Throughout history one of man’s prime objectives was to find a good woman, let’s call her woman ‘A’. Unfortunately, some men aren’t so lucky and end up stumbling across a bad apple that can cause them more grief than good, let’s call her woman ‘B’. Man will do anything to keep woman ‘A’ in his life. She is treated like a queen and man appreciates her to no end. However, when man is stuck with woman ‘B’ he is always looking for a way to get her out of his life. She treats him like crap but always expects him to stay with her.

In our little scenario let’s say that woman ‘A’ represents a broadband Internet connection and woman ‘B’ represents a dial-up Internet connection. Man is seldom satisfied with his dial-up Internet connection; it’s a relationship that has never worked out. He shells out money month after month for the dial-up connection, but he is always left with unfulfilled needs. This relationship rarely works out because man is always looking for something more while the dial-up is never willing to give. This bitter relationship lasted for years with man always looking for a way out but never able to find one. Until one day man was introduced to a new ‘woman’ that would change his web surfing life forever, the broadband Internet connection. Man finally felt loved and knew that this broadband connection would fulfill all of his needs. Man wasn’t selfish with his newfound love and wanted others in his household to share in this awesome experience. Unfortunately, with his current configurations only one computer in the house could receive this broadband connection. Even though he was willing to share the connection those in his household felt left out and grew impatient waiting for their turn at the computer. If man had only known about the 2wire HomePortal 1100 then his household would have been a happier place.

2wire HomePortal 1100

A year and a half ago after moving into my new house I called SBC to sign up for DSL. After going through all the sign-up mumbo jumbo I was informed that I could buy the 2wire HomePortal 1100 and use that instead of the standard external modem. I wasn’t too impressed with the word ‘buy’. The external modems usually cost $100 but they waive the fee when you start your new DSL service, the HomePortal costs $150. However, when I was informed that with the HomePortal I could easily share my Internet connection with multiple computers, I jumped at chance to get it. I knew I wanted to connect more than one computer to the Internet and I wasn’t looking forward to configuring a router to our computers, they never work like they are supposed to. I figured the HomePortal would be easy to configure with the SBC connection since they are providing the product and software.

What’s Included
- HomePortal 1100
- Power cord
- Phone cord
- USB connector
- Ethernet cable
- Phone filters
- Installation software

Features

Ethernet & USB Connections
The HomePortal 1100 can be connected to a computer using an ethernet cable or USB connector. Essentially this means that two computers in the same room can be connected to the HomePortal at the same time, thus sharing the Internet connection.

Networking
The HomePortal 1100 also allows you to network your computers. With the installation of the software to each computer, you’re just a click away from file sharing. This is also a convenient way to share printers, scanners, hard drives, or any other devices you want to share.

Firewall
The firewall is integrated into the HomePortal and blocks all unwanted access from the Internet. However there are firewall settings that allow you to pick and choose how secure you want your firewall to be.

Available Add-ons
The HomePortal is configured to accept the 2wire Network Adapter. This adapter is really handy and a great feature to have. The adapter allows you to share your Internet connection with a computer that is located in a different room than the HomePortal. To share your connection all you do is plug your phone line into the back of the adapter, plug the adapter into the USB port in your computer, and install the software. We used this when our computers were in different rooms and it worked great. 2wire also offers wireless adapters, however the HomePortal 1100 is one of the only ones that is not configured for wireless capability.


My Experience

When I bought the HomePortal 1100 I expected it to let me share my Internet connection between two computers and it has. However, since day one I have not been able to get the software to work correctly with it. The drivers loaded correctly but I haven’t been able to get the networking or firewall features to work. I was on the phone with 2wire for hours when I first bought it and they were never able to help me get the software to work right. They finally told me that I didn’t really need the software to be able to share my connection. The HomePortal still works great and I am able to share my connection just fine. I just can’t use it to share files or any devices between my computers.

I would recommend this product to anyone looking to share their Internet connection between two or more computers, especially if one or more of those computers are in different rooms. However, I would caution anyone who is looking for a device to network their computers in order to share files or printers. Overall the 2wire HomePortal 1100 is a great device to share my Internet connection, but falls short from being the perfect networking tool.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 150.00
Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac