Netgear Wireless N 300 WNR2000
The Netgear WNR2000 is a stylish router with a glossy exterior and no external antennae. It’s designed to sit upright on a table. With no built-in modem, you have to attach your own to its WAN port.
We didn’t like the Netgear’s LEDs; they’re very bright, and light from one bleeds into adjacent indicators. The front has a button for Wi-Fi Protected Setup, while the rear has an on/off button, plus one WAN and four ethernet ports.
Installation is relatively easy using the supplied CD or web interface. It checks for firmware updates when you log in, but changes take a few seconds to take effect and we found the Setup Wizard unintuitive. Otherwise, the interface is standard, with settings for port forwarding, content filtering, OoS and traffic monitoring.
For sharing files or streaming media locally, the Netgear is swift, but we did notice inconsistency. Wireless performance was often sluggish, giving only half the bandwidth we expected. The only remedy was to reboot the router.
When it worked correctly, the WNR2000 provided speeds of 5.36MB per second (MBps) in both close- (2m) and mid-range (10m) tests. It was capable of delivering relatively quick speeds over long distances. We managed to get usable wireless 30m away.
Its mid-range speed is not as fast as the similarly priced D-Link DIR-600′s 7.36MBps (reviewed at tinyurl.com/35oj86a), although the Netgear performed better over longer distances.
Parents can use built-in filtering to block content based on keywords. When a keyword is entered, the user is met with a warning notice, and transgressions are logged. It can email you logs of incoming activity.
Port forwarding is possible and there’s an option for placing a PC in a DMC (‘demilitarised zone’, or unprotectedd sub-network). OoS prioritises voice or gaming traffic, and there’s a built-in firewall.
It’s one of the better-specified wireless routers available at this price, although we did have to restart the Netgear several times to get the best out of it.
Verdict
The Netgear Wireless N 300 would be a good-value wireless router for streaming videos and distributing a fast internet connection. We had issues with the reliability of its wireless speed, but it otherwise performed well.
Specification
- Wireless router;
- 802.11b/g/n;
- ethernet lO/IOOMbps;
- DHCP server; firewall;
- port-forwarding/triggering;
- keyword and URL filtering;
- QoS;
- mixed WPA/WPA2 (TKIP+AES) encryption;
- WPS; lifetime warranty;
- 178x130x35mm
Price £50
The Netgear WNR2000 is a stylish router with a glossy exterior and no external antennae. It’s designed to sit upright on a table. With no built-in modem, you have to attach your own to its WAN port.
We didn’t like the Netgear’s LEDs; they’re very bright, and light from one bleeds into adjacent indicators. The front has a button for Wi-Fi Protected Setup, while the rear has an on/off button, plus one WAN and four ethernet ports.
Installation is relatively easy using the supplied CD or web interface. It checks for firmware updates when you log in, but changes take a few seconds to take effect and we found the Setup Wizard unintuitive. Otherwise, the interface is standard, with settings for port forwarding, content filtering, OoS and traffic monitoring.
For sharing files or streaming media locally, the Netgear is swift, but we did notice inconsistency. Wireless performance was often sluggish, giving only half the bandwidth we expected. The only remedy was to reboot the router.
When it worked correctly, the WNR2000 provided speeds of 5.36MB per second (MBps) in both close- (2m) and mid-range (10m) tests. It was capable of delivering relatively quick speeds over long distances. We managed to get usable wireless 30m away.
Its mid-range speed is not as fast as the similarly priced D-Link DIR-600′s 7.36MBps (reviewed at tinyurl.com/35oj86a), although the Netgear performed better over longer distances.
Parents can use built-in filtering to block content based on keywords. When a keyword is entered, the user is met with a warning notice, and transgressions are logged. It can email you logs of incoming activity.
Port forwarding is possible and there’s an option for placing a PC in a DMC (‘demilitarised zone’, or unprotectedd sub-network). OoS prioritises voice or gaming traffic, and there’s a built-in firewall.
It’s one of the better-specified wireless routers available at this price, although we did have to restart the Netgear several times to get the best out of it.
Verdict
The Netgear Wireless N 300 would be a good-value wireless router for streaming videos and distributing a fast internet connection. We had issues with the reliability of its wireless speed, but it otherwise performed well.
Specification
- Wireless router;
- 802.11b/g/n;
- ethernet lO/IOOMbps;
- DHCP server; firewall;
- port-forwarding/triggering;
- keyword and URL filtering;
- QoS;
- mixed WPA/WPA2 (TKIP+AES) encryption;
- WPS; lifetime warranty;
- 178x130x35mm
Price £50
