If you want to share a broadband connection such as cable or ADSL over a network, small or large, there's no shortage of products that will help you. (Whether or not your provider will be happy about this is another question entirely.) You can either set up a PC or server as a router to share the Internet connection, or you can choose from a variety of hardware routers.
These products are all pretty much the same: one end plugs into the cable or ADSL modem, the other end has four 100Mbps Ethernet ports to plug your PCs into. They all do network address translation (NAT) for basic security, handle DHCP configuration, and can be configured through a Web browser. Some offer more comprehensive firewall features or VPN support, but there isn't much else to differentiate them. That's why we were particularly impressed with this particular router, which has some very clever functions we haven't seen in other products.
The distributor has had special firmware written for the Australian market, so that it can handle cable modem and ADSL connections from Telstra and Optus without the need to run a special login client on your computer. This is especially a problem with Telstra cable, which won't allow you to access anything unless Telstra's client is running on your computer. The Micronica router lets you enter your user name and password, and then it keeps the connection alive 24x7 without needing to keep your computers on.
The router also functions as a mini print server, allowing all the users on the network to share a printer. We're not sure why, but this requires a special set of drivers to be installed, and these are only available for Windows (any version). It will work without drivers on any Unix system. We're not sure why this can't be set up to work with any OS capable of printing to an IP address.
The Micronica also has a facility for a dial-up connection, in case the broadband connection fails. However, this doesn't appear to have any automatic failover facility -- you'll need to manually switch to dial-up if the broadband connection goes down.
Another standard feature of broadband routers is port forwarding, allowing you to expose certain ports on computers behind the router to the outside world. This is particularly useful if you're running a Web or FTP server, or if you want to connect over a VPN. This router goes one step further, allowing you to expose computers to users coming from selected IP addresses only, adding an extra level of security. To sum up, we're not sure why Micronica chose to call this a SOHO router, since it has applications for businesses of many sizes.
| Product: | Micronica HiP-400S Broadband SOHO Router |
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| Price: | AU$437 |
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| Vendor: | Micronica |
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| Phone: | (03) 9699 8844 |
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| Interoperability: |  ½Basic functions will work with any OS, but print server is limited. |
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| Futureproofing: |
Firmware upgrades available from the vendor's Web site. |
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| ROI: |
½More pricey than some competitors, but some handy additional features. |
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| Service: |
One-year warranty. |
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| Rating: |
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2%
4%
