Product Reviews

Back in January 2004, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) announced that it was developing a new standard for wireless networking: 802.11n. Devices that met this standard would be able to beam data between each other at a rate of 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s).

Currently, the fastest wireless networking kit conforms to a standard called 802.11g. The theoretical maximum transfer rate of 802.11g is 54Mbit/s. In reality, you're lucky if you get half that. As you can imagine, a lot of people were very excited at the prospect of doubling wireless transfer speeds. Sadly, it's a year on and we're all still waiting.

Network specialist Netgear got sick of hanging about and released a range of devices, all of which meet the existing 802.11b/g specifications, but which the company claims can talk to each other at 108Mbit/s.

The DG834GT is an ADSL

ADVERTISEMENT

router with a wireless connection built in. If you have an ADSL connection (broadband that comes through your ordinary phone line), you can use the device to wirelessly beam your Internet connection all around the house: handy if you want to surf on your laptop from the comfort of the sofa.

One of the things that puts many people off wirelessly networking their home is the supposed complexity of the job. Netgear has done a very good job of tackling this. Its installation CD consists of an animated walkthrough that shows you exactly how to plug in the router, how to install it, and how to configure its settings. There are diagrams and descriptions for each step, so the whole process is easy. We had the router set up and talking to a compatible Netgear 108Mbit/s network card in under ten minutes.

Alas, that's where the good news ends. The Netgear card and router completed our short-range transfer test (in which the two PCs were about ten feet apart in the same room) in 1 minute 12 seconds. Our current recommended router, the KCorp Gold Series, finished the same test in 51 seconds. The Netgear completed the long-range test, in which the PCs are 20 feet and three rooms apart, in 1 minute 19 seconds. The KCorp router did the same test in 55 seconds.

The DG834GT is stylish, well-designed and, relatively fast - just not fast enough to get a Best Buy award. That aside, we were really impressed at just how easy it was to set up: a real boon for beginners.