The Miscellaneous Items page, is where you can assign 1
(and only 1) IP to be placed into DMZ (demilitarized zone, essentially making it
NOT behind the firewall), set up the IP address of a remote admin host outside
the lan, and discard pings from the WAN (internet) side of the connection.
How did it work would be the next question to be asked I
would think? Hmm... ;)
I browsed websites, chatted on IRC, ran Dialpad for some
free long distance telephone calls, used ICQ, ran RC5 (needs network access for
grabbing new keysets) downloaded off of many FTP sites, all in all seamlessly.
Once it's set up, and it is quite simple to set up (with aforementioned caveats
regarding the non-existent print manual), it just works. Cant ask for much more
than that.
In this "new" field of broadband routers, the SMC does
have quite a few stand out features. It's support for ISDN and POTS dialup is
unique, as well as it's built in print server. Setting up a printer on a LAN
isn't exactly hard without it, but this is a nice feature nonetheless. It
supports VPN (Virtual Private Networking) connections, where the less expensive
D-Link product does not. Unlike a couple of it's competitors, the LAN side of
the router is a full switch, which will get you better throughput between local
machines than a hub arrangement. It is more expensive than the D-Link and
Netgear offerings, but is priced similarly to the Linksys product, and comes
with a better warranty (limited Lifetime). All in all, if you are looking for an
easy to use and simple way to set up multiple machines on a LAN and share an
internet connection of nearly any type, the SMC Barricade deserves serious
attention.
Pros
-
Support for ISDN/Dialup sharing unique
-
Built in print server
-
LAN side is a switch rather than a hub. Better LAN
throughput.
-
OS Agnostic. Works on Windows/Linux/MacOS (except
print server)
-
24/7 toll free tech support, and Limited Lifetime
warranty.
Cons
Rating:
8/10
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