Introduction

A decade or so back when a few professors got together to setup a small network called the "Internet" never in their wildest imaginations would they have ever thought it would reach highest as today. Internet has become so widespread that we see it merely as a mode of distributing information. In fact the internet is the fastest growing WAN in the world, and its size keeps growing each and every single day. Today we seek out information on the internet rummaging through bits and pieces trying to find what you need. Wouldn't it be cool if we could instead get this information to reach you, instead of you looking for it? This is where the future of the internet lays people, where wireless technology will take over most of our daily lives. Even today we see a mild form of this by getting stock quotes and sms messaging on cell-phones. The future shows great promise for this immerging technology.

The main two competitors to wireless networking are Bluetooth and devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. Before I go into detail on the products we're featuring today, I though it's best to take an insight look into most of the issues we need to look at when considering wireless technology. First off lets see what Bluetooth technology is all about.


Bluetooth Technology

Taking a small history lesson, Bluetooth was invented very recently, in fact it was in 1994 by L.M. Erricson. Where does the name come from? Well Bluetooth is named after a king of Denmark called H. Blaatand "Bluetooth" II. God knows why he got a name as such, but that's not important :-)

I know most of you have heard of the word Bluetooth, but how many of you know what this technology is all about? In short Bluetooth wireless technology is an open specification for short-range wireless communication between electronic devices. When I meant electronic devices what I mean is that any device, be it a mobile phone, PC, Microwave, etc.., any of these devices will be able to communicate with each other if they are Bluetooth enabled. However the openness and versatility of this technology calls for very high levels of compatibility and interaction between devices and producers worldwide in order to make sure the exact standards are maintained.

Today we see an ever increasing demand for networking devices. Not only at work, even most home users having more than one PC tend to network their machines. However this increasing demand requires manufactures to come up with cheap, simple and networks that are easy to maintain in order to capture the hearts and minds of non-technical folk.

One of Bluetooth's main strength is its ability to simultaneously handle both data and voice transmissions. As a result manufactures are able to come up with innovative solutions such as mobile hands-free headsets, print to fax capability, and automatically synchronizing PDA, laptop, and other electronic devices.

Wireless connectivity over Bluetooth

Bluetooth offers a very low cost, low power consuming solution to communicate with fixed or portable electronic devices as shown above. The Bluetooth standard defines a rigid structure for a wide range of devices to communicate with each other, with minimal or no user intervention. As the above figure shows, Bluetooth also offers wireless access LANs, mobile phone networks, the internet and almost any other Bluetooth enabled device in a household.

The real cool fact about Bluetooth devices is that they're made under very strict standardizations. As a result any Bluetooth device in the world can connect to other Bluetooth devices in its proximity irrespective of the brand

All Bluetooth enabled devices operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz radio spectrum, which ensured worldwide compatibility.


Bluetooth applications

There are many applications which have been proposed for Bluetooth devices. Some of the most popular ones are the Wireless headsets for mobile devices. The head sets will allow access to user's mobile phone even while the device is in the user's pocket. It's a total hands free solution. A similar device has been planned for car users as well, where they could access their phones without letting their hands off the wheel. Then there's the automatic synchronizer which they say will automatically synchronize a user's PDA, laptop and mobile phone when a change/update is made in one device.

There are many more proposed applications in home automation, testing devices in a manufacturing line with a wireless handheld device while walking through and many more such as network access in public places and so on, which tells us what a potential this Bluetooth technology really has. 

Features

• Bluetooth v1.1 available
• Supporting 2.4GHz ~ 2.483GHz FHSS(Frequency Hopping
  Spread Spectrum)
• Providing Data Access Via USB Interface
• 100 meter coverage area(at free space)
• Optimum solution for Desktop and Notebook
• Supporting File Transfer, Dial-Up and LAN Access profile
• OS supporting in WIN98/ME/2000/XP
• Sensitivity < -85 dBM
• Data rate 1M bps

EXTERNAL INTERFACE

• Full speed USB Interface supporting OHCI and UHCI
• USB Dongle status indicator for LED while dongle is plugged
  into the USB connector

DIMENSION

• 71x41x13 mm
• 54 g weight

HARDWARE

Brilliant, Clever, Slim, and Portable
With slender appearance and light weight, Bluetake USB Dongle is so light and handy that it can be put in your pocket. Of course, it can be also simply placed and used in every kind of occasions without occupying any space.

The Bluetooth USB Dongles

Until we received these two dongles from bluetake, never did we ever comprehend the fact of the size of these dongles. They're in fact smaller than the size of your palm. The real neat thing about these is that they connect to your computer through the USB ports, which makes installation absolutely effortless. Before we go on any further, I'm sure most of you would like to know what these actually do. Simply put it, ones you have two machines set up with the USB dongles installed, you can share files, share Internet connections, and much more, all wirelessly. It's almost like an instant wireless LAN although not quite. The dongles come in two colors, silver and metallic blue, which make them look really nice. The USB cables that are attached to the dongles are roughly around 40-50cm long, which gives you ample room to play around with.


Installation

The package contains two USB dongles, Bluetooth driver CD, manual, a Quick Setup Guide, and some Velcro pads to attach it in any place as you desire. Ones you have placed the dongles where you want them, simply insert it to a USB port. We tested the dongles on a Windows XP platform and it detected the dongles and requested for the driver CD. After the installation is complete, you must restart the machine for everything to initialize. That's all there in to the installation, it's that simple. Next time you boot-up the machine you'll notice a blue icon on your task bar. The icon on the taskbar is a shortcut to "My Bluetooth Places" which is now located in the control panel. Go in and get a feel of what's being offered.


Bluetooth here I come!!!

Before you click on the "MY Bluetooth Places" shortcut on your desktop, make sure you configure the devices first, by going into the control panel. The initial configuration window will appear as shown below;

There aren't really much to do here, other than a few point and clicks. All of it is easy to understand, however if you require some assistance, the manual will give a good idea. we attached one dongle to a Desktop machine and the other to a Toshiba Tectra 8100 laptop. When the Bluetooth dongle identifies the each other, it'll be displayed in the on the Discovery Window.

Now for the applications of the device. Go to my device in "Bluetooth Places" and you'll see a list of services that it supports. All you have to do is simply double click on the desired service and perform what ever is required. If you do not require a certain service, simply disable it. 

The applications offered are simply amazing if the infrastructure of your office is right. Say you have a fax machine that's connected to a Bluetooth server. Then, if you want to send a fax you needn't go to the fax machine to send it, rather get the fax machine come to you. Simply double click on the fax icon and perform the required task.

Furthermore, if you have a Bluetooth enabled phone, then too, you can communicate your PC with the phone as well. Now won't that be the coolest thing to do. You may have to do some changes before it'll work with your phone, like install the dongles as a COM port etc. If your phone came with some special software you can install that as well since these will provide more functionality to you.

As for performance, well it works at 1Mbps as mentioned when the devices are located close to each other. From the size of these units you must realize that they do not hold much transmitting power, so make sure there are no obstructions in the pathway and if possible provide line of sight. Nevertheless as we found out, the dongles work between room to room without much problems going through walls, however the speed of the connection drops. Remember that you cannot use these Bluetooth devices for high bandwidth intensive applications, and these are aimed mainly at providing services such as file share, network access and other similar services shown above wirelessly.


Conclusion

Currently these Bluetake USB dongles aren't freely available in the market as we would have thought. The last I saw, this package costs around US$112, which is quite in the high range if you think about it. However this is sure to come down as supply increases in the months to come.

The application of the device is just fantastic. Imagine you taking your Bluetooth enabled laptop to a building which has many Bluetooth devices. If permission levels are set, you'd be able to make use of all the services offered wirelessly, without even speaking to anyone. Imagine if all your home electrical appliances are Bluetooth enabled? Boy now wouldn't that be a dream, being able to control everything through your PC, just for a mere $100.

Right now however Bluetooth technology is still evolving and we do not see much applications of it other than in some phones. If you cannot afford to get a wireless LAN, this would be the next ideal step towards being wireless. Even though the technology does not offer high bandwidth, you can still browse the net, transfer files, which are mostly what we require from a LAN anyway. Overall a really very well designed device and very practical.

Thanks to Bluetake for providing us with the two USB dongles. 

What is 802.11b?

The next hot thing to hit the wireless networking market is the 802.11 standard by the IEEE. (Institute for Electronics and Electrical Engineering) Currently there are two main standards introduced, the 802.11a and 802.11b standards. However now there's also 802.11G which is newer to both these standards and is said to compete with the .a standard(will discuss details later). The networking devices we'll be dealing with here today are based on the 802.11b standard. Simply put it, this is a 11Mb/s wireless Ethernet standard, and as with Bluetooth product which conform to the 802.11b specification will in most occurrences work among each other with ease.


Majority of wireless networks deployed around the world conform to the 802.11b spec, however one thing to remember is that just because a device says 802.11b does not mean that it'll work with other 802.11b devices. So the next question is, how do you find out? This is where Wi-Fi comes into the picture. No it's not Hi-Fi, it's Wi-Fi which stands for Wireless Fidelity. The Wi-Fi certification guarantees interoperability and compatibility between any 802.11b products around the globe. So if and when you do make a purchase for one of these wireless devices, make sure the Wi-Fi certification is on the box.

A typical example would be where you and a friend get hold of two competing wireless devices both of which are not under the Wi-Fi certification. With great enthusiasm you setup all network components and get ready to enjoy some wireless networking. Majority of the time it should work, however this cannot be guaranteed. What if it does not work? Oh man I wouldn't know how many times I'll kick my self in the head if that happened to me. It certainly would be one heck of a nightmare now wouldn't it. So the bottom line is if you plan on getting any wireless devices, make sure they conform to the Wi-Fi certification.

For further information go to www.wi-fi.net

Earlier we mentioned that there are two standards on the 802.11 specification, namely 802.11b and 802.11a. So what's the difference? I created this table so that it would clearly distinguish the two by comparing their highs and low's. 

There are many new standards that are coming out for wireless devices, and 802.11g is the newest so far. The great thing about this standard is that it's backward compatible with the 802.11b devices, so if you currently own any devices on the old 802.11b standard it'll still work with any 802.11g device. Since these offer greater bandwidth in comparison to 802.11b it's an instant upgrade to your network. We have not used any device based on this new standard, therefore we cannot say how good and effective they are.

Do we need wireless networks??

Well it depends. Imagine a whole office or home with no cables, now how cool would that be. The biggest advantage of all is the freedom wireless networks offer. Think about it, when was the last time you were able to browse the net sitting on your couch, garden, attic, or garage? Well that's the freedom wireless networks offer, so whether you want to make use of it or not totally depends on what you require. Besides, what would you rather have, half a dozen wires going all around your house or none at all?


Security and Encryption issues

Security is no doubt the biggest concerns people have when buying wireless networks. Therefore if it's a high-risk environment make sure you know what you're doing or it'll be an easy target for hackers. As a result most wireless networks come with some basic level of security features to prevent unwanted users from getting access to the network.

The 802.11b standard uses WEP(Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption, which encrypts the data before transmission and decrypts at the clients machine and vice versa. WEP offers 64-bit and 128-bit encryption. However it must be noted that WEP does not provide any kind of high-level security, as such, if your data is extremely sensitive, you must take appropriate measures to secure the network. The level of security implemented really depends on what kind of data is transmitted around the network. Personally I wouldn't like anyone getting access into my system, however I'll never spend a extra dime on security than implementing what's offered by the wireless networks. Many say that WEP does not offer a great deal of security, however the logic is, some form of protection is better than nothing. We'll go onto more on this as we look at individual product in concern.

Another thing to lookout for when setting up the network is the DHCP server. If you have enabled this feature, your wireless hub will act as a DHCP server and assign IP addresses to any device in its range. Imagine your neighbour who doesn't have an internet connection will now be able to access your connection for free if he gets a wireless card and hooks his machine up(Provided of course it transmits that long). Now you don't want to be an ISP who provides free internet connections to your neighbours now do you? Therefore if you think someone else could access your connection make sure you assign static IP's to all your machines. 

For this wireless network round-up we got our hands on three competing products. They are listed below

• Actiontec's Wireless-Ready Multimedia Home Gateway
• Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway router
• Compex Netpassage 16 - Parallel Broadband Internet Gateway

Alright time to see what each of these units have to offer. Note that none of the above gateways come with PCMCIA wireless cards and have to be purchased separately. So the prices indicated are without the cost of the wireless network cards.

Actiontec Wireless-Ready Multimedia Home Gateway:

It's nice to see most manufactures today put a lot of effort into packaging their products. The Actiontec wireless gateway was very well concealed inside a box so that it is capable of withstanding quite a degree of stress during shipment. Opening up the box you're offered the home gateway unit along with the power adapter and network cable. Unfortunately the power leads of the adapter were not compatible with our standard power outlets, so we had to do a slight modification on it. However I'm sure most of your guys wouldn't want to do that, so I suggest that you get some kind of a converter for it.Sorry try searching more Also as we mentioned the home gateway does not come with any wireless PCMCIA cards. So you'll need to get at least 2 to have a wireless network.

Alright, before we go into more detail, lets take a look at the specifications of the unit

*VPN support contingent upon operating system configuration.
** Wireless 802.11b card available from Actiontec or any other wireless 802.11b card that is certified by Actiontec 

Actiontec have tried to keep the hub as simple as possible. The unit is shipped with a small plastic stand, so that you can place the Gateway vertical to the ground. That's a really cool thing to think of.

As you can see in the picture below the Home gateway is capable of working with DSL or cable internet connections. 

If you currently don't own any DSL or Cable internet connection, I really don't see much point in getting one of these other than to impress your friends. However if you really got the urge to buy one, well there's nothing I could say to stop you is there :?. The cool thing about the Actionetec Home gateway is that it could act as a router to most of your machines at home. In addition to the wireless networking capability the unit also has four 10/100 Ethernet ports so that you could hardwire upto 4 additional machines with no wireless cards. Initially, even if you decide not to go with wireless, the Ethernet ports will provide you a wired network. As the specifications mention, the unit supports upto 253 machines, now that's a pretty large network no doubt. However for a network this large you will have to get access points as well, since the area covered by the Gateway will be limited. Actiontec offers some really cool Access points as well.

Looking to the side of the Gateway you'll notice that it has two PCMCIA card slots available. 

The top slot is where you insert your 802.11b PCMCIA card. The second slot is for various PC card applications. This second slot is capable of accommodating devices from HPNA and Bluetooth products. The card is directly inserted into the slot, opening up a range of flexible options. So if you have a machine with an applicable device other than wireless cards, this is a great way to get good use of them.

The home gateway also includes a basic firewall as well, which is built into the system. The home gateway enables users to block unwanted internet content as well as audit and produce reports of all web browsing activities with a special security log.

The front LED indicators are pretty much self explanatory; the LED indicates what devices are working and so on.

Wireless Card

This is the main device that transmits data between the Gateway and the computer. It looks like any conventional PCMCIA card, may be a bit longer.

As you see here in the 2nd picture the part of that card that sits out is actually the antenna for the card. It also includes a small LED light to indicate that the wireless card is in operation. You'll need two of these cards if you need to hook up one machine as a wireless. Depending on how many you require, these have to be purchased separately. Each wireless network card comes enclosed in a box which is around 10 times the size of the card. It's also cushioned in between two sponge pads. Actiontec also includes the required CD with the appropriate software and drivers needed to get the wireless cards working within each machine. Everything was pretty straight forward; we installed the cards in a Windows XP operating system, and the cards were detected and installed with no problems.

Below are some pictures of the "Advanced Setup" console. If you need any help with regard to a setting, simply consult the help section or the manual. It'll provide you with a good level of understanding.

The Home Gateway offers quite a number of security features such as Services blocking and website blocking. Furthermore you can setup "Port forwarding" as well as set up DMZ hosting. Here's an extract taken from Actiontec.

Port Forwarding:

A broadband router or other NAT application (like ICS) creates a firewall between your internal network and the internet. A firewall keeps unwanted traffic from the internet away from your LAN computers. A 'tunnel' can be created through your firewall so that the computers on the Internet can communicate to one of the computers on your LAN on a single port. This is handy for running web servers, game servers, ftp servers, or even video conferencing. This is called port forwarding. One of your computers could run a web server (port 80) while another computer could run an FTP server (port 23) - both on the same IP address.

DMZ:

A DMZ allows a single computer on your LAN to expose ALL of its ports to the Internet. When doing this, the exposed computer is no longer 'behind' the firewall.

Port Forwarding vs DMZ:

A DMZ is far easier to set up than port forwarding but exposes your entire computer to the Internet. Sometimes TCP/IP applications require very specialized IP configurations that are difficult to set up or are not supported by your router. In this case, placing your computer in the DMZ is the only way to get the application working. Placing a computer in the DMZ should be considered 'temporary' because your firewall is no longer able to provide any security to it.

Port forwarding can sometimes be difficult to configure, but provides a relatively safe way of running a server from behind a firewall. Since only a single port (or small series of ports) is exposed to the Internet, the computer is easier to secure. Additionally, port forwarding allows you to run multiple kinds of servers from different computers on your LAN.

If you want to follow a full tutorial on everything, click here.

Conclusion:

The last time I checked Actiontec was offering their HomeGate for $99 and from seeing the way things are going, we're sure to see a further drop in price. The wireless network cards are priced at $99 each as well, so for a mere $300 you have a wireless network setup. Now that's pretty cool indeed. Furthermore the manuals and help files are very well documented and will provide you with adequate information. Even if you're a first timer the manuals will guide you through.

You must remember one thing however. Even though the Actiontec wireless gateway is capable of operating at 100Mbps, your wireless cards work at 11Mb/s. (as mentioned in the start of the review). So if you plan on running a server through wireless networking, forget it. Furthermore if you require high bandwidth constantly, wireless is not the way to go. I do not mean high bandwidth for users who download programs, MP3's and browse at the same time. For these purposes 11Mb/s is good enough. Therefore consider what you're going to use your wireless network before you go out there and actually get one.

After using the Actiontec wireless network for some time, I must say it's a really impressive device. Actiontec have done a great job with it. This is the only wireless gateway that I have ever come across which also has a slot for additional devices such as HPNA and Bluetooth. All this is for only $99, which is definitely one fantastic buy. If you're concerned about security, the gateway offers decent security features as well, and for home users this is more than adequate. Before you make your final decision though, I would suggest you look at the other wireless gateways that are featured in this review. However so far the Actiontec wireless gateway is on top of my list for best buys.

The Belkin Wireless gateway looks to be the most well designed for the part of wireless networking in contrast to the rest. The unit has two transmitting antennas at its rear and looks more like a space ship. Nevertheless it seems to have a mean look to it doesn't it? just like actiontec, belkin too have packaged this device really well, so even this device is capable of taking a lot of stress while being transported. It's definitely nice to see most manufactures today taking a keen interest on packaging their products really well. Since Belkin has offices world wide, they make sure the adapters provided conform to the standards of the respective country. The one we got was provided by Belkin Australia and we had no problems attaching it to a plug point. Okay, so before we get into the real insights of the Gateway, lets look at its specifications.

The Belkin Advantage:

    * Offers 802.11b Compliance - Interoperable with any 802.11b-compliant wireless device
    * Configures your network quickly and easily using Belkin SOHO Networking Software
    * Comes with a Belkin Lifetime Warranty and Free, 24-hour technical support

Features:

    * Enabled sharing of your broadband Internet connection
    * Quick data exchange between connected PCs and notebooks; printer and other peripheral sharing, and communication via e-mail
    * Wireless roaming with a networked laptop around the home or office
    * Simple installation that enables networking in buildings with solid or finished walls, or in open areas where wiring would be difficult or problematic
    * Auto-sensing for future scalability of 10Base-T networks into 100Base-T Networks
    * Dedicated bandwidth for each port to let you enjoy an efficient and error-free network
    * Compliance with Ethernet IEEE 802.3 and 802.3u standards
    * LED indicators for monitoring network traffic
    * Plug-and-Play compatibility
    * Compatible with Windows® 98, Windows® 2000, Windows® Me, Windows® XP
 

Remember with this gateway all you need is wireless network cards for your machines and not the gateway, as opposed to the Actiontec unit. Opening up the box you're offered with the Belkin wireless Gateway, CD-ROM, power adapter and an user guide. Along with the gateway however Belkin also sent us two of their wireless network access points and a wireless network card. Access points are like base stations you see for mobile phones. They simply amplify the signal strength so that you can cover a wide distance. We'll talk about this later on in the review. 

The Belkin gateway router also supports both Cable and DSL connections. However as mentioned before we only have a Cable connection here to test it out. Out of all three wireless gateways we have here, this one is the heaviest of them all. This is probably because unlike the other gateway units, this isn't 100% plastic, which kind of gives a better feeling as well. If you look at the back of the unit the first thing you notice is that, this gateway includes only three 10/100 Ethernet ports. Of course the soul purpose of having a wireless gateway is to do away with these ports, nevertheless I would still agree on the fact that more you have the better. It just gives you more room for expansion if the need arise. Not a big issue, yet worth mentioning. The front LED indicators of the Belkin Gateway has a much more sleeker look than the actiontec unit, at least in my un-tasteful opinion :)

The two antennas are the transmitting source of the gateway. These have been designed so that they can be turned towards any direction you want. Make sure you place the unit in a secure place, the last thing you want is someone stepping on the antennas. The specs do not mention as to how many devices this Belkin Gateway supports, yet I would assume it'll be as similar to the Actiontec wireless gateway.

The Belkin wireless gateway offers a greater degree of security options than what's offered in both the other units. While it uses a conventional NAT firewall protection system the device will constantly monitor and will give you the option of alerting you in case an outsider tries to do a Denial of service (DOS) attack on your network. Now this is definitely a step up from what we have seen so far.

Alright, lets see how you install the unit and get everything going wireless.


Installation

We're currently in that era where plug and play devices rule the market. As a result manufactures try to keep their products as uncomplicated as possible and automate much of the installation process. Installing the Belkin gateway was a real breeze. Simply attach the cable modem to the appropriate port and that's it, you're done. As we mentioned with the Actiontec unit, one desktop PC was attached to one of the 10/100 Ethernet ports for the web configuration wizard.

After the physical installation is done, simply type in http://192.168.2.1 and you'll come into the Belkin setup login screen. This is another good security feature which is not available with the Actiontec unit. It comes with a default password, however make sure you change it as soon as you login to the system. 

The next screen will display the status of your current network as shown in the following picture.

Click on "Initial Setup" and it'll take you to the screen where you setup all parameters for the network. One thing I found helpful with this Belkin web interface setup is that, they have provided helpful details forTry again!!! every setting. This will be a great asset to new users. Small factors such as these can greatly influence the buying decision for users. Rest of the setup procedures are pretty much the same as that discussed for the Actiontec device. Certain applications will have some problems with regard to the NAT firewall, therefore make sure you configure the respective port if such a case arise. 

Conclusion:

While the Belkin wireless gateway has a slight edge over the Actiontec unit, it is in fact the most expensive of the whole lot, unfortunately. The wireless Gateway router alone is AU$476 (~US$251). Now that's over US$152 above the price Actiontec offers their wireless Gateway. True the unit is overall better in terms of quality, however $152 price gap is no small issue. Nevertheless this gateway has certain advantages such as better range and quality as well as a few more added security features. I guess one of the main reasons for the increased price is that Belkin is a known brand worldwide, and you can be assured of a good product. However I would really question the fact of making a buying decision based purely on brand.

Nonetheless looking at a plus point, this unit still has the best transmission strength in contrast to both other units. If you plan on having a large wireless network, then you might want to look into the wireless access points as well, however with a price tag of AU$408, it certainly isn't the cheapest either. The wireless PCMCIA cards are slightly cheaper, with a price tag of AU$170 as opposed to around AU$184 for a Actiontec card.

While I would like to recommend this unit to everyone, its price is the biggest downfall. I would really hope Belkin re-evaluate their pricing strategy to be more competitive in the market. It's a really good product, however I wouldn't go for a few added features when there's such a contrast in price. 

Next on line is this handy little wireless gateway from Compex in Singapore. Compex has been in the networking industry since 1987 and I'm sure most of you would have heard of their products in the past. The Netpassage 16 is a combination of a few of their former products all put together to form this cool product. It is capable of acting as a broadband internet router, a Wireless gateway and as a Wireless access point. While the unit has full support for broadband cable and DSL connections, it also has a backup feature in case your broadband connection fails. It has full support for an external v.90 56k modem which will automatically kick in, in the event of a failure of your broadband connection. 

Holding up the unit on your hand, I must say this is the lightest broadband internet gateway I have ever held. The outer shell is of 100% plastic, which is no wonder why it's so light. Ironically the Netpassage 16 is the smallest unit out of all three featured here, however it has the biggest box in which the unit is shipped in. The power adapter included is very much similar to what you use in laptops, though this is slightly smaller. Once again the Netpassage 16 also does not come with any wireless network cards and they have to be purchased separately. 

Before going onto more detail here are the specs for the Netpassage 16.

Features and Benefits:

• Support external ADSL/Cable modem, V.90 56K analog modem
• Integrated 4-port 10/100Mbps Switch
• IEEE 802.11b Wireless LAN option
• Load Balancing and Fail-Over Redundancy
• Wireless Pseudo VLAN (Per Node and Per Group)
• 64-bit or 128-bit WEP
• Wireless modes: Access Point or Wireless Client
• Virtual Server (Port Forwarding and IP Forwarding)
• Time-based Access Control
• IP Packet Filtering
• Remote Management

Technical Specification:
Industry Standards
IEEE 802.3 10Base-T, IEEE 802.3u 100Base-TX, IEEE 802.3x Flow Control
CE Mark, FCC Class A, Gost, C-Tick, UL

WAN Interface
10Mbps RJ45 Ethernet (support external Cable/ADSL modem)
RS232 serial port (support external V.90 56K analog modem)

WAN Protocol
Static IP, Dynamic IP, PPP Over Ethernet (PPPoE), RAS

LAN Interface
4-port 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Switch
Type II PCMCIA slot for optional Wireless LAN Card

Parallel Broadband
Load Balancing & Fail-Over Redundancy

Wireless LAN Mode
Access Point or Wireless Client

Wireless Pseudo VLAN
Per Node or Per Group

IP Addressing
Classful or Classless subnet

Built-In DHCP Server
Yes

DHCP Reservation
By MAC addresses

NAT Firewall
Yes

Virtual Server
Port Forwarding and IP Forwarding

Access Control
Time-based

IP Packet Filtering
By TCP Port and Source IP

IP Routing
Static and Dynamic

Routing Protocol
RIP1 and RIP2

VPN Client Pass-Through
PPTP and IPSec

NetMeeting
Yes

Management Interface
Web-based, TELNET Command Console, RS232 Serial Console

Remote Management
Yes

Configuration Backup and Restore
Yes

Firmware Upgrade
Yes

Environment Requirements
Temperature
Operating: 0°C to 50°C
Storage: -20°C to 70°C
Humidity
Operating: 10%RH to 80%RH
Storage: 5%RH to 90%RH

As we mentioned before the Netpassage 16 is the smallest unit out of the crowd, yet it incorporates all the features we have discussed before. The unit is placed vertical to the ground and the small black stands you see in one corner act as pads for balance. There's a slot on one side of the Netpassage 16 so that you could enter a PCMCIA wireless card in. Compex sent us two wireless network cards along with the Netpassage Gateway, however we could have used any of the wireless cards of the other units, since they're the same 802.11b standard and conform to Wi-Fi.

The Netpassage includes four 10/100 Ethernet ports, similar to the Actionec gateway. After experiencing the Belkin unit with its dipole antenna's I would have preferred a similar design since they offer better quality for longer distances. We shall see how well these perform soon enough. 

One thing to keep in mind is that, before you insert the PCMCIA card into the wireless gateway, make sure it's switched off, or it will not be recognized by the unit. The LED indicators on top of the Netpassage indicate what's functioning, and once the wireless card is transmitting the WLAN LED activates.

The wireless PCMCIA cards that were included with the netpassage 16 were very well protected with a plastic box, and out of all three cards, I think this looks the coolest. 

Now doesn't that look sleeker than the rest(okay may be not much, but still it looks better). The wireless cards come with a CD with the required drivers, and we installed the unit in a Windows 2000 OS with no problems at all. We did not run into any complications and the unit works in Windows XP with no errors at all.

As we mentioned before, the Netpassage 16 also has support for a backup V.90 56k serial modem as well. This means that, if your cable or DSL connection fail, there'll be a automated fall back dial-up connection which will keep the network connected to the internet. The serial cable for connecting the modem is supplied in the unit itself. You need to setup the parameters for the modem dial-up setting through the web configuration wizard, which we'll be talking about shortly.

Another unique feature of the Netpassage 16 is the VLAN technology. What this technology does is that it allows you to have multiple virtual LANS within your own single network. When you have enabled this option, other computers connected to your wireless network cannot see each other. This is purely for security reasons, and if you have no reason to enable it, then leave it alone. On top of this however the gateway also offers WEP encryption as well. I would consider this most suited for an office environment, however home users too can make use of it if you have friends coming over for a weekend LAN tournament of some sort. I usually meet up with a few friends occasionally during weekends for a game of age of empires. We use a wireless network and going into such an environment with no protection at all allows other users to see data in your machine. Sometimes you might not care if the data is not very sensitive, however if it's important data, then you don't want others to see it. So VLAN technology allows this to happen, which is so incredibly cool

For more information on VLAN's read this article here

Installation

Here too installing the unit is a matter of hooking up the wiring. After that's done go to the following address which will bring up the web based setup interface. http://192.168.168.1 Remember that if you type it in with no Netpassage gateway installed you'll not get anything on the screen. 

We didn't mess around with the LAN setup and simply did a few changes in the WAN and WLAN setup to get things going. As mentioned before the Modem configuration screen is below. You need to enter the parameters correctly and test it out to be sure that it's working. We didn't have a dial-up connection and as a result couldn't check on how effective it is. That's basically all that's required for the installation. Save and reboot the Netpassage and you're ready to rock.

One thing that needs mentioning however is that, the web configuration utility does not offer any help at all. Compex has left them blank and they need to be looked at immediately as users will require this without a doubt. The provided CD includes the manual, however a quick reference guide should be implemented. 

Now for a final conclusion relating to all the products featured in this wireless roundup.

After testing all three devices for a couple of days one simply cannot disregard the price advantage the Compex Netpassage 16 offers. Since it also incorporates all the features that are offered in the other units, it's definitely on top of my list. Next on line will be the Actiontec wireless gateway. It's also offered at a great price and there's a better documented setup for users. Actually it's quite hard to distinguish between these two products as they are priced almost equally and offer the same features, except for the modem backup and VLAN technology of the Compex unit.

As for the Belkin wireless gateway I really do like its increased range and more robust look. However in comparison to features to price, it's far from the other two units. If this was at least slightly closer to the price of the other two units, I would definitely go for the Belkin router, sadly though, this is not to be.

Thereforetry searching more my first choice would be the Compex Netpassage 16 depending on whether I'd get the mail in rebate or not. If I didn't get the rebate, then I would look into more finer details such as tech support, help, etc. I would consider the Belkin unit as my last choice, however one thing that's worth mentioning is that, if you plan on using this network in a quite a large area, it might be a good idea to get the Belkin unit since you would be able to save up on buying additional access points. This totally depends on your needs, so choose wisely.

I would like to thank Actiontec, Belkin and Compex for providing these review units for our roundup.