Introduction

To be or not to be, that is the question. After having reviewed the 3COM OfficeConnect Wireless Cable-DSL Gateway I have conflicting impressions of the product. On many levels it was superb but there are a few areas that I felt were less than stellar. Another thought in the back of my mind is what technologies are just around the corner. To give 3COM the benefit of the doubt I will elaborate on my experiences further.

Initial Thoughts

After researching Wireless routers and comparing them to each other I felt a lot like I was in the Blair Witch movie. No matter where I wandered in Black Hills Forest everything looked the same. What I mean is that over the last couple of years the main Wireless router features don’t seem to have evolved very much. I had to start looking at the little things, or the “sizzle” as I like to call it, to see how this 3COM product, or any other wireless product, stood out. With the changes being subtle over the last while I also got to thinking, what new feature are coming soon?

What’s in the Box?

The very nature of wireless networking is to keep it simple. The box contained the wireless router itself, a power adapter and network cable as well as software on CD and some documentation.

Features and Specifications

So here are the standard features most modern wireless routers, including the 3COM OfficeConnect, tend to have:

• 4 ports and a WAN input specifically for your Cable or ADSL modem
• Nat Support – Internal DHCP Server
• Wireless transfer standard of 802.11b with a theoretical transfer limit of 11Mbs
• Wireless transfer standard of 802.11b with a theoretical transfer limit of 11Mbs
• Broadcast over 2.4GHz wireless signals
• IEEE 802.3-LAN / IEEE 802.11b-LAN Compliant
• Secure VPN through IPSec
• Data security using 40, 64, 128-bit WEP encryption
• ICMP Support
• IP Port Control
• Firewall
• Wireless networking that is transparent to the software using it
• HTTP based configuration system

Latest Futurelooks Forums Threads