Networking Gear by stefan @ 2012-09-04
The new N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router from TP-LINK is feature rich, provides decent speeds in wireless environment and comes at a very affordable price. The GUI which can be accessed via the browser is not as attractive as the competition and most of the modifications in a page require a router system reboot.
At first I would like to thank TP-LINK for offering me a sample of their TL-WNDR4300 N750 Wireless Dual Band Router for testing and reviewing.
"TP-LINK is a global provider of SOHO networking products and No.1 market share holder in China, with products available in over 100 countries to tens of millions customers. Committed to powerful R&D, effective production and strict quality management, TP-LINK continues to provide awards-winning networking products in Wireless, ADSL, Routers, Switches, IP Cameras, Powerline Adapters, Print Servers, Media Converters and Network Adapters for Global end-users.
Based on the confidence of tens of millions of customers, TP-LINK is now growing to become one of the most competitive providers of networking products with aspirations of becoming one of the top 3 networking brands and striving for a larger global market share, while further advancing in the world of networking to better serve our most valued customers with a product that makes their lives easier."
-Simultaneous 2.4GHz 300Mbps and 5GHz 450Mbps connections for 750Mbps of total available bandwidth
-2*USB 2.0 port convenient for network-connected users to share files through the device’s FTP server
-Built-in media server allows users to share music, video and photos with Windows Media Player, PS3 or X-BOX 360
-The device’s built-in print server supports wireless printing from different computers by connecting a USB printer to the router
-Full gigabit ports ensure ultimate transfer speeds
-Achieves blazing WAN to LAN throughput of over 800Mbps with hardware NAT
-Simple wireless security encryption at a push of the WPS button
-WDS wireless bridge provides seamless bridging to expand the wireless network
-IP-based bandwidth control allows administrators to determine how much bandwidth is allotted to each PC
-Live Parental Controls allow parents or administrators to establish restricted access policies for children or staff
-External detachable antennas allow for better alignment and stronger antenna upgrades
The latest dual band wireless router from TP-LINK comes packed inside a medium-sized cardboard box, which has a photo of the product in operation on the frontal side, along with some product highlights:
On one of the sides we will find the package contents list, along with the same product highlights, but this time in multiple languages:
Also, here we will also find a shorter list of specifications, along with the system requirements:
We are also instructed to use the Easy Setup Assistant present on the supplied disk, instead of accessing the web interface:
On the back side of the box, we get more in-depth explanations with drawings and photos, the features and benefits list, along with a small comparison table between different router models:
Opening the box will reveal the mold in which the contents are held securely, along with the documentation:
Along with the main product, the router, we will also find a LAN cable, the power adapter and three antennas:
By reading on the power supply, we will find that it supplies on the output 12V, 1.5A:
The detachable antennas are dual-band (RP-SMA) and have the company logo debossed in center:
The router plastic chassis is quite large compared to the routers we have looked upon in the past and features another logo in the center; its shape is interesting and the top is mostly made from shiny black plastic:
By looking at an angle, we can also discover the holes left there for ventilation:
On the frontal side, all status LEDs are present for:
-Power
-System Status
-Wireless 2.4GHz
-Wireless 5Ghz
-Ethernet Ports 1,2,3,4
-WAN Port
-WPS
-USB
On the back, we have most of the ports present; the left side welcomes us with the first antenna port, DC-IN port, the On/Off button, one Wireless On/Off switch, two USB ports with activity LEDs, along with the WAN port:
On the right we’ve got two additional antenna ports, along with the 4 covered LAN ports and a WPS/Reset button:
The back side of the router has multiple ventilation holes and a central sticker:
The sticker will give us information like model number, power rating, serial number, MAC and default Wireless Password/PIN:
As documentation, we will notice two Purchasing Guides with other products sold by TP-LINK, a disk with documentation and the Easy Setup Assistant, some notices regarding the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks usage in EU, another leaflet regarding GNU General Public License and, of course, the Quick Installation Guide:
The manual explains how to proceed with the hardware and software configuration, to get our network online as soon as possible:
After entering the default user/password for the first time, we will be greeted by the GUI, which looks very much alike as on the previous router from TP-LINK that we have tested; on the top there is the title which informs us of the router model number, on the left we’ve got the menus sorted, in the center we’ll find more information and options that we can modify and on the right we’ll get explanations regarding what we can find in each menu:
The Quick Setup menu is like a wizard and allows the users to set up the equipment as fast as possible, by passing through some guides:
The Network menu allows configuration customizations on the WAN side, can set up the LAN IP of the router or change the MAC the router is seen with from the outside:
The wireless networks functionality can be turned on or off from the Dual Band Selection menu:
The 2.4GHz and 5GHz network settings can be changed individually by accessing the sub-menus; for example, we have the Wireless Settings section, from which we can modify the wireless network name, the region where the router is installed, the wireless mode, channel width and channel number:
The Wi-Fi Protected Setup can be also customized in the next sub-section:
The Wireless Security menu allows us to set the encryption types:
We can also set up MAC filtering per each wireless network (2.4GHz and 5GHz):
Inside the Wireless Advanced menu, we can adjust sensitive functionality parameters like Beacon Interval, RTS Threshold and so on, for fine-tuning:
The Wireless Statistics menu lets us know of the received/sent packets per each connected station:
The DHCP settings can be customized from a separate menu like IP range or address reservation; the DHCP Client List section shows the currently connected stations, with the computer names, MAC addresses, assigned IPs and lease times:
The USB settings can be modified in the next menu, with its sub-sections; when USB storage is connected, inside the Storage Sharing menu we will see the current status of the device, set up accessibility only with password and here we can also eject the device safely or rescan the USB interface:
The same USB Settings menu allows to customize the settings for the FTP Server, Media Server, Print Server or set different user accounts for access:
NAT can be enabled or disabled in the next menu:
From the Forwarding menu, we can access sub-sections regarding Virtual Servers, Port Triggering, DMZ and UPnP functions:
The Security function has a separate menu; in the Basic Security tab we are allowed to enable/disable the firewall, VPN Passthrough and also Application Layer Gateway settings:
The Advanced Security menu allows us to protect the router from being attacked by TCP-SYN Flood, UDP Flood or ICMP-Flood:
Local Management sub-section allows to deny LAN computers from accessing the GUI of the router:
Remote Management allows us to manage the router settings from a remote location via Internet:
Inside the Parental Control menu, we can control Internet activities of the children, can limit access to some websites and restrict the surfing time:
With Access Control, we can look into the Internet activities of the hosts inside the LAN; moreover, we can flexibly combine the Host List, Target List and Schedule to restrict the Internet surfing of these hosts:
In the Advanced Routing sub-menu, we will be able to set static routes or see the current system routing table:
The router is also equipped with Bandwidth Control capabilities; from the Control Settings menu, we will be able to set the egress and ingress bandwidths through the WAN port; in the Rules List sub-menu we will be able access even more advanced controls:
The IP&MAC Binding settings are useful for controlling access of specific computers in the LAN:
The ARP list shows the IP addresses on the LAN and their associated MAC addresses:
DDNS allows us to assign a fixed host and domain name to a dynamic Internet IP address; this feature is useful when we are hosting different services behind the router like a website, FTP server:
The Time Settings menu allows us to set the time manually or configure automatic time synchronization:
The Diagnostic Tools provided (ping and traceroute) allows us to check the connections of our network components:
The Firmware Update menu is self explanatory:
The same goes for the Factory Defaults, Backup&Restore and Reboot sections:
The username and password for log-in can be changed in the next menu:
In the System Log, we can see what really happens underneath the hood:
Traffic statistics menu only shows values if the option is enabled and may consume a little from the router resources when in operation:
CPU: Intel I7 3770K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional
RAM: AVEXIR Core Series 4x8GB DDR1600
Video: AMD RADEON HD 7970 3GB
Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11
Case: Thermaltake ARMOR+ LCS
For the client wireless tests we have used a Media Center PC equipped with the AMD A6-3650 APU, the Radeon HD 7750 VGA card and 12GB of RAM.To test the USB Wireless LAN adapters throughput, we have connected the server ( I7 PC ) to the router with a UTP wire and the client ( Media Center ) had installed the Wireless LAN adapters.
For the client wired tests, both server and client were linked to the router with UTP wire.
The application I have used to test the speeds was Performance Test 7.0, fully compatible with Windows 7.
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The most recent router from TP-LINK got recently a firmware update which we have used in our testing and with it the transfer speeds seemed more constant and the boot time decreased by a couple of seconds. After applying each setting we were prompted to reboot the router, something that rarely happened when working with the latest 750Mbps router from Sitecom. In the performed tests with the two dual band Wireless adapters, we have obtained average results, on both upload and download and on both bands. Despite the average speeds, the coverage seems to be better than on the Sitecom N750 (with internal antennas) or TRENDnet TEW-692GR (with internal and external antennas).
Before even starting the speed tests, the router was used regularly for a week to see if it is stable; during this time, the router proved to be rock solid and no reset/restart was needed (with the TL-WR1043ND we needed to reset the system from time to time because we could not connect wirelessly to it).
Because of the dual USB 2.0 ports, we can connect multiple external storage devices to it, or only one device, along with a printer. The obtained speeds while transferring data to an external USB 3.0 HDD were noticeable higher than the ones we have seen on the Sitecom N750:
USB Read
USB Write
During operation, the router gets quite warm so we would recommend installing it in a well ventilated place.
Regarding the price at which we can find the product online, its surprisingly low (can be found for about 71 Euros), so we are not afraid to recommend it to most people that would need a feature rich product, even if the firmware interface is not very graphically attractive as on other routers.
I would like to thank again to TP-LINK for making this review possible!