It seems more and more consumers in developed countries are now accessing the Internet via a broadband connection, the two main connections being cable or ADSL. And a larger number of homes or businesses now have more than one computer. Sharing an internet connection has, in the past, required some network knowledge to get everything up and running, and a wire cord to transmit data. But technology is an ever changing thing, and like almost all new technology these days, the computer network is also now available in wireless form.

Enter the Wireless Router, a device that allows more than one computer to share an internet connection, and access servers, all without the need for wires or complex setup procedures.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am not a networking expert. I know the basics but I don't consider myself a "whiz kid" on networking by any means, so this review will be written from the perspective of a general consumer... i.e. how easy is it to install and set up the product, what features does it offer the general consumer, and what benefits do these features offer? So without further ado, let's get into it and see what today's product, the D-Link DI-624 Wireless Router and DWL-G520 PCI Card have to offer.

Network Basics
To form a network, you generally need a "server" and a "client". The server offers the method by which the client can connect and access files or information. The Internet itself is pretty much a giant 'network' in its own rights.

The D-Link DI-624 Wireless Router is the device that allows you to share a single internet connection. For the purpose of this review, I used the router to share my Cable connection, but it works equally as well for ADSL connections too.

There are also other types of networks, an example being peer-to-peer (P2P) networks where multiple users can share files and other resources (such as printers) between themselves. The DI-624 can also be used in this capacity, acting as the central 'hub' in this type of network configuration.

The 2.4Ghz Frequency Range
A lot of wireless products currently on the market transmit information in the 2.4Ghz range. Such items include cordless telephones and AV senders. I had read some negative stories on the internet about some D-Link routers causing continuous dropouts and disconnections for some users, some due to having other 2.4Ghz systems in use in the same general space. but thankfully, it seems these issues were mostly on older model routers (when the technology was still new). I happen to have both a cordless phone system and an AV Sender (for television signal) system installed and running in my residence, and I have used the DI-624 (which also operates in the 2.4Ghz range) and DWL-G520 without incident so far. I even went as far as to take a call on the cordless phone while sitting right next to both the D-Link router and the receiver on the remote computer, and neither seemed to have any effect on signal strength or speed, and we haven't evidenced any regular dropouts as yet. The DI-624 has 11 channels in the 2.4Ghz range to transmit in, the default being channel 6, and this worked fine for us.

We have the router in the downstairs office, and the second computer upstairs. Perhaps only twenty meters away, but the router is able to transmit up to 100 meters from the transmitting unit indoors, and even further outdoors. So, it appears D-Link may have solved these dropout problems evidenced by others in the past with the new 802.11g technology. No problems for us at least.

Setting up the DI-624 Router and DWL-G520 NIC
Printed manuals are provided with step-by-step instructions on setting up your router, and as long as you can identify specific cables hooked up to your system and know what a LAN port is, you can set it up yourself with few problems.

There are a few basic system requirements to be able to use the router. These are:

• Ethernet-Based Cable or DSL Modem.

• Computers with Windows, Macintosh, or Linux-based operating systems with an installed Ethernet adapter.

• Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or Netscape Navigator Version 6.0 and above.

The router basically sits between your cable or ADSL modem and your computer. So the signal comes to the modem from your Internet supplier, it is then routed through to your wireless router, and the wireless router continues that feed to the primary computer your original modem is hooked up to (via a wired ethernet cable connection), but also, at the same time, "broadcasts" the network signal into 'space'. You really only need to switch two cable connections, and plug in the power pack for power supply to the router to physically install the router. It takes less than two minutes.

On the second system (or multiple systems), you need to install a wireless 'receiver' card to connect to the network. The router can also accept up to 4 'wired' connections (10/100 ethernet ports, although one is used already in the standard setup) if you are running a small LAN already. But for wireless connection, you need a wireless receiver card. We used the D-Link DWL-G520 PCI Network Interface Card (NIC). This drops into a spare PCI slot on the motherboard. Be sure to install the drivers provided on the CD first however. You can also purchase compatible PCMCIA NICs for use with notebook/laptop computers.

This diagram helps to illustrate the set up of the DI-624 in relation to your internet modem and remote computers:

Once you set up the components, you open your web browser and enter a specific IP address. This brings up a setup page via your browser. This page is 'built' into the router, so even if you cannot directly access the internet at this stage, it does not matter. Again, follow the instructions for setting up the 'software' side of the router and configuring appropriate settings.

After the first attempt, I had no success. I could not get a live internet connection through the router. I went searching on the full product manual included on the supplied CD (the printed manual is the quick installation guide only). I came across the troubleshooting section, and found a specific section for the cable modem I use, a Motorola Surfboard modem (connected to Optus cable internet). The manual stated to turn off the cable modem and router altogether, wait at least five minutes, the power up the cable modem first, followed by the router 30 seconds later. After I did this, I had a live internet connection again. I went through the setup instructions again as instructed to and all was working fine from that point on, and has continued to do so. It was a one-off fix.

With a live internet connection now available, I checked the status lights on the router itself to check all 'systems' were operational. Then, going upstairs to remote computer, I found that it was able to detect the wireless network signal and connect easily to that. Once that was done, I had instant access to the internet and all associated internet facilities - FTP, email etc, once I had set up the appropriate programs to access them. Pretty easy installation really. No fooling around with IP addresses or network protocols - all straight forward.

DI-624 Router Features
Along with the 802.11g network technology came improvements to transmittable speeds. The DI-624 claims up to 108 Mbps (mega bits) can be transferred. This is 15 times faster than what can be achieved on the older 802.11b wireless options. Now, you must remember that to gain the maximum speed possible from the router, the receiving card on the remote computer must also be rated to this 108 Mbps speed. If it is only 11 Mbps, then the fastest access you can get is 11 Mbps, as an example. In saying this however, the router will work with older 802.11b receiver cards as well - i.e. it is backwards compatible, but is limited to whatever the slowest link in the chain is speed-wise.

Despite not being able to verify the speed, I found that the wireless router could transmit the incoming data just as fast as it could download it from the internet in most cases. I was expecting it to be much slower, but to my surprise the speed was right up there and it had little influence on my regular web browsing and downloading speeds, except perhaps for downloads of files from speedy local internet servers, but for me at least, I didn't find it to be that much of an issue, your mileage may vary. Note that while we did use a D-Link receiver card, it is not absolutely necessary to use a receiver card made by the same manufacturer, but having both the router and receiver capable of up to 108 Mbps speeds is certainly handy.

Note also that if you have two computers trying to feed off the same wireless connection at the same time, transfer speeds will be lower as a result of having to share the connection with that extra computer.

The performance speed of the system is made possible by implementing specific compression technologies... What follows is a brief description of these. I could have re-worded them, but the manufacturer's descriptions are just as good and concise;
 

Fast Frames The fast frames technique enhances data throughput by increasing the number of bits sent per data frame and accelerating the timing of a data frame with a dynamic transmit optimizations. This technology enhances the Packet Bursting capability synergistically to provide accelerated performance results. The fast frames technique is also based on the 802.11e QOS draft standard. Hardware Compression and Encryption XtremeG™ uses the Atheros AR5002 chipset which employs special engines to compress and encrypt data. These hardware engines operate in real-time to enhance throughput by implementing standard algorithms and compressing data prior to transmission and after reception. Multi-Channel Bonding Multi-Channel Bonding embraces two radio channels simultaneously. It collapses the available channels from 12 to 6 for increased bandwidth on the available channels. Single and double channels are not run at the same time. This technology senses single channel and dual channel frames and negotiates time-based solutions with priority on single channel processing. Select Mode Select Mode gives users the option of locking the Xtreme G products into a Static mode (instead of the default Dynamic mode) for even higher performance within a complete D-Link 108Mbps Xtreme G environment. Content Filtering In addition to being the industry’s fastest wireless network solution, It includes management settings and policy-based content filtering for advanced network management. Filters can be set based on MAC address, IP address, URL and/or Domain Name.

Security?
Naturally, having a wireless network opens up the possibility of unauthorized access. Various security measures are implemented in the technology to help keep your network as secure as possible. Much of the jargon associated with these security features will go way over the top of most general computer user's brains, and to be honest, you probably don't need to really know how it all works to use it, and benefit from it, unless you are the network administrator. If the network is setup in configuration as a RADIUS server, you have access to the following security features:

WPA
Wi-Fi Protected Access authorizes and identifies users based on a secret key
that changes automatically at a regular interval. WPA uses TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) to change the temporal key every 10,000 packets (a packet is a kind of message transmitted over a network.) This ensures much greater security than the standard WEP security. By contrast, the older WEP encryption required the keys to be changed manually.

802.1x: Authentication
A first line of defense against intrusion. In the Authentication process the server verifies the identity of the client attempting to connect to the network. Unfamiliar clients would be denied access.

Note that some features are only 'active' if both the transmitter and receiver are of the 802.11g format.

For home users (not using a RADIUS server) the security options include, and utilize the Pre Shared Key mode of WPA, where the DI-624 will obtain a new security key every time it connects to the 802.11g network. You only need to input your encryption information once in the configuration menu. You are no longer required to manually input a new WEP key frequently to ensure security. With the DI-624, you will automatically receive a new key every time you connect, improving the safety of communications.

Additional security and protection comes in the forms of firewall features, including IP filtering, URL filtering, and domain blocking, so it is possible to block access to some sites if needed, handy if children are using the internet and you wish to restrict particular sites from being accessed.

Our thoughts on the product...
Despite a small teething issue in setup (which only took 10 minutes to resolve) we cannot fault this product. It has done all it claims it will and, to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to perform as well as it did. As stated above, we had no problems with the wireless connection, despite having two other 2.4Ghz range devices in use in the same house as the DI-624. It delivers excellent speed for a wireless option and was pretty easy to set up, and should be just as easy for new users as well who may have never set up a network, let alone a wireless one in the past.

While the router may not have all of the options of some of the more expensive models on the market, we think the price is fair given that it seems to deliver transfer speeds well above your run-of-the-mill 54Mbps wireless router.

We recommend this product based on our own results, but do ensure what you are buying is the latest revision, and that you have a compatible 802.11g receiver card capable of receiving data at the same transfer speeds that the router delivers for optimum results.

D-Link Wireless Photos
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