Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch BEFSR41

Not so much an opinion on the Linksys Cable/DSL Router, after all, it's a blue box with twinkling lights, but more what you can do with one! Many people are cutting over to a broadband Internet connection of some kind, either courtesy of their cable TV company, or, if the prevailing conditions are right, through their BT telephone line using a service called ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). The 'asymmetric' bit relates to the fact that downloads speeds are higher than those of uploads. As you can imagine, symmetrical DSL lines, i.e. with the same speed both ways tend to be for business use, and much much dearer. If you have more ...  Read the complete review

Not only is it a play on words (and a famous Telephone company) but now it is a good way to describe a fantastic piece of equipment that no Broadband Home should be without. The Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router. Yep, you budget Networking buddies have supplied you with this great innovation. The ability to share your single Broadband Cable/DSL connection with up to 4 computers in the vicinity. I say vicinity as this is a WIRELESS ready router. Hang on a minute Andy.....What is this Router thing. I liken it to Mother cooking Dinner. Mother is the Router in this situation. The Broadband connection is like a massive saucepan full of dinner and ...  Read the complete review

This in my opinion is the best and easiest way to set up a home network and share a high speed cable or DSL connection. This is even a great solution for small to medium sized business as well. This router comes in 2 main versions, a single port version for using with just one computer, or combining with other hubs and switches, or a 4 port version which has a 4 port 10/100 switch built in. This thing is very simple to set up.....to get going, you need not enter more than 3 lines of information in its very simple web-based configuration utility. It can support up to 253 clients on the internal network, acting as a DHCP server assigning each ...  Read the complete review

Since 2001, I had run BigPond Cable Internet and shared it into a computer network with 3-4 computers using Win98SE Internet Connection Sharing. It was terrible using ICS. I wouldn't be sure that, when I boot up my PC, ICS would work as it should or not. When it wouldn't work, it would dish out IP addresses, but wouldn't pass any traffic to the Internet. I often had to leave the computer up all the time and, if there was a power failure or a system crash while I was away, I would have to talk people through uninstalling and reinstalling ICS just to get it going. So I had to bite the bullet and have us buy a Linksys 4-port router which was going at a ...  Read the complete review

The other opinions for the LinkSys Ethernet Cable/DSL router already give an accurate description of this zippy and easy to use piece of kit, so I won't dwell too much on that side of things! I'd been looking to share my broadband Telewest/Blueyonder connection with other computers in the house and had grown fed up with the Internet connection sharing software (just about all of them!) which had often proved tempermental and - of course - meant that the PC connected to the modem had to be 'always on'. After reading articles in PC magazines about other routers, and difficulties in setting them up with Telewest accounts (especially when ...  Read the complete review