SMC SMC7004BR Cable/DSL Router with 4 Port Switch

by SMC

Product Details

Product Manual [888kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005IBYY
• Item model number: SMC7004BR
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

From Digital Living Today

With the advent of broadband comes new user needs. Ranking high among them is the desire to share the IP address provided by your ISP among several users on a network. With broadband you're connected all the time, so another concern is a network security firewall that prevents hackers from gaining access to your files. SMC's Barricade is a top-quality router that addresses all these issues in one product. First and foremost, the Barricade allows up to 253 machines to share one IP address regardless of platform. Both PCs and Macs can be connected, running MacOS, Linux or Windows. Second, the Barricade is a first-rate firewall that doesn't allow anything to be shared with the outside world, unless it's directed to do so. To top it off, the barricade comes with a built-in print server which allows all machines on the network to share a remote printer. Whereas many routers are difficult to set up, the Barricade is configured automatically through an online configuration server, making it virtually plug-and-play. For quality, ease of use, and features, SMC's Barricade is the router/firewall of choice.

From the Manufacturer

The Barricade is an ideal all-in-one networking solution for home and small-business users. This protocol-independent multifunctional broadband router is combined with a four-port 10/100 Mbps dual-speed switch, and incorporates both a built-in print server and an Internet firewall for security against unauthorized users.

The Barricade provides a WAN port as well as Network Address Translation (NAT), which extends simultaneous Internet access for up to 253 PCs on the LAN. The new broadband router also allows the connection of multiple users to the Internet using a single WAN/IP address. LAN and IP addresses are auto-assigned and easily managed, and the IP routing supports a range of popular applications.

This new device is a complete networking solution for PC or Mac users, and is backed by SMC's limited lifetime warranty and 24/7 technical support.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five minutes, five stars, May 29, 2001

By 

Lela Tigan (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SMC SMC7004BR Cable/DSL Router with 4 Port Switch (Personal Computers)

I bought this unit instead of the less expensive competition because of my faith in SMC support. I have literally called up SMC's 800 number at 11:30 PM on a Sunday and had a friendly, knowledgable technician answer the phone and guide me through a network card install. I didn't need their support.

I know networking, but the little book was written for the brain damaged. Really easy to understand. The connection through to the unit was instant. I just used winipcfg to do a DHCP release and renew and there I was. I have Home.com cable. I just added the computer's ID for my home.com connection in the appropriate field, saved and rebooted. Voila, instant shared network on three computers.

Besides the two free Cat 5 cables, the print server feature is quite nice. I haven't used it yet, but I intend to. Also I'll probably add a dial up modem to the unit so I can have an easy fallback if home.com has an outage.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Access, May 7, 2001

By 

"essm" (Sunrise, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SMC SMC7004BR Cable/DSL Router with 4 Port Switch (Personal Computers)

I got this for the office after using the linksys at home, the idea of a router was fixed in my head. The print server and the serial port were almost necessities for the office environment. It was a fairly easy installation hardware wise, of course. the Software had a few issues but upgrades from their web site and a quick call fixed them, I found tech support to be helpful and patient. Theproblem involved needing to do a hard reset of the router, which is a pain, use a paperclip and jump two of the pins on the serial port. I could not believe that this was their answer, but it worked. Since then I have had a few months of no problem connections. I just wish they would implement a fax sharing program into the unit or even a modem sharing for other than Internet connectivity. I still giv eht eunit 5 stars for the print server and the ability to use the dial up if my DSL goes down (too frequently).

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works as its supposed to, just a few things to know., June 5, 2001

By 

P.W. Reader (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SMC SMC7004BR Cable/DSL Router with 4 Port Switch (Personal Computers)

This port works great for networking computers! I have AT&T broadband and my cable modem is connected through a USB port on my computer instead of a network card. The hub had no trouble recognizing the connection, or the connection of the laptop computer in the other port (which used a normal PCMIA network card). This is a great device for networking beginners. Only a couple of things stopped me from giving this product five stars. First, when buying this, make SURE that your printer has available networking software (my old Epson 480 printer could not be networked to this device, software did not allow for that) if you want to network your printer. Also, some printer cables will not function with this device...make sure you have a cable that will function as a direct cable connection between your printer and this hub. Another thing I was told by AT&T support was that I needed a "crossover" network cable to connect the USB port to the hub. WRONG! Its correct to use a regular patch cable for all connections, as I found out through SMC support. Keep all this in mind and it will set up correctly and work just fine. Great for the price!