality of Service capabilities. And all of these functions can be easily configured through a web browser. It also supports VPN via. IPSec, PPoE and PPTP.
In a nutshell, the Etherfast Cable/DSL router is very simple to operate yet powerful and easy to manage using the web based admin app. A must buy if you need to share your Internet connection. I have about 4 Linksys products near or on my computers now - Great job Linksys.
35 Great Product, Abyssmal Support
Product Rating: 5
Support Rating: 1 (just because i couldn't rate it lower)
Trying to reach support is a waste of time and when you do, all they will tell you to do is take the linksys box out of your network and hard connect to your cable modem... There are known problems in the user community that their technical support will not fess up to.
It is sad because this is a stellar product.
36 Good for off campus college savings
I hooked the router and it works great. Saves me and my 4 housemates 40 dollars a month on internet bills and shows little sign of drag from the use of 5 computers on one Roadrunner web connection.
37 Worth the money.. has some ipsec/vpn issues
I bought one of these for my home network. My house is wired with cat5e and I have att broadband cable.
The unit setup quickly and the NAT stuff worked great. It took me literally 10 minutes to have it all working.
The trouble is with my companies vpn software (cisco). The 8 port unit has some fragmentation issue that causes some problems so I have to disable ipsec through NAT. (this is fixed in the 4 port version). Additionally, this unit only supports one active ipsec session, so I can only have one machine connected to the office at a time. :(
38 Buyer beware...
The box works well, both a switch and broadband router. Setup was simple and worked seamlessly with our network and DSL (Verizon) connection. However...
... we purchased the box primarily to support connecting to a LAN via a VPN and had trouble from the get-go. It appears that the box only supports one concurrent VPN session. There is nothing in the product literature to warn of this, only that it supports VPN and IPSec (amongst other) protocols. Further delving into the product support pages on the web reveals the rather ambiguous statement that it 'supports at least one VPN session'. Linksys technical support have not had the courtesy to respond to any requests for information.
39 Does what they say it does...
Linksys products, particularly this one, offer good features that are not difficult to implement. Except for poor customer service, it's hard to go wrong.
40 Tough Install
Unless you have the simplest of hardware configurations, this product is going to be difficult to install. I had to return one defective product, download the correct firmware version for the second one, and reprogram parts of the router to work with my odd hardware configurations. Linksys customer service was clueless and very rude. Total install time was probably greater than 10 hours. On the positive side, the product does appear to give good protection from outside intrusion, and Amazon was fabulous about accepting my defective product and getting me a new one in a timely manner.
41 Excellent Product
I received it last night and it was up and running with NAT capability within 30 minutes. Very easy setup and good documentation. It is working with wireless LAN as well as VPN. Extremely simple, yet powerful. Good product.
42 Good product, support bad
Well I bought my router in December and around May I was having problems with the router and imo it needed to be replaced. I have tried on numerous attempts to contact linksys to get help to see if they could fix it without replacing and if not issue a RMA as their support procedure goes. I have yet to get a response from any of my emails I sent and it is now july.
If you want to buy this product, just realize the warranty means nothing and you could easily be out a chunk of cash should it cease to function properly.
43 Works great, except...
The BEFSR81 works great on my DSL application. I do note two problems with the unit. It doesn't keep an accurate list of the DCHP clients. If I reboot a PC on the network, the DCHP list will show both the former and the new IP address. It also drops the PPPoE connection for no apparent reason. The latter occurs even when the keep alive box is checked. Don't upgrade your flash code without checking versions. My unit shipped with a newer version of code than the "latest" version on the webpage. Overall, I'm happy with the unit. Linksys customer support is top notch and they bend over backwards to get you on line.
44 Worked First Time, Couldn't be happier
I ordered it on March 12th, arrived March 16th. I had researched and decided that I wanted this particular router because I wanted 8 100mb fast ethernet ports. I opened the box, followed the instructions and within one hour I had it up and working on 8 pc's and VPN (Virtual Private Network using IPsec to connect into my work network) working on one of them. I had a speed improvement of about 100% from using my main pc as a NAT router using Win98Se Internet Connection Sharing, which is why I went to a dedicated router. All 8 PC's are sharing the net with no problems. I admit I am very experienced at this, but it was still very easy.
45 Excellent Product, with Excellent Tech Support
I have this product on my home network, when i received it, i called tech support who talked me thru the whole installation. wait time was about 5 minutes. I installed one for a client and it went flawless. What a Bargain!
46 this box is _great_
I just got this thing. It took me about 20 minutes to get a Mac OS box and a Solaris box to share my PacBell ADSL line using it. I don't say this about much, but it's a bargain at twice the price. The only negative I can think of is that the manual focuses pretty exclusively on hooking up Windows boxes using dhcp... one assumes the UNIX crowd will know enough to make it work, but Mac users without some TCP/IP background might have a bit of a rough time left with only the provided documentation. The MAC address cloning feature is a thoughfull addition. I haven't had time to work with the "advanced" options yet, but this thing is definitely full-feature.
47 Linksys BEFSR81 worked first try.
This product worked flawlessly at the first try (a rarity with This kind of computer equipment). I have residential DSL from Verizon in Manhattan, NYC. Now, my old computer, my new computer and a laptop share the same DSL connection, in addition to been all networked, I can access files from every computer (the Linksys documentation on how to setup the network part is not very thorough in particular the sharing and naming of drives, mounting drives and priinters. Once you do this I can read from any CD drive and from my ZIP drive from any computer, and I can print to any of the printers from any computer, no more plug and unplug. As a bonus the Router keeps the connection alive constantly (you need to set a parameter). Before every time I was disconnected I had to reboot my computer (I was unable to find any other way). Verizon was no help. But it WORKS!!!
48 Can you say "It Rocks"
A router plus a 8 port 10/100 switch all in one. This is one sweet product. I connect my cable modem to this router and bang instant internet sharing. The bonus is I can now transfer files at 100mbs instead of 10. It also allowed me to replaced my 1 port router and 8 port hub with a single device. I connected it to the Linksys 10/100 switch and my house has become a high speed network. I am a wireless access port away from geek heaven.
49 The BEFSR81 Works for Me
This product is doing everything I bought it to do, at a very resaonable price. It allows multiple systems to share an ISP broadband connection. It also acts as a firewall (attacks to the home PC have stopped according to NetIce Defender). Please note, that I am only using this product as a gateway and not a router!
Today, I share my ISP connection between home PC and work laptop computers {via a VPN tunneling product). I expect to have additional home computers in the future. I am confident that I'll be able to safely (securely) share printers and files between them.
I particularly liked BEFSR81's ability to configure the WAN port hardware address. This allowed using the home PC hardware address. If needed, this allows easy trouble shooting. I can remove easily remove the Linksys router and test the ISP connection with the home PC. If you do this, I recommend providing the original Linksys hardware address to the ISP in case the programming is removed. I did (no sense jeopardizing your relationship with ISP)!
The documentation was good, except around setting the hardware address. It is clear what to do to the Linksys router, but completely lacking in information about how to determine your computer's hardware address. For MicroSoft operating systems use either winipcfg for Win98 and ipconfig for NT or Win2000.
My last learning of interest, concerns accessing the router after you connect with the ISP. My ISP configured a proxy script on the home PC. I wasn't able to access router until I disabled the script (easily checked on/off in Tools/Internet Connection/LAN settings). This demonstrates the security functionality! The router's LAN address is on your private network. The Linksys router is a firewall between it and the public network containing the proxy server.
50 A must have for those who wish to share a DSL connection
Due to the increasing size of my home network, I decided toupgrade to the 8 port BEFSR81 from the 4 port BEFSR41. The two areidentical in size. A Cable/DSL router is a MUST HAVE for those whowish to share a broadband connection. 99 percent of DSL providersutilize what is known as Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet(PPoE). This works just like a normal dial up connection where youhave a username and a password. Normally, this PPoE is done viasoftware installed on your computer. This has many limitations. First,the host computer must always be on for others to utilze aconnection. In that sense, each computer is not independent of theother.
The Linksys has PPoE software built into it. Each computerplugged into the unit can access the internet independently of eachother. Better yet, you never have to see a username/password screenwhen connecting to the internet.
In addition to allowing one toshare a connection, the Linksys also acts as a hardward firewallpreventing hackers from accessing your computers. A must have! Youcannot be secure enough these days!
The unit is easy enough to useNovice to expert. While they're are many advanced features, it is notimperative to set or configure them. The html based interface of theunit is extremely intuitive and easy to figure out. The unit itselfleaves a very small footprint.
The linksys supports DMZ which isknown as a demilitarized zone. It basically allows one local user tobe exposed to outsiders. It is used for such tasks asvideoconferencing and internet gaming where constant two waycommunication is essential. In addition Quality of Service (QoS) isonly offered on this 8 port model. It allows you to prioritizeinternet tasks such as http, ftp, telnet, etc.... Not really thatimportant unless you have many users on at once.
Many cable modemproviders utilize a system where they "lock" your cablemodem service to either 1 modem, or 1 network card. This is to preventyou from sharing or using your connection with other suchcomputers. They're is a hardware number encoded onto your network cardand modem. This is known as a "MAC" address. To circumventthis, the Linksys cable/DSL router has a box where you enter in theMAC address of the item that the cable modem service is locked to andit will emulate it. Very clever and works very well!.
One thing theLinksys cannot help you with is running cables throughout your houseto different rooms! Right now I have managed to run ethernet cablesthrough 5 different areas of the house. I have networked our homeLaser printer (HP LaserJet 2100TN)and have added a WirelessLAN setupso now with a laptop I can surf via wireless broadband!
51 Excellent product.
The linksys BEFSR81 is a MUST HAVE for anyone who owns multiple computers that they would like to connect on the same network to a Cable or DSL internet connection with only one IP address. It's easy to set up. I've set up several of them myself for others I have done work for and so far everyone I have set one up for tells me that they like it alot.
52 Excellent product for Home Networking and small Business.
The Linksys Instant Broadband EtherFast Cable/DSL Router is the perfect option to connect multiple PCs to a high-speed Broadband Internet connection or to an Ethernet back-bone. Allowing up to 253 users, the built-in NAT technology acts as a firewall protecting your internal network.
Configurable as a DHCP server, the EtherFast Cable/DSL Router acts as the only externally recognized Internet device on your local area network (LAN). The router can also be configured to block internal users' access to the Internet. A typical router relies on a hub or a switch to share its Internet connection, but the Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router channels this connection through the blazing, full duplex speed of its built-in EtherFast 10/100 4-Port Switch.
I think - its the best in today's time..
