BT Voyager 2100

It's now easier than ever to share your internet connection and, with fast broadband connections becoming relatively cheap, it makes sense to do so if you have more than one computer in the house.

In the past, you might have had to run the main connection into one PC and use a piece of software on the computer to share the connection with other PCs over a network. Then came ADSL modems with integrated networking, so that you could plug two, three or four computers straight into the one connection.

But what if you have PCs on different floors, and don't want to pull up the floorboards or have network cables trailing all over the place?

The latest generation of ADSL modems, such as the Voyager 2100, combines wired with wireless networking. It comes in a small grey box with green lights on the front to indicate power, a connection to the internet and connections over wired and wireless networks.

In addition to power and ADSL ports on the back, there are four network sockets for your wired devices. There is also a pair of aerials for wireless networking.

It's easy to configure: just plug it all in, and log in to the website as described on the straightforward set-up poster. You can then enter your ADSL username and password and configure all the bits and pieces.

There were a few problems using the set-up site when not on a PC with Internet Explorer - both a Mac and a PC with the Mozilla browser failed to properly show the configuration screens - but it worked fine other than that.

The Wi-Fi section is also configured from the web page, and allows you to use all the main standards - WEP, WAP and 802.1x - for security. This can be a bit tricky to get working, but the web page does make it slightly easier to get to grips with than it would be otherwise.

We did experience a couple of teething troubles, which meant changing a channel setting for the wireless access, but after this we were able to get it working fine.

Contact: BT 0800 800 150
www.bt.com

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