Product Reviews

3G packages with USB modems are now incredibly cheap, as we showed you in last month's Mobile Expert. They're a great way to get online wherever you are and, if you must always have a working internet connection, are ideal as a backup to your main broadband. However, a 3G connection is difficult to share.

Billion's BiPAC 7402GXL wireless router aims to change that. As well as plugging into your ADSL line, its USB port on the rear lets you plug in a USB 3G modem. You can either make this the fail-over connection or the default connection. This is useful if you're travelling, perhaps in a caravan, and want a portable connection you can share. All current USB modems from the five UK mobile operators are supported.

The router is configured using a web browser. A quick-start wizard takes you through the steps to configure it. You'll need to give the Billion a few minutes before you run the wizard, though, as it takes it a while to recognise that you've plugged in a USB modem.

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7402GXL is highly configurable and gives you fine control over everything. However, you've really got to know what you're doing. For example, the QoS controls are incredibly versatile, but there are no pre-defined settings. You have to manually define the applications and services to which you want to give priority. This involves the time-consuming process of looking up the relevant information such as TCP port numbers.

As well as defining which applications have priority, you can also throttle them by setting the maximum amount of bandwidth they're allowed to use. These settings can be put on a schedule, so you can choose when they apply.

The firewall is off by default, and should be turned on. Billion has pre-defined three levels of security (high, medium and low), which should be enough for most people. If you want more control, packet-filtering firewall rules let you define exactly which traffic is allowed or denied.

The 7402GXL is a standard 802.11g wireless router, with a maximum theoretical throughput of 54Mbit/s. Testing with our Centrino laptop, the speeds at 1m and 10m were about average, but we couldn't get a stable connection at 25m even after changing the wireless channel. This is probably because the router has only a single antenna. It's removable, though, so you could attach a hi-gain model to extend range and performance.

This router is a simple and intelligent way of sharing a 3G connection or for creating a backup broadband line, but it's pricy for a standard 802.11g router and we were disappointed with its wireless range.