Buffalo Nfiniti WZR-AG300NH

You might baulk at the price, the design and the sheer size of the Buffalo, but this monster has a lot to offer. It's unique here in that it's dual band, operating in both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrums simultaneously. That means you'll see two wireless networks to choose from.

The good news is that the WZR-AG300NH's performance outstrips everything here by quite a margin. Although the matching PC Cards (WLI-CB-AG300N) cost £60 a pop, we saw almost 50Mb/sec from 1m away, and this only dropped to 47Mb/sec at 15m. At 25m, the Nfiniti was still able to deliver enough coverage for 7.2Mb/sec, and that rose to 8Mb/sec at 5GHz.

We saw only 0.7Mb/sec at 25m when using our Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG-equipped laptop, but speed hovered around 20Mb/sec at up to 15m away.

At the rear is a four-port Gigabit switch and a switch to toggle between router and access point modes. On the front is an AOSS button that works with a soft button in the adapter's software; simply push both and a secure wireless connection will automatically be established.

Log on to the web interface and you'll find plenty of options including quality of service, wireless bridging, dynamic DNS services, DMZ, port forwarding and IPv6 settings. Intrusion detection, meanwhile, blocks access to any suspicious incoming traffic. It's also good to see Vista and Viiv certification, although not 802.11n draft 2.0 just yet.

The three-blade aerial can either snap on top or be placed as far away as the 30cm cable will allow. And it's worth bearing in mind the size - at 79 x 174 x 385mm, it isn't compact.

Ultimately, the Buffalo's price puts it out of most people's reach, but those who can afford it won't be disappointed. The 5GHz band almost guarantees no interference or dropouts caused by other networks, cordless phones or microwaves, so it could prove more reliable than its rivals here. It's a fine alternative to the D-Link if you need the speed.

Author: Jim Martin