The ZyXEL ZyAIR B-4000 wireless service gateway is best described as an Internet hot spot in a box. At its core, the B-4000 is a wireless NAT router with a built-in, four-port Ethernet switch. It acts as a DHCP client to acquire an IP address from an ISP and as a DHCP server to pass out addresses to local clients. Wireless services are provided via the built-in 802.11b access point.

Priced at $650 (street), the B-4000 is designed to be a complete, turnkey Internet café appliance that provides access for both wired and wireless clients. It includes built-in accounting and authentication services that enable you to charge customers for time spent online. You simply connect the WAN port to your broadband modem, follow the Web-based setup wizard, and your Internet café is open for business.

As part of the initial configuration, you define a time interval, such as 30 minutes, and how much you are going to charge—say, 50 cents. The supplied thermal printer plugs into the parallel port on the rear of the B-4000. To sell surfing time, you simply push the single button on the printer once for each time increment the customer wants to purchase. In our example, if you push the button twice, the printer outputs a receipt with your café's name, the wireless network's SSID, WEP key (if used), and a dynamically generated user name and password that are valid for an hour.

The customer's first Web request is intercepted, and a log-on page pops up. Once authenticated, a separate browser window tracks the time remaining. When the timer reaches zero, the customer is blocked from the Internet and another message pops up indicating that the time has expired.

Though customization options are minimal, you can redirect the default log-on page to your own Web server. You can also configure a "Web Garden" of up to ten free sites that appear on the log-on page. Customers can access these pages without authentication.

The B-4000 is shipped with a printed quick start guide. All documentation is contained in PDF files on a CD. Logging, though adequate, could be improved. Detailed logs can be viewed through the administrator interface or sent to a syslog server, but a café owner probably won't have one. Still, the B-4000 lives up to its goal of being a turnkey Internet hot spot in a box.