LinkSys Wireless Cable/DSL Router

[Mike Temporale]

I'm getting a new thinkpad that has 802.11b built in, and I'm thinking of installing a Wireless Router at home so I can roam around the house with the laptop.

Best Buy has the LinkSys Wireless Cable/DSL Router on sale this weekend for $159 CDN (199 - 20 instant rebate - 20 mail in rebate).

MY question to all you wireless experts, is this a good Router? LinkSys is common place in many homes now a days, but I don't know much about their wireless products. The price seems really good.

[`helios]

I have something similar, probably the exact same model, and I love it.

On the router I have 2 PCs, a Mac, and my 3970, and everything works great. I have never had any problems with it. Linksys also has extremely good tech support. My only gripe about that is for one call, they called me Max, even though I said my name was Matt :cry:

I've had to make a few calls to them, but luckily all the problems were due to my ISP :evil:

I have 2 wireless connection, and getting them to work is a breeze. I have their wireless CF card for my ipaq, and all I had to do was install the software on my ipaq, and I was surfing. MY advice is to definately go with Linksys. I've had nothing but great experiences with their products.

[bdeli]

I have the BEFW11S4 v2 linksys router and it works like a charm with my 2 laptops and iPAQ.

That price is really good - i got mine for $250 CAD last August and am still waiting for my rebate from linksys...

[Mike Temporale]

Thanks guys. I'll run out to Best Buy this afternoon 8)

I've bought some linksys stuff before, but I didn't want to run out and buy a wireless router and find out that it sucked!

Even if I don't get the mail in rebate, it still seems to be a great price.

I'll let you know how the install goes. :D

[bdeli]

If you get the linksys router get the firmaware upgrade - they released one yesterday.

I will also help you out with the config - it was pretty straightforward. Got mine working out of the box - though it took me some time...days...trying to figure out how to have msn file/voice working over the router!

[Pony99CA]

I have the BEFW11S4 v2 linksys router and it works like a charm with my 2 laptops and iPAQ.

That price is really good - i got mine for $250 CAD last August and am still waiting for my rebate from linksys...
I know don't know about that price. I paid $200 or $250 for my SMC WiFi router in July 2001, but I think you can get WiFi routers now for $150 or so. Check the online price comparison services.

For a list of price comparison sites, check my links page (http://www.garlic.com/~svvg/svvglink.html#SHOPPINGCOS).

Steve

[Mike Temporale]

I have the BEFW11S4 v2 linksys router and it works like a charm with my 2 laptops and iPAQ.

That price is really good - i got mine for $250 CAD last August and am still waiting for my rebate from linksys...
I know don't know about that price. I paid $200 or $250 for my SMC WiFi router in July 2001, but I think you can get WiFi routers now for $150 or so. Check the online price comparison services.

For a list of price comparison sites, check my links page (http://www.garlic.com/~svvg/svvglink.html#SHOPPINGCOS).

Steve

Steve, We're talking Canadian $$. I did a quick comparison on price chopper, and they list the LinkSys Wireless Router from $99 to $150. When you convert that from USD to CDN you get $158 - $240. Then you still have to add on shipping, and possibly duty when it hits the border....

Thanks anyway.

[Mike Temporale]

Thanks for all the input and offers of help. I dropped by my local Best Buy and grabbed one of the LinkSys and a NetGear Wireless pc card (for my current laptop, my new laptop has it built in, but won't arrive for another week or so.)

I had a couple problems setting things up, but I think everything is good now. At first I set the encryption rate at the 128 bit level and I had nothing but problems getting connected. Once I turned it off, everything was fine. So I changed the setting to 64 bit, and everything works fine.

Thanks bdeli, I downloaded the latest firmware. As for config.... I told it not to broadcast, I changed the device ID from SSID, and turned on the encryption. Anything else I should do?? My setup is a little more than the average users. I have set the Wireless router to just do wireless. It's not being used for DSL/Cable connections at this time. Also not using it for DHCP or baisc firewall.

[David McNamee]

Some people with Pocket PCs have reported having to change authentication type to "Open System." Everything else should work like a champ. I upgraded the firmware on my BEFW11S4 on Saturday and it's been great. I upped the encryption to 128-bit, and I'm starting to collect MAC addresses to add to the allow list and make sure I keep the neighbors out. :wink:

I'm still moving things around, but here's my general setup: the BEFW11S4 is attached to the cable modem. I have an older Linksys hub attatched to the BEFW11S4 that supports a workstation, my laptop docking station, and a Linksys print server. It also connects to another, newer, Linksys hub across the room that supports a server and a couple of boxes dedicated to beta testing. Typically, I'll use a Linksys PCMCIA wireless card in my laptop from the other side of the house. My email/jukebox workstation is headless, sitting on a corner shelf, connected to the network with a Linksys wireless PCI card. I remote desktop/terminal services into this box from my laptop or developer workstation. I also ActiveSync with this box using my e740's built-in wireless card. Lastly, and most recently, I have a Linksys WET11 Ethernet to Wireless Bridge in the next room. This is how I get my XBOX onto the network to use the XBOX Live service.

So, between ActiveSync, Remote Desktop, and XBOX Live, there is a fair amount of traffic hitting my BEFW11S4 and it has performed wonderfully!

[bdeli]

BlueRocket - glad you got the router! Yesterday I got a 25$ rebate from linksys...still waiting for another 30$!

My setup consists of the BEFW11S4 v2 connected to a cable modem. Than i have two laptops each using a WPC11 pcmcia card and on the iPAQ i have the WCF12.

As for the setup, the router has SSID broadcast disabled (though you might want to enable this to get some cards working - and disable after you complete the setup). I am using 128bit WEP and have no problems with that. DHCP is disabled and I use MAC Filtering.


The router will act as a firewall by default.

[Sven Johannsen]

The router will act as a firewall by default.

That statement might need some explaining to some, so I'll give it a shot.

The Router/AP normally is assigned the IP that your ISP gives you. It is what is seen from the internet. The addresses on your side of the router cannot be easily sen from the internet. When one of your machines wants something from the internet, it passes the request to the router which passes it on. When the answer comes back, the router magically knows which machine to forward it on to within your network. If something unrequested comes from the network, the router has no way of knowing where to send it and therefore throws it on the floor. That is in effect a firewall.

Unfortunately there may be some things you want to accept from the internet and respond to. web cam conferencing for one, or AciveSyncing from the network, or you may want to run a web server (small personal, family sort of thing). In that case you would use port forwarding on the router. For a web server for instance, you would set port 80 (the standard HTTP port) to forward to the IP address of the machine you have your web server on. Then http requests coming from the internet (on port 80) would be forwarded to your web server machine. Various other things you wish to do, might require different ports, or groups of ports to be forwarded. This of course puts 'holes' in your firewall, but it is the price you pay for getting back features.

One other security option I'd recommend is forwarding port 80 to an unused IP address on your network. In IEs Address block, type in your ISP assigned IP. You will find your router configuration screen pops up. It will pop up when I type in your IP as well. Yes it needs a password (username is blank), but that is probably admin, unless you changed it. If you forward port 80 to thin air, I can't even get the login screen. This isn't good if you want to administer your router AP from the Internet of course, but in that case use a good password.

[bdeli]

The router will act as a firewall by default.

That statement might need some explaining to some, so I'll give it a shot.

The Router/AP normally is assigned the IP that your ISP gives you. It is what is seen from the internet. The addresses on your side of the router cannot be easily sen from the internet. When one of your machines wants something from the internet, it passes the request to the router which passes it on. When the answer comes back, the router magically knows which machine to forward it on to within your network. If something unrequested comes from the network, the router has no way of knowing where to send it and therefore throws it on the floor. That is in effect a firewall.

Unfortunately there may be some things you want to accept from the internet and respond to. web cam conferencing for one, or AciveSyncing from the network, or you may want to run a web server (small personal, family sort of thing). In that case you would use port forwarding on the router. For a web server for instance, you would set port 80 (the standard HTTP port) to forward to the IP address of the machine you have your web server on. Then http requests coming from the internet (on port 80) would be forwarded to your web server machine. Various other things you wish to do, might require different ports, or groups of ports to be forwarded. This of course puts 'holes' in your firewall, but it is the price you pay for getting back features.

One other security option I'd recommend is forwarding port 80 to an unused IP address on your network. In IEs Address block, type in your ISP assigned IP. You will find your router configuration screen pops up. It will pop up when I type in your IP as well. Yes it needs a password (username is blank), but that is probably admin, unless you changed it. If you forward port 80 to thin air, I can't even get the login screen. This isn't good if you want to administer your router AP from the Internet of course, but in that case use a good password.

Sven - excellent clarification! I also suggesst than the default password and SSID are changed as well. It is unbeleivable how many people just leave the default settings on!