Warning: A rather technical post

I’m sure you have seen lots of “free stuff” that comes with products like Mobile Phone subscription or Broadband subscription. I have lots of problems today with these so-called “free stuff”.

My previous broadband plan with Singnet came with a “free” wireless gateway: Speedtouch 570. I thought I got a good deal at that time… but alas, things are better off bought than given free sometimes.

This gateway has a really simplified control panel. There’s no easy way to find your options. For example, to turn off the broadcasting of SSID, it’s located under the somewhat obscure option “Only stations with correct Network name (SSID) can connect” which I found out only through trial and error. It only has ONE ethernet port and only supports the somewhat slow 802.11b wireless network.

With a renewal of my broadband plan came with another “free” 2Wire 2700HG. I thought I had at last gotten a decent gateway since this baby has 4 ethernet ports, a sleeker design and support for the newer 802.11g network. Alas, I was wrong.

This bloody thing DOES NOT SUPPORT UPnP. I wonder, how many routers/access points out there don’t support UPnP nowadays? This thing doesn’t have a console mode for advance configuration and has an annoying firewall that can’t be turned off. Gosh…

What’s my point you ask? Sometimes, it’s better to use things that are bought with one’s money than to use the free gifts that come as sweeteners to promote a product. You might be better off getting a Linksys gateway. For the power users, Cisco access points are your friends.