Review on Cisco-Linksys BEFSR81 🔀 Cable/DSL Router with 8-Port Switch by Emmanuel Winschel

Well, the Linksys RV Series has spoiled me and raised higher expectations than I should have of their standard products. This is an unusual little device. It doesn't have much competition in the world of routers apart from its older brothers RV082 and RV016 (which I highly recommend by the way). Anyhow, this seems to be working great until I try to change the remote administration port. I'm using one in the upper range (over 50000) which some TCP/IP gurus would probably find wrong. In any case, every other router that allows me to enter my own port value has worked fine, but changing the RA port on this one renders it inoperable, it needs to be reset to default and then reprogrammed. However, if you leave that alone, the rest of the features seem to work just fine. At 1/3 the price, it's definitely cheaper than the RV082. The only place I use them is in an office building where 5 nonprofits share office space and a tiny communications closet full of cables. This halves the number of devices by combining a router and a reasonably sized switch in one device. It's also easy on your budget. The newer models come with a nice little power supply that uses less power and generates less heat. If you need performance/reliability and you can afford it, get the RV082. If you are trying to fit a one-piece solution into a home closet with structured wiring, then this is a better choice due to the lower heat dissipation and smaller footprint.