Linksys BEFSR81 Cable/dsl Router with 8-PT Switch

If you are looking to purchase a home router and want to do more than just browse the internet, the Linksys routers have a very flexable firewall which is easy to set up. I recommend it for anyone wanting to access their computer from other locations or run a server from home. It works great!

Easy to setup and have your home or business network up and running in just a few minutes by just following the simple setup instructions. I have found the product very reliable.

I had bought the Linksys BEFSR81 8 port router to replace my aging 4 port Dlink DI-704P router + additional 4 port switch. I had previously installed a Linksys wireless bridge without any problems, and was quite pleased with its operation. So I thought the Linksys router would be the same situation. I was soon proven wrong.

The DSL WAN connection worked right out of the box, no problem. This is usually the tricky part, but turned out to be quite easy to set-up. When I checked all of the computers on the net (4 of them), each and every one of them could connect to the internet. So far so good, and I thought I was done. Wrong!

Although the computers were obviously communicating to the DSL modem via the router, it turned out that this was all they could do. I quickly found out that they couldn't see each other, my network drive, or my print server. This was a complete surprise to me, and very unexpected! I could hook-up any generic router with no configuration required, and have communication with every network connected device, something that the Linksys BEFSR81 was refusing to do. I then entered the configuration menu via a browser, and after much frustration with no success, decided to give up, and sent it back to Amazon for a refund.

I can only hope that others don't experience the same problems I had.

I purchased my first Linksys router (exactly the same model) in 2001. It was working without problems until December 2007. Long enough. Having good opinion about the product, I purchased again the same model. Mistake - it must be manufactured by different company. Front panel different, with less information LEDs, but I don't care. Setup was OK. Then... After about 6 hours it started resetting itself, there were permanent losses of conenctivity, I had to reboot router every few hours, internet phone conenctions interrypted after few minutes.

I dumped Linksys and purchased cheap DYNEX. No more problems. It seems that Linksys outsources manufacturing to some place that manufactures trash?...

I purchased an earlier version of this router (it is currently v. 3.1) and had many years of perfectly reliable good use, until a lightning strike blew out several ports. I ordered another one, confident it was a good product. Big mistake. Just from looking at it you can tell it has been downgraded - 1 activity light per port where there used to be 3. It is unable to maintain a consistent connection with my Time-Warner cable modem. I've had the cable modem swapped out twice and tried three different routers, and all had the same problem; random disconnects and reconnects varying from at least one a day to several an hour. In desperation I hooked up the old one, and it's running fine on its remaining ports.

If you do purchase this router and have trouble with it, make sure you get it taken care of while its still on Amazon's 30 day guarantee. Linksys customer support is a nightmare.

Router worked fine until I had to upgrade. Followed instructions, yet upgrade did not take. Worse yet, it is no longer usable. Linksys tech support won't do anything for you even though their firmware upgrade rendered the device useless.

This router/switch installed easily and has worked flawlessly for a month. No complaints about the product, as with all Linksys products we have tried!

This product replaced a first generation Linksys BEFSR41 that I just retired. It was replaced because I needed more available ports and it did not forward XBOX Live Voice packets properly. I researched this router online and could not find anyone who could verify it worked fine with the Live service. I took a chance and bought it anyway because I needed the extra ports. I am happy to report this router is working fine for Xbox Live. I think it is a better value than the 4 port version.

easy to install. Works like it suppose to. Instructions were exactly readable. Up and running in less then 5 minutes. No issues, no complaints.

I ordered and received this product very quickly with no glitches...I would be happy to do business with tis merchant again in the future.

We simply plugged it up to replace our old,similar,router. Set a couple internal settings, and it's been running smooth since.

This is a replacement for an earlier version of the same product that I've used
for many years of trouble-free operation. I bought the same product because of
its reliability and performance. It serves our wired devices as well as a
wireless network that sits behind it. Basically it's a Mac network, OS7 through 10.4,
although I do run the odd PC on it now and then. Throughput on this router is
better than the older version (which is moving to a smaller network). It's
easily configured and the log functions allow you to see if others are trying to
access your network.

A Good buy. Very user friendly and works trouble-free so far. The only negative is the unit should have wall mount capability.

I am very dissapointed with this router. It has slowed down my connection speed to a snails pace. I downloaded the firmware upgrade and changed the propety settings as suggested by linksys but this router still lags. I cannot use it to play online games or logon to my company citrix server without experiencing long delays when communcating. I have a sprint/pcs aircard on my laptop and it has a faster connection speed than this unit! I had a belkin 4 port/wireless router that I was using for 3 years and never had problems like this. The amount of time I wasted and frustration I have experienced trying to get this unit to work properly doesnt make it a deal at any price they are asking. Maybe it works ok for basic email or chatrooms but Good Luck getting it to reliably transfer data at high speed if you rely on your router. I give it 1 star because it did connect to the internet.

I had an old Linksys 8 port router and it was a fairly decent router. As it got old it became quirky and I replaced it with a NEW BEFSR81 v.3.
The v.3 was a piece of junk. It was unstable and unusable. I took it back for a refund. How disappointing that the new product is so much worse than the old one.

This is the second BEFSR81 I've owned. My previous one was taken out by an electrical storm. (Although the router was plugged into a Belkin Surgemaster Surge Protector, it still got zapped.We're thinking it came in through the cable although Comcast denies it's even possible - right!

Our network is both hardwired and wireless - and this router/switch allows all of the stuff to be controlled from one small box. Other than being zapped by lightning we've never had any problem with it!

I bought this for a small office LAN which was using a 4-port Linksys router. I considered wireless for them, but since it is a dentist office, I feared that X-ray and other related machines would interfere. The setup was very easy, especially since the PCs were already talking to a router. I also took the liberty of setting up STATIC addresses, and turning off DHCP on the router; seems to make things faster, especially when booting workstations.

Overall, Linksys products have not disappointed me, and this was no exception.

A few years ago, I personally went to the trouble of wiring my house for a computer network figuring a wired network would be more reliable than a wireless one. I started with a Linksys BEFSR41 router with 4 ports, and after some initial tweaking, this router worked well for about three years needing only an occasional "reset" to correct any problems. Recently, severe slowdown set in, and no amount of resetting would help so I purchased this BEFSR81. This 8-port router was my choice because I wanted to expand the network to 5 locations. Besides, in today's market, there aren't that many WIRED routers to choose from - WIRELESS seems to rule the marketplace.
Anyway, upon installation, the BEFSR81 experienced severe slowdown just like its predecessor. I checked with my cable internet provider (Comcast), and their signal was coming through okay. I detached the router and ran just one computer directly to the cable modem. It worked great, so the router was definitely the source of the problem.
I contacted Linksys Customer Support and was instructed to download and install some firmware which should correct the problem. No improvement. Back to Customer Support where the usual "power cycle" (unplug router and modem, then re-plug them both in) was suggested, tried, and failed. Finally, the support tech led me through the steps to change the MTU (?) from 1500 to 1490. STILL no improvement. After this the tech said "Wait 24 hours. If the problem persists, call back." Needless to say, I was not confident, but I was too frustrated to bother trying anything else.
24 hours later - no change. BUT, 48 hours after THAT, with no additional intervention from me, everything was great!?! It's been fine for the past 6 weeks now, but don't ask me why.
I'm sorry if this review makes you feel ambivalent toward this router, but that's exactly how I feel.

I built a new house and set up a computer network. I purchased the Linksys BEFSR81 8-port router V3 and when I connected it I was only able to get a 56 kps connection. The firmware upgrade failed. I spent hours on the phone with their support to no avail. I hooked my old Linksys 4-port router up and I got 3350 kps speed to every computer I had connected. I returned it to Radio Shack where I purchased it and they replaced it. The new one came and I got the same result. Linksys asked me to return it to them directly and they would replace it. I did and the one I got from them was the worst of all. It only got a 33 kps connection. The one Linksys sent me had no UPC code so I was unable to return it and they would not return my calls. I wrote to the CEO at Linksys and received no reply. Radio Shack finally allowed me to return it for a refund. I am disappointed with Linksys's attitude on this matter. I decided to use my 4-port router with a 8-port switch and I received outstanding results to all of my machines without any problems. I would not receommend this product, or returning anything to Linksys. Get a refund if it doesn't work.

I have always purchased Linksys products as I have never had a problem with them. I needed another router with more ports and it has been working great. I would recommend this product for anyone looking to network their computers.

No body is going to critic you for having a network backbone that is hardwired. Having an all-in-one wireless ADSL modem/router/switch means everything in one box serving your broadband to any wireless machine on your network. This method is great but has some problems. First and foremost is the fact that your network is limited to wireless only devices unless your router is built with Ethernet connections. Second is that you can not disconnect the router and have a modem only, unless your router is advanced enough to do this. So a lot of people will by a ADSL modem with USB and Ethernet connections (sign of a good brand) and connect this via the Ethernet to the WAN of the hardwired Router, sharing Ethernet out to devices on the network. When the router is full then it is time to get a switch in on one of the Ethernet outs. The switch is basically a splitter. It uses one Ethernet port of the router and gives you four more. Use a port of that switch for another switch and you get four more, minus one on the other switch that is used by the new switch. The network connection looks something like adsl line->adsl modem->router->switch->3 potential network access points + switch->3 potential network access points + switch-> 3 potential network access points + switch->3 potential network access points + switch. Now that setup required 5 switches. Now having 5 switches at this price is not such a good idea. Shop around and you will see 8 16port/24 port models on the market. You can hook up two 24 port switches and have 40+ access points. Start your own network cafý with that setup.

Apart from having switches on a hardwire network, you can, at any stage, decide to have a wireless access point on your network. This can occur anywhere but requires a few conditions. Most Wireless networking devices are considered routers unless otherwise stated. In this case just connect the LAN of the wireless router to LAN of the hardwired router and do not use the WAN of the wireless router. Disable DHCP on the wireless router and make sure that you set up a non-conflicting IP address for the router and instead you have turned the wireless router into a wireless access point, maintaining only one router on the network with wireless capability. Nice setup. Have fun.

I got this router to share my cable modem with PCs and a PS2, set up was quick and easy and had no trouble with the router at all.

The unit is easy to install and set-up. It took no more than 15 minutes to complete the installation.

This router serves excellently as a firewall, multiple computer user file transfer and simultaneous internet access. Be sure to use a v3 Linksys Cable modem as the v2 has problems. I highly recommend this unit. They stack nicely but get too hot that way.

Very Easy to set up!, A ok solution for a home router or maybe a small business where internet access is not a priority. Has Many features not available or not as well implemented on other router/switches.
Port Forwarding is limited but enough for most home users. DMZ feature is nice and mostly works but with all the port forwarding why you would want to use it is beyond me.
Log incoming/outgoing connections is good enough for most home uses. Quality of Service (QoS) to set priority level for different network traffic works ok; VOIP can be an issue.

As with all network equipment this device is a good candidate for your UPS.

The problem with besfr81 is I go through a new one every couple years. The older models seem to be more stable, and my first 4 port router is still in service, but I do not get that reliability with the newer models. I have had several of the 8 port DSL routers fail after a year or 3. As other reviews have mentioned these routers fail in many mysterious ways, you can drop connections, or only run 10MBS or suddenly can't run Full Duplex, one port may work fine one day then stop the next.

When the box fails, unless you have a back up router, you no longer can get to the internet, or even your own home network. the box is not very reliable over the long term.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

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....

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.