Linksys BEFSX41 vs Netgear RP614

Linksys is also a firewall (I know, bring on the controversy). But still, it is advertised as a firewall, the Netgear is not.

-Frank

Frank, they both have firewall.

When not on sale they are likely similar in price. But make sure you get the latest. With the 614 I think it's up to v6 or v7. Tiger Direct and other tend to sell older versions cheap. You get what you pay for.

Netgear: ("NAT firewall" - same as any router)

-Frank

Sorry, better link for Linksys..

-Frank

Hardware is at v. 3; firmware is at v. 6. Firmware, of course, is easy to upgrade if out of date.

I have had a Linksys BEFSR41 that I am quite happy with for many years. I used to recommend them.

BUT THEN!!! Last year a friend bought one (newer version, I don't remember if it was a rev 2 or 3 BEFSR41 or if it was the BEFSX41), and had terrible problems. Never actually got it to work at all! She thought it was broken and returned it for a replacement. Same symptoms (sorry, I don't remember the details, couldn't get it to function at all as a PPPOE router.) She finally accepted my offer to help (was really getting desperate), and I couldn't get it to work either. I then did some research on the net, and discovered both problems we were encountering were well know, and that a beta version of the firmware that fixed them (but may have caused some other problems) had been released well over a year previously. Here's the kicker. The new firmware had never been released and the current version, still on the Linksys web site, was the broken version. I can see a few months for shaking down a new version, but over a year? And this wasn't something obscure, it rendered it inoperable in a very common environment (Verizon DSL using PPPOE.)

She took it back, traded it in for a different brand (DLink, I think) and had the replacement installed and running in 10 minutes.

So I can't in good conscience recommend Linksys any more.

(Sorry I don't remember the details of the problem, but I'm sure I posted this before. Google is your friend.)

Thanks. How much is this firewall (NAT/SI) good idea. Do i need it if i use ZA.