3Com OfficeConnect Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway reviewed



Setup and Administration

Administration is entirely web-browser based, and very responsive with setting changes accepted within a few seconds. When you first log into the router, you'll be prompted to pick a country so that the proper wireless channel selections are presented to you.

OfficeConnect 11g: Welcome screen

Figure 2: Welcome screen

The Setup Wizard then launches to walk you through setting up the WAN (Internet) side of the router. The wizard doesn't auto-detect your connection type, but does ask (but not require) you to change the admin password, something I think should be standard with all "wizards". You also can go directly to the Internet settings page (Figure 3) to set up your WAN connection.

OfficeConnect 11g: Internet settings

Figure 3: Internet settings

The user interface is generally well-organized and has some interesting features. For example, like many other routers, the OfficeConnect lets only one administrator connect at a time and displays a message telling you the IP address of the current administrator. But unlike other products, you can click a button on that screen and be taken to the login screen where you login and disconnect the other administrator! One thing I found very annoying was the router's insistance on logging me out after about what seemed like one minute of inactivity, and the inability to change that setting!

Remote admin is disabled by default, but once turned on, can be limited to a single, range, or any IP address. However, the port used for remote admin (8000) can't be changed.