Linksys EtherFast® BEFSR81 Router
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- Connectivity: Wired
- Router Functionalities: VPN Pass-Thru Firewall DHCP Server
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
I trusted it ... but lately it let me down.
Pros
Very Easy setup.<br>Interface nice.<br>MAC Cloning.
Cons
Failed with time.<br>Port forwarding is limited.<br>Lack of Save Config to File feature.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
You may get lucky, or you may not.
Had mine since about 2004 .... now is the end of 2009 .... so that makes it about 5y old.
Over the years I believed in this unit and trusted it .... even when wierd things started happening on the link to the WAN last year, I kept blaming the telco for droping packets and terminating established TCP sessions (for ex VPN) , believing that they are doing traffic shaping.
But now .... I am not so sure! I have to reset the unit on a daily basis, because it just drops out, and not only to the outside, the LAN switch portion of it also just quits.
I wanted to believe that Linksys was one of the better companies, especialy since they are now part of CISCO .... but looking back on what has happened and the reviews for this product on this site ... to me there is a disturbing pattern emerging: these units fail with time - and I fear that is by design or due to poor quality of the BEFSR lineup.
To be fair I did get alot more years of service out of it then some of the reviewers here. I would say that the first 2 to 3 years I was very happy and it was working very well (or I just didn't know any better).
I like their web-based management interface ... for the most part ....
there were a couple of shortcommings there - primarly the port forwarding list was not very big (and hardcoded to X entries) where it should have been of dynamic size.
MAC Cloning is great also.
I wish they had a way to save the current router config to file ... a single file.
I am now shopping for a replacement router .... it is worth mentioning that I also reviewed Belking N1 WiFi router here
some months ago .... *disapointment* i could not get VPN tunels working on it ....
so now I only use it as a WiFi access point ..... kind of a waste of money.
I keep hearing good things about NetGear - so, I guess I will give them a go next, hope they don't break my heart.
Over the years I believed in this unit and trusted it .... even when wierd things started happening on the link to the WAN last year, I kept blaming the telco for droping packets and terminating established TCP sessions (for ex VPN) , believing that they are doing traffic shaping.
But now .... I am not so sure! I have to reset the unit on a daily basis, because it just drops out, and not only to the outside, the LAN switch portion of it also just quits.
I wanted to believe that Linksys was one of the better companies, especialy since they are now part of CISCO .... but looking back on what has happened and the reviews for this product on this site ... to me there is a disturbing pattern emerging: these units fail with time - and I fear that is by design or due to poor quality of the BEFSR lineup.
To be fair I did get alot more years of service out of it then some of the reviewers here. I would say that the first 2 to 3 years I was very happy and it was working very well (or I just didn't know any better).
I like their web-based management interface ... for the most part ....
there were a couple of shortcommings there - primarly the port forwarding list was not very big (and hardcoded to X entries) where it should have been of dynamic size.
MAC Cloning is great also.
I wish they had a way to save the current router config to file ... a single file.
I am now shopping for a replacement router .... it is worth mentioning that I also reviewed Belking N1 WiFi router here
some months ago .... *disapointment* i could not get VPN tunels working on it ....
so now I only use it as a WiFi access point ..... kind of a waste of money.
I keep hearing good things about NetGear - so, I guess I will give them a go next, hope they don't break my heart.
