router Tests (P. 4/10)

"Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Router"

Published on: 3/2008

On test: Belkin N1 Vision

There may be a huge variety of wireless broadband routers on the market offering a wide range of features but the one thing all these slabs of plastic have in common is their boring, blocky design. Belkin's N1 Vision aims to remedy our design related blues as this super slick router cries out to be put on display and shown off at every opportunity. → More

"Fritz!Box Fon WLAN 7170"

Issue: 5/2008

On test: AVM FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7170

Broadband routers generally offer the same kind of features, which is why the Fritz!Box Fon WLAN 7170 caught our eye. This is a standard ADSL broadband router, true enough, with wifi support for 802.11b, 11g and 11g++ (125Mbit/sec) variants and a four-port Ethernet hub. But it also offers Internet telephony features. Plug in a regular analogue phone (or a digital ISDN set if you have one) and your calls can be made over the Internet through the router. Features include call forwarding based on customisable rules and basic PBX features - a private telephone exchange - that use nothing more than your standard single phoneline. → More

"EnGenius ESR-9710 Wireless-N Gigabit Router"

Published on: 2/2008

On test: EnGenius ESR-9710

EnGenius Technologies registers barely a blip on the UK consumer networking radar and yet its latest ESR-9710 wireless router looks to offer a fine range of features at a very competitive price. This wholly owned subsidiary of the Taiwanese Senao International company has always focused primarily on the North American market and it's mainly through the efforts of UK distributor Solwise that it has achieved any exposure on this side of the pond. The ESR-9710 is a compact box of tricks that incorporates an 802.11n wireless access point that's Draft 2.0 compliant. Sensibly, the router has a quartet of switched Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports so if the claimed 300Mbps wireless-N speeds were ever actually achievable in the real world you won't have the bottleneck between WLAN and LAN systems that routers with slower Fast Ethernet ports will create. For Internet access you have an RJ-45 WAN port so you'll need an external cable or ADSL modem with an Ethernet port. → More

"Hawking Technologies HWREG1 review"

Published on: 2/2008

On test: Hawking Technology HWREG1

Hawking Technologies makes by far the widest range of devices designed to extend the range of wireless networks, more than half a dozen at the last count. The Hawking HWREG1 is a 54G repeater and so works along the same lines as the Linksys WRE54G but is about 40 percent cheaper. → More

"TRENDnet TEW-633GR"

Issue: 2/2008

On test: TRENDnet TEW-633GR

TRENDnet has clearly learned from its past brash designs. The company's latest Draft-N router is a much more stylish affair than previous models. The three antennas on the side are fixed to the router, you can't replace them with high-gain versions as you can with routers that use the standard reverse SMA connections. → More