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November 2007 - Heal & Inoculate Your PC

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:36:02 -0600

In the PDF archive of the November 2007 issue, you can find:

How to Heal and Inoculate Your PC
Control Your Cable Clutter!
RAID Done Right!
Draft-N WiFi Router Roundup!
And 19 More Awesome Product Reviews!
Ask the Doctor
Rig of the Month
The Watchdog
And a whole lot more!

Click the big giant cover image to the right to download the PDF archive today!

D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router

Michael Brown — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:48:04 -0600

D-Link’s DIR-655 was one of the fastest routers in our Draft-N roundup, and it proved best-in-breed in terms of range. But speed and range aren’t the only reasons to like this product. If you enjoy fine-tuning your network’s performance, the Xtreme N offers more control over more settings than anything else we tested.

The DIR-655 includes a robust QoS (Quality of Service) engine that you can use to prioritize network traffic, so applications such as online gaming, media streaming, and VoIP are given priority over web browsing. D-Link’s WISH (Wireless Intelligent Stream Handling) technology delivers more traffic-prioritization features, enabling you to configure the router to give A/V streams originating from Windows Media Center higher priority than traffic that’s less sensitive to delay—such as file transfers. You’ll need to access the router’s firmware to configure these and other settings.

Don’t enjoy twiddling with your gear? D-Link bundles a 30-day-evaluation copy of Pure Networks’s newb-friendly Network Magic software. It doesn’t give you any additional configuration or monitoring options, but it does make tasks such as printer sharing, security, and network-activity monitoring a lot easier. If you don’t buy the full version within 30 days, the software will shut off access to its advanced features, leaving you with the free version that you can get anywhere.

One of the first things we noticed when we unpacked the D-Link was the included package of drywall anchors, for use if you want to mount the router to your wall. Several of these routers have mounting holes on the bottom for this purpose, but only D-Link provides its customers with a means for actually doing it. Also, the CD jacket includes a space for you to write down the network’s SSID (Service Set Identifier)—the name and password. Sure, these things are minor, but such thoughtful touches show D-Link’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

Like most consumer router manufacturers, D-Link encourages the use of its browser-based installation wizard for router setup. Experienced users can skip this step without hesitation, but novices will appreciate the wizard’s thoroughness. This doesn’t mean D-Link leaves knowledgeable users to their own devices—there’s plenty of sound advice and tips in the router’s onboard help file. Set the router to use WEP, for instance, and it warns that your network will not run in 802.11n mode because that standard does not support WEP. This is to be expected, of course, but TCP throughput with WEP enabled was considerably slower on the DIR-655 than it was with competing routers. On the other hand, the DIR-655 delivered nearly three times faster scores at maximum range without WEP enabled than did the next contender. More important, it also delivered much higher speeds at range with WPA2 security enabled.

Buffalo NFiniti WZR2-G300N

Michael Brown — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:44:11 -0600

From the get-go, Buffalo’s Nfiniti WZR2-G300N installation routine prompts you to establish a new password for accessing the router’s firmware. Considering all the legitimate concerns about network security, why is this step the exception rather than the rule for router-installation wizards?

Unfortunately for Buffalo, this is one of the few aspects of this product to impress us. The company’s AOSS (AirStation OneTouch Secure System) is supposed to make installation a one-step process. Once you’ve installed the wireless network adapter’s device driver and client manager software on your notebook PC, you’re supposed to be able to press a button on the router, click the mouse on your notebook, and presto, your network is set up. After several failed attempts at using AOSS, we reverted to Buffalo’s installation wizard.

Here again, Buffalo’s installation routine prompted us to choose which encryption method we’d like to use to protect our network, and it warned us that without encryption, it would be possible for unauthorized users to access our network. No other router’s installation routine bothered to do that.

The WZR2-G300N took fourth place in our close-range TCP throughput test with WPA2 security, averaging a mediocre 34.9Mb/s (a fraction faster than the Belkin N1, which averaged a mere 34.3Mb/s). The router performed much better when we limited it to operating in 802.11n mode, averaging 46.5Mb/s at close range to take second place behind the Linksys WRT350N, which averaged 46.9Mb/s.

But Buffalo’s router fell apart at long range. As with the Belkin N1, our notebook outfitted with the company’s wireless adapter card was unable to communicate with the network when we tested it at 40 feet and then 120 feet from the router. It seems the WZR2-G300N just doesn’t like competing with lots of other wireless networks operating in the same vicinity.

Belkin N1 (F5D8231-4)

Michael Brown — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:55:05 -0600

Note: This review was originally published in the November 2007 issue. Belkin has since released the N1 Vision, which we reviewed in January 2008.

Belkin’s N1 router looks gorgeous, and the company has put a lot of thought into making it easy for greenhorns to build a home network, but the N1 was the slowest in this field and it delivered very poor range.

This is the router to buy for your technophobe friends or relatives if you can’t be there to set it up. Belkin’s instructions start on the outside of the box: There’s a big “Open Here” label right on top. The first thing you see when you follow that command is an oversized, illustrated quick installation guide. A series of large LED-backlit icons on the router light up in sequence, providing comforting visual reassurance that each step in the process has been successfully completed.

Despite all this hand-holding, however, the installation routine doesn’t prompt the user to establish any type of wireless security. Perhaps Belkin figured that the user will become curious as to why the router’s “security” LED isn’t lit up and then delve into the digital user manual to find out. One thing’s for sure: The router’s built-in help is absolutely useless in this regard, referring to features that aren’t built into the device.

We’re also disappointed with the N1’s paltry selection of operating modes: You can run the router in mixed mode (802.11b/g/n) only. You can set 20MHz/40MHz channel bonding to auto, on (40MHz only), or off (20MHz only)—and that’s it. There are no QoS provisions, either.

At close range, the Belkin N1 was significantly slower than three of the five routers we reviewed. What’s worse, we couldn’t connect to it at all in our longer-range tests. We suspect that the N1 would perform better in a more typical residential environment, but then so would the rest of the field.

The competition would do well to follow Belkin’s lead in making wireless networks easier to set up and monitor, but Belkin needs to make this router more robust. And how about upgrading that chintzy Fast Ethernet switch to Gigabit while you’re at it?

Linksys WRT350N

Michael Brown — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:55:05 -0600

You can never have too much speed or too much storage, and the Linksys WRT350N makes it easy to have both. This router took first place while running in 802.11n-only mode and second place while running in mixed 802.11b/g/n mode. And its Storage Link feature enables you to plug in any USB storage device to add NAS functionality—the only router in this roundup to offer such a feature.

Linksys’s installation wizard prompts you to change the router’s password, and it encourages you to change its SSID and to set up Wi-Fi security, but it doesn’t push the issue or warn networking green peas of the consequences of not setting up security. The firmware-based help files were among the most comprehensive of any of the routers we reviewed, but inexperienced users will likely become lost if they rely on them to configure some of the router’s more advanced features.

Linksys supports not only WPA2 Personal security, but also WPA Enterprise, WPA2 Enterprise, and RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) security. This is overkill, since most people will never go beyond WPA2 Personal, and if it’s at all responsible for this router’s steep street price of $195, it’s not worth it. The presence of a four-port Gigabit Ethernet switch inside its shell certainly doesn’t explain the price tag, because the far cheaper D-Link, Netgear, and Buffalo routers are all equipped with Gigabit switches.

Setting up the router to function as a NAS box is as easy as plugging a drive into the router’s USB port and configuring access. You can format a blank disk (but only as FAT32), create partitions, and establish share permissions so that other network users can access the attached storage. The router has a built-in media server, too, enabling it to stream music, video, and digital photos from the attached storage to media adapters compatible with Universal Plug and Play. This is great for streaming music you’ve purchased or ripped from CD, but it won’t be of much use if you have a music-subscription service, such as Rhapsody, which requires you to use its player.

You can also set up the router and its attached storage to function as an ftp server, granting access to individual folders, selected partitions, or the entire disk. Unlike Asus’s innovative WL-700gE 802.11g router (reviewed February 2007), however, the Linksys will not function as an independent BitTorrent client.

The WRT350N delivered very good speed at range, beating even the mighty D-Link DIR-655 when operating in mixed mode with the client 120 feet from the router. We thought this range could be attributed to the Linksys’s odd fly-swatter antenna, but the DIR-655 surpassed it in terms of long-range speed when both routers were running in 802.11n-only mode.

The WRT350N’s Storage Link feature is cool, but we’re not sure those factors justify this router’s premium price tag.

Netgear WNR854T

Michael Brown — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:59:01 -0600

Netgear’s WNR854T was faster than any other router in this roundup in our close-range tests, lost the least amount of potency while running WEP security, and came in second in our 40-foot test, bested by D-Link’s DIR-655. But Netgear’s entry was several times slower than D-Link’s in our 150-foot test. (See page 70 for benchmark details.)

The WNR854T also lacks the DIR-655’s ample provisions for manually tweaking quality-of-service settings. We also found it to be inflexible when it came to configuring its other wireless settings. Where D-Link lets you choose between running in 802.11b-, g-, or n-only modes; mixed 802.11b and -g modes; or mixed 802.11g and n modes, Netgear limits your choices to three speed ranges: “up to 54Mb/s,” “up to 145Mb/s,” and “up to 300Mb/s.” The router doesn’t explicitly state which 802.11 mode the router will actually be running in.

It won’t matter much to anyone with experience putting together a network—or to novices with typical DSL or cable-modem service, for that matter—but Netgear’s installation wizard was the only one of the five we reviewed that failed to successfully install the device. The wizard detected that we’d plugged the router into an upstream Gigabit switch and flat-out refused to proceed, forcing us to configure the router manually.

Netgear hides the router’s three dipole antennas inside its enclosure, which should make the box more appealing to fashionistas who don’t care for geek chic. We thought that these fixed antennas might explain the router’s relatively poor long-distance performance, but the Belkin N1 and Buffalo WZR2-G300N routers both have adjustable antennas, and they totally failed to communicate with our notebook PC at 150 feet.

If you have a large home or there are a lot of walls between your router and your target devices, you’ll need to augment your network with one or more wireless access points to cover your entire house. Unlike several of the other routers reviewed here, you can’t configure the WNR854T to act only as a wireless access point, and the street price for Netgear’s WN802T 802.11n dedicated wireless access point—which doesn’t have an integrated router—is $40 to $50 higher than that of the WNR854T.

Unlike Belkin, Netgear built a four-port Gigabit Ethernet switch into its draft N router—as we said before, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of fast wired connections. If you connect a media server to an 802.11n router with only a Fast Ethernet connection, the hard-wired connection has the potential to run slower than the wireless connection. If you don’t value the greater speed, Netgear’s WNR834B is basically the same router, but with a 10/100Mb/s Ethernet switch. Its $115 street price is about $25 cheaper than that of the WNR854T.

We dig the WNR854T for its good looks, its Gigabit switch, and its screamin’ speed at close range. But if you need coverage over a wide area, D-Link’s DIR-655 is the better choice.