Linksys Broadband Firewall Router with 4-port Switch/VPN Endpoint BEFSX41 V2
reviewed by Robert Pritchett
Linksys, A Division of Cisco Systems, Inc. 18582 Teller Avenue Irvine, CA 92612 1-800-546-7597 or 949-261-8868 Product link: $80 USD Requirements: Cable connection with DOCSIS 1.0, 1.1 or 2.0 cable service. Mac or PC. Comes with: Power supply; CD for Windows environments; Cat5 cable; Quick Install card (needed for the Mac!) and a registration card. Strengths: Plug&Play for Macs. Weaknesses: No Mac software on CD. VPN functionality is intended for non-Mac systems. |
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The second half of the Linksys duo (the other part being the BEFCMU10 Cable Modem reviewed last month [December 2005]) for Cable systems connectivity for those who have more than one computer is obviously a broadband router.
This unit also comes with a hard-wired firewall. With Mac OS X Tiger, this tends to be rather redundant. Also since I’m also using the DoorStop X Security Suite ( see the review elsewhere in this issue of macCompanion), it is really redundant! But than again, I can now run a Virtual Private Network – ad that is why I bought this unit.
Of course, the backside has 4 ports for the local area network and a 5th port to connect to the Internet, in this case to the cable modem.
For the Mac, the CD is pretty much useless, except for the User Guide. The only way to configure the unit is via the browser. The instructions are decidedly non-Mac-oriented, but thankfully, the IP address for configuration (192.168.1.1) works. What is weird though is that the Username has to be blank and I never figured out how to add one. I did change the password from the default though. And the options are plain-vanilla basic.
The User Guide goes up to 89 pages and is mostly Appendices after 5 short chapters. There are 12 Appendices.
Chapter 2 is dedicated to Virtual Private Networking, but if you want to learn how to make it work on a Mac, you will have to go elsewhere.
This is an excellent box, but I could have saved $30 if I’d known the VPN functionality was meant for non-Mac systems. And I wished that Cisco put a little more effort into recognizing Macs as viable platforms they can sell products to instead of letting us experiment to find out what works – and what doesn’t.
