Labs

DrayTek's Vigor2800G is packed with advanced features and includes an ADSL2+ modem, supporting up to 24Mb/sec WAN connections. At this price, it's squarely aimed at business use, although if you need its features it could be worth the outlay for a home office.

Useful physical features include a USB port for sharing a printer, an on/off switch and LEDs for QoS, P2P, firewall and printer. Routing features are the most comprehensive on test. Firewall features are extensive, with checkboxes for blocking

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IM apps, P2P programs and 15 types of DoS attack. The URL filter can block or allow entries, exempt specific subnets and disallow web features such as ActiveX, Java and cookies. In addition, there's SurfControl's web content filtering service, with 41 block categories. Annoyingly there's no onboard help, so you'll have to open the detailed PDF manual.

You also have full control over bandwidth usage. As well as QoS, you can set transmit and receive bit-rate limits for individual PCs and even for wired or wireless virtual LANs. Wireless LAN security and VPN options are likewise extensive, although upgrading the firmware is a bit fiddly, requiring a separate utility.

However, 1Mb/sec is poor performance at long range, although high-gain aerials (£17 exc VAT) improved this to 3Mb/sec. At short range, the average throughput of 19Mb/sec was a little under the group average of 23Mb/sec.

All this amounts to an expensive ADSL router with incredible control. If you need this and the coverage isn't a problem, it will appeal, but for everyone else it represents poor value.