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Useful comparative review of WiFi (WLAN) home gateways

by Guy Kewney | posted on 09 April 2002


It's best not to buy the first wireless access point you see, because almost none of them have every feature you might want; and in particular, they don't all allow you to share your incoming broadband around your other PCs at home. Here's a survey which lists the US market leaders.

Guy Kewney

The list of gateways reviewed by http://80211b.weblogger.com/cheapgateways.html is:

3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Access Point 2000. <1/> Agere Orinoco RG-1000 and RG-1100. <1/> Apple AirPort Base Station <1/> Asanté FriendlyNet FR3002AL-1PCM <1/> Buffalo Technology AirStation Access Point <1/> D-Link DWL-1000AP Wireless Access Point. <1/> Linksys EtherFast Wireless AP. <1/> Proxim's NetLine Wireless Broadband Gateway. <1/> SMC Networks Wireless 4-Port Broadband Router with Printer Server. <1/> Xircom Wireless Ethernet Access Point (APWE)

Be aware; not all products sold in the US are available in the UK; and there are some products sold in the UK which don't reach the American buyer. For example, Buffalo sells four different access points, and you definitely want the bridging one, even though its web publicity suggests the ordinary Airstation is "designed for cable modems" - unless you honestly don't expect to have any wired Ethernet PCs ever. (And I don't recommend that!)