Review on Cisco-Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Router: Stable and Fast Internet Connectivity by Mitchell Norman

Let's call this rating 4.5 stars. I bought a BEFW11S4 router along with a Linksys PCMCIA card for my home desktop/laptop. Basically, I wanted my laptop to be able to surf the internet anywhere in the house (in bed, on the couch, in front of the TV, etc.) via a wireless connection while also having wired ports for backup. I use my desktop's wired connection, which is 70 feet away in another part of the house where the DSL line/modem is, but I'm using a wireless connection through my laptop for this report. All I can say is so far so good and no real complaints. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that some of the settings/configurations I needed to make weren't covered in the manual and I had to call tech support on 800 to get work started. The quick setup and driver installation takes about five minutes for both the router and the card, and I had no trouble following the instructions. I knew the card was connecting because it was clearly receiving a signal, and there were a couple of settings that the tech support rep helped with right away. The main problem I had was with DNS. I had to enter some basic DNS server settings in both the router's TCP/IP properties and the card's TCP/IP properties and immediately started surfing the web! Pretty cool. Technical support worked, responsive, friendly. but, like most people these days, really tired. It took a day to get a call back but when I did it was no problem. They even gave me some great tips on how to extend my wireless range, like trying different channels, antenna positions, and downloading a new driver from the company's website. This is something none of the other reviewers who had issues mentioned, but it's very reasonable. I also have to say that I consider myself a novice network administrator at best. The real selling points for me were the value for money and PC World's Best Buy recommendation. The $40 rebate I received at the time of purchase was an unexpected bonus but unfortunately is no longer offered. So it wasn't 100 percent plug-and-play, but anyone who deals with networking - at home or in the office - will tell you that a little tweaking is to be expected. Don't be discouraged and don't let that stop you from diving in - I'm glad I did!