Router - 14 Sep 2004

Linksys (a division of Cisco Systems) dominated the field for the Best Router award; its products swept first and second place with a total of 48 percent of the vote. Nearly one-third of voters named the Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router the top choice for Best Router. The Wireless-G Broadband Router transmits data at speeds as fast as 54Mbps, which is five times as fast as the 802.11b wireless standard. The product consists of three devices in one box: the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect Wireless-G or Wireless-B devices to your network; a built-in 4-port, full-duplex 10/100 switch that lets you connect wired Ethernet devices; and a router function that lets an entire network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection, files, and resources such as printers and disk storage. The Wireless-G Broadband Router enables secure wireless communications by providing 128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption and supporting the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) technology.