No Wonder Everyone Recommends This

Why Linksys?

The salesman at CompUSA recommended this brand as a wired, 4 Port Cable/DSL Router for my Earthlink Cable Modem and Xbox system. I needed a new router because my Siemens Speedstream 4 Port Cable/DSL Routerexpired after 2 years of splendid usage. The salesman was very articulate in understanding my situation for home networking and recommended this unit. After purchasing the unit, I checked xbox.com's support site and they also recommended the Linksys Cable/DSL Router as Xbox Live compatible. Whew...what a sigh of relief.

My Experience

The router was very easy to install in about 7 minutes which included configuring the settings for my router, computer and Xbox. After the breezy installation came the output. My Earthlink Broadband Internet service was up and running fine. However, my husband had trouble on Xbox Live games. Every time there was a lot of action on the game, the screen would freeze, hence ending that game and frustrating us both. We tried another game and it repeated the freeze again. So we ruled out the Xbox itself and the games. Our immediate thought was that the router was defective. We had nothing else to judge it on other than from our use with the Siemens Router. I was getting worried because of CompUSA's so-so customer service and return privileges. The following day I call Circuit City, Xbox support and CompUSA to try to figure out if this router is a waste of my money and time. The support rep. at Xbox instructed me to call Linksys' technical support to see if we needed an updated Firmware. I was very worried to call Linksys support because of the reviews I read on their terrible customer service. Anyhow, I called the Technical Support Line and was suprisingly connected with a rep. there. Basically he understood my dilemma and had me update numbers on my Gaming Support Configurations. That was the solution to the Xbox freeze modes and a happy customer to date.

Linksys Pros:
-simple installation
-reasonable price

Linksys Cons:
-no written help on gaming configurations/procedures

Linksys Advertisement
Share Your High-Speed Internet Connection Throughout Your Home or Office
-Share your high-speed cable or DSL connection with multiple computers
-Supports DHCP, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), and includes a user-friendly Setup Wizard for easy configuration
-Compatible with all Internet Service Providers

Package Contents
-EtherFast Cable/DSL Router
-Network Cable
-Power adapter
-Setup CD-ROM with user guide
-Fast start guide
-Registration card

Minimum Requirements
-Broadband Connection and Cable/DSL Modem
-TCP/IP Protocol
-Network adapter
-CD-ROM Drive
-Network cable
-Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape 6 for web-based configuration