Pros: -great design
-easy to use interface

Cons: -comes with a Cat5 cable, not an E
-sometimes does not act as expected concerning port forwarding / dhcp

Other Thoughts: The setup of this router went perfect, plug and play. The settings side of things was a bit trickier. Although I had had everything working, it was soon discovered that I couldn't get the ports to forward correctly. After searching the net, I finally found some help from someone on the LinkSys forums. We got it working after about half an hour on Skype.

Since then, I've had one instance where the ports did not forward correctly, and the DHCP status table was not showing a live list of clients, regardless of how many times I've clicked refresh. The machine showed that it was connected an had the static IP that I gave it, but nothing in the router. Again, this is a one time instance so far.

The firewall appears to work perfectly, and acts exactly as I've asked it to.

I would buy this product again, and would recommend it to future purchasers, but beware you need at least a moderate level of network experience to get this up and running properly!!!!

PS. I saw some complaining about network speeds. I have no problem getting the advertised speed from my ISP and throughout the network. Although I did buy and use all Cat5E cables, not what's included.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi David,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience with the router. We're glad to know that the first challenge you've mentioned has been resolved. If you can't still see all the clients connected to the network, check if the firmware of the router is up to date. You may also use another web browser and observe if the same thing will happen. Email us your response at LinksysCares@linksys.com and indicate your full name, phone number, location, and the link to this post.

It would be our pleasure to assist you.


Sincerely,

Linksys Support
http://www.linksys.com

Pros: Technically it succeeds at routing bits across a network.

Admin interface is fast.

Cons: Terribly slow! When connected directly to modem I get about 60 down. When connected to router I could never get above 20.

Router has terrible subnet masks. Call C networks only so each network can only have 250ish IP addresses

Other Thoughts: I thought a lot of these bad reviews may have been from people that did not know how to setup a network.

I was wrong. Avoid this thing like the plague!

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Joshua,

We understand your feedback about the Linksys LRT214. There are different factors that would affect the device's performance. We suggest that you check if it has an updated firmware. In case it has, let us try to enter the maximum bandwith in Kbit/sec for Upstream and Downstream that your ISP is providing. To get into the Bandwidth Management page, go to Configuration>System Management>Bandwidth Management.

Let us know if you need further help, feel free to email us at LinksysCares@linksys.com with your contact details and the link to this review.

Regards,


Linksys Support
www.linksys.com/us/support

Pros: Price isn't bad if functional.
Has easy to use web interface

Cons: Dead after 1 day of use in a 3 PC office.

Other Thoughts: I would not recommend this router or similar products by linksys or cisco small business, this last year there quality of routers have just gone down hill.

Pros: Right equipment right price

Cons: none

Pros: the status page in port management says
it is full duplex gigabit .

Cons: but speed tests show
massive loss of throughput. usually i get 65 down
35 up .with this gateway i get 10/10 .while game play has improved some , video streaming has become tedious

Other Thoughts: this is on the latest firmware
v1.0.1.02 (Feb 20 2014 10:11:51)

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Kenneth,

It’s great that the router is using the latest firmware, this will optimized the router’s performance. Moving on, the value of throughput 10up/10down is really strange. The best approach though is to isolate the problem. We'd suggest doing the following:

- Check if speed is the same behind the modem.
- Try other speedtest tools/website like speedtest.net
- Use other computers connected to the router

To add, we would also like to verify the following:

- Was there any special configuration set on the router like QoS?
- Was there an instance that you were getting a higher internet speed from the router?

Should you need our assistance, feel free to email us at LinksysCares@linksys.com with your contact details and the link to this review.

Sincerely,

Linksys SMB Support
http://www.linksys.com/en-us/business/

Pros: it worked meh

Cons: Gigabit ???? the port management options are
10m/100m . no 1000m

Other Thoughts: so far i have had to reset it for failure once
when i opted for full duplex 100m
i will be returning this as my 3 year old netgear n600
beats it in speakeasy speedtest

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Kenneth,

It’s great that the router is using the latest firmware, this will optimized the router’s performance. Moving on, the value of throughput 10up/10down is really strange. The best approach though is to isolate the problem. We'd suggest doing the following:

- Check if speed is the same behind the modem.
- Try other speedtest tools/website like speedtest.net
- Use other computers connected to the router

To add, we would also like to verify the following:

- Was there any special configuration set on the router like QoS?
- Was there an instance that you were getting a higher internet speed from the router?

Should you need our assistance, feel free to email us at LinksysCares@linksys.com with your contact details and the link to this review.

Sincerely,

Linksys SMB Support
http://www.linksys.com/en-us/business/

Pros: Speed (both the device itself and when settings changes are made)
Highly configurable
Great new Linksys GUI
No restarts necessary after any changes made

Cons: Not one

Other Thoughts: Am honored to be the first to review this new product from the new Linksys line of Small Business stuff. They have definitely hit the ball out of the park on this one, finally. Highly configurable re: firewall access rules, port forwarding, DHCP etc. It can even function as a Local/Internal DNS server via its own database.
One change in this router that was new to me was IP to MAC Binding (which is not its design-intent or purpose, but ends up replacing & functioning like, IP Address Reservation.) Also has OpenVPN support. This device is actually a delight, if I can use that word, to configure. Many routers' GUIs are slow to respond, or refresh after a change & Save- not this one. Changes are immediate. The page refreshes immediately, no restart prompts nag you after each change. The GUI is fast. The processor in this router acts quite robustly, which may be how its GUI responds so quickly. This is also likely why its bandwidth handling/speed is so lithe also-- handles high-speed internet connections flawlessly- even with its Firewall enabled and SPI turned on.
Only 1 firmware update since its release end of 2013, which does have some good fixes in it, so upgrade that first and then you're off.

Great router for small office/small biz; great router for home too- but you'll just want to be familiar with Access Rules, Port Forwarding and their functions.

PS Be sure to put it in Gateway mode (not, counterintuitively to most Home users, in Router mode- Router mode is only when you have other routers elsewhere on the network). (This aligns with its primary audience i.e. Enterprise or small business networks and how they're typically designed with routers/switches/gateways-- but by all means, fully functional in home environment as well so don't be afraid.)
Can't say enough. Outstanding.

Pros: Very nice web interface for an advanced router, great feature set at a good price

Cons: IPsec site-to-site (gateway-to-gateway) connections work for a little while and then completely disable the WAN connection until you reboot the device. I've tested this on an ISA 2006 setup as well as a TMG 2010 SP2 w/ Rollup 4 setup that is as up-to-date as it gets on an up-to-date Windows Server 2008 R2 server. When connecting the IPsec tunnel to either of these servers, it will crash the Linksys after a little while. The logs on the device show nothing, spoke with tech support...no help either. This was previously working on a Cisco ASA tunnel. I even had the ISP update their hardware with the latest firmware and still no luck. The Linksys has firmware 1.0.1.01.

Other Thoughts: Would be nice...if it worked properly.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi,

Thank you for your review. There are times that VPN times out during the encryption and encapsulation process. For your case you may try these steps: In the Configuration page, click VPN > Gateway to Gateway. Click on Advanced and make sure that Keep Alive option is checked. Please check also the Port Management. You may go Configuration page, click Port Management. The make sure that WAN is set to 100 M Full. This should synchronize the VPN and also the internet.

For your convenience, you can also contact us directly at 877-855-6899.

Regards,
Linksys Support
www.linksys.com/support