Should have just bought a Linksys or Belkin
Written: May 13 '02 (Updated Aug 28 '02)
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Pros: Easy to install.
Cons: Poor for gaming, poor support, no DMZ host, 1 port, unable to downgrade firmware.
The Bottom Line: It costs more than others that allow better options when it comes to hosting. Easier to set up, but is worthless unless you just want to surf and check mail.
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| warnie21's Full Review: 2wire HomePortal 100 (1000-200002-000) Gateway |
The 2Wire Homeportal 100 arrived and, yes, it looked bigger and bulkier than most. I was, however, able to put that fact aside if it installed easily and did not give me as much grief as my friends Linksys did when we were trying to set his up.
It took approximately 5 minutes to hook up the hardware and install the software. At the time, we were using Verizon Online DSL, and the Homeportal keycode they sent us worked perfectly during the registration phase. Later, we dumped Verizon's rather slow DSL and went back to Cox High Speed Internet.. and thus the troubles began.
2wire.com's support page had a link to other activation keycodes, and since I did not have one for Cox.net and the old Verizon one did not work, I had to try to locate one that would work. They had ones for the now defunct @home, but that one didn't work either. Try as I might, none of the keycodes would work. I had to call support and wait on hold for a very long time before a condesending technician answered and listened to my problem with great disinterest. After waiting on hold a bit longer, he came back and gave me a list of 'generic' keycodes. One of them finally worked and I was finally able to use the Homeportal 100 again.
One of the most frequent problems I have with the Homeportal is that on some of the machines on my network, the ability to surf the web or go to FTP sites randomly drops. MSIE and Netscape report DNS errors, yet, the broadband connection is solid. Words cannot describe the frustration of being in the middle of something only to have the web stop working for no apparent reason until the Homeportal is turned off and back on again. 2Wire support says its the cable provider, yet, whenever this happens, the affected computer works fine when plugged directly into the cable modem itself. This only leads me to suspect that the 2Wire is occasionally blocking standard ports when it's not supposed to. Resetting power to the unit is the only resolution I have been able to find for this problem as has happened on every version of the firmware, to date.
Despite this, as long as I'm surfing the web and checking e-mail, everything usually works, but as soon as I try to enter the world of gaming, everything falls apart. At this point, I would like to interject that I am a network technician by trade and have set up LAN and internet games through several routers, including, but not limited to Cisco, Linksys and Belkin, all without problems. Yet, this 2Wire is a bona fide pain in the hindquarters. All of the routers I've used in the past either through work or at other people's homes have included the ability to allow a demilitarized host, except the 2Wire.
The first game I wanted to play was Unreal Tournament, quite possibly my favorite FPS game. There was a pre-existing listing for Unreal Tournament in the 2Wire's 'Application Hosting' management page, so I set up the page to allow my machine to host UT games. I could play games as a client just fine, but when it came to hosting games or running a UT dedicated server, it ran sporadically at best.
Game after game, time after time, same problem. The support was less than helpful as they always told me I needed to upgrade my firmware (even though I had told them repeatedly that I already had done so) and that I needed to open the correct ports.
This brings us to current day and the game of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Another FPS game played through the MSN Gaming Zone. This game is, like others I had tried, not listed in the 'Application Hosting' box, so the ports must be manually added. Since the Homeportal only allows up to 50 open ports, a setting that can't be altered by the end-user, I had to delete some of the other game and application hosting openings to attempt to play JK2. Following the instructions from LucasArts support, I opened UDP ports 28060-28065 and 28070-28081. Finally, I was able to play and host games through the Zone and play games through the in-game browser. However, several friends and I wished to keep our own dedicated JK2 server running. Since it follows the way the Zone hosts games, I figured the Homeportal would allow traffic to the dedicated server as long as the proper ports were opened.
WRONG. Two weeks later, I can still host games through the zone with the ports allowed, but no one can get near the dedicated server. I attempted to contact 2Wire to see if they could provide any insight and the support runaround began. The people I've spoken to at Raven Software and LucasArts (the creators of JK2) are as baffled as I am, as my settings appear to be correct for the dedicated server. 2Wire's suggestion was to not try because, in their words, the game was not supported under current firmware.
My newest gripe with this product is that I've noticed in the security log that whenever you turn it on and it establishes a connection with your broadband ISP, it immediately sends a notification to 2Wire's "identification server" informing them that one of their products is online. No one will tell me what, exactly, is being sent when it does this and I'm a bit skeptical of 2Wire's reassurances that my 'privacy' is not being violated. The mere fact that it contacts 2Wire to tell them my network is online is a blatant violation of my privacy.
Hardware spyware.. who would have thunk it?
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Update 28 August 2002:
There's now a new revision of the Homeportal Software - version 3.0 - that supports more open ports and Demilitarized networking. HOWEVER, they have not made this updated version available to those of us using version 2.x. I've e-mailed 2Wire several times asking when/if this updated version will be made available to customers and they keep sending me vague responses and tell me to ask my internet provider. It would appear they have no intention of updating the 2.x software to 3.0 to allow the use of these new features.
If you do choose to buy a 2Wire, I implore you to be careful. There's no way of knowing whether you have version 2 or 3 until after you've installed it. If it turns out you have version 2 of the software, I'd promptly return the Homeportal in favor of a Belkin or a Linksys router.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 149.99
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Epinions.com ID:
warnie21
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Location: Newport News, VA, USA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Under construction.
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