Customer Reviews

SMC2804WBR Barricade g 2.4GHz 54 Mbps Wireless Cable/DSL Broadband Router

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have been using the 2804WBR for several months now, and it has worked flawlessly. The difference in throughput between it and our 802.11b base stations is quite obvious.
Some observations on the other reviews of this product:

1. Current product does not appear to have any unresolved bugs, and should new firmware be released, the firmware upgrade process is extremely easy, requiring only a web browser.

2. The statement that the 2804 "cannot act as an access point" is simply incorrect. If you do not connect anything to the WAN port on the 2804, all it can do is act as an access point, and unremarkably, that's all it does. Mine is doing just that -- we have two other 802.11b routers on our network, one of which is our internet gateway and the other (an original Apple Airport base station) is acting as an AP.

Note that if you are going to use the 2804 as an access point, you probably want to turn off its DHCP server, because you probably already have another one operating.

One of the unheralded features of the 2804 (and all recent SMC routers) is that the router does not have to be rebooted for configuration changes to take effect -- you just press a button on the appropriate configuration page, and the change is saved and active. This means that in a multi-user environment you don't trash other users' connectivity when making configuration changes. Very cool, and fairly rare in consumer-grade routers.

All configuration is via web-browser, with separate "easy" and "pro" configuration systems. The 2804 configures and operates flawlessly with Macs as well as PCs, and presumably Linux boxes also.

The 2804 also has removable antennas, making it possible to add an external antenna without breaking out a soldering iron or cracking the case.

I would recommend the 2804 to anyone who needs its capabilities -- it is economical, simple to configure, and yet offers sophisticated capabilities if you want to delve into the settings a little.

The only criticism that I have of the unit is that it does not directly support dyndns.org -- but since that can be handled by a free client daemon on your computer, that is of little consequence.

This router isn't going to be a 'piece of cake' for a typical home user, but for someone with at least a basic understanding about networking principles, it has some great features.

First note, update the firmware; there was a WEP bug that was fixed in a release after what came on the CD... if you use WEP at all, you need the update.

As a router, it can't be configured as a true access point; it always needs to 'route' from the LAN (wireless) segment of the network to the WAN (your remaining network). And the IP address configuration on the LAN side is limited... Personally, I use 10.x.x.x internal addresses on our network and we use a B mask. The SMC is hardcoded with a C mask, so if you need access to a different B address, as I did, this can cause an issue. The good news is that the 192.168.2.x addresses that the router 'likes' to use, are routed to the 10.x segment without an issue (but it meant some name resolution issues, etc. that were worked through).

As far as the product goes, though, I'm very happy with the power of the unit--we have great signal strength everywhere on the property. Also some of the 'firewalling' features, which is where intrusion detection settings, MAC access lists, etc. live, are just great for such an inexpensive unit.

Since we've had it set up, we have never touched it again (except to dust it from time to time) and have never had an issue with it.

I recently purchased this router for a wireless network. It has worked flawlessly, the only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was the 3-Click setup hung at the end and I had to reboot. But it had done all the setup. However, I did not buy this product for that reason. I read the normal setup info in the manual BEFORE I purchased the unit and I recommend that method for most users because it is very accurate and simple. I work in this business and this product is about as good as it gets short of Cisco. I went to some site that try to hack into my network/PC and the BARRICADE made my network look invisible to current hacker attack schemes. I had been using BlackIce for the past several years and this is a step better. The web interface is very easy to use and understand. Be sure to understand advanced settings before making changes. I also updated the firmware and found it work perfectly. I have a new Dell box on order to try out the wireless aspect and will modify this post with that experience soon.

I recently bought SMC's 2804WBR along with SMC's wireless card 2635W. To be frank, the main reason I went for SMC, inspite of all the terrible reviews I read about this product, was due to the tempting rebates! After about 3 hours of effort (which included a 45 minute phone call with SMC Tech Support) I finally managed to get the two to work together! Here are the lessons I learned:
1. Forget about 3-click EZ installation. It is just a marketing gimmick
2. After installing all the drivers / software, visit www.smc.com and upgrade the firmware/device driver [This was the single biggest problem I faced. The CD that ships with the product has out-dated firmware]
3. Tech Support is not all that bad. In fact for the very first time I had someone who was trying out the same configuration (using two SMC products though)on the other end of the line and then giving me directions. I found them to be technically capable and friendly.

Bottomline: This is a value-for-money product suited for enthusiasts ready to spend some time setting it up

For the record: I am using Windows Millennium for the wireless client machine and Windows XP Home for the desktop connected to the router

I bought this for 69.00 with 25$ rebate. Setting up the router itself was a breeze. I have yahoo DSL and I just plug it in and configure via the brower. I dont even need to install yahoo dsl software. The problem I have encountered was due to a bug in the smc2802w driver(the wirless card). My machine kept losing connection to the rounter after 10 minutes. Very frustrating. I wasted many hours trying to figure out the problem. A couple of days after I bought this I saw a beta driver at http://www.dslreports.com/forum/smc and installed it and was able to keep the connection for 3 days straight without problems. I am getting very reliable and fast speed (90%,54Mbps through a wall 15 feet). I didn't test its range though

There seems to be anther bug in the rounter itself when using PPTP VPN. The first time around everything is fine but once you disconnect the VPN connection, you will randomly be refused connection (my remote machine is running checkpoint software). It could be an issue on my desktop but it also could be a bug. Once you are denied connection (error 800) you might be able to issue "ipconfig /renew" (window XP) to be able to reconnect again but a lot of time I have to reset the rounter to be able to use VPN again.

Overall these are solid products from SMC. Considering the price I paid I gave it 4 stars

I have used SMC routers for several years now, from wired to wireless. The 2804WBR was purchased to replace a 7004AWBR 802.11b router and bring the wireless part of the network up to 802.11g. Until all the wireless cards on the network are upgraded to 802.11g, the router is running in mixed B&G mode with 128-bit WEP. The signal strength is good, and the router works well with a lot of off-brand B&G wireless cards. This router is not the easiest to configure, due to its many features and options, however if you know about networking you will be fine. I can't vouch for the EZ-Setup utility. I have never used those quicky setup utilities with any brand of router and always configure routers manually. The Port forwarding, DMZ, and MAC filtering features are fairly intuitive and work very well. I am shocked at the number of negative reviews for this router. I have emailed SMC's tech support many times with questions and have always received a timely satisfactory reply. I have worked with several of these personal cable/DSL routers such as D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, Airlink, SOHO, Belkin, and Siemans. I have always made my personal choice SMC. They are not the cheapest nor the easiest to setup, but they are rock-solid dependable and have a robust offering of features not seen in most off-the-shelf retail personal routers. The 2804WBR is no exception. After spending 30 minutes entering in the configuration settings (including the security settings), I slipped it in place of the 7004AWBR without a single hiccup on the LAN, WAN, or wireless parts of the network. Wish they all worked this good!

Many people have commented on the constant loss of connection with this router. From other news groups we gathered that when connected to cable modems (Comcast and others except BellSouth)There is a problem with the new firmware 1.11 that prevents the DHCP service to not renew the IP address properly thereby losing connection. Revert back to firmware 1.10 and the problem will be fixed. Other than this the signal has been excellent and if you have Xbox wireless G connection this router works great. Also make sure that your atenaes are not alligned in the same direction - aligning them out of phase makes the signal much stronger.

When my router works, it's great. However, it looses the wireless signal on a regular basis. Reseting or powering down the unit do not help return the wireless signal so it often sits as a wired router.

Ultimately, it has not been worth the aggravation.

After hearing great things about SMC's Barricade line, I decided to try one when it came time to upgrade from B protocol to the newer, faster G protocol wireless. Perhaps a good decision to upgrade -- but this isn't the product to do it with.

The first rough spot was just trying to set a new admin password for security purposes. The web-based configuration system kept complaining that my current password was incorrect -- over and over and over. But after rebooting the box, a login attempt required the use of the new password, so the complaint was bogus.

After getting the thing configured, I arrived at the issue of where to put it. The D-Link router/WAP it replaced has a provision for wall mounting, which is what I'd done. The SMC has no provision for wall mounting, no bracket for vertical placement... It can only sit on its bottom. Minor for some, rather irritating here where horizontal surfaces are already at a premium.

That issue aside, the performance of the product was abysmal at best. At just a few yards away with only two walls in between, a wireless connection back to the device from any wireless card at my disposal (including one of SMC's own) failed completely -- even with a high-gain external antenna attached. Totally unacceptable, but in-line with tests I read (after I purchased it, unfortunately).

The compatibility and performance issues were enough for a swift return of the box.

About the only thing I can say on the up side for this unit was about its firewall reporting. The ability to have it send hacker alerts via e-mail was interesting, and did work perfectly.

But a nice feature or two just did not make-up for the other issues here.

I bought this unit about 6 months ago and have had nothing but problems with it. Initially I had to spend approximately 2 hours on the phone with tech support in order to even get a connection and ever since new I have been plagued with lousy signal strength and dropped connections.

This unit frequently drops connections (perhaps 2 or 3 times per hour) and has very very poor signal strength. At present, I'm approximately 20 feet from the router with only a single wood frame wall between us and all I am getting is 2 or 3 bars out of 5 signal strength. In comparision, the new Linksys unit I just bought which is installed and sitting on the same desk as the SMC unit is giving me a perfect 5 out of 5 signal strength.

I didn't realize the SMC was so poor relative to the competition until a recent trip where the friend I was staying with had a Linksys router and I was able to connect without any problems at all. Upon my return, I immediately bought the Linksys and have not had a single problem - it was plug and play from the minute I pulled it out of the box.

The SMC is the biggest piece of junk I have ever bought.