Barricade g 54 Mbps Wireless Router w/Print Server

 

The advantages to Wi-Fi routers are immediately obvious. You can connect to the Internet at home without wires and access data on other networked computers at will.

The missing link, however, has been easy access to printers. Configuring a printer so it can be accessed by any computer on a home network requires a host computer that will share it on the network. Sound like a hassle? You're right, it's a pain to configure. You can buy a network enabled printer but that adds a chunk of change to the price of the printer. So what to do?

Well go upgrade your router to the SMC Barricade g 54 Mbps Wireless Router with USB Print Server (model number SMC2804WBRP-G).

This is a router that uses the new fast wireless protocol called 802.11g, which moves data around the house wirelessly at up to 54 Mbps. That's five times faster than the original 802.11b protocol. To take advantage of that extra speed, a computer accessing the router has to have the 802.11g capability as well.

However, the key feature of the SMC device is a little USB port in the back. USB (or Universal Serial Bus) is the connector most printers (and many other devices) use these days to connect to a computer. It's a Wrigley's Doublemint Gum sized connector in the back or the side of your system.

The port in the SMC router is useful because it means you can plug a non-network printer, like one of those color inkjet units you have kicking around, into the router and have it accessible by any computer in the house. All you have to do is install a printer driver on the computer you are printing from and specify the printer's IP address, which is the IP address of the router.

This feature supports most mainstream brand printers with one exception. It doesn't like multifunction printers that fax, print, copy and scan. They just simply don't work.

Beyond the printer feature on this router is one upgrade that is perhaps inconsequential to some but I think is note-worthy. It's handsome. SMC's previous routers looked like ugly piece of military equipment. Recognizing that a router is becoming a staple of many homes, SMC has updated the look of this device in a curvy blue and silver case. It's right at home in a well decorated home.

Details
Reviewed: Jun. 01, 2004
Type: Connectivity, Peripheral
From: SMC


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