Linksys EtherFast Ethernet Router

Defective- Stay away

Posted Jan 4, 2006 - I had two of these babies, one at home and one at work and both worked well for about a year and then there were innumerable crashes requiring the units to be powered off and reset. Two or three times a week without any consistency. I tried everything including flashing to the latest bios and spent a lot of time driving to the office to reset the system everytime it went down. Contact to support was worthless. Found an article on the web suggesting that the capacitors in the unit become deformed after a year and that is the probable cause of the problem and I suspect it is. There are many complaints on the web about these units having unexplained failures requiring power off and reboot. Switched out home router with office one and still had the same problem. At least when the home router goes I am right next to it and reboot is easy. Bought a d-link 604 just to see if it worked better and have not had one single need to reset the unit since I switched and that is about 1 month. I depend on gotomypc to connect to my office system and my units are always on line since I switched to dlink. Now I haven't had the dlink for more than a month or so and I can't give long term results yet but so far the money I have saved on gas alone driving to the office to reboot the router has paid for the new router and a 16 port switch. From my experience I would not go near another linksys product again (even though I own stock in Cisco). Next, I will put a dlink at home and plan on taking the linksys apart to see if my capacitors are deformed as observed by others. Than I will throw the linksys units away as the cost does not warrant repair. Hope this helps others.

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BEFSX41

Posted Dec 19, 2005 - I just bought this firewall/router, and am not impressed, I had software that worked every bit as well, and that should never be the case. Linksys needs to get on it with the firmware upgrades to fix the bugs that the bef series of firewall/routers has. I have seen much better equipment out there, I gave this firewall/router a chance because the stores were out of the brand I was looking for, I am not impressed with the quality of this equipment. David C. Atkin

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Had a problem with this router and contacted Tech ...

Posted Dec 31, 2003 - Had a problem with this router and contacted Tech Support. The router would not update the internal clock via a internet NTP server. This threw the routers internal logs off. Tech Support told me that the time came from MY COMPUTER. I told them it did not and they insisted that it did. Returned the router to the store and replaced it with the same model. Updated the firmware on the new router and the same problem happened. Through research found that the NTP servers in the firmware do not exist anymore. No updates from manufacture on firmware. I had to "hack" the firmware using JAVA to insert correct NTP servers. I have a CCNA, so I know a little about routers. This is unacceptable Tech Support from a company associated with CISCO.

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I state strengths and weaknesses are unknown beca ...

Posted May 10, 2003 - I state strengths and weaknesses are unknown because I, along with Linksys tech support, was unable to get this router to work. I am not a network expert but, I am fairly computer savvy. I bought two of these routers to replace my 3 year old Linksys BEFSR41 (the previous model without VPN or SPI support). My ISP provides the modem--a Motorola Surfboard SB4100. Upon making all connections, this router will not "talk" to the modem (i.e. the WAN lights on the router will not illuminate). Tech support verified my connections were correct and that the WAN port was in fact working, but could not solve the problem. They suggested I obtain a crossover cable to use between the modem and the router which did not solve the problem. I tried to have tech support confirm that they had changed the wiring between their two models, of course they could not so I bought the crossover cable. Both of the two BEFSX41's gave me the same problem--no WAN lights. Linksys tech support claims to know nothing about compatibility problems between the Motorola and their new product. I have obtained an RMA from my vendor and will return both units. Anyone have a suggested alternative??

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Not Good

Posted Mar 28, 2006 - I've had two BEFSX41's. One I bought in April 2004 which died in July 2005 whence I bought the second one. The second one became unstable and undependable and kept losing connection on my LAN. Frustrated, today I replaced this router with a Netgear which I hope to have better luck with. The BEFSX41 when new was a fabulous router. It just gets old fast or dies on me. I’m giving this a low rating because of it’s short life span.

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Can't keep VPN connections stable

Posted Nov 1, 2005 - We have two VPN connections to one router and they constantly reconnect on a random basis. They can actually go for days without a problem and then one connection will reconnect every two minutes for a while. Then the other may be every 3 hours. It is a great mystery. Unreliable and the users are getting upset about being kicked out of their accounting. I will be replacing these routers. There is no tech support for a bad design. I figure I could spend $500 each on new ones and it would be cheaper. P.S. - I have used Linksys routers for years. They have their problems but seem to be decent for plain old Internet access, but don't use them for anything else.

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Replaced my BEFSR41 Linksys with the BEFSX41. What ...

Posted Jan 25, 2005 - Replaced my BEFSR41 Linksys with the BEFSX41. What an improvement! Reading the negative reviews here, I see that impatience and lack of proper research was the problem, not the product. The NTP problem has been resolved, make sure you have the 1.50.18 firmware relase, Issue was fixed in 1.50.9. The BEFSX41 will connect to ANY ISP. In other words, if your pc was able to connet before, there is no reason it cannot connect using this product. Linksys knowledge base has a few dozen "How-to's" if you have a problem. I first suggest entering in your ISP's DNS numbers in TCP/IP for each pc. If you use static IP's, use the routers IP (192.168.1.1) as the gateway address, and always use the same subnet number that the router uses. The router has an excellent start for firewall protection. Parents have better "restricted access" rules. Even has website blocking by URL, Address, or keywords. Port forwarding, triggering, settings are superb and easy to understand for any novice. I was able to use VPN in the BEFSR41, but in this model, more enhanced controls are available for better security. Upgrading firmware can be done within the web console. Has a built-in diagnostics under administration for testing connection (pinging)a IP address such as your ISP to ensure your connecting. Allows 7 different configuration methods to connect to your ISP depending on how they have your service setup, such as, DHCP, Static, PPPoe, etc. Now has reliable DDNS feature, so even if you have a Dynamic IP address to your ISP, you can now sign up for DynDNS or TZO. This allows you to have a domain address on the internet so you can setup a ftp, webserver, etc. and people can find it. For linksys to partner with Cisco technologies on integrating their technology into their routers has made this router very competitive against other brand models. This product is rock solid and out-performed my expectations. Solid investment and worth its weight in gold.

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Have been trying to enable web site blocking by ur ...

Posted Jan 30, 2004 - Have been trying to enable web site blocking by url. Tech support has tried to help me. I am very computer savy so I figured that it is probably a router problem. Tech support insisted they mess around with me on the phone for an hour and tells me to get an rma. So I get an rma and get a new router and have the same problem. Then I sit on the phone for anouther hour and tech support doesnt have a clue. would never by linksys again.

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I too run a Motorola Surfboard SB4100 and put in p ...

Posted May 13, 2003 - I too run a Motorola Surfboard SB4100 and put in probably 20 hours worth of work only to still be unable to connect. WAN light would never light. Tech support went through the old "check the cables" etc. and the only thing they knew to do was tell me to "reboot, reboot". I finally returned it and bought a D-Link DI-704P in which I was told was comparible in Firewall protection. I didn't have an easy time setting this one up either but in about 3 hours I was connected. Simply needed to clone the MAC address and run winipcfg, release and renew ethernet adapter settings and I was on. Don't know the problem with the compatibility between the SB4100 modem and the BEFSX41, but there is something going awry there.

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I state strengths and weaknesses are unknown becau ...

Posted Apr 7, 2003 - I state strengths and weaknesses are unknown because to this point I, along with Linksys tech support, have been unable to get this router to work. Although new to networking, I am fairly computer savvy. I bought this router to share a cable modem connection between two computers running Windows XP Home edition. My ISP provides the modem--a Motorola Surfboard 4100. Upon making all connections, this router will not "talk" to the modem (i.e. the WAN lights on the router will not illuminate). Tech support verified my connections were correct and that the WAN port was in fact working, but could not solve the problem. They suggested I obtain a different modem. I had my neighbor bring over his BEFSR41 (the previous model without VPN or SPI support), and it worked instantly with my Motorola Surfboard. Thinking it was perhaps a bad piece of hardware, I promptly ordered another BEFSX41, which promptly gave me the same problem--no WAN lights. Another call to Linksys tech support, which claims to know nothing about compatibility problems between the Motorola and their new product. As I write this review, I am still waiting for a solution from the best and brightest at Linksys. I make no recommendation other than to check with Linksys before you buy this router if you use a Motorola Surfboard modem.

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Linksys router

Posted Aug 31, 2005 - I have this router and very satisfied with it for right now. I use my internet connection for downloading and uploading and this router doesn't give me any problems with it. I had wireless routers before from belkin and linksys and both would turn internet off or slow it down once the internet was under heavy use. When I got this router I had problem with setting it up but finally I setup, till to day I don't know how. It took me like 30min. Funny thing is that I updated firmware to 1.51.0 reset router few times, hook it up and it worked without any setup. Yes router was reset becasue later when I went in configuration my setting were earased. The firmware 1.51.0 is a beta firmware not offical release. It seems that router works better with this firmware for right now

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I've used this router for over 3 years now. It's r ...

Posted Sep 5, 2003 - I've used this router for over 3 years now. It's really good and really reliable. I was able to set up my home network very easily and it's easy to configure.

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The router works great. does what it should do. m ...

Posted Jan 23, 2003 - The router works great. does what it should do. much better than the befsr41. this is the one to buy price is good manny advansed settings works for cable or dsl

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This is a cheap and good solution for Home or SOHO ...

Posted Jun 20, 2003 - This is a cheap and good solution for Home or SOHO enviroment. I manage to set this thing up not more then 15 minutes. I work great.

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