Hooray, I finally “upgraded” my home wired network into a wireless one. Precisely, I replaced my Prolink’s Hurricane 9000P ADSL Modem / Router with Asus’ WL-500G Premium Wireless Router. After canceled my previous ADSL internet service and using dial-up for about two months, I’m now using a wireless broadband internet service, so there’s no point to keep that ADSL modem / router anymore. But why did I choose that WL-500G Premium (or WL-500gP) Wireless Router?

The main reason is that this router can functioned as more than just a router. No kidding, the WL-500gP can be used as a Media Server and a Download Machine as well. All of them can be done without having to turn off the PC. That’s right. Thanks to the provided (two) USB connectivity, I can connect the router to an external HD enclosure and have it download any files I want (HTTP, FTP, and even BitTorrent protocols are supported) and store the downloaded files on the external HDD. I’ve tested it with LAN Server, a 3.5-inch HDD enclosure from Lexcron, and it works just fine. As for its Media Server capability, I haven’t got a change to try it since I don’t have any wireless media devices. Btw, it said to work with XBox 360 as well, and it makes me want to buy one right now…

Still with its USB connectivity, the WL-500gP router can be connected with a USB printer and USB webcam as well. I want to try the printer connection, but it seems that my Windows XP is missing its TCP Lib module or something, and it made the printer’s TCP port’s setup failed. About the USB webcam, I’m going to give it a try tomorrow.

Other features include:

• 125 High-Speed Mode
• 300% increased signal coverage compared to conventional IEEE 802.11g routers, while remaining interoperable with the WL-169gE, WL-138gE and WL-100gE.
• EZsetup enables convenient wireless connection configuration
• More secured: 64/128 bit WEP, WPA/WPA2/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK

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