Billion BiPAC 7404VGP review

A standard wireless router will do for most homes, but if you run a business or have more advanced needs, a router such as Billion's BiPAC 7404VGP is probably a better choice.

It doesn't look like much from the outside and is one of the least-attractive routers we've seen. However, like its predecessor the 7402VGP, the 7404VPG is one of the most feature-packed routers on the market. It's not one for beginners, though, and is one of the most difficult routers we've had to set up.

Configuring the router for the first time is tricky. There's a quick-start wizard, but it's confusing. If you want to use DHCP to automatically receive an IP address from your ISP, you have to enter the router's IP address as 0.0.0.0. There's an explanation of this on the configuration page, but a simple drop-down menu or tick box would have been easier. The configuration wizard also doesn't prompt you for wireless security settings, so you'll have turn on security manually.

Fortunately, the router supports WPA-PSK and WPA-PSK2. The 7404VGP is a standard 802.11g 54Mbit/s wireless router. Its performance was very good at near and far ranges, with little drop-off moving 10m away. The 7402VPG we reviewed in What's New: Networks, Shopper July 2006 suffered at long range, so it's good to see its successor do better. The performance shows that there's enough bandwidth for sharing an internet connection, but a MIMO or draft-N router would be better if you want to share files or stream video.

The 7404VGP has plenty of other features that will appeal to advanced or business users. It is Annex M ready, which means it supports the higher 3.5Mbit/s upload speeds of ADSL2+ using its built-in ADSL modem. It also has two telephone ports on the rear, which can be connected to two different SIP VoIP accounts. There's a throughput for your existing phone line, too, so you can use one handset for landline and VoIP calls. Calls are made using VoIP by default, but you can choose which calls you want to route over your landline to make emergency calls or make best use of a call plan. Quality of Service (QoS) lets you give priority to voice traffic, so you'll have clean voice calls even when downloading large files.

The firewall is one of the more advanced we've seen. It has a basic interface that lets you choose between High, Medium or Low levels of security, but you can also edit the packet filter rules directly to choose which traffic you do and don't want to allow. This isn't for the fainthearted, though, and you could easily struggle with the configuration if you're not too familiar with firewalls.

If you run a home or small office, or want absolute control over your internet connection and network settings, the 7404VGP is a great router. But it's expensive and confusing to configure if you don't know exactly what you're doing, so most home users would do better with D-Link's RangeBooster N650.

Author: David Ludlow