Well known for its dialup modem business, Australian manufacturer NetComm has made a significant push beyond its traditional boundaries, and is moving into the general networking, wireless and ADSL modem space.

The form of DSL offered by BigPond is ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), meaning that the upload speed is lower than the download speed.

Telstra says it now has more than 300,000 ADSL subscribers and is on target to reach a million by 2005. The problem with home ADSL is that unlike cable, Telstra doesn’t make it easy to network even though it requires an Ethernet connection. Interestingly, the Ethernet requirement for broadband Internet connectivity is also helping to drive the rising popularity of home networks.

The DGFV338 is a combination ADSL modem/router packaged in Netgear’s traditional metal case and powered by a particularly large and heavy mains adaptor.

An older router missing a couple of key features, but worth considering for a small office equipped with older and slower Wi-Fi and Ethernet equipment.

Installing and configuring the NB1300 is easy - just plug it in, install the drivers, and you can use the web-based interface to change any necessary settings.

Although the basics of this router are somewhat low spec (no 802.11n or Gigabit Ethernet), the extras do make it interesting.

The especially full feature set of the 7404VNOX makes it stand out from the crowd.

A great choice for anyone who needs a backup to their broadband connection

There's no denying the appeal of broadband internet access and yet for a smart country Australia has been falling way behind our international counterparts.

With its futuristic design, the WRT310N could live just as happily in your front room as it could next to your PC – at just 34mm high it’s easy to hide. If you already have an ADSL modem, this is the pefect wireless router companion.

Ongoing concerns about the security of wireless networks and an increasing demand to be able to connect remotely to office and home networks has forced many people to look for a reasonably priced VPN solution. Virtual Private Networks use the Internet to establish a secure link between an external PC and a local network.

Easy to set up and administer; has all the advantages which Linux offers.

Fast, full of features and with mobile broadband support, but just a little too expensive

Respectable performance and a security assistant makes the Belkin N1 Vision a good contender for a small office.

Not a great performer in testing, but a firmware update that delivers the performance we saw with the TL-WR841ND would make it great value.

An expensive route, but the Netgear Prosafe SRXN3205 provides the reassurance of of an SSL VPN along with a long warranty.

Although it’s not a screamer at short range, the good long-range performance (at 5GHz at least) makes the Linksys WRT610N an attractive choice

The DIR-855 is among the fastest wireless routers in our tests and would be particularly attractive to all-Windows networks.

Fast and blessed with some truly useful features - a router that's well worth investing in