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.

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.

Maximum PC wpa2 RSS Feed

Buffalo NFiniti WZR2-G300N

Linksys WRT350N