I was looking for a router which would be powerful and future proof. After much investigation, I decided on the D-Link Xtreme N(tm) Gigabit Router (DIR-655), which has both WAN and LAN gigabit ports. The only obvious drawback is that although the router has a USB port, it is near useless as you cannot connect a printer or hard drive to it. The router was bought from amazon.co.uk and supplied by Pixmania for £74.35 including postage and packing.
Incidentally, for top performance, it's best to have PCs with gigabit ethernet (1000Base-T) adapter cards, because if you were to move files between the PCs then you should see an improvement compared with PC fitted with 100Base-T cards. Your PC should also have either a PCIe (PCI Express) X1 slot or an onboard NIC that connects via PCIe to the CPU.
I took delivery recently. A little disconcertingly the language on the packaging is in French and the two-pin European power cord required a three-pin UK adapter (supplied). I got it working without a problem. Here's what did.
I switched off the PC and powered off the SB5100 SURFboard cable modem by removing the power cable. I waited several minutes to allow the modem to release the MAC address of the PC's Ethernet adapter, then connected the router to the modem and PC by the WAN and LAN ports respectively and, ignoring the set up disk, booted up the modem, router and PC (in that order). You need to wait for the modem's four green lights to come on before booting up the router.
I got internet access first time. I then brought up the router's web page using
http://192.168.0.1/ and did some more configuration:
1. Disabled the wireless network (as I'm not using it)
2. On the firewall: I enabled anti-spoof checking and set UDP Endpoint Filtering to Port and Address Restricted (to give a bit more protection than the default Address Restricted). Stateful packet inspection (SPI) was enabled by default
3. Set the clock to the correct time.
4. Flashed the firmware from 1.11EU to the current 1.20EU.
5. Enabled email notification to inform me whenever the log is full or there is a newer firmware version
Initially I didn't clone the MAC address of my PC's Ethernet Controller into the in the WAN port, but still got internet access. However, I've subsequently done this.
It's early days, but I have to say that it's looking good so far. Indeed, judging from the number of TCP connections blocked by the firewall, I'm well pleased to have this first line of defence.
Just to note something: if the router is switched off, then the router's time must be reset if you want accurate log times, otherwise the time will start from when the router was turned off. Oh, and a niggle: the router's blue lights are very bright, so I've turned it slightly sideways and away from my line of sight.
Incidentally, here are some wireless routers which I dismissed.
SMC SMCWGBR14-N Barricade N ProMax Draft 11n
Lacks heatsinks on either the Ubicom processor or Realtek switch or even a thermal pad
Linksys WRT350N wireless router with Storage Link
Poor reported performance of the USB port for connecting storage devices
Apple AirPort Extreme
No firewall
Netgear WNR854T RangeMax Next Wireless-N Router Gigabit Edition
Awful user reviews
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