Buffalo Technology AirStation Nfiniti Wireless-N 300Mbps High Power Router WZR-HP-G300NH Review

I don't remember handling a product with such a long descriptive name but this is no ordinary device; the WZR-HP-G300NH is a top of the range, all purpose router from storage and network specialists Buffalo Technology.

At least on paper, it is still one of the most powerful models on the market both in terms of performance and features offered despite being launched last year.

The WZR-HP-G300NH is a 2.4GHz single band cable router (i.e. you will need an external modem) and comes with two rather flimsy looking "rabbit ears" omnidirectional antennae, a WPS (Wireless Protected Setup) button, WPA2 security, four GbE ports, 802.11bgn (up to 300Mbps says Buffalo) and a USB port plus an external power supply.

Other features include a QoS feature called MovieEngine, the ability to create a second guest network, an auto-hibernation mode to save energy and the ability to create wireless bridges by connecting multiple WZR-HP-G300NH routers.

We liked that, unlike some of its competitors, the WZR-HP-G300NH can be positioned either on a wall, on a flat surface, upright or laid down, without suffering from any drop in performance and thanks to a removable stand.

Installing the router is rather straight forward although you will need to have access to a CD drive, something that's missing from most netbooks and ultra-thin laptops.

Some have criticised the lack of a 5GHz 802.11n mode which would have moved the router away from the busy 2.4GHz band but Buffalo still managed to prove them wrong with some impressive speeds being reached during testing.

We used our own Vostro V13 laptop which comes with an Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 AGN network adapter - with an "up to speed of 300Mbps" of "Receive Bandwidth" according to Intel - and should therefore keep up with the the WZR-HP-G300NH.