Nexland ISB SOHO

Company: Nexland
Product: ISB SOHO Broadband Router
Street Price: $159.00 USD
Date Reviewed: August 16, 2002
Reviewed By: Jason Rabel

(Image Courtesy Of Nexland)

A Little About Nexland:

Nexland is a company some of you might not be familiar with, however their products seem to be making quite a name for themselves lately. Just by browsing over their product line on their website, you can tell that they are very security conscience and target their products for a wide variety of users. The main differentiating factor of Nexland's products is their ( patent pending) ability to allow encrypted VPN packets to "pass-through" the Network Address Translation performed by their ISB. Nexland products are compatible with DSL, cable, wireless, ISDN and analog Internet connections.

Only Nexland's high speed routers were approved by Alienware to be sold with their high-end gaming systems. Everyone knows about the quality level of Alienware systems, and for them to put their faith exclusively in Nexland for broadband routers should give you some sort of indication about the quality of Nexland products.

Physical Overview Of The ISB SOHO:

The ISB SOHO arrived in a nice looking box, and just glancing over the "Major Features" on the back you can tell it is one feature packed router (I will talk about the software features later). One thing that really stands out is the "30 Day Money-Back Guarantee", so if you aren't happy with the product you can return it direct to Nexland and they will refund your purchase. There is also a 5 year warranty on this router (all Nexland products actually have the 5 year warranty).

Inside the box comes the standard pieces of hardware: The ISB SOHO, an AC adapter, manual, quick start guide, CD-ROM, and a CAT5 Ethernet cable. The CD-ROM contains Adobe Acrobat, a PDF version of the manual, links to their website, Internet Explorer 5.5, and the TFTP software. The quick start guide can get you online in just a few minutes, however I would recommend reading over the entire manual to fully understand all the features available and proper configuration of the ISB SOHO.

The router itself is somewhat oddly shaped, and unfortunately doesn't have any holes in the base to allow mounting on a wall or securing it down. Basically it is meant to sit on your desk (or shelf), however it does come in an attractive translucent casing.

On the top of the router are the TX/RX lights for the WAN and LAN links so you can easily monitor if there is activity or not. On the back is where all the connectors and such are. First on the far left you have the dip switches which allow you to completely reset the configuration, and backup / update the firmware. Next are a group of LEDs which display the status of each port of the built-in 4 port switch. The LEDs display what each port is running at (100Mb / 10Mb / Full or Half Duplex). After the group of 4 Ethernet ports (which is the built-in switch), there is a single Ethernet port labeled "Modem". Don't try plugging your phone line into this, it's for Ethernet only! You can connect up your DSL / Cable / ISDN / Wireless or whatever other broadband device you use into this port. Next to the WAN port is the WAN link LED which will light up if the connection is good between the router & the modem. There is also a little reset button which will reboot the ISB, it doesn't erase any settings, it's just a simple reboot. Lastly there is the 9v DC socket which connects with the AC adapter.

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