Not quite good enough

Sep 26, 2006 14:01 GMT  ·  By

D-Link presented a new router, the DIR-625. Its panel consists of the standard connections that are labeled and color coded: four 10/100 LAN ports, a WAN port, 12V power jack, reset button, and an USB 1.1 or 2.0 compatible port. This USB port supports Windows Connect Now (Lets you transfer wireless settings from the router to a USB key that you can then plug into a PC or other device to activate it on the network). There are also two mounting points for the adjustable external antenna. This unit does not have a standard three antenna setup and seems to suffer at extended distances.

The router was tested by Anandtech, and according to them, D-Link provides the user with an excellent documentation and setup package that rivals the consumer friendly Belkin N1 documentation. The D-Link easy installation kit is informative and lists out the basic steps to install the associated software. The installation process requires that you first install the CD, the installation wizard starts and then guides you through the process of connecting the router to your DSL or Cable modem and computer. The next process is configuring the router settings via the browser-based configuration tool. More advanced users can simply hook up the hardware and go directly to the configuration tool by entering the router's default IP address into their browser. The D-Link configuration tool is extremely easy to use. The PDF based user's manual clearly explained all settings, and more importantly, described what each setting did in clear English.

The Router's advertised data transfer rate is 300 MB/s, but it also has a down-side, it's based on the Draft-N protocol, which means that there will be some compatibility issues with other brand of network interfaces. And it's not worth it.