Billion BiPAC 7300G

Good – This modem rated very highly on ADSL2+ performance in the Australian Personal Computer magazine tests and I got one on the strength of their recommendation. For the facilities available, it was very good value; I managed to find one for $129. I've been very happy with the performance and stability since then. I run a number of services from my home computer and, even though I had the modem settings from my previous modem, I found it very difficult to correctly configure the modem. Port forwarding and packet filter settings do not track particularly well, which is tedious. The behaviour of the system in configuration is inconsistent and quirky.

A bug in the modem software meant that, while trying to set up a web server, it would not forward the port properly. Attempting to contact Billion user support simply resulted in listening to recorded message for about half an hour. Posting to the Billion support forums didn't result in any company responses, but it did result in another user sharing their solution. The problem was eventually fixed by changing the port number that the embedded configuration web server uses.

More seriously, while attempting to fix the port forwarding problem, the modem configuration screens ended up being visible to the wider internet. Luckily, I had changed the admin password before trying to set things up and I recommend everybody do this before connecting to the outside world. I still don't know how it happened

However, a simple factory-reset seemed to work OK. So, unless you have a complex set of requirements, the plain modem looks pretty good. Very good speed connection on plain ADSL.

Modem, router, switch and wireless access point all in one package at a very reasonable price.

A well-rounded set of firewall, port forwarding and traffic shaping options for the power user.

Good forum support from other users. The embedded software and user interface is buggy, not particularly user friendly and can expose the modem to the outside world.

Poor company support.

OK – Overall this product I would recommend to home use I would not say good for business's but it definitely keeps the 3 of us in this house happy and always connected at the same time. Good signal strength for home use, with ability to connect quite alot of computers at once. Small and compact so can fit in most places. Comes at a good price when compared to some other similar products in the market place.

I find the security of the modem to be good once you have figured out how the interface and user settings work. At first it took me a long time to figure out how to work the setup/user section of the modem. The manual has not much information in it. Just have to remember to save everything you do to flash in the user section of the modem and it will be fine.

Good – Impressive product. I'd probably recommend for more advanced users as the extensively featured firewall and QoS facilities would be lost on basic users. Basic users would do better to grab a Netgear for similar money and get the same basic functionality and perhaps greater ease of use... Good unit. Stable, cool, strong wireless signal. The WebAdmin interface is nice and fast. WebAdmin interface is poorly laid out and some features are quite difficult to find. It would also appear that the MAC Address filter only works one way. i.e. It will restrict listed MAC Addresses and allow all others, not permit only the listed addresses.

OK – Pretty good modem, has worked soundly for a year now and I get good speeds consistantly after the firmware upgrade Quite cheap. I got mine for about $120 around a year ago based on a APC review of ADSL2+ modems. Setup is very easy, a wizard sets the thing up for you and I had no issues getting it working with my ISP on ADSL2+ settings. I did have quite a lot of stability issues, unexplained drops outs and refusal to reconnect the ADSL connection. I rectified this by upgrading to the latest 1.35 firmware. Seems to be running much better now. The unit is very ugly. Ugly enough to want to hide it away in the corner permanently...

Excellent – Also bought this unit for $115 about a year ago based on the APC review on ADSL2+ modems. Considering stand alone modems and routers were going for at least $70 each at the time, all in one wireless unit at this price was sweet. The unit is built solid and it hasn't missed a bit since the purchase while I gradually upgraded my ISP from 512kBs to 1.5 Mbts to current ADSL2+. Wireless connection with my laptop is reliable with only a few occasional dropouts (easy enough to reconnect).

Overall, this has been a perfect router/modem set up for me so far. Solid, reliable, price.