Great Price for A Great Product, Can't beat the Firewall

Author's Rating:

Pros: Firewall is perfect, Great Price, Decent Wireless range

Cons: The power plug is a little big

The Bottom Line: 
It has all the features you need in a cool looking case, and it cost the same as all the other router. Can't Beat the Firewall

Author's Review
An Important Note is there are many versions of this router as well as firmware. Currently they are on hardware version 2.2 and firmware 3.0. I have version 2.2 It would be a good idea only to read reviews for the current version because some of the older versions had problems.

I debated about buying this router for awhile. A friend had a Netgear router and was not pleased with it. So I decided to check out linksys. My main concern is security. I know linksys has had some issue's in the past with there firewall's. It used to be that port 113 was setup as closed, instead of stealth. I tested this router with shieldsup at ww.grc.com. All the ports are running in stealth. What that means is that if a hacker tried to ping the router address, the router would not even responed. This lack of respones makes this router and your computer(s) completely invisible to anyone on the internet. If the port is set as closed the router will responed that the port is closed, giving away your presence. I suggest anyone to test there firewalls at www.grc.com.

I read through several of the other reviews before buying this router. Most compliants seem to be a lack of tech support by linksys, and not being able to properly setup there network. I think is unfair to give this router a bad review due lack of networking knowledge. It's not linksys problem to fix your computer, just support there products.

I personaly have basic network knowledge, and was able to setup three wired and three wireless computer with encryption in a few hours. The wireless range is decent. My farest wireless is 100ft through three walls and one floor. The connection is fair, and runs at the cards max speed of 11mbps. I was also able to setup my xbox for xbox live and Xb connect in a few minutes.

I did run it to one problem while setting up the network. I bought this router a few days before I got dsl. Before I had been on dial-up. I had problems getting two computer to file share. After a few minutes and a virus scan later, I figured it out. It seems that there are several virus's that prevent your computer from file sharing, I deleted the virus, and file sharing worked again. If you are having file share problems check for virus's.

The web based router page is well organized. It provides all the basic features needed for a person. If you are interested is more advanced features look in to third-party firmware. It adds many more options including adjusting the routers wireless transmit power. Third-party firmware will void the warranty, and possible ruin your router forever.

This is a great router, and should do everything you want straight out of the box. It's about as plug and play as you can get. If you need any help setting the router for specifc dsl service company's, Linksys "knowledge base" on the suport page provides setup instructions for most major dsl providers. Cable modems should work without any setting changes.

Security Notes:
Disable Web Management
Change your router password to something not in the dictionary
Save your router setup to the hardrive
Log into the router and check security settings every week to make sure nothing has been changed without your knowledge
Disable UPnP except when programs need to update online. UPnP allows programs on your computer to open ports to the internet, if you some how get a virus, it can use UPnP to bypass the firewall.