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After setting this router up by plugging in power and modem you should be able to connect to the device by the wireless, or alternatively plugging in an Ethernet cable might be the easiest option. Then it should be possible for you to access the router, either via the IP Address of the router, or using the CD that comes with the Buffalo router to aid you in this process.
The Buffalo CD offers a step by step guide to installing the router itself – including details on how to plug the device in. The next stage gives you the link to view the web settings page.
While this CD doesn't provide as many settings options as other competing brands, it does make the installation painless.
Clicking on Setup reveals the first real configuration page, which might seem quite daunting as there seems to be 7 different pages just under ‘Set-up', let alone the other 7 headings! Luckily, if you aren't too familiar with networking, there is a handy ‘Set-up assistant' at the top of this page which takes you through 4 very easy to understand pages, allowing you to set the router up very quickly.
If you are more used to fine-tuning your network then this router certainly has plenty of options at hand.
The number of services available on this router is impressive. It does have printer support, which is a fantastically simple way of setting up a printer server and allowing all devices on the network to be able to access it. There are options to use a USB 3G dongle or even a USB back-up drive. On top of that this router is pre-programmed with several different hotspot configurations making it very easy to use as a hotspot.
While there are absolutely hundreds of options you can change, we did find it a bit tricky to find certain settings. That said, the pages all loaded super-quick and settings were applied nearly instantly.
Buffalo have thought of this and this router actually ships with 2 different firmwares. The one you've seen above is the ‘Professional' firmware, there is also a more user-friendly version, which interestingly has more features, which include the Download manager and BitTorrent Services, as well as more support for USB devices.
Unfortunately, they did seem to sacrifice the aesthetics (above) with this specific firmware revision.
