Until a few months ago, road warriors who wanted to go wireless in their hotel rooms needed to haul a full-size router around with them. Now, with SMC Networks SMCWTK-G Wireless Travelers Kit, users can untether themselves while on the road—up to a point.
Released in August, the $99 SMCWTK-G is perfect for travelers who need advanced bridging modes.
The 2.4GHz 802.11g unit acts as a traditional access point and can be configured as a repeater, an Ethernet bridge, a point-to-point bridge or a point-to-multipoint bridge.
The SMCWTK-G offers plenty of bridging capabilities, but I couldnt help but wonder why SMC didnt include routing capabilities—as D-Link and NetGear do with their travel kits—so that business travelers could share a broadband connection.
/zimages/4/28571.gifClick herefor a review of a Zyxcel wireless router.
Without traditional router functions such as a stateful packet inspection firewall and DHCP server, the unit wasnt as useful as I had hoped.
The SMCWTK-G comes packaged in a carrying case with a USB cable for power, a Category 5 Ethernet cable and a power cord. For business travelers who want to use the unit for bridging or as a traditional access point, the SMCWTK-G makes packing a lot easier.
More information may be found at www.smc.com.
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