Easy networking for the PC novice.

Recently, my girlfriend and I moved into a new home together. This changed us from being two, one PC homes into one, two PC home. That being the case, when it came time to get our systems connected I had to go shopping around for a few new items to get everything up and running again.

Like many people today, broadband access to the Internet has become less a luxury and more of a necessity for us. Between her classes and my fledgling e-business, it was quickly obvious that a pair of modems would not be the solution to our problems.

After contacting our local phone company (and waiting 10 days for them to set it up) we were off and running with DSL. This of course meant that I would have to network our systems together (not a bad thing in any case) to get us both on-line.

Now I could have set up the internal network between our PCs by using one of them as the gateway and used various software programs for handling our routing and security concerns. However there were a few issues, which kept me from using this as a solution, mainly the fact that my significant other isn't comfortable with managing such a setup in my absence. So I looked around for a simpler way of setting this up... and I found it with the Linksys SR41 router.

Setup

(Before we get into this I should note that I am a certified networking professional. I will try however to keep this review as to the point as I can while avoiding too much "techno-babble".)

Setting up the Linksys SR41 (Model BEFSR41 v.2) was an exercise in simplicity. Connecting it to the DSL modem was a one-cable affair (note: you WILL need to pick up a segment of RJ-45 cable for this as the SR41 does not come with any) and with one more connection to my PC I was up and able to communicate with the router. Now, as simple as this router is, you will still need to enter it's internal setup menu (via a web browser based interface) and enter in the account information for your broadband provider before you can use this as a gateway to your account. The instructions provided via the manual walk you through this step by step and within five minutes (and one system re-boot) everything was up and running.

Documentation

Documentation comes in the form of a 72-page users manual, which is both simple and detailed in walking you through setting up your new router. There is additional information for hard core users for dealing with the more advanced options of the SR41 as well a bit of a tutorial on the various categories of twisted pair cables available on the market. This is an excellent manual for the novice user to read to both get setup and to learn a bit about networking.

Performance

As a gateway for our home network to the DSL modem, the SR41 works like a champ handling information for our two systems beautifully. Of course, to be fair the speeds at which even broadband DSL transmit data don't come close to the maximum throughput that this router is rated for. (Quick note: DLS speed tops out at 1.5 megabits per second, which is only a fraction of what this router should be capable of. The 10baseT protocol the router uses for its uplink connection should handle up to 10 megabits per second). That being the case, I gave it a few tests on my home network between our two PCs to see what it could really handle.

As I promised earlier, I'll avoid getting too technical about the tests I ran but I will say that as a router for my home network the SR41 is overkill. Data transfer speed between the two systems is limited on many occasions more by hard disk access on one machine or the other rather than by any bottlenecks which are caused by the network. Streaming video from one machine to the other and burning files based on my girlfriend's PC onto my system's CD-RW (at 10x speed) poses no problems for this setup whatsoever.

Security

The hardware-based firewall provided by the SR41 is excellent. The SR41 does an admirable job at hiding my system’s presence from other systems on the Internet. I used several tools from another location to try to “hack” my own system to determine its vulnerabilities. I was very happy to find that not only did the firewall in the SR41 refuse my attempts to connect to my network, it disguised the ports on that network by making it appear as if the system was turned off or no longer connected to the Internet at all.

(note: Many firewalls simply refuse connection to unauthorized users immediately upon the attempted unauthorized connection. This lets the person attempting to break into your system know that there is an active system behind a firewall at the location he just tried. (thus letting him knows that there is something there to try to get to by using more sophisticated tools). The SR41 disguises the fact that there is an active system behind it’s firewall by simply ignoring those unauthorized port requests, thus forcing the hacker to assume that the system is either turned off or disconnected. This method of port blocking also wastes more of the hacker’s time as each time he attempts to access the system behind the firewall, his computer will have to wait the maximum timeout interval while waiting on a reply from your PC, which will never be sent, as opposed to an instant return from a refusal message.)

Specifications

Standards:
IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u

Protocol:
CSMA/CD

Ports:
WAN 1 - 10baseT Uplink port
LAN 4 – 10/100 RJ45 ports

Topology:
Star

Speed:
WAN
10megabits per second

LAN
10 megabits/100 megabits per second (half duplex)
20 megabits/200 megabits per second (full duplex)



Summary

The Lynksys BEFSR41 DSL router comes with a one year warranty and the manufacturer provides support for the unit both on-line at their web site and through their toll free customer support number.

To put it simply, If you are looking at having more than one system connected to the Internet through your broadband connection you should be very happy using the Linksys SR41 for security and as your gateway to the Internet.


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Note: I mistakenly posted this review previously under a page for a very similar (but incorrect to my purchase) model Linksys router. After having examined the documentation for my router and carefully looking at the different pages for Linksys models on the Epinions site I realized my mistake and moved (and updated) the review to the correct place. I am very sorry for any confusion this may have caused.