3Com OfficeConnect Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway - wireless router

...get them to work. Fortunately 3Com have made this easy if you are using other 3Com devices as you can save the keys and load them in to your other 3Com devices.


The web based control interface is reasonable and there is a wizard to take you through the initial set up. The rest is up to you and it really is not a gentle experience. There are Help screens to explain things but the options are not presented in the most useful ...
...guess is the market.

In all it was easy to set up, but does require some determination to set up the security correctly.

My wife, who uses it most, has not noticed any down side since she went wireless. This is the best measure of success for any network device.
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Once out of the box it is simple to plug in. The light grey box is just a bit larger than the average paperback book and can sit on a shelf or fix to the wall. There are to arials on universal joint sticking out the back and as far as I can tell there position makes no difference to performance.

My network cables plugged in easily. Beware, the default settings are basic so that anything and anyone can connect up. From what I see in the press this is the case for all hardware.

Setting up the link to my modem was complicated since my ADSL login is 36 characters long Most logins are shorter than that and if memory serves the original firm ware supported 30 characters. A firm ware update corrected the problem and was easy to install once downloaded from the web. Good online support is important to computer hardware as it can extend the working life of a device by years. In this case it meant I did not have to send the device back to the supplier.

The only concern is that the security settings are non-existent when the machine arrives and so you need to set them up yourself. There is some help but can you be bothered to do it? I still have not enabled all the options myself and I am fully aware of the dangers.

I live in a terrace house and so far we have not experienced any loss in wireless bandwidth while moving around the house.

The Firewall is simple to set up. There is also an option to only allow registered wireless devices access. If you are only going to make one attempt at securing your network I recommend activating this setting as it will prevent hackers using your internet connection and so make your network a lot less interesting.

The wireless encryption is easy to set up but you need to transfer the key to your other wireless devices to get them to work. Fortunately 3Com have made this easy if you are using other 3Com devices as you can save the keys and load them in to your other 3Com devices.

The web based control interface is reasonable and there is a wizard to take you through the initial set up. The rest is up to you and it really is not a gentle experience. There are Help screens to explain things but the options are not presented in the most useful order for the average home or small business which I guess is the market.

In all it was easy to set up, but does require some determination to set up the security correctly.

My wife, who uses it most, has not noticed any down side since she went wireless. This is the best measure of success for any network device.
 

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