Buffalo have a good reputation in the wireless and networking arena, this latest Broadband product is a fully featured 54g wireless router with built in firewall, ideal for those cable DSL users who want to connect multiple machines or for those who want to network without wires at a high enough speed to support video.

The Buffalo Broadband wireless router is a fully compliant 802.11g access point which is also backwards compatible with 802.11b so you can use any Wifi hardware you already have or any inbuilt wireless capability, the faster 54g standard can support a theoretical 54mbit/s but in practise a good throughput of over 25mbit/s is easily attainable and plenty for the home user, compared to the 11mbit/s of the older standard the 54g technology offers significant benefits.

Buffalo expect this product to be used with an always on internet connection and therefore security is a high priority, the Broadband Wireless Router comes with an inbuilt firewall which prevents unauthorised access from the multitude of lunatics who would like a poke around your network. However unlike most firewalls contained within router products this one is accessible for configuration and rule creation, handy if you want to understand your network and run  a bit more than just internet explorer and outlook, the firewall also comes with intrusion detection this is normally reserved for high end hardware firewalls and manifests its self on the buffalo as a pop up message which warns if an access attempt of a certain severity is detected. It is also possible to use the pop3 mail server to email you alters and logs rather than use popup's.

Security of the wireless system is also impressive with 128 / 64 bit wep encryption, administration password, Mac address registration for authenticated devices the combination of these features should ensure that if anyone can be bothered to crack your network they'll have to spend a few weeks doing it and for a home network that's just not a good use of time or effort.

The buffalo also provides 4 RJ45 10/100 Ethernet ports for those devices that need to be cabled to your network and a single RJ45 which connects to your internet access device (cable modem) or host PC, configuration via the web interface is simple enough and it comes with a good if not comprehensive set of instructions but as with all networking products it has to assume you have the basics.

In terms of style the Buffalo is about as attractive as a Broadband wireless router can be and at 76X171X155mm it isn't exactly small so good jobs its not the ugly duckling, overall the Buffalo Broadband Wireless Router is a good product and its in a tough market. It is competent at what it does and the 54g technology is what you should buy as there is no excuse to go for the 11mbit/s routers as they offer little cost savings. So this one get a thumbs up!

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