Prestige 316 11Mbps Router + Access Point link
Review Date: 7/22/2001
by: Chris Kaminski 
Score 3/3
Wireless LAN
The 802.11b wireless access point built into the 316 supports 4 keys of 40/64bit
WEP (encryption). In addition, it supports a special ‘optional’ WEP that encrypts
only in a single direction to speed things up. The wireless portion of this router
is handled by a wireless PCCard that slides in the back of the unit. This places
the built in antenna in an awkward position behind the router. A port is available
on the card for an external antenna, but one is not supplied or available from ZyXEL
at this time.
When transferring files (FTP) from the wireless to wired portion of the router,
we got speeds that were average for the industry. When WEP is enabled,
expect a 50% decrease in performace, on par for the industry. With ZyXEL’s ‘optional
WEP’ enabled instead of standard WEP, we found
Advanced (Hidden) Features
Telnet to your 316's IP address and a whole new world of configuration options opens
up.
Call Scheduling:
Allows the 316 to schedule connection times to your remote node (your ISP/ the Internet).
DDNS:
Dynamically change your DNS entry to always point at your router from the Internet
- useful for people who do not have static IP address’. Only DDNS.ORG is supported.
IP Multicast:
Both IGMP version 1 and IGMP version 2 are supported.
Filtering:
ZyXEL’s filtering capabilities are very powefull, but difficult to understand for
the laymen. Filters may be set up for blocking specific clients, specific
MAC address, specific NetBIOS packets, and of course inbound and outbound port numbers.
In addition, the default filters must be modified if you want to run a web server
or FTP server tunneled through your router.
Logging:
4 Distinct log types are supported, but all of them require one of your computers
to be running a Syslog daemon such as Unix Syslogd. Obviously, this is outside of
the realm of most home network users but the capability is there.
Review Summary:
HomeNetHelp.com gives the Prestige 316 a 3/3. However, keep in mind that functions
that should be easy to access like DDNS, filtering and logging should be much more
accessible and understandable for home network users. Also a built in switch would
have been nice. To add more than one wired ethernet computer, users are must
purchase an external hub or switch.
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Prestige 316 Router
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