Ubee Cable Modem

10/03/2011

POWER SAVING BACK-UPS XS 1500 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)On the surface, the units have seemed very nice. Love the LCD readouts. But I've now had two units die after 48 hours of operation (under 45% load for 12 hours/day).
The first unit failed spectacularly when I turned my PC on on the 3rd morning of ownership. Spastic flashing / beeping, an F05 error then death (and perhaps a whiff of ozone from something blown inside).
APC support is quick to cross-ship a new unit, without asking for any money on hold. This is a big plus in their favor.
The second unit did something a little different about 48 hours after purchase. It started double-chirping (which is not listed in the manual). There were no LCD error messages, and the voltages and load looked normal. The battery meter showed a full charge. The Building-Fault-Light on the back was not illuminated. I called APC and they had me unplug the unit to see if the battery would kick in. It did not, I lost power to my devices. Then it displayed the same F05 error (which in the manual is a charge fault). Luckily though it did not self-fry.
Called APC, and they'll be sending out a 3rd unit.
After this second one failed, I went and tested my Back-UPS XS 1300 that I bought at the same time as the first unit. It's in my downstairs laundry/server room. Pulled its plug, and it held up just fine.
So, I'll see how the 3rd unit goes and report back and update the rating if it holds up.
UPDATE: APC sent me a refurbished unit for my 3rd unit (2nd replacement). Generally I'd be upset, but felt that since it was refurbished that someone must have at least looked at it to verify it works properly before pushing it out the door. So far so good on this 3rd unit. It held up to both a simulated outage (50% load) and an actual outage (10% load). I've upped my rating from two stars to three (I still can't forgive for the hassle the two faulty devices put me through).

Click Here to see more reviews about: POWER SAVING BACK-UPS XS 1500

Get 20% OFF

Click here for more information about POWER SAVING BACK-UPS XS 1500

10/02/2011

Cisco-Valet Wireless Router Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I had a very old Airport base station and was having trouble connecting my DirecTv wireless adapter to it. I figured it was time to upgrade. I did a lot of research online and was worried about not being able to set up a new router using my Mac. I bought this router with high hopes of a quick set up. I was not disappointed. I had 2 Macbooks, a Wii, my TiVo DVR and the DirecTv system all working within 15 minutes. So far signal is great throughout my three story home. The router is in the basement and my husband is on the third floor Skyping away. I highy recommend this for anyone that wants a quick and easy setup with little hassles!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Cisco-Valet Wireless Router

Introducing Valet: The Surprisingly Simple Wireless Router
Valet is the surprisingly simple wireless router that gives you the power to quickly and simply make your home wireless. Valet gets you connected to the Internet in just three steps: plug in the included Easy Setup Key, breeze through a few simple setup screens, and start enjoying the freedom of wireless. The included Easy Setup Key automatically saves your wireless settings, allowing you to quickly link your other wireless devices and manage your home wireless with ease. Remember when going wireless required technical expertise and hours of effort? Not anymore--Valet just works.
The Valet wireless router makes it easy to connect all your Wi-Fi devices.

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about Cisco-Valet Wireless Router

NETGEAR Wireless-N 150 USB Adapter WNA1100 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Doesn't even deserve one star, but I need to set something. On two different computers, one with Windows XP and and the other with Windows 7, the device would only work when the software was first installed, before the system was rebooted. After reboot, the device would NOT reconnect. Downloading the latest software didn't fix the problem, it only changed the failure. On Windows 7, the device would eventually reconnect if I disabled and re-enabled the device and otherwise fiddled with the networking stack in some indeterminate way. On XP, the device would reconnect, BUT, the system was unusable. A service named "WifiSvc.exe" would fail with a dialog reporting the failure. After closing the dialog, the service would be restarted and would fail again in one or two minutes, resulting in the dialog reappearing. This constantly reappearing failure dialog and intermittent network service rendered the system unusable.

Click Here to see more reviews about: NETGEAR Wireless-N 150 USB Adapter WNA1100

Improve wireless performance from built-in WiFi in notebooks and desktops, Connects PCs to the Internet using Wireless-G or Wireless-N routers from NETGEAR and others, Push ‘N' Connect secures the connection to a wireless router, Includes adapter cradle for desktop computers. Features: Designed for your notebook or desktop PC, Supports WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, and WEP security, Push ‘N' Connect.

Get 53% OFF

Click here for more information about NETGEAR Wireless-N 150 USB Adapter WNA1100

50FT CAT6 Black Patch Cable Snagless RJ45M/RJ45M Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Bought this 50ft Category 6 patch cable made by belkin from Parts Express, the cable showed up at my house in 3 days and for around $7 its the best deal online and I could not be happier. I use this cable to connect my XBOX 360 to my modem and it works flawlessly, can't ask for much else.

Click Here to see more reviews about: 50FT CAT6 Black Patch Cable Snagless RJ45M/RJ45M

Get 60% OFF

Click here for more information about 50FT CAT6 Black Patch Cable Snagless RJ45M/RJ45M

10/01/2011

IOGEAR USB 2.0 to Serial/PDA Converter Cable GUC232A Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I should have believed those other reviews that says this Serial Adapter doesn't work on XP, because it doesn't. The driver included on the CD does absolutly nothing, and the adapter simply will not work. Do not buy it if you are running XP.

Click Here to see more reviews about: IOGEAR USB 2.0 to Serial/PDA Converter Cable GUC232A

Get 45% OFF

Click here for more information about IOGEAR USB 2.0 to Serial/PDA Converter Cable GUC232A

NETGEAR Home Theater Internet Connection Kit (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have only had this for a few days, but hookup is a breeze (took about 5 minutes from openning the box to fishing wires under my furniture behind the TV), and it is much faster than wireless G. I am streaming Netflix through my TivoHD without undue buffering, and at the claimed Netflix full HD quality. The utility software included with the product allows the user to turn off the three LEDs on the four port switch, implement security on the devices, and create network priorities if there are multiple adapters on the network. The utility software scans the powerline network and details the speed at which the network is operating. My speeds vary between 72 mpbs to 88 mbps in my 3,100 sqft house that is about 7 years old. My network router is upstairs and my home theater is downstairs. Longevity of the device is yet to be determined since I have only had it a few days, but so far I am very pleased with the product.
***UPDATE***
I had a lamp that operated by touch to turn it on and off. It kept turning on by itself after installing the netgear powerline adapter. Well, after unplugging the lamp from the wall, I am getting about 160 mbps transfer speeds on my network to my home theater. Its fast, stable, and streams video like crazy.

Click Here to see more reviews about: NETGEAR Home Theater Internet Connection Kit (Black)

Turn Any Electrical Outlet into a High-Speed Home Network Connection NETGEAR's Home Theater Internet Connection Kit (XAVB1004) is a convenient solution for extending your home network by using standard electrical outlets. This kit delivers the devices you need to set up an Internet connection in any room without running new wires.The XAVB1004 connects up to four (4) devices to your network: Game consoles including Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 Networked attached storage devices including: NETGEAR ReadyNAS, Notebook PCs, Wired and wireless routers, TiVo, AppleTV,VUDU box, Desktop PCs, Slingbox, BD Live enabled Blu-ray player Features Turn a power outlet into a high speed Internet and home network connection Connects up to 4 devices Delivers fast 200 Mbps speed, fast enough to stream HD videoFor use with both wired and wireless routers and gateways Simply plug an XAV101 into your router and connect as many as 4 Ethernet-ready devices to the XAV1004 Port-based Quality of Service (QoS), ensures that the highest priority applications are allocated more bandwidth Red, yellow, green status LEDs indicate maximum data rate 128-bit AES data encryption ensures privacy and security, secure your Powerline AV network by just pushing a button Supports Windows Vista HomePlug AV compatible

Click here for more information about NETGEAR Home Theater Internet Connection Kit (Black)

Cisco RVS4000 4-port Gigabit Security Router - VPN Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased the RVS4000 primarily due to its gigabit WAN port; very few wired firewalls have a gigabit WAN port. Not having a gigabit WAN port is a reasonable design because WAN ports in many SOHO firewall applications will likely connect to T1 (1.5 Mbps) or T3 lines (45 Mbps) at most. Since these data rates are lower than that of an ordinary 100 Mbps ethernet port, a gigabit WAN port is more than what is required of a WAN interface.
However, I wanted to use a firewall/router on the network inside of my primary NAT/SPI firewall which is primarily a gigabit network. So, a gigabit WAN port was an important feature because it needs to connect to a gigabit switch (not a WAN link).
Before my purchase, I read many customer reviews that complained about slow data rates through the WAN port. These reviews were very discouraging since the Linksys had a gigabit WAN interface. This was until I found a benchmark test that explained the negative reviews. The RVS4000 (primarily due to its industrial-grade security features) has a WAN to LAN data rate of 15.9 Mbps; very slow for a gigabit interface. However, this can be improved upon by configuring (turning off) the security features of the firewall. Unless you configure the firewall as a non-gateway device, don't expect orders of magnitude improvement in speed.
Here's the good news. The benchmark clocked the RVS4000 LAN to WAN data rate at 530 Mbps. Since many disk drive interfaces do not have a sustained data rate this high; you will not see this number when transfering files. I have a couple NAS RAID boxes with gigabit interfaces that top out at around 100-150 Mbps (individually). I can get higher network utilization numbers when doing several files transfers between different network endpoints simultaneously. Network file transfers tend to be very CPU intensive, even when using SCSI hard drives. The CPU intensive part comes from having to package up the data into IP packets and managing the data transfer.
The bottom line is that I am very satisfied with this firewall and its gigabit WAN port. But understand that it needs to be configured properly to optimize its performance and functionality. You don't need to be an engineer or rocket scientist to do this; however, you will need a bit of understanding about IP networking. If you use the RVS4000 as a primary firewall (configuring all of its security features), I suspect it will do that job rather well also.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Cisco RVS4000 4-port Gigabit Security Router - VPN

As broadband speeds increase most 10/100 gateways do not have the power to support those higher data rates, and thus become the bottleneck in the network. The RVS4000 10/100/1000 4-Port VPN Router works at Gigabit speeds to meet the demands of todays networks. It features Linksys proven SPI Firewall with an integrated Intrusion Detection and Prevent System (IDS/IPS). Its built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100/1000 Ethernet switch can connect up four PCs directly, or additional hubs and switches. The QoS features provide consistent voice and video quality throughout your business. In addition the RVS4000 features a Virtual Private Network (VPN) security engine that creates encrypted IPSec tunnels through the Internet. The IPSec VPN tunnels enable remote users from at home, or on the road to easily, and securely connect to the office network through a typical wired or wireless broadband connection. When used with another RVS4000 or other Linksys VPN router, branch-to-branch connections can be established allowing users in a remote office to connect to the corporate network.

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about Cisco RVS4000 4-port Gigabit Security Router - VPN