Linksys WAG325N

Looking like a detached component of the USS Enterprise, the Linksys WAG325N is not a pretty sight, but as a wireless ADSL2+ router/modem it does a decent job.

Setting up an Internet connection isn't as easy as it should be, though. We had numerous problems trying to establish a connection to our ISP. After a number of reboots and setting changes, the Linksys came to life and we were up and running. The Web interface is fast and speedy to navigate, but with many different pages and options it could be confusing to novice users. Rebooting the WAG325N is a slow process, and at certain times looked like it had frozen.

Download speeds were consistent with the performance of our Test Centre's ADSL2+ connection, averaging download speeds of 12.88Mbps with our testing notebook located in the same room as the WAG325N. That speed dropped to an average of 4.1Mbps when the notebook was located 15 metres, and through two walls, away from the router. At the same distance, browsing the Web was fine, and we were able to easily watch YouTube videos without any delay or buffering.

The WAG325N has decent Internet security included, with the SPI firewall set to run by default. You also have the ability to allow the firewall to filter Java applets, cookies, ActiveX and more.

Users can also set up Internet access restrictions by date and time, along with blocking specific Web sites and keyword filtering. This means parents can add additional levels of security to ensure their children aren't browsing Web sites when they should be doing other things, such as studying, and if they are online, that they're not browsing sites that aren't permitted.

You can also limit access to particular predefined services such as FTP and POP3, or create your own user-defined rules. Setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is easy to set up for experienced users, although a read through the user manual may be required for others that have not set one up before.

Setting up a wireless network with the WAG325N is a relatively painless process. We created an 802.11g connection with AES security, and once up and running were getting average transfer speeds of 10Mbps when moving a 100MB file from one notebook to another (at a distance of around three metres). From approximately 10 metres, including two walls as obstacles, the transfer rate dropped to around 9.3Mbps.

Streaming multimedia fared much better. We were able to stream a 700MB DivX file from a distance of about 20 metres, again through two walls, without any problem. At the same distance, playing MP3 files wirelessly from the remote computer caused no noticeable dropout.

For users just wanting to connect to the Internet, the WAG325N may be overkill for the price, but if you also want to integrate with your wireless network -- especially if streaming media is a requirement -- then this router/modem could be worth a closer look.