Linksys BEFSR41

Zitat: What can I say? The thing just works. Out of the box, in DHCP mode, I had all four of my machines connecting to the Internet in under 5-minutes. A brand-spanking new install of Corel Linux automatically configured itself for DHCP, and Netscape was happy. My Amiga had no problems reaching the ´net. The Win98 laptop (a crawling 133MHz Pentium) worked, and it no longer needed the Wingate client software installed. The Win2K machine was happy as a pig in..., and I managed to free up a PCI slot which was being used for that secondary NIC. After configuring the Linksys for static IP-addresses, I was able to allow HTTP and FTP services running on the Win2K or Linux config to be exposed to external traffic. Gaming and ICQ worked from a designated DMZ machine on the LAN (Q3A and Unreal Tournament were tested in this configuration). For those people considering setting up a cheap Linux box as a NAT server, with dual NIC cards and a switch/hub for the LAN, I´d say *STOP*. Even a cheap old P133 with 32-Megs and dual NICs is probably worth about the same as the Linksys. Unless you really enjoy wasting your time, it probably just makes more sense to buy the Linksys. If you´re setting up a more expensive Linux box as an HTTP server, and want to use it as a NAT server also, it may make more sense. My only real gripe with the Linksys is the way it doesn´t handle DHCP and certain features, when it could easily do the following: The device knows which physical LAN ports on the back have been assigned which DHCP-based IP-addresses The port-forwarding, filtering, and DMZ could be based on physical LAN ports, rather than static IP-addresses. By using this methodology, the Linksys would know that the Win2K machine on physical port #1 released its DHCP lease of address 192.168.1.2, and renewed its DHCP lease with the new address of 192.168.1.13. The port-forwarding and filtering configuration of the Linksys could then just refer to physical port #1, and it wouldn´t have to worry about the non-static IP-address. I have to subtract a bit for the manual´s layout, owing to the fact that I believe this product should be aimed at the newbie a bit better. Also getting a demerit, two in fact, is the firmware upgrade utility, one for toasting my existing settings, and another for not working in Java mode. Finally, I have to deduct some love on account of the fact that port-mapping/filtering only work in static-mode. In conclusion, the Linksys device is a simple and cost-effective way to get a home LAN connected to the Internet through a single broadband-enabled connection, and scores an 8 overall.

Zitat: Pro: attraktive Optik, billigster Router im Test, dynamisches Routing Contra: weder Paket- noch Content-Filter Mit dem BEFRSR41 bietet Linksys einen optisch und preislich sehr attraktiven Router, der über alle nötigen Grundfunktionen verfügt. Im Bereich Sicherheit sollte die Firma die dürftigen Filter des Routers aufpolieren.

Zitat: The good: Web-based configuration; user-friendly manuals. The bad: Short warranty; network cables not included; no serial COM port. The bottom line: It´s hard to go wrong with the EtherFast router, but if you do, you´ll wish you had a longer warranty.