Is it a modem? Is it a router? No... its an RM356! (Netgear RM356)

Member Name: AndreBoyle

Product:	Netgear RM356
Date:	24/07/00 (2003 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, As good as a Modem and provides extra functions above and beyond, great little hub

Disadvantages: NONE

And it's super!

This unit comes in at not-so-hefty price tag of apprx. £140 and is well worth a look-see. The unit itsef is basically a V90 modem under the hood coupled with a network hub.

The modem itself performs as admirably as any other mid-range 56K modem. It connects, handshakes and stays connected for how-ever long needed. It manages quite well with poor quality lines but can sometimes suffer if the initial quality of a connection is too low, it rarely recovers speed and needs to be reset either by software or physically.

The Hub part of the system is a basic 10MB hub and will do just dandy for most of your needs. It's great for small workgroups and will provide modem functionailty to every connected. Another benefit is that this unit can 'uplink' to a larger LAN and so provide a wider audience with a 'net connection.

Setup is simply, give it an IP address and let it know if it's the DHCP server for the network. Turn it on and set every other machine to use it as the gateway and low and beholdit'll work like a dream... once your ISP settings are inserted.

One thing I'd say is to get hold of your ISPs DNS servers beforehand as this needs to be setup on every machine either manually or via the DHCP config of the router.

Once in the system provides 'net connectivity via NAT translation. Basically every IP address request is translated as it goes in and out of the system, clever but it won't let you play network games. Some WILL work but MOST won't.

One other word of warning is that the NetBEUI settings will bring up the 'net connection every time someone does a browse of the netowkr if not set-up properly. The software which comes with the unit for config is fine but I'd telnet in and set it up myself as the telnet server inside is very good indeed.

Summary: