Gigabyte 802.11g VPN Wireless Router
by Brian Ng on August 21, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Networking
Administration and Management
Like many of the SOHO routers and APs in the market, the BR404W has a web-based administration. For a quick glimpse of the state of the BR404W, there is a status button that will show the general networking information along with links to seven other networking status.
Click to enlarge.
The other management tools available are all mostly what you will find in other consumer broadband routers. The PPP Monitor displays the WAN connection status and allows for the disconnection and reconnection to an ISP. The Reboot, Initialization, and Change Password options are self-explanatory.
The Change WAN MAC is an interesting option that allows for the assignment of a MAC ID. This is useful if a specific MAC ID is required for the router to connect to either a corporate network or an ISP. In case the BR404W is moved to a different environment that does not require a specific MAC ID, the ability to restore the default MAC ID is available.
The Upgrade Firmware allows for the upgrade of the BR404W to the latest firmware provided by Gigabyte. The upgrade process is simple. Just download the file from Gigabyte's website to a PC. Then click the Browse button from the Upgrade Firmware page to the file location and click on the upgrade button.
The Backup Restore option is a nice feature that allows for the backup and restoration of the configuration settings of the BR404W. While configuring the basic setup of the router is easy, re-entering numerous firewall rules, routing tables, and restricted URLs can be a chore. The option of restoring the configuration, if the router had to be reinitialized or to undo a mistake somewhere in the firewall configuration, is very convenient.
The Log Information displays the records of the firewall, WAN connection, and UPnP log. Save Maintenance provides a way to save the log and status information for use with Gigabyte's tech support. A web-based PING utility rounds out the management features of the BR404W.
The Help option loads a HTML condensed version of the manual. For the most part, the paper and HTML documentation does a decent job of instructing a user on configuring the BR404W. However, certain parts of the manual need some grammar correction. In addition, more information on the configuration and the configuration's options are needed in certain sections, especially the VPN section.
Overall, the navigation and configuration of the BR404W via the web page are quick and easy. Most of the options require a reboot, but Windows users should be used to that. There are two minor annoyances that hopefully will be fixed in the next version of the web administration. One is the Setup Wizard button on the main administration page. Clicking on the button will start the Smart Setup process automatically without a confirmation prompt.
The second annoyance is the Smart Setup process itself. As mentioned earlier, if the BR404W was configured for static IP, but on a DHCP enable network, it will configure itself for DHCP. There are a couple of problems with this; the first being all configuration settings are lost. Additionally, the IP that the BR404W dynamically selects can be different each time. This truly becomes annoying when the router is in a remote site and you are trying to find the IP that the router is using.
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Wesleyrpg - Sunday, August 22, 2004 - link
kris, i sent the email to brian, but for some reason it bounced on your email address? is it still kris@anandtech.com? if it is different could you please update your contact info on the 'contact us' part of the website.thanks heaps
Adam
KristopherKubicki - Saturday, August 21, 2004 - link
Wesleyrpg, send an email to brian and CC me, i will make sure ASUS sends us one.Kristopher
Wesleyrpg - Saturday, August 21, 2004 - link
great review and a nice router, however i currently have my eye on the Asus WL-500g, which looks kinda interesting because it has a usb port on the back on the router which can be used with webcams and USB harddrives and then can be used as a server.Do you guys at anandtech have any plans on reviewing the WL-500g, as i respect your opinions on all things hardware and would love to know what you guys think of it.
Wesleyrpg - Saturday, August 21, 2004 - link
schmoe - Saturday, August 21, 2004 - link
I believe its a router from the configuration screens and the title of the article. The wireless clients will have their own subnet with their own range of IP addresses which can be connected to your current (I'm assuming) wired router. For example the clients on the wireless router may be assigned IP addresses in the range of 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.255 and the current wired router may assign IP addresses 192.168.10.1 to 192.168.10.255.The wireless router may then be connected to your wired router with the wireless router's uplink port. Then all traffic to external IP addresses will be routed over that port, which will then be routed to the wired router's uplink port (since its an external IP address).
So yes you can have the wireless clients communicate to the Internet. You will have some issues with communicating from the clients connected to your current router to the wireless router. These issues may be solved by configuring the wireless router to accept file sharing traffic, relaxing the firewall rules for clients in the IP range of the wired router. Also you may configure the wireless clients to be part of the DMZ. Each router has its own settings, so results may vary.
Vincent - Saturday, August 21, 2004 - link
Does this device work as an access point only? If I already have a router on my network, can I use this device to share my internet connection to wireless clients?tauseeefgt - Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - link
yes the purpose of vpn to function as remote users from home or office can be done by all kind of vpn tools now its all upto users which tool they choose for access. vpnranks offering many vpn providers details that users can find here.HannahParker - Thursday, June 25, 2020 - link
The Internet can be a great place to study, shop, play computer games and chat with friends. Unfortunately, there are also cybercriminals, identity theft and others who may try to harm you online. In order to be safe on the Internet, it is important https://topspyingapps.com/spyzie-review/ that you and your children are aware of the dangers.Sara adams - Thursday, February 18, 2021 - link
Thanks for this info. It was almost everything I was wondering. Esp. like the option to purchase one already setup. My question is: if the source of my internet is a cellular system, as a hotspot with an ethernet out option, can I still do this? Can I have my Netgear nighthawk mobile access point then use an ethernet cable to the router that is set up w/ VPN, then all my devices access the router for the internet? The main reason is to simulate a specific location for the traffic. I have got some nice information about hiding your IP from this article https://macinfo.us/3-ways-hide-ip-using-macbook-ip... Thanks