Linksys or Netgear

[Scot L. Harris]

On Sun, 2004-05-02 at 21:30, Karl Hakmiller wrote:
> On Sun, 02 May 2004 15:05:34 -0700
> Austin Isler <a_c_isler at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> > Does anyone on this list recommend a wireless broadband router that they
> > found to have the least amount of trouble getting it to work in Linux?
> > 
> > Thank you,

Have used both linksys and netgear routers.  Have used the Linksys
BEFSR41 for many years in several different locations.  Worked well. 
Only recently did I have a problem with that unit.  In a new location I
found that an FTP through the BEFSR41 would be corrupted.  The file
transfer would be completed but the contents of the file was mangled. 
Was not the old ascii vs. binary modes issue, that was my first
thought.  Played with the MTU but that did not make any real
difference.  Tried two different ftp servers on the server as well as
different clients on the workstation.  Finally replace the unit with a
Netgear FSV318.  This resolved the FTP problem.

The Netgear presented a couple of its own issues.  First issue involved
email.  Found that internal systems that were configured using the
public IP address for the SMTP server were denied access.  Apparently
the Netgear NATs the internal workstations IP address before passing it
on to the internal server.  Confirmed this with ethereal traces.  So
SMTP traffic was denied since relaying by the public IP address was not
allowed.  The Linksys behaved differently, it redirected the packets
without NATing them so connections were accepted by the SMTP server.  

An unresolved issue, despite several emails back and forth with Netgear
tech support, involves the FSV318s VPN support.  Have been able to
establish VPN connections with remote systems.  However, have not been
able to get windows network browsing to work over the VPN connection.
Ethereal traces showed no netbios traffic getting to the server coming
from the router.  My guess is that the router is not passing the traffic
through.  Not a linux issue but has been annoying.  Still working
through some samba variations to make sure WINS services are working
correctly.

All in all I like some of the features of the Netgear routers better. 
The logging functions are better, you can have the router send copies of
the logs periodically or when they fill up.  Linksys logging is pretty
limited in this regard on both the BEFSR41 and the WAP54G I have used. 
I think Netgears VPN support could be improved, but I have not used any
Linksys products that support VPN so can not compare them directly. 
Linksys does pass IPSec through just fine.  Used secure remote with
Checkpoint for a long time this way using the BEFSR41.

If you are asking about wireless cards with Linux I have had less luck
with that.  Still have to put in some additional time to get that sorted
out.  But the Linksys G PCMCIA card was not directly recognized nor was
the Dlink DWL-G650.  I have not dived into that issue more than an
initial attempt.

 
-- 
Scot L. Harris <webid at cfl.rr.com>