
N° and issue date : 314 - 01/04/2014
Circulation : 49071 Page : 104
Frequency : Monthly Size : 100 %
ComputerShopper_314_100_19.pdf 7358 cm2
Website: http://www.computershopper.com
102
WIRELESS
ROUTERS
BT
Home
Hub
5
*
*
* * *
COMPUTER
SHOPPER
BEST BUY
£129
inc
VAT " From
www.shop.bt.com
VERDICT
This
eminently
capable
and
easy
to use
router
is one
of
the
best
money
can
buy
THE
HOME
HUB
5
is
BT'
s
first
80211ac
router .
Its
long
,
narrow
shape
makes
it
one
of
the
smallest
AC
routers
we'
ve
seen
;
sadly
,
this
design
also
makes
it
unstable when
you
have
Ethernet
cables
connected
to the
back
of it
,
despite
its
little
swivel-out
feet
.
We had
to
prop
it
up
to
keep
it
from
falling
on
its
face.
The
Home
Hub
5'
s
modem
supports
ADSL
and
VDSL
connections
,
and
there'
s
also
a
Gigabit
Ethernet
WAN
port
to
connect
to
a
cable
modem
,
as
you
can
use this
router with
any
ISP
.
There'
s a
USB
port
for
hard
disk
or
printer
sharing
and
four
Gigabit
Ethernet
ports.
You
access
the
modem'
s
web
interface
by
visiting
http
bthomehub.home
,
where
a
guided
configuration process
will
help
you
get
online.
By
default
,
both
the
2.4GHz
and
5GHz
bands
are
secured
using
the
password
printed
on
the
device
and
use the
same
SSID .
If
you
want
to
be
able
to
choose
which
band
you
connect
to
,
you'
ll
have
to
rename
one
of
them.
The
Home
Hub
5'
s
interface
is
less
dense
and
cluttered
than
most
,
and
although
the
BUFFALO
TECHNOLOGY
AirStation
Dual
Band
HAG
WZR-1166DHP
* *
*
*
*
£92
inc
VAT " From
www.uk.insight.com
VERDICT
Powerful
,
capable
and
easy
to
use
,
this
is
one
of
the
best
802.11ac
routers around
THE
WZR-1166DHP
IS
a
simultaneous
dual-band
router
with
a
2.4GHz
80211n
and
a
5GHz
80211ac network
,
the
latter'
s
theoretical
maximum
throughput
being
866Mbit
/
s.
The
router
is
fairly
chunky
,
but its
matt
black
finish
means
it
can
sit
in
a
dark
corner
without
being
too
noticeable
.
It'
s a
standard
Ethernet
router
,
without
an
ADSL
or
VDSL
modem
built into
it
,
which
makes
it
ideal for
use
with
cable
or
fibre
services
where
you'
re
given
a
modem
and
left
to
get
on
with
it.
At
the
back
is
a
four-port
Gigabit
Ethernet
hub
and
a Gigabit
Ethernet
WAN
port
.
Above
those
is
a
USB3
port
to
connect
a
printer
or
external
hard
disk
.
We were
pleased
to
find
an
eject
button
,
so
you
can
safely
remove
connected
disks
without
having
to
log
into
the
web interface
to
unmount them.
In
a well-considered
design
touch
,
as
well
as
the
copy
of
the
default
Wi-Fi
password
being
on
the
bottom
of
the
router
,
it'
s
also on
router
isn'
t
exactly
feature-packed
,
it
covers
the
essentials
.
The
firewall
'
s
port
forwarding
interface
includes
a
drop-down
list
of
popular
games
and
applications
,
but
you
can
still
define
ports manually
as
you
may
require.
Smart
Setup
is
enabled
by
default
and
detects
when
new
devices
connect
.Provided
the
router
is
connected
to
BT
Broadband
,
a
setup
wizard
appears
the
first
time
the
device
connects
to
reveal
the
available
BT
services
,
such
as
parental
controls
.
The
wizard
is
a
little
annoying
,
and
stopped
our
home
automation
box working
,
so
we
recommend
disabling
it
in
the
settings
menu.
For
many
,
it' s
the
absence
of
overwhelming
settings
,
as
well
as
the
clear
,
plain English
descriptions
,
that
will
appeal
.
The
other
key
factor
is
performance
.
Although
our
Centrino
2
reference
laptop
and
its
internal wireless
adaptor
are
a
bit
old
,
the
2.4GHz
throughput
rate
it
produced
in
our tests
was
among
the
fastest
we'
ve
seen
, achieving
87Mbit
/
s at
1m
,
76.7Mbit
/
s at
10m and
a
less
outstanding
a
removable
plastic
slip
that
you
can
take
to
the
computer
you'
re
trying
to
connect
. It
would
have
been
even more convenient
had
Buffalo
labelled
its
5GHz
and
2.4GHz
networks
as
such
,
rather
than
as
A
and
G.
Using
our
laptop'
s built-in
Centrino
2
wireless
chipset
,
we saw
2.4GHz
transfer
speeds
of
46Mbit
/
s at
1m
,
36.1Mbit s at
10m
and
11.5Mbit
/
s at
20m
;
all
fairly
respectable.
We
were
pleased
to
find
our
laptop
could
connect
to
the
router
in
5GHz
mode
without
our
having
change
the
router'
s
settings
.
Its
performance
was
impressive : 691Mbit s at
1m
,
87Mbit
/
s at
10m
and
42.6Mbit
/
s at
20m.
Using
Buffalo' s
own
dongle
didn'
t boost
2.4GHz
performance
,
but
5GHz
speeds
were
remarkable .
In
our
2.4GHz
test
,
we saw
speeds
of
41.7Mbit
/
s
at
1m
and
36.9Mbit
/
s at 10m.
It
failed
to
connect
at
20m
.
The
5GHz
transfer
speeds
,
on
the
other
hand
,
were
very
quick
:
158.5Mbit
/ s at
1m
, 109.7Mbit
/
s at
10m
and
11.9Mbit
/
s at
20m.
At
5GHz
,
the
integrated
adaptor
achieved
83.9Mbit
s at
1m
,
78.9Mbit
/
s at
10m
and 14Mbit
s at
20m.
BT
couldn'
t
supply
us
with
an
80211ac
wireless
adaptor
to
match
the
router
,
though
it
does
produce
such
an
adaptor .
Instead
,
we
used
a Buffalo AC866
,
which
performed
well
in
most
of our
transfer
speed
tests
,
as
did
the
router .
In
our
2.4GHz
test
,
we
got
1m
and
10m
transfer
speeds
of
61.5Mbit s
and
64.6Mbit
/
s ,
but
couldn'
t
get
a
stable
connection
at
20m
in
our
interference-riddled
test
environment
.
At
5GHz
,
we saw
a
fantastic
158.5Mbit s
at
1m
,
149.2Mbit
s at
10m
and
58.2Mbit
s at
20m.
With
excellent
overall
performance
and
a
great
set
of
features
,
the
BT
Home
Hub
5
is
one
of
the
most
capable
80211ac
routers
around .
Whatever
you
need
to
connect
it to
,
it'
s
up
to
the
job
, making
it
well
worth
its
price
. It
wins
our
Best
Buy
award.
main at
20m.
The
web
interface'
s
main page
makes
it
easy
to adjust
critical features
,
such
as
your
wireless
settings
and
passwords
,
Norton
ConnectSafe
content
filtering
and
QoS
to
determine
what
kind
of
content
gets
priority
access
to
your
internet
connection . Advanced
settings
include
options
to
customise
a
wireless
guest
network
,
run
a
media
server
and
download
content
via
an
integrated
BitTorrent
client
,
as
well
as
the
usual
port
forwarding
and IP
filtering
options
you'
d
expect
to
find
in
any
decent
router.
At
a
little
under £100
,
the
WZR-1166DHP
is
reasonably
priced
for an
80211ac router
,
while
its
very
quick
performance
,
excellent
interface
and
wide-ranging
features
make
it
one
of
the
best
we'
ve
reviewed
to
date.
However
,
the
Tenda
W1800R
also
performs
well
and
costs
a
fair
bit
less.
APRIL
2014
COMPUTER
SHOPPER
ISSUE
314
5 / 12
Copyright (Computer Shopper)
No reproduction without authorisation
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