americanbear's Full Review: Barricadeâ„¢ g SMCWBR14T-G Wireless Router
My Router Nightmare
Well, my Motorola WR850G quit working (firmware 6.1.4. didn't work right, and the unit had problems even after downgrading though not the same ones. I think the wireless radio just started dying around the same time by chance) and my good DI-524 didn't meet my needs unfortunately (no Nintendo DS support was the primary issue for me). So I chose to buy this SMC unit because NewEgg had it for about $35 after a $25 mail in rebate and it's not one of the common garbage (Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Belkin) brands that are so popular yet so trouble-prone.
SMC To The Rescue - Reading The Box
First, a warning - this router has only been running about 6-7 hours. Any longer-term stability problems will be noted in an update if discovered. Hopefully not!
Why did I choose this router? SMC has a pretty good reputation in networking gear. Unlike Linksys, D-Link, Belkin, etc, making cheap consumer gear (while they do it like this product) is not their primary purpose in existence. Linksys is, for example, Cisco's super-low-end-but-still-overpriced division.
I'd done the free-after-rebate router thing, and felt this SMC would be moving up a step. Let's see how big of a step that was!
OOBE (Out Of Box Experience)
The first thing I noticed upon unpacking that big box from NewEgg (which also contained five 5-port ABS (NewEgg's own brand) ethernet switches free after rebate) was that the box this SMC router came in was heavier than competing products, *dramatically* heavier. This has me worried what kind of ugly monster-router was contained within. Afterall, my wireless router gets tucked in behind my LG Monitor and it needs to be tiny and sleek.
Fortunately, when I opened the box I found one tiny and very cute little router. As wireless routers go, this product receives a 10/10 in the aesthetics department. It's very tiny, a bluish-silver color, with a more blueish front faceplate and BLUE LEDs. It matches my monitor vary well and tucks in behind it quite nicely. By far, this is the most aesthetically pleasing wireless router I've seen - but how would it perform? I was about to find out.
I plugged in the unit's oversized power supply, attached my cable modem to the WAN port, and the ethernet cable running to my living room for wired devices to the LAN port. Ta-da - I had a wireless network! The SSID was SMC and the Internet was working perfectly with no configuration whatsoever.
Time to configure the unit... I found out through my Network preference pane that it's IP address was 192.168.2.1 . I was greeted by a screen asking for a password to which I attempted blank, "admin", and "smc". When none of these worked, I got my first taste of the poor OOBE. The quick start guide didn't have it (or I didn't see it at first glance) - only directions how to use a Windows config program on the CD.
A quick Google search revealed the password to be "smcadmin" and I was in. I then proceeded to find the firmware section and grab the latest (1.07 as of this writing, shipping version was 1.06) from the SMC website. Next point off - the router didn't restart itself. After waiting about 10 minutes I just pulled the plug and plugged it back in half expecting a bricked router. It was fine and successfully updated to 1.07.
I then entered my wireless settings and enabled the "extend range" feature which seems to do little, if anything, to the signal strength. Next I went to enable the MAC address filtering, and this unit has one of the best interfaces for doing so I've seen - just a screen you can fill up. Far better than the one-at-a-time or even worse, one-at-a-time-with-a-restart-between-each. Just fill up the table. Only 32 allowed, but that should be more than sufficient for a home user. If you need more potential clients, move to a shared encryption key or a hotspot gateway setup. I don't, however, think this will be a problem for most users.
Performance and Next Steps
The range and performance of this wireless radio seem very good. I haven't formally tested it directly, but the speed of my Internet connection is very good - as good as directly wired to the cable modem, which many units cannot achieve. Range is also quite good and towards the upper range of an average home use wireless router. I have no complaints.
This section is included to help all those people who've bought Mario Kart DS or another Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection game and want to play it online only to find out how terribly incompatible the DS is. While I have no proof, I'm not sure the DS even has a "true" full 802.11b radio - it only supports 1 and 2 mbps data rates, which is old-fashion 802.11 (the most-official story (still not official but from a major online ezine) I've heard is that higher rates are disabled in firmware to save batter power. Right. Maybe, but I'm not sure about that one...). This is the cause of many compatibility problems. As such I would NEVER take points off a wireless router for not being DS compatible, the DS's "Wi-Fi" (note it doesn't have the official Wi-Fi certification) is a mess. It's clear the wireless on the DS was never originally intended to connect to a standard 802.11b router, only to other Nintendo products that could be designed for it. Then came the PSP.
Anyways, this unit is more-or-less Nintendo DS compatible, but it doesn't successfully connect to the service every time. It's hit-or-miss. Still very usable, just give it a couple retries. As good as you can really hope for considering.
Routing Capabilities
This unit has a more advanced router side than many other wireless AP/router combos. I especially enjoy the ability to view the current NAT address translation tables, it's port forwarding and special application configurations are also among the best I've seen. It supports other advanced features such as RIP, DDNS, UPnP, SNMP, Syslog server communication, and more.
If you're super-serious, let's face it - you probably want to look at higher level products or a dedicated computer for NAT (or at least a standalone router) and access points. But if you're a high-level home user with special needs for online games or other applications, this product is unlikely to disappoint. And it's performance, is, as noted, top-notch!
Overall User Interface
Unfortunately, despite being relatively easy, there are some things that are NOT to love about the user Interface. First is the main screen "recommending" the use of Internet Explorer. It works fine in Safari, and even the literature also recommends Firefox. Still, Internet Explorer is a mess and full of more holes than swiss cheese. Recommending or requiring it to use your product is irresponsible. Fortunately, it's only "recommended."
Also, the UI is kinda ugly. It's not beautiful like the router. It's clean and functional, but in desperate need of a graphic designer to clean it up a lot.
Hot, hot, hot!
This router gets VERY hot. While that's not causing any problems so far I would highly recommend that you do NOT place it in an area with limited airflow. Definitely the upper range of what I've seen - wireless routers vary from stays cold in operation to warms up some to gets fairly hot. This is a definite fairly hot.
Compared To The Competition
This router is worth serious consideration, especially if you're tired of products from the more mainstream brands available at big box stores. It performs very well (so far) for me, is beautifully designed, and has many advanced features.
There are some out of box issues, remember that the password is "smcadmin" by default, and I could see it overheating too easily in an enclosed space. Nothing quite bad enough to subtract a star. I'll update this review if any stability-related news comes up but it seems great so far. My only reason for worry is, again, the heat it produces.
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