Buffalo Technologys draft 802.11n products—the WZR-G300N Nfiniti Wireless-N Router and Access Point (priced at $149) and the WLI-CB-G300N Nfiniti Wireless-N Notebook Adapter (priced at $119)—are the second product family eWEEK Labs has evaluated that is based on Broadcoms Intensi-fi wireless chip set.
/zimages/5/140745.jpg
Like Linksys Intensi-fi-based products, which we reviewed in April and again for this package, the Nfiniti Wireless-N Routers throughput performance is highly dependent on the placement of antennas.
The Nfiniti Wireless-N Router has three antennas that we could rotate and adjust separately, but, for full range of motion, we had to stand the unit upright using the included base stand. (And we found the units balance tenuous with the power and network cables sticking out.)
/zimages/5/28571.gifClick hereto read a review of Netgears WNR854T RangeMax Next Wireless Router—Gigabit Edition.
While configuring the Nfiniti Wireless-N Router, we noted that if we logged in incorrectly, the resulting error page provided the user name. Wed prefer that the device not broadcast this information so readily.
One perk the Nfiniti Wireless-N Router offered that we have yet to see from other draft 802.11n products is support for WDS (Wireless Distribution System), which allows users to operate two routers as a wireless bridge.
/zimages/5/28571.gifClick hereto read a review of Belkins draft 802.11n products.
With WDS, at least theoretically, users can provide a high-speed wireless path between two wired networks. Although Buffalo has offered this feature in many previous models of its wireless routers, we did not have a second draft 802.11n-enabled Buffalo router to test this capability at high speeds.
More information can be found at www.buffalotech.com.
Technical Analyst Andrew Garcia can be reached at andrew_garcia@ziffdavis.com.
/zimages/5/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on mobile and wireless computing.