ZyXEL 660HW
Buy Now...
Having recently reviewed the modem I was prepared for the settings not to suit my connection, two small changes and the addition of my ISP information and I was online. As always getting the various PC’s to talk to each other was not so simple but having done it once made the ‘sledgehammer and nut a little more compatible’ so now three PC’s can – I nearly said happily – manage to transfer files as far as permissions allow.
This unit also supports Wireless at the ‘G’ standard that is notionally 5x faster than the ‘B’ standard. Using a ‘B’ card produced acceptable results. Using a ‘G’ card produced better results but not 5x faster, however that’s the whole ‘notional’ thing.
According to the little utility that sits in the tray of the notebook the signal strength was normally mid to high 80’s% and certainly I was quite happy browsing the Internet from any of my connections both wired and wireless.
The biggest problem with Wireless connections is the security issue and while it is not foolproof telling the modem/router to only accept Wireless signals from a single MAC address that of the notebook I was using gives reasonable protection. Should you have more than one notebook connected you could of course set up the MAC addresses for as many notebook as you wish. However this method is by means foolproof.
The modem/router is 17x15x3cm and is black with eight LED’s on the front edge, all are clearly marked and should the abbreviations not be clear look in the provided manual. The rear of the unit has four 10/100 Ethernet sockets, phone cable socket, power lead, on/off switch and a single Wireless aerial.
I found the unit took around 45 seconds to initialise from power up, it is probably wisest to power on the modem/router first. However most PC’s take more than 45 seconds to properly initialise so you could probably connect power to both at the same time. A lot of people leave the modem/router switched on and if that is you then you should always be connected to the Internet even if only one PC or notebook is also on. Remember your ISP details and your password reside in the modem/router so take a few seconds to set a password on the unit.
During this test period I also tested a VOIP service (more on that in a separate review shortly) but when I connected that box the modem/router had to be initialised first or the box sulked, or course some people would also have that connected all the time so it would only be a one time connection unless power were lost for some reason and then the correct reconnect order would be important.
I liked the ZyXEL 660HW unit, you have ADSL2+ a four port gateway and or course 802.11g Wireless all in one box and running from one power lead. Doing my normal Internet search found it at just under £80 in a couple of places and www.misco.co.uk had it for just over £82 inc p&p and offering a free ZyXEL 802.11g PCMCIA card.
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