NetGear ADSL DG834G Wireless Firewall Router

Friday, March 10, 2006

Price: Rs 6,500 (1 yr warranty)

Key Specs: In-built ADSL modem, Ethernet switch, firewall, compliance to IEEE 802.11 g&b specifications

Contact NetGear Technologies, Delhi. Tel: 26207270.E-mail: atul.jain@netgear.com  RQS# E28 or SMS 130328 to 9811800601

This router is aimed at SOHO users and small networks, and combines five products into one-an ADSL modem, a router, a firewall, a wireless AP, and a four port Ethernet Switch. The router provides both static and dynamic IP routing and supports common routing protocols. The firewall has options for SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) and handling DoS (Denial of Service). There are four LAN ports with a 10/100 Mbps interface. As a wireless AP, it provides two modes as APs:  Ad-hoc and Infrastructure. You can manage it using the Web-based interface. You can change the  default IP address (192.168.0.1) provided to it. You can any time revert from the custom settings to the default settings. NetGear recommends its wireless adapters for best results on a wireless network. The router was found to have lesser features than the Buffalo AirStation router reviewed last month. For example, although there is an inbuilt DHCP, there is no feature for 'Speed boosting' such as the HSM mode present in the Buffalo router. Netgear's other features include setting up WAN, Remote Management Service, UpnP and the VPN. It has 11 channels with automatic selection but you can't control antenna power to manage the wireless range. The router failed to impress on performance as the maximum throughput it attained was 14.84 ms against Buffalo 's 35 Mbps on HSM mode.  

Bottom  Line:  Not a good option at this price and performance.

Anadi Misra

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