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Netgear DG834N Review DSL

Details

Parent Category: Equipment

Written by Administrator

Supplier    NETGEAR
Model of device    DG834N
Suitable for     ADSL only
Date of test    16/05/2007
Firmware delivered with    V1.01.06
Firmware tested    V1.01.06
ADSL Firmware    A2pB021.d19e
Wireless    Yes (B,G, Pre-N)
Ethernet Ports    4 * (100Mb)

Pre-Face

Since 802.11n was announced there’s been a flurry of routers all running versions of Pre-N wireless. Things have started to settle down now and although “N” has still to be ratified, we are starting to see some good routers appear.

I’m a massive fan of the Netgear DG834G, its still my favourite router. So I was thrilled when the friendly people at Netgear agreed to loan me a DG834N to try out for a few weeks. (Thank you Noiseworks!)

I’m not a professional reviewer or tester, but I know routers, I know what features I like, how easy they should be to use and I know what you want from a router for xbox live and general home use.

So, with that in mind, here’s my review of this piece of kit. Also, do not take the wireless speeds as gospel these were tested with conditions particular to my home, so you may see better results, you may see worse.

The Router

Well its bigger than the DG834G, its about the size of the BT HomeHub, its 17cm wide 21.5cm high and pretty thin.

A nice stylish white that wouldn’t look out of place next to your iPod. 4 Ethernet ports and the usual green LED’s at the front indication LAN/WAN/Wireless activity. No external aerials, there’s two built inside.

Setting it all up

The great thing I like about setting up Netgear is, you virtually don’t have to, they are ridiculously easy to get going.

Even without using the Setup CD it took me 5mins to get connected in fact it took me longer to unbox that it did to actually configure to go online.

Simply connect the router to your ADSL filter, ethernet cable to the PC, the other end to the router, type 192.168.0.1 into your web browser, log in with admin & password run the setup wizard, enter your ISP username/password and your done. In its most basic form your online. Crazy!

Plug in your Xbox via ethernet, run the Xbox live test. NAT is Open. And your gaming. That will be enough for some people, but, there’s obviously more this router is capable of.

Web Interface/Features

The web interface hasn’t change much if at all since the DG834G, but that’s no bad thing, as the 834G’s was fine, simple, well set out, easy to use. It just does what its supposed to do. You don’t have to read the manual to find the feature you want, just browse through the various menus until you find it.

UPnP    Yes
DHCP    Yes
DHCP Address Reservation    Yes
WEP    In G&B Mode
WPA-PSK[TKIP]    Yes
WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]    Yes
WPA2-PSK [AES]    Yes
WPA-802.1x     Yes
Wireless Access List    Yes
WDS    No
Firewall    Yes (SPI)
Dynamic DNS    Yes
Support for two or more Xbox With an OPEN Nat    No

Pre-N

Pre-N or Draft N is a manufacturers take on what they believe will go into the 802.11n standard when its finally ratified. What this means is, some of the features of the Pre-N device may or may not be compatible with other 802.11n products when they are released.

Wireless Speeds

I think the main reason for you wanting to buy this router is for one or more of the following:-

• Your in the market for a new router and Wireless G is getting older now, so you looking for a future proof(ish) purchase
• You need fast wireless transfer speeds between devices
• You want to stream video/music at high speeds

Now, when you seen Pre-N advertised you hear of speeds like 270-300Mbps. Please… don’t expect that. Those are potential speeds of “N”, you wont reach them.

But don’t let that put you off this is a FAST wireless router. Here’s a set of tests I carried out:-

• Equipment used: Netgear DG834N
• Laptop with Netgear WN11B Wireless card
• Qcheck Performance testing software

All the tests were carried out with the router configured with WPA-PSK configured, using the Wireless Channel mode of Auto and the “Up to 270Mb” setting.

File Transfer Rate (802.11n) < 1m 68Mbps
File Transfer Rate (802.11n) > 6m 53Mbps
File Transfer Rate (802.11n) > 8m 40Mbps

They are impressive transfer rates, compare those results to the ones below, which are using a normal 54Mb Wireless G card in the same laptop talking to the same router.

File Transfer Rate (802.54g) < 1m 20Mbps
File Transfer Rate (802.54g) > 6m 20Mbps
File Transfer Rate (802.54g) > 8m 20Mbps

I'd also heard that in general when using higher wireless speeds, routers would slow down their wireless speeds to cater for the slowest users, this isn't Netgear specific I'd heard it about many routers. So, let's say your 300Mb Wireless router is running at top speed, and you fire up a Wireless B (11Mb) client, everything slows down to Wireless B speeds (11Mb).

I tried this out with the DG834N and it didn't slow down at all. I could be surfing away on a Wireless B laptop and transferring data at over 50Mbps on a Wireless G laptop. Great stuff!

Wireless Range

I’ll be honest I personally didn’t really notice much difference in range than my Wireless G setup. That might be just down to my house.

NAT

As we know a good NAT status of Open is all important for Xbox live. I'm glad to say its Open out the box, so there's no issues there. However, this router will not support two or more Xboxes with a NAT of Open.

Summary

One of the best routers just got faster. Simple to use, great for Xbox live and general use. Another great router from Netgear.

The Unofficial Guide To Live Rating

7/10