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INTRODUCTION
Wireless networking is a mainstream technology that has caught the tech
world in a boom. The ability to link-up your laptop or desktop PC or MAC
has so many fantastic uses both in public spots such as a library, to
practical uses in a home. About a year and a half ago, before the standard
was set for the 802.11G protocol, many users purchased 802.11b and 802.11a
technology, and many were satisfied with the performance (note that A
runs at 54Mbps - identical to 'G'). Unfortunately, many routers and wireless
access points that are released these days are strictly 802.11G, which
rendered previous wireless technologies completely useless.
But what about all of us that have this nifty technology
laying around that worked fine before? Do we just trash it? Are we forced
to shell out a ton of money for new PCI and PCMCIA cards?
Fortunately D-Link has answered the questions for us with
a big giant "Heck No!" in the form of their DI-784 Wireless
Router & Access Point. The device serves as a gateway to the net for
anyone that has any of the existing wireless technologies - A , B, or
G.
description of technology
The D-Link AirPremier AG DI-784 802.11a/b/g Dual-band (5GHz
& 2.5Ghz) Wireless Router has many features that novices and professionals
alike will appreciate. This four-port, tri-mode, dualband router provides
users with expanded user bandwidth. NextGen Electronics was one of the
first to test out the dualband technology that allows users to connect
to this router with a maximum wireless signal rate of up to 108Mbps -
which of course requires the supported technology from the PCI or PCMCIA
device.
 The
DI-784 works simultaneously on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz frequencies, providing
unmatched deployment versatility. Since the DI-784 uses both 802.11g and
802.11a, you can share your Internet connection with the widest range
of users. The DI-784 is also backwards compatible with 802.11b, so you
can easily add it to your existing home, office, school or public hot
spot network. The unit also takes advantages of the latest in wireless
technologies such as Packet Bursting, FastFrame, Compression & Encryption,
and Turbo mode provide enough bandwidth to handle video/audio streaming
and Video on Demand (VoD applications).
Administration is fully supported with the DI-784 to a very
impressive degree, as the administrator can allocate bandwidth based on
the different frequency bands. Depending on the number of users on the
5GHz 802.11a or 2.4GHz 802.11g network, an administrator can allocate
more or less bandwidth between networking standards. Filters on the router
can also be set to restrict access based on the specific MAC addresses
of wireless laptop or desktop clients, or restrict the access of IP addresses,
specific websites, and/or Web domain names.
installation
Installing the DI-784 unit was a very simple exercise. I
know what you are thinking however ... "This guy reviews D-Link products
regularly ... of course its easy for him." Thinking of this during
the installation process for the review, I actually had fellow reviewer
Greg Gibson attempt to install the unit, who has limited experience with
Router/Access Points.
Greg was able to install the product in about 30 minutes
time total, and considering he had never installed a unit like this one
before, it's a testament to the ease of installation. The process is simple
... plug in the power, pop in the ethernet cables, and then access the
router from a web-browser on a computer hard wired to the unit. After
running through a set-up wizard, the unit was whizzing and good to go.
Performance
We used our old standby QCheck software, which allows to
test Response Time and Throughput Rates on a network. The Router was tested
with a D-Link DWL-AG660 PCMCIA card which supports 11a/11g Dualband Wireless,
as well as the 108Mbps feature.
 On
the computer that the Wireless PCMCIA adapter was installed on, Windows
XP shows a very consistent throughput level.
Using the Qcheck software, we tested both the response time test, which
Qcheck returns the minimum, maximum and average number of seconds it took
to complete a transaction and a throughput test, which returns the amount
of data per second that was successfully sent between the two endpoints.
FAR TESTS (remote computer approximately 50 feet away, and through
3 solid walls and down a flight of stairs):
The Response Time:
Minimum: 4ms
Average: 4ms
Maximum: 7ms.
The Throughput tests yielded an average mbps of 15.9 Mbps.
I have to say I was really impressed with the range of the products. I
didn't expect the throughput to be even near this level, or to be frank,
even to connect at all to the router. The far tests get a very solid score
for performance.
1 Room Away Tests:
The Response Time:
Minimum: 4ms
Average: 5ms
Maximum: 7ms.
The Throughput tests yielded an average mbps of 19.7 Mbps.
Being 1 room away, about 20 feet from the router, and through 1 solid
wall was fairly impressive. I would take this as the "real world"
test and what to go after. I was a little surprised that with the 108Mbps
connection that the throughput tests didn't yield a higher Mbps.
Really Close Tests:
The Response Time:
Minimum: 4ms
Average: 4ms
Maximum: 6ms.
The Throughput tests yielded an average mbps of 24.2 Mbps.
This is somewhat of an unreal test, since nobody in their right mind would
connect a PC or laptop 2 feet away from a wireless router. Again, I was
surprised that the throughput wasn't higher considering the connection
to the network. But the range is really what you pay for with the 802.11g.
Overall Impressions
Personally, if someone were to ask me what wireless router
to buy, I'd suggest this one for two reasons. For one, it works on all
three protocols for wireless networking - 802.11A, 802.11B, and 802.11G.
This means that all your old devices will still work with the network,
ones that people bring over will still work, and it still uses the latest
technology in the industry. Secondly, D-Link's tech support is rated (personally
speaking) the best in the industry. Although I cannot mention other vendors
in this article, I can say they are D-Link's direct competitors, and after
dealing with 3 other "major" vendors' tech support staff, I
can say that D-Link's is far superior - and don't forget it's toll free
24/7.
The performance of the DI-784 is pretty impressive. The
throughput tests used to measure performance of the unit yielded average
results for close tests, decent results for "real life" tests,
and pretty impressive results for the very fair away tests. The value
of the DI-784 gets a great score, because the average street price isn't
all that much higher than most of the Wireless Router & Access Points
on the market. With this one you get the 108Mbps, the 152-bit encryption,
the dualband technology, and the best feature of all - all three protocols
are simultaneously supported.
The usefulness of the product gets a perfect score, since
we've yet to see a more useful networking product on the market. Dualband
and three protocols ... what more could a networking nerd want? The longevity
of this product also gets a strong score due to 802.11G being such a widely
supported device and new protocols still in the early to mid levels of
development.
Overall, the D-Link DI-784 Wireless Access Point and Router
is one of the more useful and intelligent products we've ever seen for
the networking industry. This very innovative product uses all three protocols
(A, B, and G) for wireless networking technology and proves to be a great
tool for anybody that is serious about networking.
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9 / 10 |
OVERALL SCORE
96%
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10 / 10 |
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9 / 10 |
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10 / 10 |
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10 / 10 |
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9.6 /
10 |
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