Customer Reviews

TRENDnet 300 Mbps Wireless N Home Router TEW-652BRP (Black)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

I usually don't write reviews as I am lazy but I think the other consumer's review is misleading to many people that consider buying this router. I don't know what is the problem in his case (maybe choosing the same channel with the neighbor or some other strong interference?) but I never experienced any disconnects or other connection issues with this router.

This router is considerably inexpensive compared to other 802.11N routers and ,as expected, it doesn't compare with the >$100 routers in terms of features. However, it is a reliable router with basic functionality and much faster connection than the 802.11G routers. I usually connect at 130MBS and it is more than enough for may needs as my wired ethernet connection is 100MBS anyway. There is no performance difference between plugging the Ethernet cable to my computer or connecting wirelessly with this router and that was what I was looking for. I am simply happy with it (using for the last couple of weeks) and keeping it until dual band N routers drop to this price range.

Cons:
-Not a dual band (only 2.4 GHZ) so you won't experience 802.11N speeds if you use old 802.11B or 802.11G devices simultaneously with the N devices.
-Firmware and web interface provides only the basic settings, so don't expect anything advanced (e.g. you cannot reserve IPs to certain MACs)
-Ethernet is 100MBS, so don't buy this if you need gigabit ethernet
-You have to choose the 802.11 channel manually (there is no auto setting to find the channel with least interference). But you can look at the channels of the neighbor wireless networks and set it manually to the least crowded.

PROs:
-I bought it on sale and the price was unbeatable for a N router.
-Connection is fast and reliable.
-MIMO is great, so even the G devices connects faster (but I use the router exclusively in N mode, I have another G router for legacy devices)
-Set-up was painless and device supports WPA2 with hardware AES encryption.

I am a computer professional and didn't even look at the user manual or quick start guide. So I don't know how good the instructions etc. are if you need them but if you know what you are doing, then the router is easy to setup as it comes wireless enabled and you can start configuring it as soon as you power the router on. Its default IP is "192.168.10.1" and default admin password is "access".

I got this very cheap, but I got it to use as Wireless N Access Point. There are problems with the original firmware but you can fix that by upgrading to the most current one at this time it's 1.10.8. This is very basic N with 12X coverage area, so you're looking at 2 rooms about 150mbps at excellent signal range. The 3rd room would be 120mbps at very good signal. The 2x 2dBi ANT are okay the higher you place this device the better signal you'll get. You don't need to buy additional ANT for it.

Now the true story about Wireless Draft N 2.0.. Remember this is still experimental so true Standard N would be 600mbps. Draft N is 300mbps. Based on chipset not real time.

Okay so let's see:

300mbps = 150mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 130M
270mbps = 135mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 115M
260mbps = 130mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 110M
240mbps = 120mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 100M
130mbps = 65mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 45M
120mbps = 60mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 40M
60mbps = 30mbps (real time) but in the router it can be 10M

These are the speeds you'll can get, but you want to have about 150mbps that's close to the chipset speed which is 300MB.

This router has Atheros AR9130 400MHz CPU and 32MB of RAM plus 4MB Flash
Not bad faster than DLINK DIR-655 which only has 276MHz, 16MB of RAM and 4MB Flash. Except the DIR-655 has USB port and Gig ports. TEW-652BRP doesn't have USB or Gig ports.

If you're going to use it as wireless access point in N or G then you don't have to worry about the 10/100 ports only for connecting it to your network.

Now some programmers online have come up with a way that you can turn this Router into DIR-615 C1 3.01 using mod firmware which is just changing the last HEX entries to work the DIR-615 firmware that's all. Once you flash the router to a DIR-615 you'll have more features, but it won't be easy to use. You'll have to read the DIR-615 manual. Then you might find you want to switch back the Trendent Firmware you can do that but editing the firmware or modding it. Still I've tried both and found going back to Trendnet because the DIR-615 firmware not there yet and is prone to disconnections.

OpenWRT has firmware for this router but it's in Linux so you'll need to know the Linux code more like Telnet dos text session. Most users were waiting on DD-WRT another firmware you could use but doesn't at this time support TEW-652BRP.

Today I am using the latest Trendent firmware and the Router is used for as Wireless N Access Point. I also own 3x Trendnet TEW-641PC/A Wireless N PC Cards with this device. I don't have problems using those cards.

If you need any network tweak head over to DSLReports.com under DLINK forum more there about how to mod an etc.

Still this router isn't bad, if configured right you would have something just as good but for less the other expensive ones.

I am only rating this router 3 out of 5 because of the lack of features in the firmware, but most of the features are good for the basics plus it's easier to configure!

This item works and is easy to use, but it gets hot if you use it 24/7 and when it gets hot it wont connect, I leave mine on 24/7 and it would get hot and you could not connect, so I would have to unplug it, let it cool down, and then plug it in and it would work for a day or so, I googled it and found that this is a common problem with this router and saw the many ways other people have "fixed" the problem, including some people who disassemble it and install a Video card heatsink or a fan inside of it, I did not want to take that route so I ended up using a laptop cooler and setting the router on top of it, and now I very rarely have to to reboot it, however if I had known that ahead of time I would not have bought it. Also it does not auto choose best channel, so if your neighbor uses same channel as you it will be very erratic until you go in and change the channel to one no one near you is using.

I am an IT personnel in a small company. Due to weak signal in my two story house, I upgraded to Wireless N. The range has been improved over Wireless G.

However, this wireless router shows its weakness when used for P2P file sharing. At about 50 connections, the router CPU overheats and it stops working. It works again when powered off and let cooled for 5 minutes. I added stick-on heat sink and even a small fan to address this overheat issue.

But it still stalls under high load condition. When I switched back to my old D-Link Wireless G router, it performed good in the same load condition. This router is not approprite for P2P application.

I ordered this router to use as a wireless bridge to connect my blu-Ray to my wifi, I planed on flashing it with DD-WRT firmware to do so. However I received a V2.2 model that cannot be flashed with custom firmware, as they downgraded the CPU (form 400mHz to 330mHz) to a different brand. The native firmware has a strange mix of semi-advanced features and won't do what I wanted it to. The router works, and if you have no idea what firmware is this router will be fine for you. It just didn't do what I wanted it to. At $22 it's not a huge loss, but now I have to find another solution.

TRENDnet chose to eliminate features and downgrade hardware to cut costs and increase profit while keeping the same model number and price point, maybe even raising it a little (V1s were going for 19.95 at bestbuy last year). No wonder retail stores no longer carry this model.

Two Stars **

I purchased this product from another website at a steal ($25 w/ fs). I have a Draft N card in my laptop and previously was using a router with only b/g capabilities. Now, I live in an apartment with a 2mbps/2mbps connection so I really didn't need this router for range or speed. But, since it was so cheap I figured if I could get a slight bump in speed/coverage, it'd be worth it. I was wrong. After I got this router working (the router setup menu is ridiculously outdated), it kept disconnecting every 2-3minutes. I called customer support and although it wasn't too difficult to get someone on the line, the representative was of little if any help. The only reason I give it two stars is that when it was working it was actually a tad faster. But that's splitting hairs. If the router was $35+ and actually worked, I don't think I would buy it.

It has been three weeks since I installed this router. It has good range, connection never drops. The start up time is about 10 seconds for the router. Comes with a good easy to use router administration menu interface. Here some of you may need to call support if you get confused with some of the router terms while installing. However customer support are very knowledgeable and helpful. I still like my old Actiontec router for ease of setup and administration, but unfortunately they do not have stand alone wireless router. The only thing is of concern to me is that this router gets very hot, so much that I unplug when I go out of the house and in night. I have kept router in such a way that(difficult to explain here) that it has minimum contact with carpet or wood. I did mention this to manufacturer as well but they assured me that there has been no accidents. Otherwise very happy with the quality of this product.

The speed of "N" routers is far better than that of "G" routers.Bought it during the holiday season for 24 bucks. Decent deal for me. Hassle free installation. Setting up the wireless network and security can be done even by a layman by going through the users manual.

It constantly disconnects. I replaced it with Linksys WRT160N which works perfectly. I would not recommend this product due to my very bad experience with it. I have used several wireless routers since 2003 and I would rate this one at the bottom of my list.

I purchased somewhere else a few days ago, set up was pretty easy, interface is clean and nice, I quickly set up a few port forwarding using their virtual server configuration for my 8 wireless IP cameras, unfortunately, no matter how I tried, it just didn't do the job. I finally gave up, returned it and exchanged a Netgear, the setting was also easy, the port forwarding worked instantly without any issue. With this price for a wireless N router, if you only use it for basic network sharing, it is a good buy, but not recommend if you will do the port forwarding or more complicated routing purposes.