Linksys Knowledge Base

The following is a collection of information regarding Linksys home networking products. It was collected from newsgroups such as alt.internet.wireless and DSL Reports. I’ve tried my best to give credit where credit is due. If you’d like to add something to this knowledge base, or see an error that you’d like to correct, please eMail me.

This information was collected mainly because it relates directly or indirectly to the BEFW11S4 router I used to own. Later, Nexland send me one of their excellent routers to review. They were eventually acquired by Symantec. I don’t know if their networking products are still sold under Symantec’s brand.

The information below pertains to more than one Linksys product. For example, the BEFW11S4 router is extremely similar to the BEFSR41, except with the addition of a wireless interface. Many of the firmware features are duplicated across both routers.

Small picture of the BEFW11S4 router 1.39 Series Firmware includes information about the 1.39 firmware features that you will find in products such as the BEFW11S4 and BEFSR41.
Bill_MI's avatar Information about PASV and PORT How do FTP clients and servers work from behind a Linksys router? This information from Bill_MI will tell you!
Bill_MI's avatar How to set up a BPFTP server from behind your Linksys firewall. Again from the one, the only, Bill_MI.
Bill_MI's avatar MTU and You, information about the MTU and PPPoE connections. As you’ve guessed, by Bill_MI.
Arrow (to indicate offsite link) How NAT Works, Information by Cisco, but basically the same for Linksys routers setup for NAT as well. (Be sure to check out the “Dynamic NAT and Overloading Examples” section for a great Flash demo.

Product Information

For information on a specific product, visit the product page:

Sorry, these are the only two Linksys products I’ve ever owned… makes it hard to review any others. Sorry!

Downloads

  • WLANexpert – A small utility that connects for the WPC11 (and perhaps other Prism chipsets). Features include:
    • Link errors
    • Interference (in dbm)
    • Signal Strength (in dbm)
    • Change Tx power in 10 mW steps
    • Test the VSWR of all channels (1-13)

    I don’t have a WPC11, but I did try a D-Link Prism chipset card. It doesn’t seem to work, so I can’t test this utility: it apparently uses a VxD, so it seems to me that it would only work on 95/98/etc. This utility used to be available at PracticallyNetworked, but is no longer there. I am hosting it at request.