Router and Wireless Adapter Buying Guide
A router is the hub of your network, connecting all devices to one another and to the Internet. There are three basic types of products: wired routers, wireless routers, and PowerLine routers. You can also add wireless and PowerLine connectivity to a standard router using adapters.
D-Link offers a variety of products in all these categories, specifically designed for home or small office networking. If you have only one network device — say, a desktop computer — and it tends to remain in one location, you might be fine with a wired router. However, if you have several devices in various parts of your home, or mobile devices such as laptops and tablets that tend to move around, wireless is a far more convenient option. In this guide, we’ll focus on wireless and PowerLine routers, since they are the most popular and flexible tools for connecting computers, tablets, Internet-connected HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, Boxee Boxes, e-readers, and whatever comes next. All these products feature the latest Wi-Fi standard, Wireless N, which is far faster and more robust than the earlier Wireless G standard.
Even within those categories, there are plenty of options. To help you sort through the choices, we offer some quick recommendations for five different kinds of users. From there, you can read about key features to look for, and then about the most important decisions that should guide a purchase.
Cut to the Chase
Let’s identify your networking needs and find a recommended feature set and model number. Which kind of user are you?
Householder. You need affordable wireless access and basic file sharing capability.
Recommended features:
- Good network range
- Printer sharing
- Web-browser configuration
Recommended model:
- D-Link® Wireless N 300 Router (DIR-615)
King of the Castle. You’ve got a lot of square footage, and your router needs to cover it all with robust network connectivity. You want to do it all — streaming media, home office, family networking — with no compromises. The solution: a high-end combination of wired and wireless networking.
Recommended Features:
- PowerLine connectivity
- Greatest network range
- Dual Band Wireless
- Gigabit Ethernet
Recommended model:
Media mogul. You need all the basic networking and file-sharing functions, but you’re dealing with many more and much larger files. You want to stream movies and music around your home, and you want to organize vast numbers of photos.
Recommended features:
- Dual-band wireless for streaming media support
- Powerful processor
- Quality of Service (QoS) controls
Recommended models:
- D-Link Xtreme N 450 Dual Band Gigabit Router (DIR-665)
- D-Link Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router (DIR-825)
Gamer. From World of Warcraft to Battlefield, you’re in it to win. You need hair-trigger interactivity and rock-solid performance. Lag is not acceptable.
Recommended Features:
- QoS controls
- Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Dual Band Wireless
Recommended models:
Office manager. You’re busy. You don’t have time to wait for downloads, and you need to store and retrieve your files from a central drive or NAS. You also have to network with colleagues in the next room and across the building.
Recommended features:
- QoS controls
- Greater network range
- Dual firewalls for enhanced security
- Extra wired ports
Recommended models:
Mobile warrior. You’re on the road more often than you’re at home or in the office. You need to be able to set up temporary networks for ad-hoc meetings as well as download presentations from the head office and photos from the family using whatever connection you can find.
Recommended Features:
- High-speed connectivity
- Wide range
- Support for temporary networks
Recommended model:
- D-Link Mobile Broadband Wireless Router (DIR-412)
Router features
Some wireless routers are more powerful than others — greater range, higher speed — while some simply offer specialized features that, depending on what you need to do, can make your networked life much easier. Let’s take a look the most important features.
Network speed. The fastest wireless standard is Wireless N, which can provide speeds up to 14x faster than the earlier version, 802.11g. If you use demanding real-time applications, such as gaming, streaming video, and Internet telephony, make sure you get Wireless N. Also keep in mind that many routers currently on the market support gigabit Ethernet, which is incredibly fast wired connectivity. So if you’re looking for the fastest speed, plug in.
Network range. How far does a network need to extend? Most wireless routers have a range of roughly 200 feet, which is plenty for a household or small office. However, the actual range depends on many factors, including how many radios and antennas your wireless access point has, what frequencies these radios are broadcasting on (the newer dual-band Wireless N devices have longer ranges), how much radio-blocking steel, concrete, and brick is in the surrounding walls and floors, and how many other devices are broadcasting on the same channels and interfering with the wireless radio transmission. Range also depends on where you locate the access point: a higher floor will give you better range; basements tend to trap radio waves. The D-Link DIR-665 and D-Link DIR-825 have multiple radios and three antennas, so if you think you might run into problems, consider those models for maximum reach.
Dual band. Two bands are better than one: Some routers are single band, meaning that they transmit data only on the 2.4GHz band. Dual band routers transmit data over both the 2.4GHz band and the newer 5GHz band. This means they can use the 5GHz band when the 2.4GHz band is too crowded with other devices, or the 2.4GHz band when the 5GHz band can’t get through a wall. The 5GHz band is much wider, so it is particularly good for streaming video. In general, dual band products minimize interference from other devices and have better throughput and range, but your devices need to support Wireless N in order to take advantage of dual band. The most advanced routers offer simultaneous dual band, which means that they can support the latest devices that connect to both bands at the same time.
Multiple antennas. The more antennas, the better your network range and throughput will be. For best performance and maximum coverage area, select a router that comes with at least two or three antennas, which can be external or internal.
Ethernet. This is a wired connection standard. In the variation known as Gigabit Ethernet, it offers the fastest available speed. Most routers come with four Ethernet ports, handy for connecting stationary devices positioned near the router, especially storage devices that handle large, data-dense files. If you have more than four devices that demand Ethernet connection speed, you have two options: the D-Link DIR-632 router, which features eight Ethernet ports, or a switch such as the D-Link DGS-1008G that connects to the router to offer more ports.
PowerLine. Sometimes a wireless network doesn’t reach every spot where you need to use a network device. In this case, you may want to use a wired Ethernet connection. However, stringing Ethernet cables throughout the house can be costly and labor-intensive — not to mention unnecessary. Having PowerLine technology built into the router can make the connection easily. PowerLine routes network signals through the electrical wiring already built into your home or office. When you plug a PowerLine router, such as the D-Link DHP-1320, into a wall socket, it automatically routes network traffic to every other socket in the house. Plug in a matching PowerLine adapter in another room and connect a network device and – voila! – it’s on the network. For more information, see D-Link’s PowerLine Buying Guide.
Printer sharing. If you want to be able to share a printer on your home or office network, look for a router that has a USB printer-sharing port. Some of the D-Link routers, such as the D-Link DIR-655 and D-Link DIR-665, offer printer sharing. (The printer must be located near the router.) Alternatively, you might use a printer with built-in wireless connectivity, or connect a wired printer using a wireless adapter.
Quality of Service. D-Link routers support QoS traffic controls, which means the router tracks the type of network traffic (Web surfing, online gaming, Internet telephony such as Skype, and so on) and decides which application deserves higher priority. This improves your online gaming experience by ensuring that game traffic is prioritized over other network traffic, such as FTP or Web. Likewise, QoS can improve Internet telephony by ensuring the best audio quality.
Security. While it is relatively easy to lock your home’s front door, protecting a network from break-ins is more complicated. Part of the issue is that your computers are connected directly to the Internet, and this always-on connection gives mischief-makers all sorts of opportunities. Fortunately, D-Link routers offer several defenses.
First, each router includes built-in firewall software that separates your home or office network from the rest of the Internet. Some models, such as the D-Link DIR-655, come with dual firewalls for additional protection.
D-Link’s built-in password protection blocks users who don’t have the password you’ve selected. Be sure to set the password when configuring your access point. D-Link routers also include controls that prevent spoofing (in which a hacker tries to penetrate your network by sending messages that look like they originated locally) and block particular Web sites at particular times of day (so children can’t get online past their bedtimes, for example). D-Link routers also support Windows Connect Now, which lets you transfer important wireless security settings to additional computers using a USB flash drive. Many of these options are enabled by default, so you don’t have to be a security expert to benefit from them.
Temporary networks. For times when you travel with a group of people and need a temporary network while on the road or at a borrowed office, you’ll want a router that can connect to 3G cellular data networks. The D-Link DIR-412 Mobile Broadband Wireless Router is perfect for this.
Web-based configuration tools. For ease of use, you can control the settings of all D-Link routers using a standard Web browser. No special software is required. To get a feel for the layout of various menus and commands, check out this demonstration site, where you can see many of the Web-based configuration interfaces for several D-Link models.
IPv6. Because of all the Internet devices out there, the pool of possible IP addresses was starting to run low. IPv6 solves this issue by increasing the number of IP addresses, but your router also needs to support IPv6. All of the D-Link products mentioned here are ready for IPv6 and can help you stay connected as your Internet providers make the transition. For a complete list of IPv6-ready D-Link devices, visit www.dlink.com/ipv6.
Wireless adapters
If your computer lacks a wireless adapter or you want to upgrade its existing wireless capabilities, consider D-Link’s DWA series. The specific model depends on which router you purchase. Older adapters operate at slower speeds, and with the purchase of a new router, it’s worthwhile to upgrade adapters as well.
You’ll need to match the adapter with the wireless router, so the two operate at the same frequency. For example, if you select a dual-band Wireless N router such as the D-Link DIR-825, match it with a dual-band Wireless N adapter such as the D-Link DWA-160.
Adapters come in two basic formats: the first are internal cards exclusively designed for desktops with a PCI Express card slot. D-Link offers the DWA-525 Wireless N 150 Desktop PCI Adapter. The second kind are external connectors that plug into a USB port on a laptop or desktop, which almost all modern computers have in abundance. D-Link’s USB adapters come in various sizes, from the tiny DWA-121 to units the size of a flash drive adapter. These USB adapters offer plug-and-play convenience – there’s no installation necessary, so they’re easier to deal with than the internal PCI cards.
Simply networked
A wireless network in your home or office can drastically simplify your life. D-Link’s router and wireless adapter products give you tremendous flexibility in setting up a network from scratch, and options such as PowerLine let you extend the connectivity to more devices as you need them. There’s never been a better time to hop on the network.
