TRENDnet TEW-634GRU 300Mbps Wireless N Gigabit Router with USB Port
The TRENDnet TEW-634GRU is a wireless N gigabit router including a hardware firewall and USB port for additional network area storage or peripherals for a fast and versatile network router.
Ease of Use, Performance: 20/25
Look & Feel: 22/25
Features 25/25
How much I enjoy 22/25
Total: 89/100
The TRENDnet 300 Mbps Wireless N Gigabit router with USB port has about every feature you could want for a home or small office network including wireless and a USB port for network storage and printing. The TRENDnet TEW-634GRU has the wireless N gigabit functionality using all the current 802.11b/g and 802.11n wireless standards as well as four wired ports.
The TRENDnet router comes with the router itself, power adapter, CAT 5 Ethernet cable, Quick Installation Guide and CD with instructions and users guide. The router is quite easy to set up and use for both wireless and wired connections with the usual browser compatibility that most routers use.
Installing for a typical home or small network has you plugging the router into a wall outlet and connecting your internet wide area network into the WAN port. The four other CAT 5 ports are for your wired network or bridge routers to other parts of a network and the unit has a USB port for network storage and printers.
I have a larger network in my home with both wired and wireless connections for my office and the rest of the family with two wired computers in my office and four other wireless computer connections. I also have the usual PlayStation 3 system, occasionally my Xbox 360, and other things like another laptop, the PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS or other pieces of hardware I’m testing.
While testing routers and internet speeds I cannot get more than my internet service provider allows for on the network which is 3 gigabytes download speed and 1.5 gigabytes upload. I usually see about the same up and download speeds on my internet using any router I have reviewed so far which is around 2.7-2.9 GB download and 1.2 GB upload.
Speeds are pretty much the same for all three of the routers I have used in the gigabit range and what has been more important for my speeds is how many computers are connected and being used. When more computers are using the internet the speed on any individual device will go down so I make sure any testing and checking of speeds is done while no other computers are turned on.
I have reviewed 3 gigabit routers and they all have very similar speed tests so I found that using either a TRENDnet or D-Link router does not affect my speeds. What matters more if the speeds are basically the same for the routers are the features each offers and how easy they are to use.
My network has changed a few times and most recently with my move into a new home so things have been busy for me with rearranging my network over the past few months. I currently have the TRENDNET router set up as a secondary router but used it for a month straight as my primary connecting my wide area network ADSL modem to my network.
Using the TEW-634GRU as my primary router was easy and installation meant connecting the power, WAN and local network cables and jumping into the browser using the TRENDnet staple 192.168.10.1 address. I have also found you could go to the Network page in Windows Vista and right click the icon for the router in your network devices and click on the View Device Webpage item to get to the settings of the router.
The router has a good setup for their settings with the usual pages on your browser for areas of the router that are common like Main, Wireless, Status, Routing, Access, Management, Tools and Wizard. To start setting up the router for the first time or for a quick and easy way to get the basic settings you can jump to the Wizard that will lead you through basics like passwords, connecting to your WAN and security.
Once you’re up and running on your network you can limit use by MAC address or computer name, open ports and much more in Access and Management is for things like allowing other access remotely to your network. Tools is your general router settings and firmware upgrade area as well as a restart and Ping Test section for general maintenance.
The main things I have had to do with my router are open a few ports from time to time which is quite simple and of course the general setup but other things are easy as well. Blocking users like precocious teens using a general rule to allow or not allow traffic by MAC address or computer name is simple using the Access Filter page.
You can deny access to an individual computer easily by finding out the MAC address or name from the Main page DHCP list at the bottom. This lists all the devices including wireless and wired connections that are using your network so you have a list to compare to physical devices.
This is a nice way to make sure no one has snuck into your network and is using your wireless connection to get online or look into your computers but mainly it’s handy to figure out your network. I often use the list to work on devices and make sure no intruders are in my network but you may not use it as often as I do in a small home network.
I have the wireless network set to use one type of security but due to the Nintendo DS and other devices only being able to use WEP security I have a need for that as well. I find it handy to have two routers set up at the same time on my system using two different security setups so I have the two systems for my network.
Once I have my main network setup for my computers I unplug it and set up my second router as a smaller WEP enabled wireless device for the Nintendo DS and other things that need wireless occasionally. This is quite simple to do just by plugging the second router in and changing the devices main IP address to something in the range that your main one is using.
My main router uses the 100 to 200 range and made the second routers IP address end as 150 then plugged the router into the first one and use it as both a switch and as a wireless router. The TRENDnet TEW-634GRU routers work equally well as a primary or main router or as a secondary router for use as a switch and wireless connection for devices on your network.
I have been using the TEW-634GRU router for over a month and only a few times for games have I had to open ports for online gaming which is quite easy to do using the Protocol/IP Filtering page. Simply input the range and type into the menu boxes and the router will open or close those ports or IP ranges for you for secure computing on the internet.
The firewall works well and I have checked it out several times during reviewing on various sites like Auditmypc.com to see how well the firewall keeps people out. I found no problems using the router and do not have any issues with it as a regular wireless and wired router or as a secondary router and switch.
The router also works very well connecting network storage devices using the TRENDnet utility or even printers so any computers across the network can use them. The TRENDnet utility is a fast installing utility that connects and disconnects devices on the TRENDnet router for use by that computer at that time.
When using the utility across several computers the program disconnects other computers if a new computer wants to use the device so any one computer is only connected to the device at one time. The program works flawlessly and well for simple sharing on a network of even my Hewlett Packard all in one OfficeJet printer.
Installing the device is as easy as installing the program and then connecting the printer for the operating system to discover the printer. You can also use the printers drivers and install it according to their instructions but it worked both ways for me when I used it and connected a few different times after changing my network and configuration.
Using the device during normal use such as wanting to print from any networked printer is simply a matter of connecting the printer using the utility and then printing using your regular routine. To put it simply the first time use to print simply means going to the TRENDnet utility and ensuring the printer is connected to that computer and then printing as usual.
If you continue to use the same printer and no other computers on the network take possession of the printer you can continue to print from whatever program like you normally would. If another computer has taken possession you simply open the utility and reconnect with the printer, drives work the same way as printers for connecting and sharing.
The TRENDnet utility for sharing printers and drives works very well without any problems at all, I have used it for the same month as the router and it has worked flawlessly. The TRENDnet TEW-634GRU router worked like a well tuned machine and the TRENDnet utility only enhances the base performance of the router.
Another feature of the router is the WPS button but I really do not like using it, it automatically sets up wi-fi protected settings between the router and a client like a computer. While it worked everytime I used it I just do not trust automatic functions when it comes to my security so I always checked the settings myself to ensure my network was really secure.
The WPS is a simple setup that connects and sets up the WPA2 security with a pin number between a client like a computer and the router. This worked just fine testing it with a couple of different laptops and I had no problems connecting and having the security settings automatically work for security of the network.
I just like to have the settings work by me inputting the settings myself but for a simple network the WPS button should work. But again I like to ensure security and will always check my network from time to time as well as check that it is secure when I change any settings by checking the security by using a laptop wireless connection and the list of secure and unsecure settings in the neighborhood.
I also checked the range of the TRENDnet router by working with a laptop I my garage and had no problems getting a connection from the detached building 50 feet from my house. I had no problems receiving a connection that worked well for internet surfing from the garage through the non insulated wall and through two other walls that are plaster and lathe with insulation.
The little graph showed less than two bars but I was able to surf the internet from this distance easily but gaming would probably be out of the question. Around the house I am able to get a good signal and everywhere inside the house I get reception that is more than good enough for regular online surfing and downloading as well as gaming.
The TRENDnet TEW-634GRU router is a good router and gets very good reception throughout my plaster and lathe insulated house which is about the hardest reception situation most home owners are going to face. I found the reception of the TRENDnet router more than adequate for a home network and was very pleased with using it in my home and home office.
I highly recommend the TRENDnet TEW-634GRU wireless Gigabit N router for a fully featured router for wired and wireless connectivity as well as a sharing device across your network.