Introduction:
Compex has been around since 1987 when a group of 4 partners came together with microcomputer design experience and found this networking company. They are dedicated to pumping out networking hardware which specializes on the needs of the consumer. "COMPEX is committed to creating the networking industry price/performance curve while maintaining the highest quality and reliability standards." Compex prides themselves on their rigorous product testing in lab before the product gets shipped. It is this testing that Compex claims separate them from other manufacturers of LAN/WAN equipment. "Each port of each product must pass 1 million packets of data before shipment."
Compex has a broad networking product line with many components to choose from. In the Broadband Router category they have two types, the 'NetPassage' series (which we are reviewing here) and the simple 'Passage' series. They also have a 'Wireless LAN' category with their Wireless 'WavePort' series. The company also manufactures switches, hubs and other types of networking hardware. They have a complete SOHO kit designed to get you started on a complete networking environment. They also have Mobile products such as USB and Ethernet PCMCIA cards. And last but certainly not least they do carry Network Interface Cards (NIC's) in the form of 10/100BaseT AND Gigabit Ethernet. If you'd like to see their whole product line, check out this page.
Now to our product we will be testing here. I have sitting on my desk for the last few weeks the NetPassage 15B Internet Router from the NetPassage series.. You can find a complete product page on it here. I've been testing it running it as my main router for the past few weeks and have tried it in every configuration and application I came across.
Specs:
Industrial Standards
IEEE802.3 10Base-T, IEEE802.3u 100Base-TX, IEEE802.3x flow control; FCC Class B, CE Mark, UL
WAN Protocol
Static/Dynamic IP, PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE), Dana RAS
WAN Interface
1 x RJ45 Ethernet port
LAN Interface
4-port 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Switch (NetPassage 15B)
LED Indicators
Power Status, LAN & WAN Link/Activity
Supported Users
Up to 253
IP Packet Filtering
Yes
Network Address Translating (NAT)
Yes
DHCP Server
Yes
Access Control
IP-based : Yes
Time-based : Yes
TCP/UDP Port-based : Yes
Load Balancing
Yes (via Parallel Broadband)
Virtual Server
Yes (IP-Forwarding and Port-Forwarding)
VoIP Pass-Through
Yes
VPN Client Pass-Thru
Yes (PPTP)
Netmeeting
Yes
Clock Synchronization
Yes
Configuration Interface:
Web-based interface, Telnet command console
Firmware Upgrading
Yes
Power Supply
External power supply with either 110V or 220V AC input 47-63Hz and 5V DC 3A output
Power Consumption
20W maximum
Environment Requirements
Temperature
Operating: 0°C to 50°C
Storage: -20°C to 70°C
Humidity
Operating: 10%RH to 80%RH
Storage: 5%RH to 90%RH
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