I’m churning internet providers from Comcen to Bigpond (I was going to stay with Comcen but they don’t have the ports for ADSL2+ on my sub-exchange). Anyway as part of the deal Bigpond have sent me a wireless router at no cost. I thought great, a single unit to replace my current dlink wireless router/adsl modem pair.
And yet after an hour of playing with the new unit last night I put it away in its box. There are two reasons. It doesn’t have the ability to remove the aerial and replace it with something stronger and more directional which is something I need and what I think should be a basic feature. Secondly and more importantly I cannot find any way to lock town internet access by MAC addresses. Without any security people can steal your wireless bandwidth. This is limited with password security and encryption. MAC filtering uses the MAC address of your wireless card and restricts access only to approved cards. If you walk into my home with a laptop, even if you know my passwords you cannot access the wireless network.
Basic features that are missing. Sometimes making things simple makes them useless.