Microsoft Hardware Shares the Broadband

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/1466201">http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/1466201</a><br /><br />And so it begins - Microsoft has entered the networking arena. Remember that rumour about them offering PCs as well? We'll have to see if that comes true, but for now, you can buy Microsoft-branded Wifi gear. The question is, will you? I'm not that familiar with prices (I bought my gear a while back), so do you find the Microsoft offer compelling?<br /><br />"Long expected and finally arrived (though not on sale for a couple more weeks), Microsoft today made public its Broadband Networking line of products. The line includes both wireless and wired components targeted at home and small office networks looking to share a high speed Internet connection. The wireless side of the Broadband Networking line are all Intersil PRISM-based 802.11b products capable of 11Mbps. They include a Wireless Base Station router (MN-500, $149.95) with integrated 4-port switch for Internet sharing, a Wireless Notebook Adapter (MN-520, $79.95), and a Wireless USB Adapter (MN-510, $79.95). You can save $10 by buying a kit, which will include a Base Station with either the USB or PC Card adapter. <br /><br />The wired end consists of 10/100Mbps Ethernet products. There's a Base Station router (MN-100, $79.95) and a 5-Port Switch (MN-150, $39.95), plus three Network Interface Cards: USB (MN-110, $29.95), PC Card (MN-120, $39.95) and PCI (MN-130, $24.95)...Microsoft hopes to deliver unique ease of use with features such as a Setup Wizard which detects the ISP or modem settings to automatically configure the products. The Setup Wizard copies all the network settings to a Set-up Disk for storage and easy reinstall if needed, and can be used to transport settings to your other PCs on the network. An included utility provides access to software updates and network status."

[JonnoB]

Jeepers... that is expensive for a home unit.

Does anyone know if the router supports multiple sub-nets so I can have a DMZ static IP address in one zone and NAT+DHCP dynamic IPs in the other? I have yet to find a consumer router that does this properly... they are either one or the other.

[splintercell]

Rebranded Linksys kit. Nice though, because 128-bit WEP is on by default, so regular people should end up with more secure networks.

[bblock]

Actually, it's not rebranded, and it's quite a bit cheaper than Apple's wireless hub.

Check out Paul Thurott's article at http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/ms_broadband_networking.asp. Not that he's God or anything, but he likes it.

[splintercell]

Well, while it is possible, I doubt that Microsoft set up a dedicated production line for a few pieces of SOHO networking gear. Online sources still do say it is rebranded Linksys kit. (It's new, so that may prove to be false later on.) Not that that's a bad thing - I've had good experiences with their stuff and they do have over 40% of the marketshare in that area.

[scrinch]

Is Microsoft going to follow standard protocol and wait until the 3rd release of this networking hardware before they finally get it right? :D

[innersky]

Is Microsoft going to follow standard protocol and wait until the 3rd release of this networking hardware before they finally get it right? :D

While we all know this is true for software, they do have some really nice hardware products. My mouse and keyboard are from Microsoft, and it doesn't get any better then this.

[who_the]

Actually, it's not rebranded, and it's quite a bit cheaper than Apple's wireless hub.Cheaper than Apple? Sure, but what isn't? (And I'm an Apple user.)

I wonder if MS's MSRPs will be the actual sale price, or if the street prices will be cheaper. If the street prices are even somewhat cheaper than the suggested prices, then they should be extremely competitive with other 802.11b systems.

I'm a bit surprised that MS is so late in the game with 802.11b though. I guess they wanted to offer their stuff at a low price, but 802.11a or 802.11g (whichever ends up gaining traction) products are already out there and will be proliferating in the next couple of years.

I'm sure they just expect people to upgrade to the next version of their wireless hardware.

Having said that, 802.11b is just fine for my needs, and I'm all for things getting less expensive. :)

[JonathanWardRogers]

As usual, nothing for us Pocket PC users. :(

Why no CF? Not everyone wants a sleeve or an adapter.

[Registered]

Why no CF? Not everyone wants a sleeve or an adapter.

CF ? You're talking about the Compact Framework, I assume ? :lol:

MS sent me "Everett" a couple of weeks ago, and as much as I hate to admit it, this is one sweet product from the MS stable.

(that's the one with the latest version of the "CF" (Beta2) included.)

As it's a "Confidential" BETA with NDA's and stuff, I shouldn't discuss it openly, but this will be an awesome release.

Now, if just Compaq could "pull their finger out" and include the CF-runtime in their next ROM-update (-and, FLASH would be nice too!), we really could see some cool apps coming out in the future.


*bangs head on desk* - did I just praise MS ??? :D

what's the world coming too...


EDIT: I swear I put OFF-TOPIC in my subject line, but it doesn't seem to show up in my post. (Just to keep you 'anal rententives' from jumping up my throat)

[bbarker]

In the past month I've purchased several such items by Linksys. Microsoft seems to have priced theirs right in the market. Theirs don't look anything like Linksys on the outside. While they could have altered the components for a completely different look, they would have to be altered quite a bit.

Linksys is supposed to have the easiest configuration among the currently available products, and it's very easy to goof it up if you're not an expert, which I'm not. One setup worked perfectly out of the box, another took days to get right, and another worked perfectly except that I can't get my laptop to print to that network.

If Microsoft has made all of this easier, they'll be successful. We'll have to see. Yes, I would consider their products. I love their keyboards and mice (except for the weird split keyboard).

[Daniel]

I find it weird that MS hasn't said anything about 11x because that is what they're running in Redmond at least. I went to TechEd here in Australia a month or so ago and there was a session that mentioned this hardware briefly. They were talking about wirerless network best practices and the roll out that they did.
I'm interested but I have some requirements that don't look like they have been met, or mentioned at least. I want MAC address filtering for one.
I am an Apple user so I would probably go for the linksys stuff first but I am interested.
There was a beta for this hardware some time ago BTW.

Daniel