Denny Arar

SMC Barricade Wireless Broadband Router (SMC7004AWBR)

The SMC Barricade Wireless Broadband Router offers excellent performance and extensive firewall features that would ordinarily put it near the top of the rankings. Unfortunately, in actual operation, we consistently lost contact with our DSL Internet connection; and each time, it took much restarting and fumbling with settings to get the unit to work again. It did not function properly when connected to our ethernet hub, either: Clients in most cases could not obtain IP addresses from the router when connected through the hub--effectively blocking them from accessing the Internet. These problems may have been fixable via special configuration options, but the SMC Barricade was the only gateway to exhibit them, and novice users would have a very difficult time overcoming them.

Speed and range of both the $75 SMC PC Card and the $75 USB adapter were among the best we found. And installation of the adapters was simple in most instances, though we could not get the PC Card to work under Windows XP (it worked fine in Windows 2000).

The SMC Barricade's firewall has virtual server options that let you designate machines as Web or FTP servers, and the router offers remote management capability and special application support (so you can set ports for particular applications like games and conferencing programs). The ability to filter Internet access by IP address, port, and time of day provides some measure of parental control, though content filtering is not included.

The SMC Barricade comes with an extremely useful print server that works with the network printing features in Windows, Mac, and Unix systems, enabling you to share printers cross-platform.

While the SMC Barricade Wireless Broadband Router boasted excellent performance, extensive firewall features, and a useful print server, it was difficult to install and often lost connection to our DSL line. The 90-day warranty is skimpy, and the price is above average.

Buying Information

SMC Barricade Wireless Broadband Router (SMC7004AWBR) Web-based setup, up to 128-bit encryption, three LAN ethernet ports, packet filtering and parental control features, virtual server feature with configurable ports, print server; 90-day parts and labor warranty; toll-free 24-hour phone and e-mail support. $ 145 Web-based setup, up to 128-bit encryption, three LAN ethernet ports, packet filtering and parental control features, virtual server feature with configurable ports, print server; 90-day parts and labor warranty; toll-free 24-hour phone and e-mail support. http://www.smc.com 800/762-4968