Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router

Of the most interesting technologies released on the market in the past few years, the wireless implementation is undoubtedly the best representative of the future technological development.
Many public places have planned, if not yet activated, free Internet services: airports, cafes, restaurants and even trains. Wireless access gets rid of the large number of cables required for a computer network.
Currently, the most used standard is 802.11b, allowing top speeds of 11Mbps, enough to download large files in a few seconds. Thanks to the proliferation of 802.11-based networking products prices are not unaffordable any more, and installing a wireless network can now be done without spending a fortune.
One of the products currently available that we tested is the Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router. Easy to install and activate, the Belkin hardware, which can be a viable wireless networking solution for your home or small office, also lets you share a broadband Internet connection among your computers.
With a much more classic design than some other Belkin products, the unit combines a broadband router, three-port 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet switch, and 802.11b access point, broadcasting its signal through two rotating antennas located in the back.
By following the small but well organized handbook coming with the unit, a network can be set up in minutes. The setup is completely browser-based and therefore accessible from any computer (Mac, Linux, Windows etc. ) with Microsoft Explorer or Netscape installed.
The Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router offers a wide range of wired and wireless networking capabilities, working with virtually any cable or DSL modem equipped with an Ethernet port.
Despite its easy setup, the Belkin unit offers a high level of flexibility through access to more complex configurations such as DMZ hosting, that lets you play accelerated games over the Internet, or virtual server solutions.
Like most broadband routers, the Belkin can act as a DHCP server to allocate IP addresses (DHCP server is the default setting), but even after a firmware update, the DHCP solution occasionally gave us some trouble. For instance, at times, when the desktop reactivated from sleep mode, it proved impossible to access the Internet, since the router thought that the MAC address was already in use by another computer. Also, on the wireless laptops the DHCP sometimes did not assign any IP address, despite a strong signal. In the former case, restarting the router was enough; in the latter, instead, an IP was only assigned after connecting the laptops to a cable.
However, even such "problems" only happened twice in over two months of everyday use. In general, Internet access was always excellent even with 4 computers or more simultaneously accessing the Internet. In regards to the wireless signal, the unit performs quite well both in speed and range, up to 550 metres from the base, and I was even able to surf the Internet on my laptop while eating in a pizzeria close to home.
Talking of wireless connections, security is a major consideration, and in this area the Belkin router's NAT feature provides some level of protection. Also MAC filtering lets you specify which (wired or wireless) clients can get access to your network.
The unit also offers data and network security with 64-bit or 128-bit WEP data encryption.
At $180 US the Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router comes with a lifetime warranty and free 24-hour technical support.
For more information visit www.belkin.com

Publication Date: 2002-11-17
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2027