Rating: 
Summary: Good Dial-up Router, Manual Could Use Some Work
Review: I just finally got this router fully configured on my home lan. The problem I had relates to poor documentation on the Dial-up aspect of the router, which is why I purchased it.Once I configured everything to work...dial on-demand did not work. Then when I got dial on-demand to work I could not actually browse the Internet even though I was connected to my ISP. Here are the settings I found via google to resolve all dial-up issues: Modem Init string: AT&F1
Auto Reconnect: checked Additionally goto www.dslreports.com and download a tool called drtcp021.exe to change your windows MTU settings to 1438. After making these changes everything is working fine. I didn't have any trouble contacting Tech Support. However, tech support through email will always be buggy. For example by the time tech support responded to my queries I had already resolved the issue and had another problem, but they always got back to me within 24hrs. I had simply moved on within that time frame. I have not tried the print server yet. I hope this is helpful and saves you the time and frustration I had to get mine configured.
Rating: 
Summary: SMC barricade 4-port router
Review: I purchased router in march 2003. It worked w/o problem but one day it hanged up 2 login for dial up through 56k extenal modem. 4 port switch part is still working. Factory says it is not repairable. I would like 2 know whether it is use-N-throgh item??? Please write 2 me.
Regards
Nawab
nawabsingh@bigfoot.com
Rating:
Summary: Works well, but does hang periodically
Review: We bought this router because it was essentially the only inexpensive router that can actually do VPN without additional client software on win2000 and winxp (most are just passthrough or unit to unit connections). Before we did the firmware upgrade the VPN did not work well and we could not get multiple users to connect through the VPN. After the firmware upgrade, the VPN works well. The unit does hang about once a month. All other firewall functionality seems fine and comparable to the linksys. If you need an inexpensive VPN solution using the built in VPN client in Windows, this product will work.
Rating:
Summary: Great Little Router
Review: I choose the SMC over other routers for several reasons: 1) The reviews here and elsewhere had relatively nice things to say about SMC's tech support. My own experience with Netgear's support has been mixed and dreadful with Linksys. 2) Uses Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI): this presumably provides a higher level of firewall protection. 3) Price was great. Installation proceeded with a minor hang: received an error message that informed me that the router address did not match the expected IP address. Resetting the power did not help, so I went to the browser configuration page, keyed in the computer's network name and address. It has been up and working ever since!
Rating:
Summary: Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) problem
Review: I've already submitted a review that hasn't been posted, at least not yet. After I wrote that everything was working, I discovered I could not access certain websites with the 56K modem attached to the router. I've no idea what was special about those sites. There was no problem using my cable modem, and there was no problem using the 56K internal modem in my computer. The problem turned out to be with the MaxMTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) setting in my system registry. Two of the SMC tech support guys incorrectly told me to look in different places in the router setup to set the maximum MTU. One correctly stated that the 7004ABR has no MTU setting and said it might have to be done in the operating system, which SMC does not support. They did give me a number (1440) to use for the setting. Most people probably would not want to mess with their system registry, but I've been there before. With Google's help I was able to find directions for finding the MaxMTU (and RWIN while I was at it) settings. I changed the MaxMTU setting to 1440, and now everything really does work well. Without that change this router would not have been acceptable. Larry Scott
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding value and security
Review: Had my barricade for almost two years. It's held up wonderfully. My DSL modem goes down weekly and needs resetting. But the barricade rarely needs resetting. Just accept the default setting and the firmware that comes with it and you're off to the world of high speed internet. Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent product...easy to install
Review: I am only using 1 computer with my DSL connection, but I purchased a Replay TV 5040 with broadband connection ability. Replay TV recommended this router along with 3 others. One of the others was wireless (more than I wanted to spend on this project) and the other two models were not available. This router came with an easy install CD. Just plug in the unit and attach the cords, run the CD and you are done. The REPLAY unit automatically found the settings. So simple. Highly recommended for REPLAY TV 5040, 5080 AND 5160 users.
Rating:
Summary: Great for home network
Review: I have purchased two SMC 4-Port Cable/DSL Broadband Routers, one for my home and one for my parents' home. It took me longer to do the cabling from room to room than to set-up the router itself, it was so easy. Since then, it has been a solid performer in both environments, lasting through two DSL providers and a cable provider. The units have also proved their worth not only for sharing Internet connections, but also for safe file and printer sharing behind its firewall capabilities. I highly recommend this product. The only problem was the one of the units' free network cables was bad.
Rating:
Summary: Router with power
Review: This piece of hardware is a must if you wish to share your Internet access coming in from DSL or Cable modem. Your PC is mostly secure behind this router - don't rely on the hardware security alone, use firewall software to supplement your protection! The ease of use is high. Out of the box it's three connections and you're nearly ready to rock and roll (power, modem, and your PC). Launch your browser, visit the default IP address for the router and set some information about your modem and your done. I would give the unit 5 stars, except that I haven't seen the unit run flawlessly from the first power up. There have been a couple occasions where I have had to reset the router - and I have no ideas why. So, aside from the peculiar behavior where I'd no longer have access to the "outside" but all the lights looked good, this is a great unit to have. I have a wireless access point connected to it for an 802.11 (no B or A) network. Prior to that, I ran a WAP for the old Digital ROAMAbout wireless network. All worked great. I haven't had the chance to check out the external modem back up feature for it yet - don't know if I ever will. I recommend this unit.
Rating: 
Summary: good features especially for the price ... but doesn't last
Review: This is a great litle unit that has a built-in print server (through the use of a non-bidirectional parallel port to connect parallel printers to and the use of software for windows...which you can also set up for unix as a unix printer), dmz, virtual server set up to point different incoming ports to different computers within your network, MAC emulation for those who have cable broadband or other service that uses the MAC address of your existing NIC, NAT to dynamically assign IP addresses to your computers (though you'll probably want to use a static address if you are using virtual servers, etc), various set up for filtering incoming/outgoing data by IP or port, upgradeable firmware (by downloading the latest revisions off the smc website), etc. All this configuration is accessible through a web-based control panel that is password protected (which is especially good for writing scripts that can automatically configure, reboot the router, etc). Sounds great, doesn't it? So why the poor rating? Well, after using it a little while, it keeps giving out on me. If I leave it on for a few hours, it seems to freeze up. It won't route data, either in or out, the web-based control panel cannot be accessed, etc...it just freezes and the only thing to do is a hard reboot (unplug and plug back in). Additionally, when I contacted SMC about it, they replied and offer little help. When I tried to reply to their email, my email bounced by their mail server due to "policy reasons" (either they don't accept mail from yahoo accounts, or their tech support people cannot receive email directly though this person's email to me did not specify anything like that, or ????).
| 
