Roundup: Small Business Routers

by Stephen Withers on Feb 3, 2009

For many small businesses or home offices, a wireless router will be a core component of your network. We've looked for routers from Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, Netcomm and others.

Belkin VoIP 802.11g Gateway F1PI242EGau (iinet co-branded)

Netgear ProSafe Wireless ADSL Modem VPN Firewall Router DGFV338

Netgear Prosafe SRXN3205 Wireless-N VPN Firewall

Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Modem Router

D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router DIR-855

Billion BiPAC 7404VNOX

Billion BiPAC 7300G RA

NetComm Powern+ gigabit Wireless Router NP802n

Linksys N Ultra Rangeplus Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router WRT610N

TP-Link Wireless N Router TL-WR941ND

A router is the heart of any small business network. Its primary function is to direct (or route) packets of data from the individual computers and other devices on the LAN to the Internet, and to direct packets of data coming from the Internet to the appropriate computer.

Most routers intended for this market include an Ethernet switch (allowing the connection of multiple computers without additional network hardware) and often a wireless access point.

It’s increasingly common for a router and ADSL modem to be packaged into a single case - our focus is on routers and so we’ll do no more than mention the inclusion of a modem where that’s applicable.

Other network devices that might be useful in a small business include print and file servers (these functions are included in some routers), and an Ethernet switch (to connect more computers than there are Ethernet ports on the router).

You may also want to consider a more highly featured firewall that can take care of things such as scanning for viruses and other malware, and more advanced content filtering. Examples include the D-Link DFL-860.

How We Tested
We tested router performance by copying a folder of 50 files, each approximately 1M, from a computer connected to the router via Ethernet to a computer connected by Wi-Fi.

The testing was carried out with the receiving computer within 2m of the router, in an adjacent room, and as far away from the router as possible within the confines of the building (adding to the challenge by passing through several plasterboard walls at an angle), and we checked that no nearby access points were using the same channel as the router being tested.

We made no attempt to optimise the positioning of the routers - each was placed in the same spot with the same orientation. Each test was repeated three times and the result averaged. For comparison, transferring the folder over a Gigabit Ethernet link took an average of 2 seconds.