Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys BEFN2PE EtherFast Cable/DSL Voice Enabler

At the time of this review, I just received and set up this product. Here's a quick summary of pros and cons:

Pros:
1. It's got the Linksys look-n-feel, if you know what I mean. Simple, sturdy packaging, stacks well with other Linksys peripherals (I also have their cable/dsl firewall, 10/100 auto switch, and wireless hub), decent instructions, configuration is transparent if you stick to the tried and true, the right set of diagnostic LEDs on the front panel.

2. The product set up was a snap with DHCP enabled. The only snag I ran into is that the ethernet port on the box is a crossover port by default (Ethernet, like many communications standards, has "hub" connections and "client" connections. Crossover connections let clients talk to clients or hubs talk to hubs...). Fixed easy enough by flipping the little "Am I a crossover port" toggle on the back and hitting the reset button (also on the back).

Cons (mostly net2phone):
1. You cannot use your existing net2phone account. There's a special account number assigned specifically for these devices.

2. The rates for these devices are higher than the other net2phone rates.

3. Don't expect to replace your regular telephone with this phone (as indicated in the manual). It does not support important features such as 411, 911, Caller ID, etc.

Recommendations:
1. This is probably the product to get if you want net2phone service but you have either (a) incompatible equipment, (b) are having a hard time getting your audio peripherals set up, (c) you want a cordless set up for use with net2phone (although there are solutions for this from Plantronic, e.g.).

2. Don't get it for cheaper phone service like I did.

Hope this helps!

Best product for Internet Caffes that offers VoIP. We plan to bye it ASAP.