Advantages: Awesome Value for Money, Great Setup Utility Disadvantages: Not the best looking object in the world!
When you purchase an all-in-one solution for broadband in your home these days, you want something that will sit in the background, quietly providing you with fast broadband - whether wired to your desktops, wireless to your laptops or networked to a whole range of bandwidth hungry appliances. You want it to work and you want it to be reliable and of course it must be simple to set-up.
The 3ComOfficeConnectWirelessRouter ticks all these requirements. I originally purchased one for a client, and I was surprised at how easy the installation was, especially since they used dreaded AOL! Many manuals for routers are usually of two distinct formats: horrendously complicated jargon-spewing bohemoths aimed at network professionals with accreditation from Cisco, or are partonising pamphlets covering the "perfect" install, which we all know ...
Advantages: Bargain bundle with wireless card for my laptop Disadvantages: Just an access point, no modem/hub/etc
I use the 3ComOfficeConnectWireless11g Access Point in my home wireless network, and bought it as part of a bundle with a laptop wireless card - check my other reviews to see if I've got round to reviewing that too...
It used the IEEE 802.11g standard (data transfer speeds of up to 54Mbps), plus is backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11b (upto 11Mbps) so works with older equipment (such as a slightly outdated laptop from a previous employer) with no problems.
The included CD installed all the necessary drivers very quickly and also contains all the manuals in PDF format. Once the drivers were installed, the configuration wizard runs in a standard web browser. This involves configuring IP addresses, encryption settings, DHCP settings and other techy bits and bobs. This was pretty straightforward, although a basic knowledge ...
Advantages: Good price, reliable, lifetime warranty, easy setup Disadvantages: No way to add an external antenna
I bought the 3Comrouter after having countless problems with my previous router (Linksys WAG354G *shudder*).
The set-up is suprisingly easy to be honest, especially with the step-by-step instruction booklet (only a few pages long, and in 5 or 6 languages).
All that was needed was to plug in the ADSL filter (into the landline socket), connect the line to the back of the router, plug in the power supply and connect the ethernet cable (the large-ish square one) to the pc and router respectively. Then all that's left is to run the, very easy, set-up wizard. If my memory serves me right it's accessed by going to http://192.168.1.1 from your internet browser.
The basic information needed is time/date settings, ISP username/password settings, a password for the WiFi (or use the automatically generated one) and a few other bits ...
Product Information for "3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 108 Mbps 11g Cable/DSL Router - wireless router" »
Manufacturer's product description
The 3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 108 Mbps 11g Cable/DSL Router provides robust routing and security features allowing up to 253 total wired and wireless users (maximum 64 wireless users) to share a single broadband connection. Boasting eXtended range (XR) technology and wireless data speeds of up to 108 Mbps plus a high-speed routing engine this Cable/DSL Router is able to handle high-bandwidth applications confidently. Advanced security features include 128- bit WPA/WPA2 with TKIP/AES wireless encryption, a stateful packet inspection firewall, hacker pattern detection, URL filtering, IP and MAC address filtering.
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