Buffalo Nfiniti WZR-HP-G300NH

Posted 03/09/2010 at 11:47am | by Michael Brown

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This bison no longer roams

Of the three routers we’re taking second looks at, none has changed more than Buffalo’s WZR-HP-G300NH. That’s because Buffalo has thrown the firmware we tested earlier out the window and adopted the open-source DD-WRT.

We weren't impressed with the AirStation Nfiniti WZR-HP-G300NH's TCP throughput, but its price tag is a saving grace.

Comparing our earlier benchmark numbers to the performance we recorded this time out, however, we much prefer the Kick Ass award–earning router we tested in January to the one in front of us now. That router turned in the best throughput we’ve ever seen with our client in our well-insulated media room and in our furthest outdoor location; this one took fifth-place finishes in both tests (in a field of seven). We have little doubt the reason for this performance discrepancy is due to the fact that no matter how we configured the router, we couldn’t coax Buffalo’s WLI-UC-G300HP01B USB client adapter to connect to it at a stated data rate faster than 130Mb/s.

This is a single-band router that enables you to run virtual wireless networks with distinct SSIDs, but these aren’t true guest networks that provide Internet access while isolating guest clients from your primary LAN. The router is equipped with a single USB port that’s limited to NAS functions—you can’t use it to share a printer attached to your network. It does, however, feature a DLNA-compliant media server, and it can be converted to a wireless bridge/repeater when you upgrade to a newer router down the road.

Buffalo Nfiniti WZR-HP-G300NH

NTFS

DLNA-compliant media server; integrated BitTorrent client; DD-WRT firmware.

NSFW

Poor range; USB NAS feature supports only FAT32 or XFS formatted drives; no guest network.

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