Wired-Network Reviews

This product sets the record for quick setup. 30 seconds and it was working (to be fair, I had already installed the server while it was being shipped). It has the best UI for browsing and playing music that I have seen. In fact, the only device with a higher spousal approval factor than this is the TiVo. If they were cheaper I would buy 2 more for sound throughout the house.

I bought a SqueezeBox after having two commercial CD jukeboxes,
one from Sony that held 200 CDs and another from Pioneer
that held 300. I replaced them both with a SqueezeBox with
the music on a cheap Linux box that I had in the basement.

It is wonderful. Setup was a breeze. The SlimServer software
was easy to install, and there is great support from the
company and the user community.

I now have 579 albums with 8353 songs by 406 artists
one click away.

The SqueezeBox and software support all important file formats,
including MP3, wav, aac, ogg, wma, and flac.

The only downside that I see is that I'm spending a lot
more money at Amazon and Tower buying CDs.

I have two computers in my home connected to the internet via a DSL modem. My ISP provider dynamically assigns an IP address and uses the popular pppoe protocol. Before buying the Linksys I had a hub connected to the output of the modem. My ISP was apparently happy to assign different IP addresses to both computers simultaneously and this arrangement worked fine but I didn't really have a full-fledged LAN in my home. By replacing the hub with the Linksys router that problem is solved. Now when I run Windows 98 on both computers each one can access the others files, etc. There is a price, however. With the previous arrangement I could use either PC as an SSH server to the outside world. I could, for example, leave my laptop running under Linux, jot down its current IP adress on a piece of scratch paper, and then log onto the laptop from the lab where I occasionally consult. The Linksys prevents this. I can't even ping the laptop from the outside world (or the router, for that matter.) There may be a way around this with a different configuration of the Linksys but the documentation only provides vague hints about how to set it up. I had trouble at first setting up the router. Things began to work after I uninstalled all the software for connecting directly to the ISP through the modem. I had been using Winpoet for this, for example, and removing it from my hard disk seemed to be necessary for getting to first base with the setup. My recommendation to new users is to set the little printed manual aside and CAREFULLY follow the instructions on the CD that comes with the router. I have been connected for about a month with only one glitch. Once, for no apparent reason things quit working. I had to power everything off and reboot, starting with the modem, then the router and then the PC's, allowing about one minute for each unit to go through it's self-test, handshaking, etc etc, before starting the next. Speed of access to the internet is a bit faster with the Linksys than when using the Winpoet software, although Winpoet was fast enough and was completely reliable.

We have a PC upstairs, which is our primary computer, and a Mac downstairs in the tv room. I wanted both to be able to share our broadband Internet service. I looked at several routers, both wired and wireless. It came down to the Linksys (wired version) and SMC Barricade Wireless. I kept coming back to Linksys because a friend owns one and raves about it.

Besides the fact that it looks really cool, it almost took me longer to get it out of the box than it did to set it up. No kidding! Using the QuickStart guide, I was up and running in less than ten minutes. You hook up the necessary cables, restart your computer, log-in to the Linksys website to configure your router, restart your computer again, and you're good to go.

I wasn't as optimistic about setting up my Power Mac G3. However, I was pleasantly surprised and it took me all of about five minutes before I was doing some high-speed surfing on that machine as well. Fortunately, my Mac has an Ethernet port so it was just a matter of attaching the CAT-5 cable from there to the Linksys and setting the TCP/IP control panel to the Ethernet and DHCP options. I saved my configuration, opened up my browser and spent the next two hours high-speed surfing with no problems.

I have no problem recommending the Linksys, especially for its ease of setup on a PC and Mac network. While I would have preferred a wireless setup, they've received mixed reviews and I was concerned about Mac compatibility. After seeing how well my Mac performs with this Linksys, I'm ready to make ours a wired household!

Installation after all was smooth but the CD wizard didn't work; it was telling me it couldn't establish connection to the Internet. I went then with the manual approach, which was pretty straightforward.
By the way, for those who are new to the networking I'd recommend to try running a useful configuration utility program "winipcfg" from Start->Run command. It will display all those IP, Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS addresses, which you will need during the installation. No calling your ISP is necessary at this point. After clicking the "More info" button, it will show you everything you need. Just make sure that in pull down menu you see the name of your Ethernet Adapter that is used for your high speed connection, not AOL or PPP for example. It should be displayed there by default, though.
If you already have firewall software on your PC, you can still use it after the router's installation as an additional security from within your system. If you don't have it, you need to get one. Router itself shields you pretty well only from the outside intruders. And don't forget to disable firewall during the router's installation.
As a new user of this router I'm giving it my highest ratings for the price and currently very good performance.