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Price :

Features

• WAN Ports - 4 10/100 Mbps RJ-45
• Warranty - 1 year
• VPN Support - Up to 2 IPSec
• Weight - 13.3 oz.

Product Description

The Linksys BEFSX41 is the perfect solution for connecting a small group of PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet connection, or a 10/100 Ethernet backbone. Acts as the only externally recognized Internet gateway on your local area network ( LAN ) Protects PCs from Ping of Death, SYN Flood, Land Attacks, IP Spoofing & other DoS attacks Blocks Java, ActiveX and Cookies Easily configurable though a Web browser from any networked PC Power Adapter Included Diagnostic LEDs 2H x 8W x 7D; 14 ounces One Year Limited Includes - 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2003 (if not in the box, check www.linksys.com)

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-09-08
This is a fine low-price router. Setup isn’t complicated. I ordered this product as a Gateway for all my devices, because I kept losing internet through my Vonage (Linksys) router/phone adapter. My wife complained a lot and looked accusingly at me every time she lost the internet. I installed behind my Zoom Cable modem (which works great–I don’t recommend the Motorola Surfboard modems provided by Comcast, which habitually lost connections and had us swearing at Comcast for two years before I finally ditched their lousy hardware). The Vonage router is now connected to this router–behind its Firewall. A separate cable leads from this router to a Linksys router/wireless adapter which feeds all my computers. This system has worked flawlessly now for a week. Computers can communicate and see all the printers, which wasn’t working before the switch. No lost connections. I’m sure one could spend two or three times as much and get a fancier product, but I recommend this BEFSX41 router/firewall for a household on a budget. My only caveat is that the documentation is minimal, but that seems to be true for most all of these economy products these days. They’ve got to economize somewhere with all the cheapskates, like myself, who want the technology for $50 or less. Setup isn’t particularly difficult, however. Linksys has done a good job of minimizing complexity for a product aimed at the low-end home network market. The product I got (from Tiger Direct) doesn’t have all the lights shown on the BEFSX41 listing in Amazon, so Linksys seems to have multiple variants under the same product identifier. My wife has stopped complaining about lost internet connections–that’s success in my book.

Review date : 2008-07-31
I got this router when out company switched to VPN for remote desktop connections to increase security. This is one of the worst routers I have ever used, and I returned it to Amazon after about a week. The longest uptime I have ever seen was about 12 hours. Their support was horrible, and told me that they would not support the product at all if I upgraded the firmware from their website. I have since switched to netgear VPN routers, and those have been up for about 2 years now. I used to recommend Linksys, but now I tell people to stay away, or carefully check the model and version number, and compare them to the reviews.

Review date : 2008-06-28
2 1/2 months into using our new Linksys BEFSX41 router I went to connect to the Internet and the router was dead (this was last night…I’m using an 8 year old HP Gateway Router right now). I have included what lead to my reason why I only give the router 3 stars to save others from wasting their time with product support.

With 25 years of working with computer software and hardware, it didn’t take me long to surmise that the power adapter was no longer functioning-it wasn’t warm despite being plugged into a functioning surge suppressor overnight. I doubted it was the router that was the problem. My husband further tested the power adapter with a power meter and the adapter was indeed dead (we also checked another adapter that we knew was working to verify the power meter was functioning properly, it was).

I checked the Linksys web site to see about a warranty issue since it was past the 30 day Amazon warranty. I found that there was an option to replace a defective power adapter with no need to return the defective unit (that was a clue that there is obviously an "issue" with the power adapters if they have their own RMA Option). I figured "cool, this should be easy"…famous last words. I now needed to get an RMA# to have a new adapter sent…unfortunately, this meant calling the Linksys/Cisco "outsourced to god knows where" tech support (I have a better name…"waste of time NO-support".

I ended up having to call THREE times because the first person didn’t give me an RMA# before hanging up (although he did agree with me that it was most likely the power adapter). My second call I was put on hold for just shy of 15 minutes with dead air before I finally hung up. My third and final call stuck me with an unbelievable airhead. After starting to ask me questions about an "ethernet card" (NIC), which had NOTHING to do with the router, she proceeded to ask me the same questions over and over, even though I had already answered her ("when did you buy the router?"…March 19th, "where did you buy the router?"…Amazon.com…"how many lights are on the front of the router?"…None, there’s no power getting to it…"so the power light isn’t even on?"….No. (this went for three rounds!)

Even though I explained that there was no power getting to the router because the power adapter was not emitting power, she proceeded to have me "reset" the ROUTER using the reset button. HELLO? There’s no power getting to the router so resetting it won’t do any good. I went ahead and held the stinking button in for 30 seconds. Now she says "how many lights are on the front of the router?"…NONE! There’s no power getting to the router!… And do you know what her response was??? "Okay, your router is defective. You will need to return it"….I held my tongue. I didn’t say what I really wanted to say to this poor excuse for tech support.

I got the RMA# I needed, checked the box for "replace defective power supply" option on the Linksys RMA web site page and proceeded with my request to have a new power adapter sent.

So, the moral of my story…If you can help it, avoid the Linksys/Cisco "tech support", because in my opinion, it’s a complete waste of time and another fine example of useless foreign outsourcing…corporate America, BRING THE JOBS BACK TO THE U.S. for pete’s sake!

Review date : 2008-05-14
Constantly breaks down, have to reboot. I’ve owned this router for 3 months and have 3 months of on and off performance - keep away!

Review date : 2008-04-21
I purchased this router 4 years ago and set it up in my office. Plugged in fine, worked right away, i really didn’t use the VPN function so this review will not cover it.
I loved the option to block content by keyword or by website name, the communication speed was great, no problems at all until recently where it stopped assigning new DHCP addresses, and within a couple of hours i lost the ability to assign new static addresses. Mind you there were only 4 computers on the network. a Call to the tech support yielded no result since the router was out of warranty. Upgrading the firmware didn’t help, hardware reset didn’t help, Buying a new router solved the issue.

Honestly though i strongly believe that linksys’s quality has been going down lately. I own several linksys routers and they all have at least one annoying issue.

Wired

This is the grandfather of networking, the bread and butter combo, the standard. Setting up a wired network is not very difficult, can be done inexpensively, and doesn?t require much prior networking experience.

What you?ll need

For internet sharing, you will need a Cable/DSL router. This splits your internet connections to multiple devices. If you simply need to connect multiple computers for file sharing, chat services, or games within the home, you can use an Ethernet switch. Then, of course, you?ll need Cat5 wiring.

How to do it

There are very few processes less difficult than setting it up physically. Simply plug your computers? NICs (Network Interface Cards) into the router or switch. If you have a cable router, plug the router into your DSL/Cable source. You will need some basic Cat5, Cat5e, or Cat6 cabling. Now, when it comes to software, network creation can sometimes be a beastly task but that depends fully on your operating system and I just simply refuse to go there.

Cons

Everything?s got its drawbacks and wired networking is definitely a thing. Cat5 cables can be somewhat attractive, but they?re still cables that you?ll either need to run through your walls (which is a lengthy, messy, and potentially dangerous process) or they?ll be trip hazards. This is the principle reason that the next options exist, in my opinion.

Wireless

Wireless networking is becoming more and more commonplaces in homes that need to link together multiple PCs or share an internet connection, but that don?t want to run cable all over their home. 802.11g technology with transfers up to 54Mbps are becoming very affordable, too, making it a very practical option for many.

What you?ll need

For internet sharing and networking, you will need a wireless router. Then, for each computer you want to network with, you will need a wireless access point which can be in the form of a PCI card (for your desktop PC), a PCMCIA card (for a laptop), or even a USB dongle (for desktop or laptop).

How to do it

This is another remarkably simple process. See the steps above for a wired network, just remove the cables. Plug your incoming internet connection into the router, plug the WiFi (receiving) cards or dongles into the connected devices.

Cons

This isn?t as fast as wired speeds (Cat5 is 200Mbps, Cat5e is 400 Mbps, and Cat6 is 1000 Mbps vs. Wireless? 54 Mbps). There are also distance limitations based on interference from other 2.4 GHz band-using sources (such as cordless phones) as well as walls and other obstacles. It is still a viable option for most homes, though.

PowerLine HomePlug system

The HomePlug alliance began to give people an option for wiring their homes without needing expensive equipment or spending a lot of time wiring. It uses your existing power cabling to carry a network signal, meaning you basically already have networking installed in any room with a power outlet. Very, very cool stuff. Hands down.

What you?ll need

You will still need a router for your internet connection. Beyond that, you simply need a PowerLine wall unit for each room 1 for the router. You will need short runs of Ethernet cabling (Cat5) for each room.

How to do it

Connect your router to a PowerLine unit via Cat5. Then connect each computer or laptop from its Ethernet card to another PowerLine unit to any plug in the same home or office.

Cons

If speed is an issue, PowerLine?s not the way to go. The max speed is 14Mbps and tests show that that decreases with distance from the source. However, it still works for most common internet needs. Speed would only be a real issue if you needed to transfer large files between computers on a regular basis or stream video from one computer to another.

Lewis is a technogeek with Sewell Direct. More information, including ratings and the full article with helpful links can be found here.