US Robotics Wireless Turbo Router

A Wi-Fi router that promises turbo speeds but, in practice, can't quite reach them.

Price: £99

Manufacturer: US Robotics

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Verdict

Pros:

Packed with features. Slightly quicker than other 54g routers.

Cons:
Appalling manuals.

Verdict:

Ease of use: Needs a proper manual and set-up screens that mortals can use.
Performance: Better than other 54g routers, but only just.
Features: Packed with features. Shame you can't understand them.
Value for money: Worth a look if you know your networking; otherwise, avoid.
Overall: Attractively priced but, thanks to the manuals, impossible to figure out.

Julian Prokaza, Computeract!ve 11 Dec 2003

Don't be put off by the name. The US Robotics Wireless Turbo Router is merely a box of tricks that lets you set up a wireless home network for sharing files and getting online. We say 'merely' but the 'Turbo' part of the name is no lie, at least according to US Robotics. Where existing 54g Wi-Fi network equipment is limited to speeds of 54Mbit/s, the Turbo Router can theoretically manage still higher speeds that are on a par with a traditional wired network.

About the same size and shape as a video cassette, the Turbo Router has five sockets on the back - one for plugging in your broadband modem and four for wired network connections. Two Wi-Fi antennae also poke out from the back but to make use of them, you'll need PCs with Wi-Fi too. US Robotics sells Turbo PC and PCI Wi-Fi cards for notebook and desktop PCs, but cards from other manufacturers should work, although not at the faster 'Turbo' speed.

Setting up any Wi-Fi network is tricky and with the Turbo Router, it's trickier than usual. The 120-page manual only has five pages in English and these merely deal with plugging things in. The CD-ROM manual is better but contains lots of broken links to other pages and is peppered with such gems as "Subnet mask - this is the subnet mask".

There is a set-up wizard to get new users going but this is very basic and fails to set up the Router sufficiently. For that, you'll need to venture into the plethora of web browser-based set-up screens. If you're new to networking, you'll probably have more success simply hitting the router with a hammer.

Wi-Fi networks never perform as well as the numbers on the box would have you believe and the Turbo Router is no exception. We managed 23Mbit/s in Turbo mode - a touch faster than the 20Mbit/s that most 54g (54Mbit/s) devices achieve. This small increase for £99 makes the Turbo Router an attractive option but until US Robotics supply a proper manual, we advise anyone but networking boffins to steer clear.

Contact: US Robotics 01628 640140
www.usr.com

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