| TRENDnet TEW-691GR 450Mbps WiFi-N Router |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Network | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Joey Peng - Edited by Olin Coles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 09 September 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TRENDnet TEW-691GR 450Mbps Wireless-N Router ReviewWireless-N routers are quickly making its way through the industry, providing a significant speed increase over previous wireless standards given you own a proper adapter. This time around TRENDnet releases one of the first 450Mbps Wireless-N Routers. Its raw power is attractive for any setting up a network shared by many users. The TRENDnet 450Mbps WiFi-N Gigabit Router does not come cheap, so Benchmark Reviews will dive in head-first to see if it's worth the price. While many manufacturers offer routers supporting wireless N, not many reach the 450Mbps mark. Three antennas give the router three spatial streams at a channel width of 40 MHz, compared to four which is the theoretical max for Wireless N. Of course in practice it's highly unlikely to be attaining these speeds. It's expected to be seeing a throughput of something like 200Mbps. Compared to the 54Mbps (theoretical max) that Wireless G routers offer, this is a huge improvement. For most homes it will become completely unnecessary to wire your computer again.
The TRENDnet TEW-691GR's price is in the high-end category. Its raw speed already makes it outstanding but we'll have to see if it actually delivers the connectivity we're looking for. Benchmark Reviews will be testing the throughput as well as evaluating its features as a high end router.
Manufacturer: TRENDnet Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by TRENDnet. 450Mbps Wireless N Router Features
*Maximum wireless signal rates are referenced from IEEE 802.11 theoretical specifications. Actual data throughput and cover-age will vary depending on interference, network traffic, building materials and other conditions. TRENDnet TEW-691GR Specifications
Closer Look: TRENDnet Wireless N RouterTRENDnet's packaging is thoroughly advertises the router's greatest feature: 450Mbps wireless N. The TRENDnet TEW-691GR can deliver 1000Mbps on wired connections. The box also lists its feature set, environmental friendliness, and even some ads for compatible network adapters to put this monster router to use.
The package includes the TRENDnet 450Mbps Wireless N Router, 12V power supply, concise instruction manual, digital user guide, along with a meter-long Ethernet cable. The instruction manual is incredibly easy to follow and contains basic setup instructions for Windows 7, Vista, and XP/2000. More advanced settings can be viewed in the digital user guide or the router settings' help section.
The TRENDnet TEW-691GR has three antennas on the back. On the front there's an array of bright LED lights signaling statuses for Internet Connectivity, WPS, WLAN, LAN, and power. Many router manufacturers' love shiny plastic as the outer coating, which makes the router a magnet for dust and finger prints. The TRENDnet TEW-691GR is fairly plain in terms of looks.
Hopping to the back we have some color-coded ports (1xWAN and 4xLan), power, and reset pinhole. The TRENDnet TEW-691GR also includes a WLAN on-off switch, which is a great convenience as WLAN can be turned on/off anytime without changing router settings and forcing a 30-second reboot.
The TRENDnet TEW-691GR has rubberized feet on the back for a little extra grip. The antenna can be tucked away neatly if space is needed, but proper positioning of the antenna can help signal strength significantly.
TRENDnet's new 450Mbps Wireless N router offers a fairly standard router design with a nice mix of colors from LED lights and ports. Benchmark Reviews will take a more detailed look at both the hardware and software for the TEW-691GR in the next section. TRENDnet TEW-691GR Detailed FeaturesThe TRENDnet TEW-691GR's design is nothing we haven't seen before, so there aren't too many complaints in that matter, other than the antennas which cannot be detached. The antennas are flexible in their rotation all except pointing forwards.
There's a WPS button on TRENDnet TEW-691GR's side for easy client setup, very handy for those who use the feature. Vents located on both sides for dissipating heat, very important since this Wireless N router does run pretty hot compared to other models offering less raw performance/speed.
Making LAN work required very little effort, as with most routers. However to setup a wireless network and administrator settings we will need to access TRENDnet's web interface by visiting 192.168.10.1 from any browser. The interface is pretty neat, better than the Linksys interfaces that I'm used to seeing. The great thing is any setting change can be saved without affecting connections, and then you can reboot the device at any time to apply settings. This also means separate setting changes on multiple pages can be done before reboot. The downside is that the reboot takes much longer than other routers, greater than 30 seconds.
For LAN, TRENDnet included all the basic necessary settings and functionality. Things like port-forwarding, QoS and DHCP client tables are all there. For the majority of users TRENDnet's web interface has everything that's needed. The UI was clean and easy to use. Adding different rules like port forwarding was very neat in that each rule can be completely customized then added to the list as opposed to other web interfaces that simply present you with a list of some 30 (mostly blank) text fields to fill in. One thing that I happened to stumble upon was the lack of a computer name/identity when viewing the client table, TRENDnet's DHCP client table only shows the IP. This means identifying the devices connected to the router is difficult. Instead of seeing "Blah's PC" I see something like 192.168.10.105. This may not be an issue for some but I like to keep a close watch whenever the Internet speed drops.
WAN settings were fairly easy to setup too. Boxes that you need to fill out will automatically appear when you choose certain settings. Getting multiple SSIDs running can be done simply by adjusting the settings for each individually. The most common security modes are there, including WEP (open, shared, auto), WPA (PSK), and WPA2 (PSK, mixed). The TRENDnet TEW-691GR is completely backwards compatible and can be adjusted to operate using wireless modes b/g/n, n only, or b/g. More advanced options also exist including MCS, beacon intervals, and multicast-to-unicast converter.
Overall the TRENDnet TEW-691GR seems to deliver most of the functionality that's needed. It would've been nice to have a USB port for easy printer sharing or better QoS/monitoring system. Other than speed TRENDnet hasn't included too many "nice-to-haves". Wireless Testing ProcessTesting MethodologyTo test the maximum throughput of the system a compatible network adapter would need to be used. Performance, speed and range, is affected by both router and adapter. There are a wide range of adapters available but for today's testing the TP-Link TL-WN722N 150Mbps Wireless N USB adapter will be used. Benchmark Reviews will test wireless vs. wired, different wireless encryptions, and range. In this case a relatively weak notebook was used. Stronger notebooks will probably have better wireless performance due to decryption speed, but in the testing it didn't seem to hit the upper limit of CPU power. Upload and download speeds were recorded from speedtest.net. In order to eliminate most fluctuations five runs were done for each specific setting, highest/lowest discarded then averaged the rest. The Internet speed I have with my ISP allows up to 100Mbps download and 10Mbps Upload, so it fit nicely within the scope of the adapter and should represent a fair maximum throughput for the current configuration. Test System Hardware
Testing ResultsFirst we did a general speed test under optimal distance and conditions. This includes different wireless encryptions as well as wired speeds. For some reason, WEP was much slower than other settings. My only guess is WEP is throttled. But if you are looking for a secure network it's better to use WPA2. The drop from wired to wireless is fairly significant, almost 20%. However we're still managing around 75Mbps (theoretical max in this case is around 150Mbps). Interestingly no security and WPA2 offered similar speeds.
For most potential buyers range will be fairly important for homes or businesses. For testing, the laptop was carried to different locations. The results show fairly decent range. The wireless is usable (and fairly fast) even at 20m away. Note that for normal homes that is more than enough since up-stairs and down-stairs only has the roof as barrier and if the router is placed somewhere in the middle it should reach the majority of a house/office.
Range, and ping seemed fairly in line with other Wireless N routers, speed is a nice bump up, but that doesn't exactly justifying the high price tag. However the TRENDnet TEW-691GR is one of the first routers to reach a theoretical 450Mpbs, so with higher-end wireless adapters, the premium makes sense. 450Mbps Wireless-N Final ThoughtsWireless N is rapidly becoming a standard now and it really makes wireless speed comparable to wired speeds. Recently many new high-speed Wireless N routers have hit the market forcing prices down. It's interesting to note that the TRENDnet TEW-691GR has dropped in price significantly since its release, from $200+ to the current $154.95. The lack of additional features present in most high-end routers make the TRENDnet TEW-691GR seem over-priced for office environments. Internet through WAN can't take advantage of the insanely high wireless speed as few have internet speeds reaching 200Mbps. In the end the only advantage the TEW-691GR seems to have against competing 300Mbps-400Mbps wireless N routers is the extra bandwidth for LAN transfers.
TRENDnet TEW-691GR ConclusionThe TRENDnet TEW-691GR performs fairly well. Wireless speed is its primary advantage, capable of serving multiple users at high speeds. Built-in gigabit Ethernet ports ensure maximum wired speeds for LAN transfers and full utilization of whatever network package you have. The raw performance of the TRENDnet TEW-691GR is by far its biggest weapon and advantage against competitors. The router looks fairly plain from far away, though the colors from the LED and ports make it look significantly more impressive. The visual design will fit nicely into office settings for businesses. The TRENDnet TEW-691GR has an extremely solid construction. Buttons are firm and responsive, ports are tight. The high quality plastic enclosure ensures the safety of the hardware. Many routers suffer from cheap looking plastic but TRENDnet has successfully avoided that by paying close attention to details in color and design. Unfortunately while everything the TRENDnet 450Mpbs Wireless N delivers is great, there's just not enough additional functionality. Many higher-end routers offer USB ports for storage or printer sharing, or advanced router configurations things like monitoring usage or QoS. The TRENDnet provides us with a router that shines so brightly in terms of capability, but for many the additional speed can easily be sacrificed for some additional networking features. Value is hard to set for the TRENDnet TEW-691GR. At $154.95 the price is fairly representative of the fair market value, so any drop wouldn't make too much sense. Most routers around this price range offer additional networking features but all fall behind to TRENDnet's 450Mbps wireless speeds. The question to answer is whether having the highest wireless transmission speeds or having additional network options is more important to you. It would've been better if TRENDnet included additional features for the TEW-691GR, even if it came at a slightly higher price. This would be justified as users have all the functionality they need. For now we'll have to settle that the current fastest Wireless N router is competing solely on speed. Pros:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments
many schools/offices are using wireless on the LAN and it would of been nice to see the max speed you can get out of this device.
How large is the NAT table? Any issues with multiple PCs and wireless adapters on the network? How powerful is the router's CPU? Does it slow down, drop connections, lose stability once more PCs are connected? How good is the channel isolation in populated areas? Can it handle multiple Wireless N devices at varying speeds?
This is not a review, but more of a product endorsement, or feature recital.