Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"You've been getting by with the cheapie router you bought two years ago, so why should you upgrade now? In a word: Performance. And features. Oh, sorry. That's two words. We looked at a host of budget offerings in our last router roundup (February 2010) and didn't find much to get excited about. This time, we asked seven manufacturers to send us the best consumer routers in their stables regardless of price tags."

If you are in the market for a Wireless N router, MaximumPC.com has taken a look at 7 "top-tier" models, and assigned overall scores ranging from 5 to 9 (presumably on a 10-point scale!). Also included is a summary of each model's features, plus and minus points, as well as several charts showing "real world" performance under a variety of conditions. The article wraps up with a brief look at several new wireless developments, including WiGig and Wi-Fi Direct, which might at least help you to decide whether to hold off your purchase decision pending some new functionality.

"For starters, Belkin has made the app integration seamless and the process easy. Also, the apps are actually helpful; software will be around to help you print without wires, transfer music, stream media and do all sorts of other fancy networking tricks that usually require lots of in-depth knowledge."

It must be tough to be in the networking business. Networking standards seem to come along as a glacial pace. Once you have a router that handles all your routing needs, how do you keep your routers fresh and enticing? Well, if the past few years have been any indication, it is to pack a gazillion features into your router! Some routers offer NAS capabilities while others allow you to monitor your kids with parental controls. Belkin has decided that routers should be more like computers and offer a variety of apps for their new line of Play and Play Max routers. It does make sense, I have to admit. Unless you have need of a more powerful NAS, a router should be more than capable as acting as a competent multi-functional device. Since it is always on, it can act as the hub for all things networked. Short of the aformentioned monitoring capabilities, it looks like Belkin's new solution covers pretty much everything all the other routers from those other guys. One that is particularly interesting is its focus on music, and how it can stream and organize them for you. Is this enough to entice you into buying a new router?

"D-Link has began shipping its Xtreme N DIR-685 all-in-one router that was first introduced back at CES in January. The device has a built-in draft N Wi-Fi module that allows it to communicate with network attached storage devices and a 3.2-inch LCD screen that lets it play streaming video or double as a digital photo frame."

Routers have gotten boring as of late. With no new wireless standards to push, and router speeds well in excess of what we can normally get through broadband, companies are looking for ways to get our hard earned money, and that leads to adding functions to their routers! In a sense, it makes sense. Routers do pack quite a bit of horsepower these days, and one might as well take advantage of it, especially since they tend to be considerably power sippers compared to a dedicated server. In fact, you see much the same thing happening to NAS devices. The DIR-685 does pretty much everything you would want, shy of being a full blown computer itself. I have seen routers with displays before, and considering where routers usually get placed, I tend to wonder about the utility of such a feature, but when a router costs $300, I guess you have to have something to explain the cost!

"Forming an invisible barrier between you and the net, routers drop incoming packets that you weren’t expecting, and is much less vulnerable to exploits that would seek to poke holes in your defenses. A good router not only drops incoming packets, but it also refuses to acknowledge that an active connection even exists. This simple, but powerful difference between routers, and many software firewalls, provides that extra bit of security that can mean the difference between a virus poking around on your machine, or moving on."

Routers are pretty commonplace these days to the point where I cannot think of a single person I know that does not use a router. Even most broadband providers (at least in Canada) are bundling routers with their Internet service. While many people think of routers are plug and play, there is a great deal one can do with a router to make it more effective. MaximumPC takes the time to explain several critical functions of routers and offers several tips to make your router more effective. Most of the suggestions are common sense, and to the technogeek in us, are pretty simple, but the guide does offer a lot of good suggestions to those who are less technically inclined including what I consider the most important aspect, wireless security. The only part I do not see them talking about, which I think should be a consideration as broadband speeds have been increasing, is that older routers, especially those 5 years and older, may not be capable of taking full advantage of the speeds provided by your ISP. Still, if you know someone who wants to learn how to manage their home network, this is a good place to start.