Feature Set and Options: TRENDnet Draft N Router

The TEW-633GR comes feature packed and offers all the goodies expected of today's leading routers. We'll cover a few of the more interesting items that make this product stand out in a crowd in greater detail on the following pages, but here's a quick overview.

TRENDnet TEW-633GR- Features
Chipset: Atheros AR5416 + AR2133
Maximum Data Transfer Rate: 300 Mbps
Estimated Maximum Outdoor Coverage: 400 Meters
Estimated Maximum Indoor Coverage: 150 Meters
Output Power: 802.11b: 18dBm (typical)
802.11g: 15dBm (typical)
802.11n (draft 2.0): 6dBm (typical) with HT20 or HT40
Receiving Sensitivity: 802.11b: -84dBm (typical) @ 11Mpbs
802.11g: -72dBm (typical) @ 54Mbps
802.11n (draft 2.0) : -70dBm (typical) with HT20 or HT40
Operating Frequency: 2.4GHz
Network Connectivity Protocol: Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)
IEEE 802.11b
IEEE 802.11g
IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0
Router Features: NAT Support
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) - Up to 24 rules
MAC Address Filtering
UPnP
DHCP Support
DMZ and VPN Passthrough
Dynamic DNS
QoS
StreamEngine
Firmware Upgradeable
Browser Based Management
Network Security: WEP 64/128 bit
WPA-WPA2
WPA-PSK- WPA2-PSK
Encryption: hardware AES/TKIP, 64/128-bit WEP (Hex/Passphrase, for 11b/g)
Gigabit Ethernet Connections: 4 x 10/100/1000Mbps Auto-MDIX
WAN Connections: 1 x 10/100/1000Mbps Auto-MDIX
Channels: 1~11 (US), 1~13 (EU)
Operating System Support: Windows 98SE/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Server 2003
Linux
MacOS 8/9x
MacOS X 10.x
Power Adapter: External A/C
Warranty: Limited 3 years
Matching Wireless PC Card: TEW-621PC
Router Firmware: 1.0




TRENDnet's offering comes in a sleek, all-black casing with the standard array of status lights - power, wide area network (WAN) connectivity and activity, local area network (LAN) connectivity and activity (for each port), wireless LAN (WLAN) activity, and Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) status. This last allows the user to easily synchronize supported components at the touch of a button. A physical switch located on the side of the router allows the user to securely disable the wireless functionality for those that wish to use this router in an all-wired environment.

The package contents include the router, a 12Vdc 1A power adapter, vertical base stand, a single ~5ft. RJ-45 CAT5 network cable, a multi-language Quick Installation Guide, and a CD-ROM containing drivers, an automated router install/replacement routine, an electronic User's Guide, a 30-day fully functioning trial version of Network Magic, and a complimentary subscription to McAfee Internet Security Suite (which we couldn't get to work after several attempts).

Index TEW-633GR Interface
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  • smn198 - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link

    quote:

    it's important to note that quoted maximum transfer rates are just that - maximum and not indicative of actual sustained transfer rates under a variety of conditions.

    With the backlash against HDD manufacturers quoting a GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes instead of 1,073,741,824 bytes or maybe more relevantly, broadband speeds not being up to their advertised rates, how long will it be before we see suits against WiFi equipment manufacturers (unless it has already happened and I missed it)?
  • Jedi2155 - Sunday, October 28, 2007 - link

    Did someone from the D-link Gaming Router (DGL-4x00) design team get hired by Trendnet? The interface looks extremely similiar as well as the options.
  • rslayer - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - link

    It's great to have throughput numbers, however it would be nice to also get latency information. When using chatty protocols such as SMB/CIFS, the latency of a network has a huge impact on the actual bandwidth. This also brings up the fact that while you describe the direction the files were transferred, you didn't describe what protocol was used to make that transfer. If you are using SMB/CIFS, then you might want to try using HTTP to get real bandwidth numbers.
  • legoman666 - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - link

    While I agree that latency is important over wireless, why would you want to use HTTP to transfer large files over the network? When you want to copy 4gb from 1 computer to another computer on the network, do you fire up Apache and HTTP it over or do you use windows file sharing (Samba?). Or maybe you'd use FTP, but either way, why on earth would you use HTTP?
  • eek2121 - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - link

    SMB is not an efficient protocol. It was designed for 10 Mbps networks. SMB 2.0 is out now with vista, but you have to be transferring to other SMB 2.0 computers. Therefore copying files over LAN is not a good way to measure throughput, hence why they should use HTTP or FTP.
  • siberus - Friday, October 26, 2007 - link

    I wonder how much abuse this router can handle. I go through routers so fast. My general outlook on routers is terribly pessimistic. I'm on a 3 person network. I don't do anything too fancy just surf,game and BT the other two users just surf. I've tried multiple Brands and even bought some expensive models hoping I would "get what I paid for" but they've all been disappointing. My current linksys is already starting to bite the bullet but it's lasted almost a year which is better then the previous 4 routers. I really don't care about performance anymore reliability is way more important. My experience with wireless is even worse. Each new wireless router I get seems to be getting less and less range. I thought the Belkin N1 would be able to get at least some acceptable speed all the way up in my room but I couldn't even get a connection so I switched back to the linksys that im using now. Best range I've had so far was with D-Links Gamerlounge and after a few months that router just stopped being able to hold a connection. (the msn reconnecting sound drove me insane >.>)I've disabled wireless all together and opted to just use an Asoka plug to get stable connection in my room.
  • notposting - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - link

    The best solution is to roll your own router, I use a P3-450 with 128MB booting off CF card (CF->IDE adapter). A friend uses a headless P3 laptop. Even a Pentium 100 w/16 MB would be sufficient though, honestly.

    Then you just use the wireless device as an AP, which they should be able to handle--no NAT translation or firewall duties at that point. I have a crappy Motorola router--range sucks but I live in an apartment and it's stable now that it's just in AP mode.

    Check out http://www.brazilfw.com.br">http://www.brazilfw.com.br -- it's basically a descendant of Coyote firewall. 2.30.1 is the last version that you can cram onto a floppy and boot.
  • bob4432 - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - link

    i am still using a linksys wrt54g ver 2 running v4.30.1, HyperWRT 2.1b1 +tofu13c firmware. i have had this router nearly 2yrs and its longest uptime was ~450days (current uptime is 49days - i had to change my computer room set up and it was on the battery too long as i forgot about it), it is on a ups and runs 4-5 computers w/ 1 being on 24/7 w/ ftp, http w/ never a hiccup. w/ the 3rd party firmware you can up the power on this particular unit allowing for good coverage of our condo, both inside and outside w/ decent speeds (for a 'g' router).

    atm if this one died i would grab another one and see how it worked out, that sucks you are having such issues w/ your equipment :(
  • Foxy1 - Friday, October 26, 2007 - link

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  • JarredWalton - Saturday, October 27, 2007 - link

    Sorry - "Karen" (that's me now, I guess) was out of town attending some meetings for a few days. I don't know that the article was any less valid, but I did make a few grammar/typo/whatever changes. I can state that personally, running one of the earlier Draft-N products, I will be very interested to hear which WiFi 802.11.n routers are best.

    Right now, all I can say for sure is that I would *not* recommend the NETGEAR RangeMax Next WNR834M. When it works, it's quite decent. However, I get periodic crashes, sometimes the WiFi network "disappears" (requiring a router reboot), and other oddities. I have a lot of (too many!) wireless devices (using different chipsets) and the drop-outs are irritating to say the least. Running a high-traffic BitTorrent client usually crashes the NETGEAR within a couple hours. And it doesn't have Gigabit Ethernet either, so I have to have a separate switch. At least the wired network doesn't crash.

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