Date: May 25th 2002
Article by: Peer van Empelen (Founder & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was purchased from : J's ITsolutions
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PRODUCT SETUP & ADDITIONAL FEATURE RUN-THROUGH

You want this baby up and running ? Let's do it the easy way ! Okay, You just hook up the cable modem to the router. And plug in the powercord of the adapter.

Furthest left : hook up your cable or dsl modem here !

Place the router so it doesn't disturb you, like so :

On top of a Inwin A500 ...

Yeah , webcamshots look like sh*t ...

Hook up the Computers and fire up your browser and point it too the default address :

Yeah it's Dutch ! Just fill in the password !

Fill in the basics ...

More basics

Some more basics, especially for DSL

All ready to go after you configured it.


Here's were the snag comes in : For some DSL providers you need to fill in a ip address with the addition of a pcnumber like "10.0.0.150 -pc3" . This will not work on this router ! Check the pic above to see for yourself. One example I know of is MXSTREAM in the Netherlands. I don't blame the router for it ... just the provider. I haven't had the chance to try foreign providers so maybe somebody can fill me in on this ?


All other providers are plug and play or just fill in the ip your provider gave. If it's still doesn't work : try the MAC address cloning ! This is one good feature ! @Home usually locks down the mac-address on a connection and this way you can fool them.

CONCLUSIONS & AFTERTHOUGHTS

I think it's a well built piece of machinery. It's quiet (no sound at all) and small when compared to having a full linux-box router and I love the way the webbased configuration works. Small dislike would be that you really NEED the manual to understand every freaking option it has and to discover that the firewall software and virusscanner aren't free All in all still a good buy.

Pro's :

- Low energy bill
- Easy config
- Easy install
- Saves space

Con's :

- Lacks support for all providers (luckily it does support most of them)
- No upgrades available (but hey , it beats a humming machine in the corner)
- Shape is somewhat round so it's hard to stack expect for other Linksys products