Wireless router: NETGEAR Wireless Travel Router

With the Wireless Travel Router you can set up hotspots quickly, at home, in the office or a hotel room. All you need is an Ethernet-based Internet connection (cable/DSL) taht you plug into the device. You can configure it easily from its Web interface. A small switch on its side sets various modes-single or multiple user access, configuration mode and unused mode.

Single user and unused modes are good when you don't want to share your hotspot while multiple users mode let's you share the connection. Configuration mode accesses the Web-based configuration interface. Security features include NAT routing, a basic SPI firewall (Stateful Packet Inspection) and VPN (IP-Sec and PPTP) pass-through that allows remote users to reach your machine securely. You can disable SSID broadcast, to prevent other WiFi devices from accessing your hotspot SSID. It's 802.11g device, backward compatible with 802.11b. 

It gave good results in our QCheck benchmarks. We got a maximum throughput of 14 Mbps, with a latency of 1 ms. On streaming 1 MB of data, it gave 980 kbps with 1% data loss. The coverage area of this device was nearly 120 mtrs, more than sufficient for mobile users. 

The bottom line: A good accessory for WiFi-enabled notebooks. 

Sanjay Majumdera