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EnGenius wireless routers: Got XtraRange?

EnGenius announces at CES 2012 a new family of routers, called XtraRange, that offers significantly better range than competitors.

Dong Ngo SF Labs Manager, Editor / Reviews
CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now manages CNET San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.
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Dong Ngo
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Despite the promise to offer lots of features and extra long range, the new $45 EnGenius XtraRange ESR300H wireless router is super compact.
Despite the promise to offer lots of features and extra long range, the new $45 EnGenius XtraRange ESR300H wireless router is super compact. Dong Ngo/CNET

LAS VEGAS - While most networking vendors intend to introduce the latest and greatest at CES, EnGenius this year focuses on something that as old as wireless networking itself: range.

Yet that might be the most important aspect of a wireless router. The company announced today at CES 2012 a new family, called Engenius XtraRange, of routers designed to offer significantly longer range and better coverage than competing products.

EnGenius says that on top of the extra range, its new routers will also provide top performance for the existing 802.11n standard, making them a good fit for "bandwidth-intensive home entertainment applications such as digital content streaming, VoIP phone calls, and videoconferencing.

The new routers include the ESR300H High-Power 2.4GHz 300Mbps Wireless-N Router, the ESR600H High-Power Dual-Band 300 + 300Mbps Wireless-N Router, and the ESR750H High-Power Dual-Band 300 + 450Mbps Wireless-N Router. The two later routers also support Gigabit and come with a USB port to host a printer or a storage device. The ESR750H also support EnGeinus's unique shAir feature to additionally support connectivity to USB-enabled speakers for music playback.

EnGenius says that all of its new router support Quality of Service (QoS), the ability to provide up to four separate wireless networks, and detachable antennas to enable users to upgrade to higher-gain antennas useful for larger properties or small-to-medium office deployments. In addition, they also offer Parental Control features that include time-based Internet access control and URL/keyword filtering.

Each XtraRange router includes a suite of security features including an SPI firewall, WPA/WPA2 encryption, 802.1x authentication, WPS, L2TP and PPTP VPN tunneling, and VPN pass-through and MAC address filtering.

The ESR300H is available immediately at a very affordable price of just $45. The higher-end ESR600H and ESR750H will also be available soon in he first quarter of 2012 and are estimated to come with comparably friendly price-tags of around $110 and $130, respectively.