I bought the Linksys #BEFW11S4 802.11b Ethernet Wireless Access Point and 4-port Cable Router. The item was $260 through Outpost.com and another $130 for the pc card. Definitely not the best advertised price, however they were the only one in stock. In fact they received the first shipment and quickly over-nighted it to me. I bought it with the Linksys #WPC11 Wireless Network PC Card, which goes in a PCMCIA laptop slot. The product allows you to have both a wired(up to 4 wired ports) and wireless network in unison.

I have a @home cable modem and was tired of fighting for the computer with the family. So the item hooked up easily using their "easy connect" manual, which includes a full-length manual. I tried the easy connect first, and was unable to make it work. I had no prior networking experience, so take my problems with a grain of salt.

I called their 24-hour toll-free support and after 9 minutes of hold, was astonished when the rep came on and said that I was the first customer with this product (at least calling for support) and they didn't have any support documents available. After 15 minutes of rechecking my entries he couldn't figure it out. He suggested I install the wpc11 and call back. When I asked for his assistance with that, he said they weren't allowed to support installation, instead they were only for troubleshooting if it wasn't working. He said they were timed on resolutions and had to go.

So I installed the pc card and surprise it also didn't work. Called back, 10 minutes of hold found a better rep, and after some minor tweaks to the configuration, voila I had a wireless network. My assesment of their "range" figures. The wireless laptop works great within 25 feet line of sight, but beyond that (line of sight) the signal drops like an anchor. There is a bar graph that shows the signal and transmission strength. This is fine, because I'll typically use it within that room, but if you want a wireless house, I would demo it with someone prior to purchase.

I like the product and researched it against similar, and price wise it can't be beat. D-Link is rated better for connection speeds and ease of installation. However, it lacks features that the linksys provided. Linksys support is well criticized within many reviews and I can understand. However, to their defense we eventually got it up and going, and I would buy it again.

Recommended: Yes