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Rating: 
Summary: Lots of errors
Review: Although I passed the test using this book, it was full of typos and errors. For example, it appears that sections of text were cut & pasted from one portion to another and then never edited. NOT the quality one expects from Cisco Press. Rather disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cisco book through and through
Review: As a seasoned student of Cisco and it's long list of educational offerings, this book brings no real suprises. When will Cisco take it's educational books seriously? This book is better than most when it comes to simple mistakes but there are still plenty of mistakes and when you see complete paragraphs duplicated on the same page you know it hasen't been proof read. There is not the detail that Cisco books normally provide. Some sections go straight to the configuration without any real explanation of what is going on. Screen dumps lack the content to allow you to clearly see the full configuration. There is a real lack of clarity, probably the worst of the books I've read so far, and I've read a few. But, I've come to know that if you learn all that is in the book you will pass the exam. That is the only good comment I can make about this 'standard' Cisco offering.
Rating: 
Summary: Five Stars For The Info, Three Stars For Readability
Review: For those folks like me who were stymied looking for study material for CMTD, look no further. This book has a great deal of the info that you need to prepare for CMTD, and some chapters you should go ahead and read even if you're not preparing for BCRAN. Check your exam objectives if you're working on CMTD, and download any missing info from Cisco's website. Catherine Paquet does a tremendous job in presenting information. The best part of the book is the case study you find at the end of most chapters. Instead of the typical multiple choice questions, you're asked to come up with solutions to customer demands for remote access. This is great practice for actually applying what you have learned, which is a must for Cisco exams. The one problem I did have with the book -- and I considered it a major problem at times -- was the lack of flow to the book and a great number of typos. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type to go nuts if I see a typo or two in a technical manual. However, there are parts of this book where hyphens appear and disappear from commands, and a few illustrated examples have different commands than the accompanying text, which can get pretty annoying after a while. Again, there's a lot of great information here, and without Catherine's work, a lot of us CMTD candidates would have been up a virtual creek. Definitely worth picking up, but you might want to keep your ACRC Cisco books within arm's reach while reading this one to cross-check facts, since CMTD is basically an extension of that difficult exam.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book for Prepare BCRAN and CMTD
Review: I passed CMTD 8.0 (640-405) (scored 860, passing score = 790) just by spending 12 days reading this book(I hold a full-time job). I had not read any other books or any supplemental materials. I also took the beta test for BCRAN (cisco called it Remote Access)on the same day. 96% of the exam items are in the book. Some of the test questions are taken almost verbatim from this book.It might as well cover the remaining 4%. I must have missed or ignored them. Topics that are not covered in this book but tested on CMTD are as follows: 1. (objective 13) xDSL 2. (objectives: 24-26Terminal services 3. (objectives: 51) Dialup cost management (IPX/SPX spoofing,AppleTalk NBP filtering 4. (objectives: 64-67) Virtual Private Dialup Networks (VPDN) 5. (objectives: 68-72) Protocal Translation Services 6. (objectives: 77-80) Configuring NetBEUI over PPP Please go to Cisco's web site to download the exam objectives and search for materials on these uncovered objectives to make 100% sure to pass the exam for the first time. I rate this book 4 stars because it does not have practice tests after each chapter and does not have one or two set of simulated exams, like those in the Exam Cram Series. Should it have them, then it can be rated 5 stars. Simulated tests helps a lot and save your money to buy another or other books for practice tests.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but not enough.
Review: If you can decode Catherine's style fo writing and understand where's she's trying to go with her points, then you'll be ready for approximately 75% of the BCRAN exam. The remaining 25% is not found in this book.... sadly this is one of the two worst CiscoPress books I've read. Luckily, CCO filled in the gaps, added to the fact that BCRAN is one of the easier CCNP/DP exams. If you want a book that tracks 100% to the BCRAN exam, try another book.
Rating:
Summary: Will not give you the understanding of the material
Review: Lot's of information. Some chapters are fair some are terrible. It does presents all the information needed to pass the test. However, to pass the test you will have to rely on memorizing the material. You will not be able to understand it, much less being able to do the job. In order to be able to do the job read Bill Burton's "Remote Access for Cisco Networks". Bill Burton's book is excellent, very clear and coherent. Unlike Catherine Paquet's book it flows smoothly, it is easy to follow and in the end you can perform the job.
One more tip, all remote access books I looked at miss one important piece - they do not explain the complete set of interrelationships between serial interfaces, asynchronous interfaces, lines, controllers, vtys, ttys, etc. Therefore you need to read introduction section from "Cisco IOS 12.0 Dial Solutions". It is a horrible read and you will have to fight through it. Read it five times, if you have to. But, it will give you the mental map and the foundation needed to understand any book on this topic.
Rating:
Summary: A Cisco book through and through
Review: Talk about bad. After reading the first two books in the CCNP Prep Library and passing the respective exams, I've been struggling with this pathetic waste of paper for a month now. If you get stuck with it, plan on reading each chapter three times or more. There's no continuity between successive sentences, let alone within each chapter. I don't know if the author has absolutely no understanding of the material or not. But after being quite satisfied with the four or five other Cisco Press books I've purchased, I feel completely ripped off by this miserable (book).
Rating: 
Summary: Miserable writing. Suppliments and deductive reading requir
Review: Terrible. I've come to be fairly accepting of occassional flaws in Cisco Press books. Given the pace of the technology they must describe, its to be expected that their editing cycles can't be full and perfect. Still, this book sinks to new lows for coherence and writing quality. Stylistically, this text resembles little more than a jumble of power point documents pasted into book format. Numerous charts, bulleted lists, and diagrams are thrown together with a simulacrum of connecting text. The author's train of thought derails frequently, and copious space is wasted restating section headings. Near entire pages appear to have been cut and paste from other sections of the text (e.g. pages 29 and 30), and repetition is seen throughout. The best that can be said for this book is that it is easy to read the author's intentions from the flawed writing style, and extract the course notes that the text has been distilled from by deductive reasoning.
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