NetGear was first out of the gate with its WGR101 802.11g travel router. It has the basic features to satisfy most road warriors. Like the 3Com travel router, the WGR101 has a four-position sliding switch. But unlike its competitor, only the first three positions are used for now. Missing in the NetGear device is an Ethernet client mode—a minor omission, since you're unlikely to be bridging an Xbox (or the like) to an existing wireless network in your hotel room.

In switch position 1, the WGR101 acts as a single-client access point, whereas the 3Com product can support multiple clients. But limiting use to a single client can be beneficial on the road, since it prevents others in adjacent rooms from connecting to the hotel's network through your AP. (Multiple connections might result in an additional Internet usage charge.)

If you need to use the WGR101 as an AP for multiple systems, you can set the switch to position 2 for router mode. In router mode, the WGR101 lacks some of the more advanced features found in the 3Com travel router, such as port forwarding and Dynamic DNS. These features aren't generally needed for a travel router, but more advanced users might prefer to have them.

In terms of security, the NetGear travel router lets you disable SSID broadcast but provides only basic WEP encryption. While we think WEP is probably adequate for most travelers, NetGear is promising an upgrade to the more robust WPA security.

In our testing, the WGR101 averaged 17.5 Mbps of throughput at close distances in 802.11g mode and fell off to about 3.9 Mbps at 80 feet. While it didn't perform as well as the 3Com travel router, its performance is still much faster than most hotel Internet connections and shouldn't slow you down.