Linksys BEFSR81 Cable/dsl Router with 8-PT Switch

Other products by Linksys

Product Details

Product Manual [911kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 2.8 x 9.8 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000051SGX
• Item model number: BEFSR81
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,049 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #12 in	Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Networking Products > Switches
  #29 in	Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Networking Products > Routers

• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 2, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
A simple and inexpensive way to share your one IP address over your entire network, the Linksys EtherFast cable/DSL router connects up to 253 PCs to a high-speed broadband Internet connection or to a Fast Ethernet or Ethernet backbone. Configurable as a DHCP server or client, the EtherFast cable/DSL router acts as the only externally recognized Internet gateway on your local area network (LAN). The router can be configured via SNMP to filter internal users' access to the Internet and serve as an Internet firewall against intruders.

The router features advanced functions such as dynamic and static port routing, DMZ hosting, filtering, forwarding, and quality-of-service capabilities. All of these functions can be easily configured through any networked computer's Web browser.

The Linksys BEFSR81 router comes with a one-year limited warranty.

Product Description
Share Your High-Speed Internet Connection Throughout Your Home or Office Think of the EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 8-Port Switch as a kind of splitter for your Internet connection. Just connect your DSL or Cable Modem to the Router, and all the computers in your home or office can share the Internet -- all at the same time. The built-in 8-port switch lets you attach eight local PCs directly, or daisy-chain out to more hubs and switches as your network grows. Once your computers are connected to the Internet through the Router, they can communicate with each other too, sharing resources and files. All your computers can print on a shared printer connected anywhere in the building. And you can share all kinds of files between computers -- music, digital pictures, and other documents. Keep all your digital music on one computer, and listen to it anywhere in the house. Organize all of your digital pictures in one place, to simplify finding the ones you want, and ease backup to CD-R. Play head-to-head computer games within the household, or against Internet opponents.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must have for those who wish to share a DSL connection, February 6, 2001

By	Ben Chi (bedford, ma USA) - See all my reviews

Due to the increasing size of my home network, I decided toupgrade to the 8 port BEFSR81 from the 4 port BEFSR41. The two areidentical in size. A Cable/DSL router is a MUST HAVE for those whowish to share a broadband connection. 99 percent of DSL providersutilize what is known as Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet(PPoE). This works just like a normal dial up connection where youhave a username and a password. Normally, this PPoE is done viasoftware installed on your computer. This has many limitations. First,the host computer must always be on for others to utilze aconnection. In that sense, each computer is not independent of theother.

The Linksys has PPoE software built into it. Each computerplugged into the unit can access the internet independently of eachother. Better yet, you never have to see a username/password screenwhen connecting to the internet.

In addition to allowing one toshare a connection, the Linksys also acts as a hardward firewallpreventing hackers from accessing your computers. A must have! Youcannot be secure enough these days!

The unit is easy enough to useNovice to expert. While they're are many advanced features, it is notimperative to set or configure them. The html based interface of theunit is extremely intuitive and easy to figure out. The unit itselfleaves a very small footprint.

The linksys supports DMZ which isknown as a demilitarized zone. It basically allows one local user tobe exposed to outsiders. It is used for such tasks asvideoconferencing and internet gaming where constant two waycommunication is essential. In addition Quality of Service (QoS) isonly offered on this 8 port model. It allows you to prioritizeinternet tasks such as http, ftp, telnet, etc.... Not really thatimportant unless you have many users on at once.

Many cable modemproviders utilize a system where they "lock" your cablemodem service to either 1 modem, or 1 network card. This is to preventyou from sharing or using your connection with other suchcomputers. They're is a hardware number encoded onto your network cardand modem. This is known as a "MAC" address. To circumventthis, the Linksys cable/DSL router has a box where you enter in theMAC address of the item that the cable modem service is locked to andit will emulate it. Very clever and works very well!.

One thing theLinksys cannot help you with is running cables throughout your houseto different rooms! Right now I have managed to run ethernet cablesthrough 5 different areas of the house. I have networked our homeLaser printer (HP LaserJet 2100TN)and have added a WirelessLAN setupso now with a laptop I can surf via wireless broadband!

41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LinkSys does it again - Great product, December 19, 2001

By	Vinit Carpenter "j2eegeek.com/blog" (Brookfield, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Linksys BEFSR81 EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 8 port 10/100 Switch is one of the best broadband routers out there. This router/hub allows you to share your single internet connection provided by cable modem or DSL to multiple computers.

I used to own the 4-port of the same box and decided to buy the 8-port version when my brother took my 4 port box. This box contains 8 auto-sensing 10/100 ports. Installation is a snap and no software is needed. This box has such advanced functions as dynamic and static port routing, DMZ hosting, filtering and forwarding, and Quality of Service capabilities. And all of these functions can be easily configured through a web browser. It also supports VPN via. IPSec, PPoE and PPTP.

In a nutshell, the Etherfast Cable/DSL router is very simple to operate yet powerful and easy to manage using the web based admin app. A must buy if you need to share your Internet connection. I have about 4 Linksys products near or on my computers now - Great job Linksys.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars throughput problem..., April 12, 2004

By	Frank Dziuba "Thinker" (Thousand Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked the specs on this device so I picked one up today. I was especially looking for the QOS abilities as I often have a download in progress (ftp, scp, etc) and I want to give my web and ssh connections priority so I can do real work while the downloads are in progress.

Set it up, nice interface. Set the QOS to the way I wanted it.

Did some web browsing, file transfers, ssh connections.

Then after about 5 minutes I noticed that ftp's would suddenly 'stop' for 10-15 seconds, then resume (using hash mode so I could see progress). This is a linux to linux xfer.

It got really bad, then my web pages started slowing down. I was using MRTG to plot the traffic flow on graphs since the router does SNMP. Traffic showed an average of 56kbps on a 1.54mbps dsl connecting to servers one hop away!

I rebooted my pc, the dsl modem, the router, my flourescent lights and the the kid next door. (ok, I'm kidding about the lights. And the kid) Still jerky downloads, even when NO other traffic on the link.

After about a half hour of frustration, I put my 'old' SMC Baricade (about 2 years old) back. All the issues disappeared.

Sure wanted the QOS, but getting it meant I lost QOS. I hate to say it but I have had problems with other linksys stuff (56k wireless).

Taking it back to Best Buy, sorry guys you'll have to make Linksys pay...

Cisco Makes great stuff. I hope they can apply some of their abilities to Linksys. I hate to put in a negative review, especially since there (may be) other positive reviews. This is just my experience. Also, I am not an 'average consumer' but someone who has experience with 'real 'Cisco stuff, especially ds3 and gigibit routers. Please Cisco, fix these guys stuff!