Two days ago, I tried the Linksys 801.11g broadband cable/dsl router with a Belkin wireless adapter and an HP notebook w/builtin wi-fi. Despite the good deal @ best buy(about $100 w/rebates,etc) neither system was able to connect despite the claims of backward compatability w/802.11b.
The HP was able to see the Linksys and recognize its SSID, but was not able to connect under windows XP. On the bright side of things, it was easy to connect via any of the 4 fast ethernet ports and it was also configure both by the included CD/software and by a web interface pointing to http://192.100.1.1 (the default IP address of the unit). It also handed out IP's flawlessly via DHCP and also connected thru a cable modem AOL w/no problems on the wired side. *NOTE* once again, it ONLY WORKED THRU THE HARDWIRED ethernet PORTS, NO backwards WI-FI compatibility as claimed *NOTE* One other interesting thing to note was that it is called a "Wireless Broadband Router" kind of a misnomer IMHO as it is really just a router, unless you count its feature to configure PPPOE settings which was the one other feature we couldn't get to quite work and automatically sign into AOL. This would have been a really cool feature. Did I miss something there? After a frustrating two days, we took it back w/no questions asked and swapped it for a BEFW11S4. The BEFW11S4 plugged in and we were up in no time with the Belkin wireless adapter and an HP notebook. I also liked the range of the unit(BEFW11S4), with the unit in the front bedroom of the house, I could walk approx 500' down the street to the corner and still had 25% signal strength at 11 Mbs. Also went thru 3 walls and to the back of house w/50% signal reduction, but still 11Mbs. The BEFW11S4 also had a nice http based interface(see above) that included Setup Password Status DHCP Log Help and Advanced Buttons. Thru which you it was easy to configure range of DHCP addresses, DHCP clients, its own IP address, some cool status info, and some port filtering amongst others that I am sure probably has been covered on this list before. -Steve ===== Steven Bochinski www.invicta.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] � freelance internet � computer consulting � independiente el consultar de la computadora del Internet "nada es el nuestros excepto tiempo." el gran Seneca __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
