Netgear RangeMAX 240 May 22nd, 2006 | by Vince Veneziani

Features and Design

Generally speaking, most routers tend to not be on the pretty side of things. They're usually designed to be sturdy and reliable, which is fine. But some of us enjoy having a router that looks decent and performs well. The Netgear RangeMax240 is one of those routers. It's thin and comes with a glossy white paint job that seems to look decent in most places you put it.  It does however have 3 antennas protruding from the back of it though, so it's not entirely home friendly like the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station.

On the front of the device, you'll find your basic indicator lights that show power and Internet connectivity status. These lights are actually designed really nicely and look better than just an LED shoved into a plastic housing. The back of the device features a power jack, 3 antennas, and Ethernet ports. It's nice to see that Netgear hasn't forgotten that not everyone uses wireless on all their products. So if you need to hook up your Xbox 360 or TiVo, you've got 4 ports to do so with. There is also a reset button in case things go wrong.

As far as features go with the RangeMax 240, you'll find it's backwards compatible with both 802.11b and g devices. It's also supposed to improve the performance of your existing wireless devices by up to 50%, but don't expect that much from this device. The big feature on RangeMax 240 though is that it can transfer data at up to 240mbps with the proper hardware. Having speeds that fast can really help things like file transfers on a home network or downloading big files. It's using MIMO Gen3 technology to achieve these high speeds and that's why it had 3 antenna.

If you're a security nut, you'll be pleased to know that Netgear has kept you in mind and has a slew of security features included with this router. They also include easy to use guides on wireless security so that amateur computer users will be able to have a secure network without the hassle of knowing what WEP or hex keys are. You'll get Ultra Secure with Double Firewall, WEP Encryption, and WPA2 security so worry not about break-ins on your home network.

Image Courtesy of Netgear