Fast Wireless for Home
Netgear's speedy HR314 router includes a Wi-Fi5 access point and comes with a sky-high price tag.Yardena Arar
Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless networks are proliferating, but their high-speed Wi-Fi5 (802.11a) cousins have made few inroads into homes and small offices. One reason is price; the other is that, until now, you needed both a Wi-Fi5 access point and an ethernet router to connect your network to the Internet.
Netgear's HR314 802.11a Cable/DSL High-Speed Wireless Router addresses one of these problems: It's the first router we've seen with a Wi-Fi5 access point. But at a $450 street price--four times that of its 802.11b counterparts--it's not for everyone.
I installed a shipping unit and saw an immediate performance benefit in doing large file transfers: Transferring a 128MB file between PCs 30 feet apart took 3 minutes using the HR314, versus more than 8 minutes using standard Wi-Fi gear.
Don't expect Internet activity to speed up with a Wi-Fi5 network, because broadband connections typically top out at about 1 megabit per second, far slower than Wi-Fi's 11-mbps and Wi-Fi5's 54-mbps.
Also, if you plan to add a desktop to your wireless network, be prepared to install a PCI-based Wi-Fi5 adapter. Though USB 1.1-based adapters are readily available for Wi-Fi, a Wi-Fi5 version makes no sense because the 11-mbps top speed of USB 1.1 would quash any performance improvement. (Wi-Fi5 adapters that are based on the faster USB 2.0 have yet to appear.)
Wi-Fi5 suffers from the same highly publicized security vulnerabilities as Wi-Fi, so plan on adopting other security measures for sensitive data. Plus, since Wi-Fi5 is incompatible with the older standard, you'll have to replace all your current Wi-Fi adapters.
The HR314 performs as advertised, but for what it costs, you'd better really need the extra bandwidth. If not, hang on until competition pushes prices downward.
| Buying Information |
Netgear HR314 Netgear. Wi-Fi5 router simplifies faster wireless home networks, but most buyers should wait for sky-high prices to come down first. Street: $450 |