Wireless broadband at home could not be easier! Linksys makes it happen.
Written: Aug 06 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Installation: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
|
Pros: Price, reliability, ease of set up
Cons: Aesthetics
The Bottom Line: If you want to surf the web or check email anywhere in your house, Linksys is the product for you! Easy installation!
|
|
|
| Beauregard's Full Review: Linksys (BEFW11S4) 802.11b Wireless Access Point |
Ugh! What a dolt I am. Why did it take me so long to get cable broadband into my house? Why did I always ignore my friends who touted the benefits of a wireless network in their homes? Well, water under the bridge, because this week I entered the fantastic world of wireless broadband in my house and Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router (Model No: BEFW11S4) made it pain free.
I'm using a Toshiba Portege 3500 Tablet PC (what a fantastic machine!) running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. That's a superset of Windows XP Professional Edition, so it is a very smart system that recognizes new hardware and componentry added to the machine with ease.
The Comcast cable guy came out Tuesday morning and quickly installed the broadband cable. As soon as he left, I hopped in the car and headed to Best Buy. See, we have a desk in our kitchen that we typically use our laptop at, but we didn't want a cable connection there -- it just wouldn't look right. So, we had the cable connection put into our den, where we'll eventually put a desktop computer for our kids. Broadband cable isn't like cable TV where you can install multiple connections all for the same price. If I were to have a connection in the den and kitchen, that would have doubled the service price. I needed a wireless solution to be able to keep all the wires, modem and cable connection tucked away in the den and be able to carry around my laptop.
Best Buy had the Linksys 802.11b router for $79.99 with a $10 mail in rebate. I considered getting the G router, but it was $129.99 and the cable connection wouldn't tax the 2.4 GHz that came with the 802.11b, so I settled on that. Since my Toshiba Tablet PC comes with built-in 802.11b support, I didn't need to buy a wireless adapter card.
I got the router home, popped it open and was pleased to see a large pictoral of how the ethernet and cable connections needed to be set up. I had no prior knowledge of how to set this up, yet it took me less than 3 minutes to do it! Incredible.
I turned on the cable modem, the router and my Tablet PC, and voila, I get a notice on my computer that the Linksys wireless connection strength is Excellent. And boy was it. I got on CNET's connection speed test and it confirmed I was connected at 1853 KBps. That blows my mind, because I used to get excited when my 56.6 KBps modem would connect at 52 KBps. That's over 300 times faster than before!
The Linksys router covers my entire 4,000 sq foot hour, plus all of my backyard. The Best Buy salesman said the router has a 350 foot spherical range, but I think it's even stronger.
So, imagine roaming anywhere in your house -- couch, bed, bathroom, back deck, etc. to surf the web or check email. It's so freeing.
Again, UGH!, why didn't I do this 2 years ago??? If you're considering setting up a wireless network in your house, do it, and strongly consider the Linksys router -- it's easy and it does a fantastic job. The only thing I'm not totally crazy about is the look of the router. It's blue, bulky and awkward. I considered getting the Microsoft router because of its sleek silver look, but the salesman suggested the Linksys, built by Cisco. I have no regrets.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 69.99
Driver Availability: Windows only
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Beauregard
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Location: Portland, Oregon
Reviews written: 129
Trusted by: 129 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.