Based on a few recommendations read on various web forums, I purchased a D-Link DGL-4300 wireless gaming router.

Prior to this, I’ve been using a Netgear WPN824 Rangemax wireless router.  I haven’t been having any real issues with the Rangemax, but I was curious if the promises of a more powerful processor and feature set in the DGL-4300 were true.

After a few hours of use, I’m beginning to believe the hype.  The 4300 doesn’t have the seven built-in antennas that the Rangemax does, but the device with it’s single 5dBi antenna was able to serve a full 3Mbps reliably throughout my house and even to the furthest areas of my backyard.

However, while the distance covered is comparable, the D-Link router appears to beat the Rangemax when it comes to the actual routing of information.  It’s my belief that wireless router manufacturers are currently concentrating all their development on the range covered by their wireless networks at the expense of developing the central components that handle all the information coming through the device.

D-Link calls the components at the heart of the DGL-4300 “Gamefuel Technology”.  They claim that the unit has a beefier processor than other routers, allowing packets to be processed not only quicker, but with more control.  The router, for example, allows you to create up to 256 port forwarding policies, compared to the average 10 or 20 of other wireless routers.  D-Link also states that the processor has QoS features that allow automatic prioritization of important packets, such as VoIP, streaming media and gaming traffic.
This means that the router is primarily aimed at users who don’t want their Vonage service and online games affected as much by other concurrent downloads running in the background.  Additionally, the increased ability to handle thousands of simultaneous connections make the unit a better choice for frequent BitTorrent users.

Back to some real-world performance, I tried a few of the Speakeasy Broadband Speed Test servers and came away with a good 1 to 2Mbps difference between the Rangemax and the 4300.

One other feature of the unit that is of interest to those of us with higher-end motherboards is the unit’s built-in gigabit ethernet switch.  Most other routers include four 10/100Mbps ethernet ports to connect your computer directly to the network, but the four included with the DGL-4300 will allow you to make faster wired network file transfers if you have the required hardware.
Overall, I’m going to say that the DGL-4300 is a good choice for gamers and VoIP users who are willing to spend slightly more for a higher performance router.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 13th, 2006 at 8:02 pm and is filed under General, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can print this entry, leave a response, or add a trackback from your own site.