In today's world of increased computer use, households on average now have at least 2 computers. Internet access has almost become a necessity, and broadband is now more popular than ever. Yet how is one to distribute a connection between the computers in one's household? The simple answer is to get a router and use ipmasq to create an internal network. A myriad of companies have come out with routers - Linksys, Dlink, Netgear, etc. but have their routers been safe? Nexland steps up to the plate, proudly providing the ever-popular Alienware with routers, and the claim that their routers are in fact secure and safe.

The router itself is unlike any I have seen as of yet in its aesthetic design.

On the back, there are 4 dip switches (very small switches originally more commonly seen on older motherboards for settings,) that allow a user to clear the memory if positioned in the correct sequence. There have been times in which a user may forget a password, but may need to change his settings - this type of failsafe is very important in that case, since the reset button does not clear the routers' memory.

There is then 1 port for the WAN - Wide Area Network, the connection to the Internet. Therefore the 4 ports on the back of the router are the LAN - the Local Area Network. Finally there is a reset button, and the power source.

Let's see what else comes with the router:

- 6.5 feet of Category (CAT) 5 cabling
- A CD with the Manual, Utilities, and Internet Explorer 5.5
- A Printed Manual
- The power adapter
- A Quick-Start Guide

The major features include:

- Up to 253 clients on the network
- Solid firewall protection
- A built in 4 port 10/100 switch to connect computers or hubs
- Over 8 Megabits of High-Speed Bi-Directional Throughput
- Gaming optimizations for multi-player games behind NAPT
- Easy configuration via web
- IPsec Pass-Through for telecommuters
- Dynamic DNS capabilities for web servers
- DMZ Host capabilities

Some of that stuff might have gone over your head - that's perfectly fine. The first thing I want to point out is that the ports on the back of the unit are part of a switch, not a hub. What's the difference? Both switches and hubs allow for a connection to be repeated and re-distributed to other computers. There are 2 standards for speeds - which you have is dependant upon your network cards' capabilities: 10baseT and 100baseT. The 10 and 100 represent how many Megabits can be transferred per second. Please do not confuse a Megabit with a Megabyte.

If you'll let me deviate here for a second, I'll show the difference between a Megabit and a Megabyte. A Megabyte is constructed this way:

8 Bits make a Byte.
1024 (2 raised to the 10th power) Bytes make up a Kilobyte
1024 Kilobytes make up a Megabyte.

A Megabit is constructed this way:

1024 Bits make up a Kilobit
1024 Kilobits make up a Megabit

That's why when a telephone service says it connected at 38444 kbps you won't be downloading 38 kilobytes a second: 38444 kilobits / 8 = 4805.5 bits / 1024 = 4.69 Kilobytes.

Whew. Okay. So that means the router has 10/100 Megabit capabilities. The fact that it is a switch not a hub is important because if a 10baseT computer is plugged in while every other computer that's plugged in is 100baseT, every computer will drop down into 10baseT mode. The reason why is beyond the scope of this article, but with a switch, 10baseT and 100baseT connections can coexist together on a switch.

The 8 Megabits per second of throughput (1 Megabyte per second) is how much data can pass through from the WAN to the LAN.

For the casual user who knows nothing about networking, setting up a router can be complicated and monotonous. I have seen routers which have come with a small sheet of paper with inadequate instructions - it would be almost impossible for someone without a previous experience with routers to set it up. Nexland includes a CD with the router which has the instruction manual on it, as well as an actual paper manual. The Manual goes step-by-step through what a user will need to do to properly set up the router. The the bottom line is this: for a router to be safe, the user needs to be competent in what they use for the parameters and settings for the router. In nexland's case, their instructions are simple enough for someone inexperienced, but also go into depth enough for a more advanced user.

Since my broadband connection supports DHCP, I was able to simply plug the connection into the router, reset the modem, reset the router, and I was ready to surf on the net after my computer renewed its' IP Address.

Sounds like a headache, right? It in fact does make sense though. The modem needs to associate the hardware with the IP address. When the switch was made from my previous router to the new one, new hardware, with a new signature was utilized. Most cable modems do in fact need to be reset when switched from computer to computer because of this reason. Then I reset the router so it would recognize the new IP assigned to it. Consult the manual if you don't know what to do - although I will give you this warning: some cable companies do not allow you to have internal networks. There is no way for them to know if you have an internal network without actually looking - but if you happen to call up and let them know, they might just disconnect your service.

The nexland interface is web-based. I used Internet Explorer 5.5 which was included with the CD to connect to it. The menu has the following categories:

- Main Setup
- Static IP & DNS
- STATUS
- LAN IP & DHCP
- Config Password
- Advanced PpoE
- Dynamic DNS
- Routing
- Host IP & Group
- Access Filters
- Special Applications
- Virtual Servers
- Custom Virtual Servers
- Exposed Host (DMZ)
- Expert Level

It's futile to try and go through each of these pages and explain what everything means - it's not only outside the scope of this article, it would take much more than the few pages here to describe everything that's going on.

The interface to the router is to-the-point and efficient

Throughout the interface we find that the router's options allow for a lot of control. The ability to use a DMZ host is a nice feature. I found the ability to create virtual servers and manage Dynamic DNS a very nice included feature, as it is not commonly seen on a router of this class.

The router performed incredibly, overcoming the competitor in this case, the Linksys BEFSR41 - it is also a router with a 4 port switch on the back.

Nexland

Linksys

Please note that these two measurements were taken momentarily after each other as to ensure their validity, and were repeated 2 times. The linksys came on top, but barely.

Finally, the router also has firmware upgrade capabilities, which many other routers also support.

Final Words

Overall, I must admit that this uniquely attractive router really has all the features that one can expect from it's price. For the average user it has the firewall capabilities that will ensure security. Yet for the power user the myriad of options allows the network to be tweaked for a medium-bandwidth server, high-bandwidth server, or a *very* secure internal network. The firmware options allow for secure updates, and the manual is user-friendly and more than adequate. Personally I feel that there is a very distinguishable gap in-between the Nexland and Linksys routers - the Nexland is undoubtedly a superior and safer router.

Pros:
- Simple enough for the average user, yet sophisticated enough for the more advanced user
- Simple web interface
- Support for a DMZ Host, as well as Dynamic DNS managing capabilities
- Virtual server capabilities

Cons:
- None

I would have liked to see some sort of ssh or telnet based management and perhaps a more informative logging system, but for the price of the unit, that can't be expected.