The 2701HG-B has pretty much all the features you might want in a gateway, as long as you're good with 802.11g wireless speeds. It is still supported by AT&T, so they can't automatically dismiss you when you call with a DSL line issue, although they likely will say that it's probably the modem because it is too old. The 2-Wire lets you reserve IP addresses to devices, so you can set up port forwarding to a device without actually setting a fixed IP on the device. That was handy for a VOIP adapter. The diagnostic screens are extensive, and you can find full operating manuals online - often a problem with AT&T modems. In a side-by-side comparison on a DSL line with speed issues, the 2-wire achieved significantly higher download speeds than an old Westell modem, somehow able to suck more packets through the wire. The 2-Wires are plentiful and cheap, but I have had poor reliability - having had one used gateway conk out after about a year, and another two eBay buys that worked out of the box, but lost connection after a few hours. That kind of reputation gets you back to the situation where AT&T tech service will try to turn any line problem into a modem problem, and sell you a new gateway for $100. It took over 2 hours on the phone and two modems before AT&T would send out a technician to fix the line.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The modem works well and the interface is easy to navigate. If you plan on using this with a fixed IP address it will help if you know something about setting up a DSL modem. Selecting the appropriate 2-wire pair combination for your line will work better than leaving the setting at automatic. You can do this via trial and error easy enough. The modem came with no setup instructions whatsoever but the 130 some odd page manual was easy enough to find on the internet. At so many pages I'm not surprised that the manual doesn't get included since that would certainly add a fair amount to the price. In the few weeks that I've had this installed there have been no problems with it whatsoever. I can not rate the reliability higher now, but if it keeps on going for a year I'd definitely give it a 5 star reliability rating. I did order a second one though it arrived with 2 of the prongs broken from the power adapter. I was sent a replacement power adapter that was not for the modem - it was for a mobile phone .... I've taken the broken one apart and am simply putting it in another enclosure.... Overall, for a DSL modem with built in wireless that works well at this price - you simply can't get a better deal.Read full review
This modem/router has some problems, but it also has 1 very desirable feature. It's weaknesses are mostly confined to the router, and I won't go into them, because they have been covered ad nausium, and the adsl can be used with separate router. This modems strong point is it's ability to work with phone lines with high attenuation, so if you have a rural address this modem could help you maintain a decent bandwidth/line speed. I have a phone line with ~53db of attenuation, and the 2701hg-b allows me to maintain a consistent 3mbps. Yes, I occasionally have to restart the modem, usually because of router problems, but I can usually maintain good service for a week or better. I'm giving this modem a 4 star rating, in part, because I buy them cheap, usually for less than $10 at my favourite auction site.Read full review
I bought this because it was cheaper than paying AT&T support $50+ for a connection problem with an "unsupported modem"(Zyxel) that I had been using for 2 yrs. The 2701HG-B feature set is minimal, easy to set up web interface, good case-runs cool, with good network performance and wireless range. I hooked it up and my connection still failed, but being a "supported" model, AT&T support was able, for 'free', to run a connection test and confirm a back-end ATM switch problem on their end,(NOT the modems or my home DSL lines problem) confirming that the original problem was not with the Zyxel to begin with.(which I'm sure they could tell regardless of the modem I owned, but I digress.) So if you too are stuck with AT&T as your only Internet provider and must have one of their "approved" modems for support, the 2701HG-B is a good, solid product but starting to show its age feature-wise. In my case I had some old wireless devices that still needed WEP and 802.11B so it fit my needs. If you are more cutting edge or need more port routing/NAT/Firewalling etc features beyond 'basic', or need newest wireless speeds and security protocols you should look for a different/newer product. But for the price I paid on ebay for the used unit it has/is performing better than I expected.Read full review
Purchased this router as a backup for an identical one that I currently use. I have had 2 Westell 327W's which, for no obvious reason ceased to function. Since I have DSL from AT&T as an ISP I elected to replace the last Westell that went south with a different router that is manufactured specifically for the AT&T network. Although there are some minor issues with the 2701HG-B (sometimes issues a "can't find the server" message, but then DOES go to the address by clicking the "Try Again" button) and it sometimes needs to be reset (usually due to power 'blips'), the router has been faithful to do what it is supposed to. I got the additional one just in case the existing one developed problems which would prevent it from accessing the internet and/or I started experiencing problems with the wireless feature of the router.Read full review
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