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First of all, this router works great. I could not find this information on the CD that came with the router. The problem was setting up the router's firmware.
I no longer have to disconnect one cable to install it into a different computer for Internet access. In order to connect to a DSL modem, you must change the router's address from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1. I now have all my computers connected to my DSL connection.
My best guess is that Linksys expects you to connect this router to a cable company modem instead of a DSL modem. It was easy to wire my computers to this router. I have not noticed any decrease in speed on my Internet connection.
Be sure your DSL modem is not connected to the router when you do this. I had to go to the Linksys website for this information.Overall, I do recommend this router.
I bought this router and it worked flawlessly for about 6 months. After 4 hours of trying to get it working again, I called support. He blamed me and said it would not be covered under warranty. After about a year it started to drop more than it worked. He also refused to pass me to a supervisor.Linksys has lost a customer for life. I searched Linksys forums and the Linksys website and found a firmware upgrade that specifically addressed my problem. Then it began to drop the connection occassionally. I explained my situation and after turning several pages of his manual and repeating things I had already tried (I was VERY cooperative and friendly), the agent had the nerve to tell me that the reason the router failed was because when I upgraded the firmware, I skipped a level (went from ver 2 to ver 4).
Yes, I was careful to follow instructions and the upgrade was successful. Well, after doing the upgrade, the router failed completely. I asked him to point me to where there was a warning/documentation about upgrading the firmware in this way, and he could not. I have enjoyed my D-Link thoroughly.
We have used a router, Linksys, for more than 10 years. We have two computers in the same room and need the router so my wife can be on line for her business, The new router is performing perfectly and I would recommend it to anyone in need of such an instrument.
You got high speed and now you want to connect more computers. buy this one. It is wired only but that should not be a problem for starting out.
I'm surprised that a big company like Cisco would market a product that's so hard to make work. I give it -4 stars because it took 2.5 weeks to get it to work. I consulted my coworker who gave me a convoluted set of instructions, and I read a few forum posts whose solutions were vaguely comparable. So, that's what worked for me. I have 2 PCs and an Xbox 360 plugged into the router and everything works fine now. When I received the thing from Amazon, I inserted the CD that it says to insert before doing anything else, and I followed the onscreen instructions. I was told that you just plug it in and it works.
At the last step, where I assume the software configures the router, it gave the error message, "router not found." So, I repeated the instructions more than once but with the same end result. I'm not a network guy, so I didn't know how to make this thing work off the top of my head. I give this product 5 stars because it works pretty well. What finally made this thing work was getting into the web-browser interface where you can adjust the settings for the router, and simply clicking on the "Clone the PC's MAC address" button. After saving the settings, the thing began working like a champ. From what I read, it could be different for other people, depending on the setup. Maybe it's my fault that I didn't call support, but I didn't feel like getting the runaround, and I didn't want to go changing a bunch of settings on the PC to make the thing work. Who wants to read or flip back and forth through a 70 page document on their laptop.
I read all of the mixed reviews before ordering the BEFSR41 router, but my coworker assured me that this was the one to get. There isn't even a paper manual for the router. After trying all these ideas, and after all the aggravation and frustration, the router still didn't work. In the end (two and a half weeks later), I found another article that suggested something I hadn't tried yet. You have to explore the installation CD for the pdf manual. Overall, 1/5 stars.
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