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| Product: Home Portal 100 |
Company: 2Wire, Inc. |
| Web: www.2wire.com |
Phone: 408-428-9500 |
| Platform: Win98/2000/NT/ME |
SRP: US$200
Street Price: same |
Cred Rating: | Special Award: |
Five years ago, talk of a "home network" would have elicited puzzled looks; everyone knew that networked computers were found at corporations and universities, not in junior's bedroom. But in the last few years, with multi-PC households and broadband Internet connections becoming increasingly common, more and more users have become Local Area Networkers. Early adopters of home networking had to be very tech-savvy, as well as handy at snaking Ethernet cable all over the house. Now, thanks to the combination of new and improved HomePNA standards and affordable, truly user-friendly networking kits, home networking is finally coming into its own.
At the last Consumer Electronics Show, San Jose's 2Wire debuted their line of home networking products featuring the Home Portal 100. This unit has major "wow" factor, thanks to its support of Ethernet, HPNA and USB, the fact that it works with both PCs and Macs, its extreme user-friendliness, its support of data rates up to 10Mbps, and because it lists for a mere US$200. Oh yeah, and it's got a built-in firewall. Go ahead, say it with me: "Wow!"
I was dying to find out if Home Portal lived up to the hype, and frankly, I'm not particularly gifted in the tech department, so I was counting on 2Wire's advertised ease-of-use. Luckily, it really was as straightforward as promised.
The documentation included with the unit is very clear and describes a variety of configuration options. The diagrams are easy to follow and I had no difficulty figuring out which configuration was appropriate for me. Since my second computer didn't have a Network Interface Card, I had to use one of 2Wire's handy PC Ports (sold separately, $50) which serves as a HPNA-to-USB adapter.
Approximately an hour into my installation, I had Internet sharing available on every phone jack in my house. What a delight it was to see DSL speeds on a computer that used to rely on Netzero for access! Ten minutes later, I had turned on file and printer sharing and my home network was fully operational. I've heard plenty of horror stories about configuring home LANs, but Home Portal was a dream. What's behind the user-friendly interface is a lot of forethought intent on sparing consumers pounding tech headaches. During set-up, Home Portal asks you for your activation code, which is custom-generated for you by 2Wire to account for your modem type, Net provider, and other details that are necessary for proper installation. It worries about the gory details, so you don't have to.
On top of the breezy set-up and pain-free operation, it should be a cinch to add additional computers, and much-hyped "Internet appliances," to the network in the future. And I've got the peace of mind that it's all firewall protected -- something that too many home LAN users are shockingly ignorant about. 2Wire has done an excellent job of taking something that most home users are intimidated by and making it a no-brainer. Would you groan so loudly that I could hear it over my new network if I described Home Portal as LANtastic?
- Scott Bass [4/30/01]
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