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ZyXel Prestige 642R Router

If you want to add ADSL to your network, the Prestige 642R Router could be just what you need. Ian Waugh gets connected...

Okay. You have a network and a hub and you have or are going to get ADSL. You want to share the ADSL connection between your computers as efficiently and as cheaply as possible. How do you do it?

The cheapest way is via ICS (Internet Connect Sharing) and if you want to get up and running as cheaply as possible, try this.

However, it has a few disadvantages. First of all, the computers on the network take their feed from one main or gateway computer. If that's not on line, none of the other computers can use the Internet. That may be more often than you think - if you need to reboot, if it crashes or if an internet site brings it down. Also, ICS puts a load on the main machine so you need to take that into consideration.

'Ray for routers

A router connects directly to the ADSL connection and feeds all the other computers so none are dependent on any other. Some routers have a built-in hub so if you're just setting up a network these could be worth looking at.

The ZyXel 624R does not have a built-in hub but connects directly to your own hub using a standard Ethernet lead which is supplied. This makes it a little cheaper than a router with a built-in hub, it means you don't have to ditch your existing hub, and you can add another hub or a larger hub to your network without having to replace the router.

Windows woes

Setting up ought to be a doddle. You plug it in, run some Windows set-up software and Bob's your Mother's Sister's husband.

Not!

At least not in our case. Not initially.

As well as the basic instruction manual, there were also supplementary instructions which suggest that you telnet into the Router to set it up rather than use the Windows software.

Telnet - telnot!

Ah, telnet. Well, we all know how to do that, don't we? Which is probably why the instructions don't bother to tell you...

In case you're wondering, you open a Web browser and enter:

telnet://192.168.1.1

(the actual numbers depend on the IP setting of the router - these are the default.)

Now how difficult would it have been to include that line in the instructions?

Anyway, this opens a terminal window which allows you to access all the settings you need to access, many of which, it must be said, are not available through the Windows software. Most folks won't need to dig very far so we won't go into any gory details. Once you open the terminal, setting up is pretty straightforward.

Once everything was set up, then we were able to use the Windows software.

There are options to set the default IP address and Subnet mask (usually 192.168.1.1 and 255.255.255.0) which you might want to do, say if you have a static IP address.

One possible area of concern is the lack of a built-in firewall. If you have ADSL you MUST have a firewall and it's better to set up a hardware firewall than it is to mess around with software firewalls.

Having said that, it's not a wide open box but it would certainly be advisable to run a software firewall on each computer, too.

Summary

Once connected and properly set up, the 642R performed perfectly. In fact, it's been running for weeks, just sitting there doing what it's supposed to do - route! It happily serves both PCs and Macs on the Network and you can power machines up and down at will without disturbing the connection.

Ian Waugh

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