ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/befsr41/befw11s4v4-fw-1453.zip
(for some reason clicking on the link in IE wouldn't work for me and I had to navigate to the parent directory and then drag & drop the file to a folder on my computer. Before figuring out that I needed to browse I called linksys help and asked them to email it to me. Twice they said I'd get it in 15-30 minutes, but it never arrived)

Setting the thing up was very easy with my DSL from Verizon. You can configure it from an internet browser and there are lots of options. I'm giving it 5 stars because it works great now. If I was rating the old firmware, I'd only give it 1 star.

One more thing, when I first set this up, all my connections would drop every couple of minutes. I then changed to cables that I knew were rated for 100Mbit and things worked better.

I've read on several Broadband discussion sites that this is a VERY COMMON problem with the BEFW11S4 router VERSION 4. Apparently, version 2 and 3 are fine, but 4 (which is what is currently sold in the US) has some flaws they still have not resolved.

Most recent firmware you say? Alas! I have installed it and same thing still happens. Other folks suggested a new beta version of the firmware, but it still has lockup issues too.

I would say if you can grab a version 2 or 3 of this router, by all means. But unless you like unplugging your router twice a day to get it unstuck, avoid it until they fix the firmware. As of July 1st, it is still unresolved.

-Jim

I have the v4 edition of this router - I would think after 4 revisions they would start to get it right. The DHCP server on the hardware was very flaky and would stop giving IP addresses. The broadband router portion of the router would stop serving up web pages. I resorted to resetting the thing to get it to work again - this didn't always work either.

...

Also, I've experienced certain ports being blocked that shouldn't have been according to the settings.

The signal had to pass through the wet roof twice to get from her study to my study.

Tried high gain directional antenna, did not help.

The model I purchased came with the wireless laptop card.

It probably took a half-hour to hook it all up. The router was installed onto the primary computer (Windows XP home edition). A second computer was also hard-wired into the router (Windows XP Pro) -which worked without making any changes. A Compaq laptop was the wireless part of the installation.

The status of the wireless connection can sometimes change from excellent to very good from the same location, but the transfer rate stays steady at 11mps. As long as the status remains at good or higher, you don't even notice you are operating wireless.

If you are downloading large files, such as PDF docs and such, you will notice a performance decline over your wired computer, but for surfing the net and reading email, I have trouble noticing a difference when using the wireless laptop.

Outdoor range (with the router inside) is strong enough to surf the net from anywhere in my yard. The signal is also strong from my basement.

I haven't really experimented with router location or the position of the two antennas on top of the router, as I haven't had a signal strength problem.

Don't waste your cash!

I strongly recommend you not buy this router.

In short, it hangs on streams and downloads. It also likes to assign IP addresses when you follow the directions to use a fixed IP address.

Tech support is useless, suggests adjusting the "MTU" and setting a fixed IP address (see above).

There are -dozens- of people with these problems. See the issues at DSLReports.com, search for BEFW11S4. Until this is fixed, BUY ANOTHER BRAND.

I was expecting some difficulty either installing the router or configuring it with my PC. I am still running Win 98, I use a proxy server (Proximitron) to kill popups and other ads and it seems that every time I add software or hardware I end up having to play around with numerous settings to make everything work again.

Another concern I had was fitting the new router into the tight space I use as the preferred spot to house modems, etc so they are accessible yet out of the way. I've had the cable modem in the cabinet part of a bench at the kitchen table. When I use the laptop, I open the bench, take out the power and Ethernet cables and plug in. I wanted to add the Linksys router to the storage area. Would it fit and still work?

Installing this turned out to be as easy as taking it out of the box, figuring out were to plug in the power and following the 3 step user docs. I was a little confused by the initial description of how to plug into the router instead of directly into the cable modem but just blindly followed along. Right away, the router was on and working and I still could access the Internet. Configuring it was easy through a provided wizard. Again, just follow their recipe and it goes very smoothly.

Next, I took out my existing Ethernet PC card, swapped in the new wireless card, and did 5 seconds of following the configuration procedures, and that was it. Done, and it worked right away.

I immediately started moving the computer around the house to test it. Everything continues to work beautifully. As I get further away, I can see the meter showing the performance is degraded, but I am still getting very reasonable Internet response. I had a dropped session today but I had those occasionally prior to the wireless access.

All in all, I am happy with this purchase. It works how I hoped and it was very easy to install. And everything fits in the bench.

I've contacted Linksys and they told me to try different MTU settings. Each time I tried a different setting it seemed to fix the problem for a little while but it was only an illusion.

Hopefully Linksys releases a new Firmware version to fix this problem.

Hey for [the money]it's still not a bad deal for a wireless router even though it does not work quite right.

I say wait a month and see if they release a fix for this problem. If you need a router ASAP then pick another one. I have a Netgear MR314 that works wonderfully.

My access point is on the second floor and two of my computers are in my basement; physical distance is about 45 feet. Occasionally I have a dropout with the USB adapter, but it's quickly reconnected with either moving the adapter or, sometimes, a reboot. I've also implemented WEP (encryption) with only one problem: the USB adapter requires the key to be entered manually. Also, it only supports a 64-bit key but doesn't say so. Finally, someone else in my neighborhood has a network but there's no interference with mine.

As for wired networks, that physical connection is certainly more stable but I get 11Mbps via wireless vs. 2-3 Mbps via wired. For novices, this is because the Ethernet PC card is limited to this speed even though the cabling supports 10Mbps.