- Up to 1300Mbps AC+450Mbps N bands
- DD-WRT works with Version 1 or higher
- One touch network connection with the WPS button
- USB 3.0 share port
- Graphic Interface for easy setup
Depends on what you use it for
05/05/2013
This review is from: TRENDnet TEW-812DRU V1 AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router
Pros:
Easy setup
No disconnects
Combines 2.5ghz and 5ghz devices into a single LAN
Ability to turn off UPNP. Not susceptible to UPNP flaw, as tested through Steve Gibson’s ShieldsUP test.
Cons:
USB drive support is awful. When running the SAMBA server, only one computer can map it as a network drive at once. Every other computer results in an “Access denied” error when I try to map it.
No way to setup a USB drive without a login and password. My old router allowed me to plug it in and just make it available to all. This router REQUIRES you to use a login and password whether you want it or not, thus resulting in all of the connection issues I’ve had.
Writes to the USB attached network storage maxed out at 2mbps ON A GOOD day. The rest of the time it averaged about 2-500kbps and the speed would drop out to 0 kbps entirely every 1-2 minutes. That would last about 45 seconds and then pickup again to its 2-500kbps speed.
It took 1hr 44mnts to transfer a 1.9gb file.
If I had a device trying to write to the USB drive while another device was trying to play video off of it, the transfer drop off affected read speeds as well, my video playback would stall for the entire time that my file transfer speeds were zeroed out, and would start again once the file transfer restarted.
This all happened in the same room as the router with full bars and a strong 300mpbs connection.
The router configuration DOES NOT allow for assigning a static DNS such as Google or OpenDNS.
Overall Review:
I had a few criteria that I planned to base my review on. Ease of setup, whether or not the LAN would combine the 2.5ghz and 5ghz networks without any issues, and whether I had any connection issues such as random disconnects. On those three criteria this router is excellent. I had no connection issues, all my devices could see each other on the LAN, and I had no problem connecting or staying connected.
I did NOT anticipate having issues with the USB support. This was supposed to replace my Netgear WNDR3800. With that device I was able to map my hard drive to all of the computers in my house with no issues and easily transfer files to it without any issues. Read speeds were almost 10mbps and I could stream video all over the house. The only limitation was write speeds maxed out at 3mbps.
This router only allowed one computer to map it as a network drive, all of my other computers had to navigate to it via Network Explorer. This was very inconvenient for those in my home who are less tech-savvy. The inconsistent read/write speeds were atrocious and intolerable. Also, the drop in readability as I transferred files made the drive unusable for others in the house.
I have two computers running XBMC that play videos off of my network drive and a Google TV that uses a network-capable media player. My Google TV could not connect to the drive at all.
The inability to set a static DNS server is a major flaw that I find hard to look past.
If you don’t plan on using the USB feature and you don’t care about the inability to set a static DNS, then this is a solid router, with good/reliable connection speeds, and easy setup. However, for my purposes, this router falls flat on its face. I’m going back to my Netgear WNDR3800.
Setting:
Standard single-home neighborhood. Light wifi traffic in area.
My devices: 11 total
Motorola Photon Q (2.5ghz)
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (2.5ghz)
Nexus 7 (2.5ghz)
2x Asus laptops (5ghz)
1x Asus laptop (2.5ghz)
Custom desktop (5ghz)
Sony Google TV (Ethernet)
Vizio 42” internet-enabled TV (2.5ghz)
2x Kindle Fires (2.5ghz)
Manufacturer Response:
Dear TRENDnet Customer,
Please accept our deepest apologies for any inconvenience this has caused you. So far, we haven't had any luck to replicate the 192.168.1.1 issue though. However, we will verify with more units. As far as the NAT loopback, just wonder if this issue occurs on all local wired and wireless clients or not. Meanwhile, we believe if you use default DNS settings, and have a problem to access either email or web server via URL locally. If I'm mistaken, please contact us at adrian@trendnet.com with "Newegg TEW-812DRU Product Review" in the subject line and someone will assist you immediately to resolve you issues. We look forward to hearing from you directly and restoring your faith in TRENDnet products.
Warm Regards,
Adrian E., TRENDnet Sales Team
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