Lab

Wireless routers

If you have more than one computer and haven't already set up a wireless network in your home, you're missing out in a big way. The convenience of being able to browse the Internet from any PC in the house, listen to music stored on your PC's hard disk through a wireless music streamer in your living room, or just wander around with your laptop without any need for cables, makes wireless networking a must, and there are plenty more benefits besides. All you need is a wireless router plugged into your broadband connection and a wireless card or USB device in each computer.

Whether you're going wireless for the first time or thinking of upgrading old hardware, if you walk into any electronics store you'll find a swathe of wireless routers to choose from, all at different prices and supporting different speeds and standards.

The first commonly used WiFi routers were known as 802.11b, using the kind of catchy naming convention that only engineers could come up with - specifically the IEEE, the international Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. These devices could transfer data at speeds of up to 11Mbit/sec. That's megabits per second (sometimes written as Mbps) - roughly speaking, divide this by ten to see how many megabytes you can shift. A megabyte per second might sound pretty decent, but this theoretical maximum speed wouldn't normally be achieved in practice.

802.11g followed quickly, promising up to 54Mbit/sec, and manufacturers used their own non-standard methods to double this to 108Mbit/sec. Now, 802.11n is the latest standard, promising an almighty 300Mbit/sec. The catch is that it isn't actually a standard yet, because it still hasn't been ratified by the IEEE; that's currently estimated to happen in 2009. In the meantime, manufacturers are releasing wireless routers under the title 'draft-n' to avoid everyone having to wait that long.

Although earlier versions of the draft-n standard were worryingly vague, today's draft-n is reasonably stable. Not only did we find the eight routers we tested to be highly reliable in everyday use, but they were also easier than ever to set up and get running. The other good news is that the Wi-Fi Alliance - a major industry body - has started to officially certify routers for draft-n compatibility. Approved models will feature an official Wi-Fi Certified logo, along with b, g and draft-n lettering, and this guarantees that they'll work with other certified products from other manufacturers.

What a router does

A router's main job is to share a broadband Internet connection between several computers, allowing multiple users to access their email, watch videos, play games or shop online at the same time. Once all the computers are connected to the router, either with a cable or wirelessly, they can also communicate with each other. This makes it easy to share music, photos and videos, play games or back up important files. In other words, if you've got a wireless router, you've got a home network.

The wireless part of each router uses exactly the same technology as the public hotspots found in cafés, airports and around many cities. The signal can travel up to around 50 metres, so, just as anyone can connect to a public hotspot, your neighbours could easily connect their PCs to your router and share your Internet connection. In fact, they could all too easily connect to your router, or you to theirs, without even realising. One of our staff recently found no less than nine other people connected to his home wireless router.

That's where security comes in. All of the routers here support the latest WPA2 (WiFi Protected Access) standard, which is almost impossible to hack. It involves encrypting all data sent wirelessly with a passphrase - chosen by you - to prevent unauthorised computers from connecting, and also to stop prying eyes from seeing any personal details, like credit card numbers and your address: common data when you're buying anything online. You can also stop any router here from broadcasting its name, effectively making it invisible to anyone nearby.

ADSL or not ADSL?

There are two main types of router: those with built-in ADSL modems, and those without. If your Internet provider supplies your broadband over a standard BT telephone line, you'll want to opt for an ADSL modem router. The Belkin, Netgear and USRobotics all have ADSL2+ modems, meaning they can handle the higher broadband speeds that are now becoming available, right up to 24Mbit/sec.

If, on the other hand, your broadband arrives through a cable box (usually from Virgin Media), you should choose one of the other routers on test, which simply have a standard network port to connect to the modem that came as part of your package.

The number of features on offer varies considerably from router to router, so don't assume they're all the same underneath just because they're labelled with the same standard. Aside from a modem, another feature to look out for is gigabit network ports. Many new PCs and laptops have gigabit Ethernet ports, which can transfer data at 1,000Mbit/sec, ten times faster than the so-called Fast Ethernet ports, also described as 10/100, on older computers.

If you're able to connect one or more PCs to the router with a cable rather than wirelessly, gigabit ports on the router will make sure you're getting the fastest possible connection to those PCs.

Settings and options

To let you change its settings, every router is capable of displaying a web page. You access this from your usual web browser, such as Internet Explorer, by typing the router's IP address where you'd normally enter the address of a website. This will be a string of numbers such as 192.168.2.1; the router's manual, or a sticker on the back panel, will tell you the correct address for yours. There are quite a few settings in each router's menus. Typical options include parental controls (also known as URL filtering), which let you choose the times at which certain computers can access the Internet and which websites are either allowed or blocked.

There are also settings to block or allow types of Internet service such as online gaming, instant messaging and Internet telephony (VoIP); you may sometimes need to fiddle with these when using software of this kind for the first time. Some routers also have Quality of Service (QoS), which prioritises these real-time activities so that, for example, a Skype phone call doesn't become inaudible because someone else is downloading a file.

Finally, there are settings that can allow access to your own computers or devices from any computer on the Internet. This is useful if you need to be able to access your files when at work, for example, or you have an Internet webcam and want to be able to monitor it wherever you are. One feature to look out for here is DDNS. This is useful because most broadband providers don't give you a fed web address - it changes each time your router connects to the Internet. DDNS allows you to use one of several free services which keep a track of your current address so that you can always access your home computer(s) from elsewhere by typing in the same web address.

Speed and range

The main issues with wireless performance are speed and range. While every manufacturer will tempt you with huge figures for both, these are purely theoretical. Not only that, but the performance and coverage you'll actually get will depend on how large your house is, what the walls are made of, and how many other neighbouring wireless networks are competing in the same area, potentially causing interference. Even DECT cordless phones can affect a wireless network.

Most of the routers here boast of speeds up to 300Mbit/sec, but the most we saw in our testing was 60Mbit/sec, and that was at a distance of only one metre between PC and router. Some routers could manage 40-50Mbit/sec at 15 metres, but at 25 metres most couldn't even keep up with an 8Mbit/sec broadband connection.

And these figures were only obtained when using each manufacturer's matching draft-n WiFi card, which slots into your laptop's PC Card slot or USB port. These vary in price from around £40 to £90, adding a considerable amount to the total bill if you have several PCs that need to connect wirelessly. Our test results for each router also show the results with a standard WiFi card.

Still, unless you live in a particularly big house, most of these routers will be able to provide decent speeds in every room, even if you're using your laptop's existing built-in 802.11g WiFi. If you find there are rooms that are out of range, one solution is to use the existing mains wiring as a network cable.

The future of wireless

While the official 802.11n standard remains some way off, you can rest assured that any kit you buy now is unlikely to become obsolete in the near future. You may have heard that ultra-wideband, also known as wireless USB, will be the next big thing, offering vastly better speeds. But this will only be able to operate within a single room, because of the interference it would cause to other networks, so it's something that'll be used alongside 802.11n in a home network rather than as a replacement. With so many manufacturers producing draft-n routers, and no competing standards in the pipeline, 802.11n is set to be the WiFi standard for the next few years.