Linksys Network Everywhere NR041 Broadband Router

Shortly after installing broadband, most people usually find the need to connect more than one device to their Internet connection. To do that, they need a device called a router with the ability to do Network Address Translation (NAT). With the popularity of broadband, the price of these devices has gone down while the number of features available has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, some manufacturers have sacrificed quality.

Such is the case with the Linksys NR041 Broadband Router. At an attractive price with a full slate of features and the backing of a company like Cisco (now Linksys' parent company), why not try out the Network Everywhere brand? In fact, most any user on most any operating system will find it very easy to jump in and configure Cable or DSL access with this device.

Unfortunately, nothing else positive can be said about this router. The simple fact is that the hardware is poorly designed and prone to heat problems. When it does overheat, the device will simply drop the network connection. Power-cycling the router usually brings the connection back.

Linksys support has recommended changing MTU settings and upgrading the firmware, but the MTU they recommend is not retained by the router, and the firmware available on the website is older than the firmware on the router. Two requests for newer firmware they claim to have available have resulted in no return e-mails. Regardless, the real problem is heat, and in our test setting, we're talking about ambient room temperatures of only 72 degrees farenheit.

Please consider alternate brands like Netgear before purchasing this device. While it may have a nice price, it's not worth it. Given our experience with support, we would also recommend staying away from Linksys branded products even though they don't appear to have the same heat problems as the Network Everywhere NR041.

Posted at 12:00AM Nov 05, 2004 by Jason Koeninger in Hardware  |  Comments[1]