Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys BEFW11P1 EtherFast Wireless Access Point + Cable/DSL Router with PrintServer

I purchased this product 5 months ago, and after 2 returns I am trying to get my money back. In case you have any doubt whether to buy this product call Linksys sales (number available on their web site). I just talked a sales representative who says he doesn't recommend the BEFW11P1. It is a hybrid product and is not updated anymore. He says buy a separate Wireless AP/Router and print server. He recommended the BEFW11S4. If you want to understand the real pain of buying this product, here are the gorey details:
4/19 - 5/8: traded mails with Jennifer Cambay (12 mails total). She stopped answering 4/29. Sent 2 mails to ... that weren't answered.
5/13: Talked to Ricky. He approved an exchange. RMA #RH01015236
6/12: Talked to William who gave more suggestions that didn't work
6/21 Talked to technical support again. Second exchange approved. RMA #XH01121359
7/9 Talked to Jason. Called customer service to check status of exchange. Explained they are having shipping system problems. Should ship in next few days.
7/18 Called customer service again. Still shipping system problems. Should ship in next few days.
7/23 Replacement unit arrived
8/6: Talked to Hanam at 2nd tier technical support. Suggested anti-virus problems & interrupts. Didn't solve problems.
8/6: Talked to Tyler at technical support. Same suggestions as previously. He says to call back next day.
8/7: Talked to Carrie at technical support. She says to call sales or customer service to get money back
8/7: Talked to Linksys Sales. He says they don't recommend BEFW11P1 anymore. Hybrid product. Not updated anymore.

I just received the BEFW11P1 wireless router on July 23, 2001. Installation was pretty straight forward. I just followed the instructions. My setup is a desktop PC with CAT5 ethernet, Dell Inspiron 8000 with Dell truemobile 1150 wifi card, & Hawking 5 port hub.

Everything works as advertised, except, when I try to move large amounts of data the router locks up and no computer can network (wired & wireless). I have to unplug the router for a few seconds and it will work again.

There is a firmware patch on the linksys site. I haven't yet tried it.

As for the range, I have used it indoors 50 ft away with 3 walls in between, I still can get about 1Mbps.

Linksys makes great stuff, except this product has a critical design flaw. I buy Linksys products for my office, so this product seemed like a home-run.

BUt, I spent 40 days, and 3 shippments, trying to get the router to not lock up. The bug is with its wireless port. It freezes up.

Take my advice. Don't buy this. Go buy a SMC or DLINK instead.

I installed the Linksys BEFW11P1 to my existing cable modem. Following instructions from the manual, setup was relatively easy. As I use the equipment, I find myself wanting to utilize more advance features, but find the limited information provided by the manual is not detailed enough.

Setting up the WEP feature was "tricky", but I eventually got it working. This WAP/Router will mysteriously lockup from time-to-time, the fix is to power down and re-boot the WAP/Router. The WAP Antenna (PC CARD) is installed in the rear of the unit. With my setup, this unit is installed near a wall and since the antenna is mounted in the back of the unit, I have to face the unit towards the wall. Although, this arrangement delivers the best transmission/reception, I can't view the LED indicators on the faceplate. I wish the WAP had the antenna either mounted on the top of the box, or removable (ala WAP11) so that the position of the antenna was independent from the position of the LED indicators.

I get pretty good coverage throughout my small home, but I'd prefer better coverage. Since repeaters for 802.11b are not available, this means I'll probably have to install a WEP11 in another area of my home. By the way, the WAP11 will not communicate with the BEFW11P1 via wireless... it requires a CAT.5 ethernet cable connected between the two devices. So much for not having to pull any cables.

I've had this product about two weeks and am generally pleased with the functionality. The wireless clients are getting very good throughput (I have the WMP11 wireless PCI card in the clients). The signal and link status are generally in the Excellent and very good range. One of the devices is downstairs from the router about 25 feet away and it performs great! The only issue that I found is that I had to specify a DNS address from my ISP even though I have been assigned a dynamic address. I don't know if they just failed to configure thier DHCP scope with the DNS or what but everytime I take the DNS server out of the static configuration box I can't get to the web. This is not Linksys fault though.

Setting up the print server took a lot more attention than the router did. You have to be careful about setting up the shared port correctly and ensure that print spooling is disabled for your printer. After the first time I set it up I couldn't print no matter what. But after turning the router off/on and then removing the port on the client machine and then re-adding it things are working fine now.

I have another machine with a Compaq WL100 PCMCIA card that I am going to try and configure for use with the router to see how will it works with different vendor's products.

We'll see...