16, Jan, 2025
4 Views
Comments Off on Gigabyte GN-BC01 AirCruiser G Desktop Router
0 0

Gigabyte GN-BC01 AirCruiser G Desktop Router

Written by

Why not bring your router into the fold with Gigabyte’s firewall and access point on a card?
Sharing a broadband connection between multiple users requires a gateway router as Windows’ Internet Sharing can’t protect your computer from network attacks like a standalone firewall or router can.
Gigabyte’s GN-BC01 AirCruiser G Desktop Router installs in your PC and operates system power through the PCI bus. It works by plugging an existing broadband connection through an ADSL or cable modem directly into one Ethernet port on the card. It then shares the connection via the built-in Wi-Fi access point or through a switch. The problem with using a switch is that you must run a network cable to the switch or hub and another back to the host PC.
The unit’s real strength is as a Wi-Fi access point and router. Its network port can plug in to the host PC (or server), allowing clients to hang off the Wi-Fi functionality. Single server office environments will find the device particularly useful — since the router can be installed inside and wireless provided, a single point of management (and failure) can be established for the whole network.
Up to four static routing addresses (for network traversal or traffic direction), 16 port forwarding slots and a DMZ are supported. The firewall offers ping blocking, NetBIOS traversal and remote management port blocking. RADIUS support is also included, as well as DoS attack protection (not tested effectively in the APC Labs). LAN-based security only extends to MAC address black/whitelisting. Dynamic DNS is included for self-hosting and NAT is included for sharing the Internet connection. The Gigabyte’s Wi-Fi component supports WEP and WPA encryption methods.
With an external antenna on a 50cm cable to boost radio throughput, the device also acts as a Wi-Fi access point. The Wi-Fi connection was tested on a notebook with an Intel 2200B/G Wi-Fi chipset. At less than 1m, the device managed 15MB throughput on 802.11g. At 5m (with direct line of sight) only 8.7MB was downloaded. At long range, through a glass wall (around 15m), the notebook couldn’t establish a connection .
Although the GN-BC01 is a cheap and effective access point/firewall solution, if connection to a wired network is required, any cable-saving benefits are removed. More elegant solutions are available.

Article Categories:
Networks

Comments are closed.