Nexland Pro400 Internet Sharing Box Review

Each port has LEDs which indicate a 100BaseT, a 10BaseT and/or a duplex connection (200mb). The speed depends on the type of ethernet card installed in your system; most recent (a few years old at most) PCI cards are 100BaseTX with duplex, in which case the 100 light will be on or flashing and the duplex light will be on. The latter flashes when there's either heavy traffic and/or packet collision. Then there's another more interesting feature. This is the first router I've seen (although I've only seen a few total) that has dip switches. What are they for? Well, you can use them to disable the DHCP server, reset the unit, activate the Serial Console Interface and configure the ISB for firmware upgrades. This comes in very handy if you input an incorrect setting or forget your password which prevents you from accessing the unit. Think of it as a multi-functional CMOS clearing jumper. But alas, that's not all. You can also back up your configuration settings to external media (like a floppy or a CD) should something happen to the unit. Then if anything gets screwed up, all you do is flip up a couple switches, load the settings and you're back in business. The manual details the entire procedure in terms even I can understand.