D-Link RangeBooster N 650 Notebook Adapter review

Verdict:

Review Date: 18 Apr 2007

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Chris Finnamore

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

D-Link's RangeBooster N 650 is a Draft-N router with an integrated Gigabit switch rather than the 10/100 switches built into most. It's compact and feels well made.

The setup wizard clearly explains how to connect the router physically, and lets you set up wireless encryption. Unfortunately, if it can't detect an internet connection it won't stop searching, and you have to run Windows Task Manager to force the program to close. The web setup has the same tricky layout as the ADSL version.

The RangeBooster N 650 was the only Draft-N router in the group to work first time with its matching CardBus, USB and PCI adaptors. It was quick at 1m and 15m with the desktop PCI card, with scores of 40.86Mbit/s and 34.35Mbit/s, while speeds of 40.74Mbit/s and 31.93Mbit/s with the CardBus adaptor puts it near the top of the group. With the matching USB adaptor it managed 31.07Mbit/s at both 1m and 15m. The router struggled at long range with the PCI and USB adaptors, and couldn't hold a signal long enough to complete our tests. It came top of the group in the Centrino notebook test with 21.51Mbit/s and 20.82Mbit/s at 1m and 15m, but again it couldn't hold its signal at 25m.

If you need a fast, long-range modemless router, get the cheaper Netgear RangeMax.

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