Netgear’s WNR854T was faster than any
other router in this roundup in our close-
range tests, lost the least amount of potency
while running WEP security, and came in sec-
ond in our 40-foot test, bested by D-Link’s
DIR-655. But Netgear’s entry was several
times slower than D-Link’s in our 150-foot
test. (See page 70 for benchmark details.)
The WNR854T also lacks the DIR-655’s
ample provisions for manually tweaking qual-
ity-of-service settings. We also found it to
be infl exible when it came to confi guring its
other wireless settings. Where D-Link lets
you choose between running in 802.11b-,
g-, or n-only modes; mixed 802.11b and
-g modes; or mixed 802.11g and n modes,
Netgear limits your choices to three speed
ranges: “up to 54Mb/s,” “up to 145Mb/s,”
and “up to 300Mb/s.” The router doesn’t
explicitly state which 802.11 mode the router
will actually be running in.
It won’t matter much to anyone with
experience putting together a network—or
to novices with typical DSL or cable-modem
service, for that matter—but Netgear’s instal-
lation wizard was the only one of the fi ve we
reviewed that failed to successfully install
the device. The wizard detected that we’d
plugged the router into an upstream Gigabitswitch and fl at-out
refused to proceed, forc-
ing us to confi gure the
router manually.
Netgear hides the
router’s three dipole
antennas inside its
enclosure, which should
make the box more
appealing to fashionistas
who don’t care for geek
chic. We thought that
these fi xed antennas
might explain the router’s
relatively poor long-
distance performance,
but the Belkin N1 and
Buffalo WZR2-G300N
routers both have adjust-
able antennas, and they
totally failed to commu-
nicate with our notebook
PC at 150 feet.
If you have a large
home or there are a lot
of walls between your
router and your target
devices, you’ll need to
augment your network
with one or more wireless
access points to cover
your entire house. Unlike
several of the other routers
reviewed here, you can’t
confi gure the WNR854T
to act only as a wireless
access point, and the
street price for Netgear’s
WN802T 802.11n dedi-
cated wireless access
point—which doesn’t have
an integrated router—is
$40 to $50 higher than that
of the WNR854T.
Unlike the Belkin,
Netgear built a four-port
Gigabit Ethernet switch
into its draft N router—as
we said before, you
shouldn’t underestimate
the importance of fast
wired connections. If youconnect a media server to an 802.11n rout-
er with only a Fast Ethernet connection, the
hard-wired connection has the potential
to run slower than the wireless connec-
tion. If you don’t value the greater speed,
Netgear’s WNR834B is basically the same
router, but with a 10/100Mb/s Ethernet
switch. Its $115 street price is about $25
cheaper than that of the WNR854T.
We dig the WNR854T for its good
looks, its Gigabit switch, and its screamin’
speed at close range. But if you need cov-
erage over a wide area, D-Link’s DIR-655 is
the better choice.The WNR854T has an excellent built-in configuration
utility, but we lament its lack of QoS settings.Netgear hides the WNR854T’s three
dipole antennas inside this shiny
plastic case. Could this explain the
router’s weak range?8
NETGEAR WNR854T
$130, http://www.netgear.com64 MAXIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2007
NETGEAR RANGEMAX
NEXT WIRELESS N GIGABIT
EDITION WNR854T
Just a couple packets short of a full load