The Gigabyte
GN-B49GU is a 802.11g wired/wireless router, supporting 4 wired
RJ-45 Ethernet connections and 54mbps of wireless bandwidth via one
removable antenna. Like most Internet sharing devices, it
uses NAT (Network Address Translation) to allow client computers to access
the Internet.
A built-in DHCP server distributes IP addresses to client computers
as well.
The GN-B49GU uses a firewall to block uninvited data from the Internet for your peace
of mind and security. The firewall implementation is a good deal
more flexible than that seen in most home routers, and we will run through it
fully a little later in this review. Other security measures include
WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) of up to 152-bit, 802.1x security, WPA
(Wireless Protected Access) and MAC address filtering. The SSID (the ID
which Identifies your wireless network) is hidden by default, preventing random
wireless users from easily connecting to the router.
Gigabyte has
added some abilities to the GN-B49GU which give the device excellent
flexibility when dealing with a network. It appears that our theory about
the GN-B49GU being aimed as much at the small business market as at the
home market is correct, because there are some options here that we are just
not used to seeing with more basic home routing devices from the likes of Linksys and
Dlink for example.
Let's take a look:
First there
is the ability for users to assign specific IP
addresses to specific computers in your network from the router, while still using
the built-in DHCP mode.
The ability
to enter up to four separate WAN connections also ranks high on the
business-oriented list. The device can be set
to automatically attempt to connect to one of these alternate means
of Internet access if your primary connection fails which can be handy as a
redundancy measure. This would have been more useful if the device came
with a modem port, but it's a nice feature nonetheless. A static IP address
can be used for the WAN to allow you to bridge internal networks
also.
There are
options to set static routes (permanent entries to the
device's routing table), which is a completely unexpected feature for a
'home' routing device (we'll explain what this is in second) and
the ability to allow PPTP, L2TP and IPSEC VPNs through
the firewall. The GN-B49G can be set to static rules for
the firewall to permanently block or allow certain data in or out of the network.
A built
in Dynamic DNS compatibility with one of four DDNS providers allows the mapping of
DNS address like
www.mysite.com to a computer that has a dynamic IP address. Essentially, this lets you host
a website on a DSL Internet connection. Pretty exotic for a router.
The GN-B49G has the capability to block access
to websites based on either the URL or a keyword (for example 'sex'), and with
WDS support, the GN-B49GU
can connect to the Gigabyte GN-A17U access
point, allowing you to extend the range of your wireless network too. A
great feature for business users with large office areas. Lastly, the
configuration changes made to the router can be backed up
to a file and
then restored to the device at a later date; a good feature if you are concerned about
power outages resetting the unit.
Gigabyte
obviously put a lot of thought into fleshing out this product's features.
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