Crave

(Credit: Netgear)

For today's giveaway, we have the Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router. You may already have a router, the but the WNDR3700 offers a few state-of-the-art niceties, including simultaneous dual-band 802.11n operation (on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands), gigabit Ethernet and guest networking, and support for add-on USB storage. CNET networking guru Dong Ngo awarded the Netgear WNDR3700 3.5 stars when he reviewed it earlier this year, and CNET users are also positively inclined toward this model.

So, how do you try to win this Netgear WNDR3700? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive (1) Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router. Approximate retail value is $189.99.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, December 14, at 6:59 a.m. EST.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 6:59am ET on December 14, 2009. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

For this week's installment of the weekly Crave giveaway, we've got something for all you folks who would like to upgrade your wireless routers but haven't yet: the Belkin N+ wireless router, which features 802.11n 2.0 technology and earned a CNET Editors' Choice award last year.

In his review, Dong Ngo said the Belkin N+ is "a great performer with excellent range and throughput speed" and that it's "worth every penny of its $100-or-so price tag." As a bonus, it also has a USB port on back that delivers limited network-storage functionality. (Read the full review.)

Normally, the Belkin N+ would cost about $100, but you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this wireless router? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive (1) Belkin N+ Wireless Router. Approximate retail value is $100.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, October 26, at noon ET.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 PM ET on October 26, 2009. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

Apple's new Time Capsule in chic Apple white.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

Apple's new Time Capsule is basically the new true dual-band Airport Extreme Base Station with a hard drive permanently attached to it.

Coming in a great design, the new Time Capsule's good looks can't make up for its lackluster set of features, unfortunately.

A lot of networking functions, such as Web filtering, DDNS, and Wi-Fi-protected setup, commonly found on many other routers, are missing. With the Time Capsule, you won't have very good control of which band--2.4GHz or 5GHz--you want the router to work in, either.

Its wireless performance was also a mixed bag. In our testing, the device had great 5GHz performance. Its 2.4GHz performance, on the other hand, could use some improvement.

The built-in hard drive of the Time Capsule is a very simple network storage solution, the sole function of which is to store files and share them with others; there are no other features, such as iTunes or Media servers. Its network storage performance was also lower than our expectations.

The Time Capsule could still make a nice device, even with all these shortcomings, if it didn't cost too much. At $500 (for the 1TB version--the 500GB version costs $300), I found it to be painfully expensive. For this much cash, you can find many alternative solutions that offer more storage and many more features.

You can read the full review of the Apple Time Capsule at CNET Reviews.

The new Base Station still has only three Ethernet ports. Most routers have four.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

I finally got a chance to review Apple's first true dual-band Wireless-N router, the new Airport Extreme Base Station.

The new router, like the previous model, makes a great home router for novice and especially Mac users. It incorporates MobileMe for remote access and administration, offers fast wireless speeds, and has a very good range.

Savvy and Windows users, however, will find a lot of networking features missing, including the very popular Wi-Fi Protected Setup, the capability to filter Web sites, and access to manage the router's setting via a Web browser.

The Airport Extreme Base Station's great and eye-catching design will make a lot of you fall in love with it. However, if truth be told, it's not a router for everyone.

To find out more, read the in-depth review at CNET Reviews.

I reviewed D-Link's DIR-855 wireless router recently, and complained that it didn't offer NAS or print-serving capability. On Wednesday, the company fixed that by introducing the Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit DIR-825.

(Credit: D-Link)

Like the DIR-855, the DIR-825 is a true dual-band gigabit router, meaning it can spontaneously offer Wireless-N signals in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. The DIR-825, however, comes with SharePort technology, which allows for turning the USB port of the router into a virtual-network USB port that supports external hard drives for NAS functionality and other USB devices, such as printers.

The new router also features D-Link's HDFuel technology, and belongs to D-Link's green family of routers. The former optimizes the wireless bandwidth for HD content, while the latter means the power used for the router's wireless signal and wired-network ports are adjustable (either automatically or manually) to conserve energy.

The best news is that SharePort, as well as other technologies mentioned above, are going to be made available this week via a firmware update to certain existing D-Link USB Wireless-N routers, including the DIR-628, the DIR-655, the DIR-855, and the DGL-4500. If you are the owner of one of these, remember to update the router's firmware.

The new Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit DIR-825 is available now for an estimated $200.

This is the D-Link DIR-855, one of the three new D-Link routers that belong to the company's Green Initiative.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

D-Link claimed today to be the first company to offer green Wi-Fi home networking. While the "first" notion of the claim is debatable--I've seen routers from other vendors with an eco-friendly design--the green aspect is more than welcome.

The company said its green initiative that adds eco-friendly features to the Xtreme NT line of wireless routers could reduce the devices' power consumption by 40 percent without sacrificing performance.

These new features cut down the power usage by automatically detecting link status and network cable length then adjusting the power accordingly. The new routers also feature Wi-Fi scheduling that allows customers to easily program when the Wi-Fi radio signals are turned on and off to further save energy consumption. Though this is not really new, many other routers allows for selectively turning off the wireless signal, D-Link has made this a lot easier to use and provides a user-selectable radio shutdown option that's adjustable by day and start/end times.

All D-Link's new routers are now available for purchase with the price varying from $150 to $350.

Bearing the same futuristic, compact design, the WRT610N is slightly larger than the previous models of the same design.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

Linksys announced its latest router today, the WRT610N, and it might just be the first router that offers everything you would want and then some.

First off, it's a true dual-band wireless router. This is important because I've run into not-so-true dual-band wireless routers before, like the D-Link DGL-4500 or the Netgear WNDR3300. The D-Link can only work in either 2.4Ghz frequency or 5ghz frequency at a time making it not so much of a dual-band router. The Netgear, on the other hand, can work in both frequencies at time, however, in dual-band mode only its 5Ghz frequency access point offers Draft N 2.0 performance, while the 2.4Ghz access point works at the old school 802.11g speed (maxed out at 54 Mbps). The Linksys WRT610N is the first I've got my hands on that offers simultaneous Draft N 2.0 dual-band. It has two separate Wireless-N access points, one uses the 2.4Ghz frequency while the other uses the 5Ghz frequency, and both can be set to operate at the same time.

The WRT610N comes fully loaded with gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB port for its network storage capability

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

Bearing the same sleek, internal antenna design as previous model the WRT310N and WRT110, the WRT610N has a slightly larger footprint, though overall still very compact. The little increment in size allows for a better ventilation solution, presumably to address the heat issue that I noticed in the WRT310N. The biggest improvement of the WRT610N, apart from the dual-band feature, is its USB port on the back. This port when hosts an external hard drive turns the WRT610N into a full feature network attached storage device that supports FTP server and UPnP Media Server. The router also supports high-speed wired connection with all of its ports being gigabit-capable.

The WRT610N comes with Linksys popular Linksys EasyLink adviser (LELA) software for both PC and Mac. It supports WiFi Protected Setup for quickly adding wireless clients to the network. Most impressively, it's also Linksys's attempts into "green" tech. The device is mostly made of recycled materials. For this reason, the WRT610N bears the Energy Star certification and cost only only $149, a great deal for such high-end router.

Now that's probably more than most of you would look for in a router. For me, though, I am not entirely satisfied. First, the WRT610N doesn't have a built-in print server. And secondly, I really wish they had chosen a better name for it. The device's official full name is "Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router WRT610N," and calling that a mouthful is a gross understatement. Try saying it and you will agree!

T-Mobile @Home HiPort router

(Credit: T-Mobile)

The news has broke that T-Mobile will be offering a VoIP service called T-Mobile @Home in select cities nationwide. However, yours truly had a chance to get some hands-on time with the specially built T-Mobile HotSpot @Home HiPort wireless Linksys router made especially for this service. T-Mobile also sent me an optional VTech cordless phone so I can test it out.

Setting up the router is the same procedure as setting up any other router, save for one difference: You need to install a SIM card. T-Mobile provided me with one, which I then snapped into place in the back of the router. There are two SIM card slots and two phone jacks, so you have the capability to use this with up to two lines. After installing the SIM card, simply attach the Ethernet cable from the modem to the router, and then connect the router to your computer. You can now attach your home phone (or cordless phone in my case) to the router. Note: If you inserted a SIM card in the Line 1 slot, you should connect your home phone to the corresponding Phone 1 jack. If you wish to change settings, such as passwords and WPA security, you can do so via a Web browser. Voila! You're ready to go. The process took maybe five minutes, if not less.

Making calls feels just like any other plain old telephone service. Just pick up the phone, dial, and you're on your way. Call quality was about the same as landline, though we did pick up a tiny bit of hiss the further we moved the cordless phone away from the base. As we mentioned, the VTech cordless phone system is completely optional; according to T-Mobile, you can use the router with any touch-tone phone. If you do wish to get the VTech phone, it's about $59.99.

Overall, we thought it was a great deal. The router does cost $149.99, but you can get it for $49.99 if you agree to a two-year contract. You also have to pay $10 a month for the @Home service, which really isn't too bad. The fee includes unlimited nationwide long-distance, caller ID, voice mail, call waiting, three-way conferencing, and more. You can also port over your home phone number if you like.