Six annoying router problems -- and solutions

These days, having access to wireless broadband is an absolute necessity for home offices and small businesses. And after more than a decade of innovations, you would think that the standard wireless gateway/router would be a picture-perfect product by now. Alas, no.

While many routers offer good features, most still come with flaws that can make life a lot harder, such as confounding setups or limited security.

Wireless router basics

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These days, having access to wireless broadband is an absolute necessity for home offices and small businesses. And after more than a decade of innovations, you would think that the standard wireless gateway/router would be a picture-perfect product by now. Alas, no.

While many routers offer good features, most still come with flaws that can make life a lot harder, such as confounding setups or limited security.

Wireless router basics

What follows are six router problems that, quite frankly, I find the most annoying. I looked for possible solutions, and while I didn't find one router that addressed all my concerns, I did discover features -- and routers -- that could make things a lot easier.

1. Difficult configuration

The problem: How long does it usually take you to set up your router? When was the last time you were able to get it right on the first try? What about when you wanted to add a new PC to your wireless network? And how about getting your wireless printer to connect to your network?

Let's face it: Each network is different, and getting the right combination of settings can be confounding. For example, even some reasonably experienced PC hands may not understand the differences between security settings or know that WPA-2 offers better protection than WEP and ordinary WPA.

These and other hitches are why setting up any router can still be vexing, even to an experienced computer user. Some, such as the Buffalo AirStation Wireless-N 300Mbps Cable Router WHR-HP-G300N ($53), have crowded menus with multiple layers that make navigation painful. Others, such as the Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router WNDR3700 ($170), rely on a protected setup that has a long series of instructions that have to be followed to get a new PC on your network.

Possible solutions: Various vendors have tried to make things simpler with easy-setup CDs or one-click connection buttons, but they can't cover every possible circumstance. Buffalo's and Netgear's setup instructions go the extra mile by explicitly detailing the order in which you need to you plug everything in before you run the CD. (Cable modems in particular should be powered on before you connect your router to them.) That's a nice touch -- but it assumes you've read the printed instructions that came with the router. When was the last time you read the manual before you plugged in your new device?

Almost all routers have Web-based configuration screens, and as long as you remember the device's IP address, default username and password (which you should have changed when you set it up), you should be able to get into the setup screens and make any adjustments you need. It's just a matter of figuring out which adjustments are necessary.

Best available routers: The Cisco Valet M10 ($100), part of Cisco's recently introduced Valet line, comes with a USB key that has the configuration software on it. Once you set up one PC on your network, you use the key to run the configuration on any other PCs or Macs (the key also includes Mac software) without having to write down the wireless encryption key or other information.