Computer Reviews

If you want to be online and connected wherever you are at home, then the Netgear RangeMax Wireless Router is your top buy. The Netgear WPN824 RangeMax router boasts of providing users with approximately up to 500,000 square feet of coverage. That’s 1000% more than 802.11g. So does it deliver? According to most consumers, it does.

For the novice, the Netgear RangeMax Wireless Router comes with an installation CD with SmartWizard, which basically helps you to install the wireless-networking device as painless as possible. SmartWizard automatically identifies your ISP’s network settings and succeeding steps are clearly outlined. If you still cannot figure it out, we come to one of the product’s downside – many users complain that Netgear’s tech support is not so good. Although this does not directly impair on the product itself, it does bring a user down and is cause for much aggravation especially if you can’t even get it to start working.

Another ‘con’ is that there have been repeated reports of the Netgear WPN824 RangeMax not working well with legacy 802.11b devices. So if you have older Wi-Fi devices on your network, prepare to be challenged when setting up this wireless router.

Well, on to the good points! The Netgear RangeMax Wireless Router features MIMO technology AND a new technology called Video54, which enables the Netgear WPN824 RangeMax router to have seven internal antennas. This enables the RangeMax to be constantly ‘on the prowl’ for any interference and adjusts the wireless signal ‘on-the-fly’ to make up for these barriers. This ensures that you get consistent high-speed connection anytime, anywhere in your home.

Note too that the seven antennas are discretely located inside the device offering users a sleek n’ chic design. Speaking of design, some users are a bit annoyed with the Netgear WPN824 RangeMax router’s blue pulsing light at the top of the device (which is actually an indicator as to which antenna is currently transmitting) but I think it’s cool and with its white casing, the device is a nice and ‘clean’ gadget to have amongst your other hi-tech devices.

To sum up the pros…

• lightweight and sports a nice, clean design
• is easy to setup
• great range
• features advanced Smart MIMO technology with Video54 which makes ‘dead spots’ less of a problem

To sum up the cons…

• does not work well legacy 802.11b devices
• difficult to reset and reconfigure

All in all, the Netgear RangeMax Wireless Router is great buy if you need to be online constantly, anywhere in your home.

The Zyxel Prestige Wireless VoIP phone (model name Zyxel P-2000W V.2 VoIP Wi-Fi Phone) is one of the first WiFi VoIP phones to hit the shelves just at the time when people were really digging into the word ‘mobility’. But does the gadget deliver?

The Zyxel Prestige wireless VoIP phone enables users to receive or conduct phone calls anywhere they are as long as they are within the range of IEEE 802.11b or 11g wireless access points.

One of the Zyxel P-2000W’s strongest features is its range. Many users have reported that it has detected access points that some of their other wireless gizmos haven’t found. Officially, Zyxel claims that its operating range is up to 300m out-doors and 75m in-doors and so far, users are not defying that claim.

However, is the Zyxel Prestige Wireless VoIP phone’s strength also its weakness? Its sensitivity clocks in at -82 dBm@11Mbps, with the antenna’s output power at 14 + 1dBm. This assures users that the antenna is indeed powerful and can detect and connect to many access points. The downside is that the phone takes so much power that it drains the battery… fast. Some users claim that it only provides 11 hours of standby time and 1 hour of talk time.

Although not very important for the purposes of a wireless VoIP phone, it’s also noteworthy that the Zyxel P-2000W only has an earphone jack. That is, you cannot use it with a headset with microphone.

Other features:
- Supports G.711 and G.729 voice compression technology, enabling it to successfully reduce bandwidth consumption caused by voice traffic.
- Direct IP-to-IP call and ad-hoc Intercom mode support. The Zyxel P-2000W offers a direct IP-to-IP call feature when users configure a remote IP address in its built-in phone book.
- Another strong point of the Zyxel Prestige Wireless VoIP phone is that it is based on SIP v2 (Session Initiation Protocol version 2.0) open standard, which means that the unit is compatible with most SIP-based providers, IP-PBXs and other standard SIP-based client devices. As far as looks are concerned, the Zyxel Prestige Wireless VoIP phone is pretty ‘cool’. It features a bright blue backlight keypad and a blue backlight 112×64 pixel LCD.

Overall, the Zyxel P-2000 is a great deal for those who would want to take advantage of cheap VoIP rates and services without having to log on to their PCs.

The Linksys WRT54G connects to your computer via a network cable to provide wireless networking in a home environment.

The wireless router itself is fairly capable and can allow sufficient speeds for home networking. The ease of installation is another plus for those looking to create a wireless network at home.

Supporting everything up to the IEEE 802.11g draft it is able to handle almost any kind of network connections.

It does have its quirks though.

Network speed is much limited when a mixture of network connection types is used and slows the network right down.

It’s throughput of 20Mbps is decent for a consumer product of this nature, and faster speeds can sometimes be achieved, but if you really want more, go for a faster or more commercial model.

The two antennae allow great coverage of the networking area and allow good connections to the computers on the network.

There have been some updates to the firmware of this device which may or may not apply to you when you get it.

When you get it make sure to put in the setup CD first and just follow the setup instructions that come with it. That is reported as being the best way to ensure that everything works the way it is supposed to. Once that’s done you’ll enjoy your wonderful new wireless networking experience.