Put Away the Drill, Ma, Wireless to the Rescue
Written: Oct 06 '02
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Pros: A networking novice can be up and running in a few short hours.
Cons: You don't get the satisfaction of drilling wire holes through walls and ceiling.
The Bottom Line: Easy to install, even easier to use. A sure winner, at least for a novice like myself.
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| adonna's Full Review: Linksys (BEFW11S4) 802.11b Wireless Access Point |
I love this house, I really do. So, when I finally abandoned Juno and went DSL, while I wanted to share that connection throughout the house, I didn't want to poke large holes in the place to do it. I mean, what, was I supposed to tear up the carpets, and drill through the wainscoating? Not likely.
In the old house, when I wanted to "network" a device, I had to get out the drill and the stud finder, and determine that I wasn't going to drill through any pipes or electrical connections, then trust in dumb luck, and carve a hole in the wall. An inelegant solution, but it got my daughter's room connected (to the cable) without hauling in the experts.
Here, I called in Linksys first.
I'm using a Linksys BEFW11S4 EtherFast Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router w/ 4-port Switch to connect my DSL to my office computer, the one in the dining room, and the one upstairs, and with nary a hole drilled anywhere.
Why Linksys? Before I bought anything, I went into a research cycle. Now, my research cycle may not be like yours. I didn't want to become certified in network administration or anything like that, but I did want to find something that was going to work, have tech support, and not give me much misery, if any. I hit the internet message boards, particularly the ones at broadband reports. There, I found out, first of all, which was the best DSL provider I could get in my neighborhood. (I may tell you about that later.) Then I tracked the conversations in some of the wireless sub groups. And I learned. First, after a while, wireless didn't confuse me. I knew what kind of gizmos I'd need to bring this thing off. Second, I started hearing some good things about this BEFW11S4 gizmo and about Linksys in general.
It seems the BEFW11S4 is both a wired and wireless device, and is capable of working attached to a computer via an ethernet wire, and using this neat protocol, which I always remember as WiFi for connecting without wires. There's a numerical designation too, I'd suggest you read one of the tech's reviews to get that.
This is an Access point and a router, which means, as an access point, it is a point where you can access your network. Let's say you have a computer in your dining room, where you like to sit in the evening doing research while keeping a nominal company with your family. Let's say you also have a computer in your office, where you take that research and write it into nifty little arguments for the bigwhigs to shoot down. You could use sneakernet, that is, copy the research onto a floppy, and trek it into the office and drop it on the desk, or you could use your access point, which lets you connect the two computers together, and use the data on one machine on the other machine. That's what the AP part is useful for.
Now, the Cable DSL Router part can be useful for that too. Say you're like me, and you have your DSL connection hooked up in the office. You're sitting at that hypothetical laptop on the dining room table, communing with your parrot and your husband, and you want to look up something really fun, like the San Francisco Supervisor's agenda for the next meeting. What to do? Sure, you could say "Bye Bird, bye Sweetie", hop in the car and drive the six hours it takes to get to SF, book yourself into a bed and breakfast, and go shopping, and while you're at it, stop by City Hall and read the agenda where it's posted (if you can find that), or you could go to their website. With the router working on your office computer, you don't need to go into the office to do that. You can connect via DSL from the laptop. And guess what? The Laptop isn't connected to any phone line or DSL modem (yes, I know, the DSL devices aren't called modems, but we'll leave that for the techs, OK?). So you just turn on your browser and there you are, getting your agenda information from the comfort of your home.
Now, what about the 4-port Switch? For me, that's more in the way of potential. I can attach as many computers as I want onto my BEFW11S4 using the wireless access, or I can connect a lot of computers using the wired. One way that's possible is because the last connector on the 4 port switch is a connector that can be used to connect yet another wired connector (a cheaper one, this time) to the BEFW11S4, and there's the potential to piggy-back many of these connectors. So, if I ever become a dot.com again, I just might have a slew of little machines all wired up and holding my info. The potential is there, even if I don't use it today. I like that.
How a Novice Set it Up
This is another thing I like about Linksys. Their instructions for setting this, and their other components up, are simple enough for me to understand. The unit came with drivers on a CD and with an easy to understand installation booklet. The drivers that are loaded include a sort of a control panel for the system that you install on your main computer. You access this using your browser and an internet address. I warn you, you need to read the docs with this one, but if you read em' you won't weep. For one thing, they will walk you patiently through the process, and for another thing, they'll explain what you're doing.
I took the thing out of the box, plugged it into the ethernet card on my main computer (a card which I reviewed earlier), then into the DSL modem, then powered it on. After that, I called up the web page that was on my own computer, and following the directions in the manual, had the initial connection set up in no time. (Setting up the wireless connections in the other room and upstairs are two other reviews, because I used two other gizmos to do it, and you'll be able to read them when I get to them.)
A Bit O'Debunking
Mind you, I read epinions reviews before I did this. And in some I read complaints about Linksys service. So, even while I was doing this, I decided to test the assertions about Linksys service. They said they had 24 hour phone support. I decided to take them up on that. First time I called, it was Noon on a Weekday. If you have ever called any tech support, you know that Noon on a Weekday means a good hour of listening to canned happy music while you're on hold, with the possible interruption of a canned voice saying something like "your call is important to us, and we'll answer it with the first available operator." I braced myself, but NO happy music, no canned voices telling me how important I am. Instead, a person, who gave me their name right off the top, and answered my questions correctly. They even invited me to call back if there were any other questions.
So I did. I called back at varying times, on varying days. Right now it's early Sunday morning. I'll bet I could even get a tech now, if I wanted to. So, for me, that debunks the "tech support sucks" claims.
Another claim is that it's not strong enough through walls. I don't exactly have a small apartment, or a house made of simple drywall. My home is a Craftsman, made in the 1920's, with very solid construction, plaster walls, and wainscoating. The wireless signal gets through these walls just fine. To get to the dining room, it has to go through 5 thick walls. To get upstairs, the same number, plus past all the plumbing between the floors, and a ceiling. Again, the wireless signal gets through great (when I use a linksys component with the connection, but that's another story.)
Has it Stood the Test O'Time?
I used to write reviews while still in my honeymoon with a product. And face it, you love a product more when it's brand new. I decided to break myself of that habit, because I believed a better review would come if I gave the product a bit of time to fail, or get annoying, if it was going to. I did the same with the BEFW11S4, mostly because I'd heard from some people that their connections went dead, and required a reboot.
Now, my computer has required a cold reboot often, but that's another issue. The BEFW11S4 has never required it. No problems so far, and it's been about four months.
Still, that's something to know. Folks, according to the discussions on broadband reports, when this unit doesn't perform perfectly, it can be brought around again if you power it completely down, then back again. I've never had to do that, but I'm told it's an option.
Bottom Line
So here I sit. Good toy, easy to set up, and now quite indispensible. Any problems I've had, I've had with non-Linksys components of the system. And with the BEFW11S4, I have had no problems.
Not bad for a novice.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 135.00
Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac
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Epinions.com ID:
adonna
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Donna Hall
Location: Humboldt County, California
Reviews written: 164
Trusted by: 100 members
About Me:
When I'm not here, I'm birding. (Or working, or gardening, or playing with power tools.)
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