D-Link DIR-625: Another Draft N Router comes up short
by Gary Key on September 20, 2006 2:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Networking
Quick Thoughts
Our original opinions about the Draft N products still stand. While the 10 and 40 foot throughput numbers are fairly impressive they do not live up to the marketing hype. Overall, the routers do not offer enough of an advantage over the current Pre-N MIMO products to warrant an upgrade. While the Pre-N Airgo based products contain proprietary technology and will never be upgradeable to 802.11n, they perform just as well or better than the current Draft N products whose manufacturers also cannot guarantee full compatibility with the eventual 802.11n standard.
We will complete the testing of additional Draft N routers from Buffalo, NetGear, and D-Link in the near future but do not expect to see any true differences in performance. We understand from NetGear their Marvell TopDog chipset products will have better overall throughput than their Broadcom Intensi-fi chipset based products but we doubt it is enough to make a real difference. Even though we have not finished our testing, we have to strongly recommend that users wait until 802.11n is ratified and approved.
However, for those users willing to take the Draft N plunge we would suggest getting the D-Link DIR-625 or Belkin N1 routers (along with the matching adaptor cards) based upon the Atheros XSpan chipset for distances under 80 feet. This is not entirely based upon absolute performance criteria although both routers had very consistent maximum and average throughput rates up to 80 feet. Instead, this is based on the user experience with both routers. The packaging, documentation, router management tools, and ease of use characteristics with both routers were exemplary for first time users while still providing information that advanced users would find beneficiary. Also, these two routers did not suffer the same "bad neighbor" effect we witnessed in our original testing of the Broadcom Intensi-fi equipped Linksys and NetGear Draft N routers. Overall, we would give the nod to Belkin for superior customer service but still stand by our recommendation to wait on the final 802.11n standard.
Our original opinions about the Draft N products still stand. While the 10 and 40 foot throughput numbers are fairly impressive they do not live up to the marketing hype. Overall, the routers do not offer enough of an advantage over the current Pre-N MIMO products to warrant an upgrade. While the Pre-N Airgo based products contain proprietary technology and will never be upgradeable to 802.11n, they perform just as well or better than the current Draft N products whose manufacturers also cannot guarantee full compatibility with the eventual 802.11n standard.
We will complete the testing of additional Draft N routers from Buffalo, NetGear, and D-Link in the near future but do not expect to see any true differences in performance. We understand from NetGear their Marvell TopDog chipset products will have better overall throughput than their Broadcom Intensi-fi chipset based products but we doubt it is enough to make a real difference. Even though we have not finished our testing, we have to strongly recommend that users wait until 802.11n is ratified and approved.
However, for those users willing to take the Draft N plunge we would suggest getting the D-Link DIR-625 or Belkin N1 routers (along with the matching adaptor cards) based upon the Atheros XSpan chipset for distances under 80 feet. This is not entirely based upon absolute performance criteria although both routers had very consistent maximum and average throughput rates up to 80 feet. Instead, this is based on the user experience with both routers. The packaging, documentation, router management tools, and ease of use characteristics with both routers were exemplary for first time users while still providing information that advanced users would find beneficiary. Also, these two routers did not suffer the same "bad neighbor" effect we witnessed in our original testing of the Broadcom Intensi-fi equipped Linksys and NetGear Draft N routers. Overall, we would give the nod to Belkin for superior customer service but still stand by our recommendation to wait on the final 802.11n standard.
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yyrkoon - Friday, September 22, 2006 - link
How you got 'overheating NICs' out of what I said, is beyond me. As for routing overhead. the PCI version of the intel Pro GbE NIC, was second ONLY to its onboard counterpart last I checked (which WAS about a year ago).Anyhow, thats only the LAN portion of said router anyhow, it seems its the wireles portion of these devices that is severly lacking.
Beenthere - Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - link
Based on D-Link's history of shoddy products and I have personal experience that supports this, D-Link's Non-existent Customer and Tech Support, (sic) and I have proof of this, and based on class action lawsuits against their defective products, I couldn't in good conscience recommend any D-Link products to anyone. D-Link may not even be around when the dust settles on law suits?It's no surprise their product didn't perform as advertised. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the FTC files a class action lawsuit for fraud on this product too.
seabat - Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - link
I couldn't agree more.I have had the misfortune of using D-Link products at home and work, in both situations their products have let me down. My company recently spent 1000's changing over 80 D-Link switches because of reliability/stability issues.
drebo - Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - link
We've had good success with D-Link's print servers, but I don't really like their routers all that well.Just personal preference, though, of course.
TowerShield - Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - link
Of course, all draft-N routers from every manufacturer so far have basically been crap, so might as well file a class lawsuit against everyone if you think that is justification.(Can only think of one decent D-Link, that's the DGL-4300).