TP-Link TD-W8951ND review

Gallery

Verdict:

Fiddly to configure and disappointing speeds at long distances, but at this price it's hard to be critical.

Review Date: 30 Apr 2011

Price when reviewed: £26

Supplier: http://www.redstore.com

Reviewed By: Barry de la Rosa

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

User Rating

The TD-W8951ND is a wireless router with an ADSL modem and four Ethernet ports. With a single antenna and a 150Mbit/s theoretical top speed, it's classed as an N-Lite rather than a fully certified 802.11n device. It's remarkably cheap, though, and it still has many of the features that we'd only expect on more expensive routers.

With its utilitarian appearance, it's not the sort of router you'll want to position prominently in your living room. There's a button labelled QSS, TP-Link's name for WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), which lets you connect two WiFi devices securely just by pushing the button on each device. Renaming it simply causes confusion, as other devices' buttons will be labelled WPS.

A disc in the box contains a setup utility and quick start guide. The guide is ideal for beginners, showing exactly how to wire up the router. The Easy Setup Assistant software then checks the network and helps set up ADSL and wireless connections. The software isn't particularly intuitive, though, and it took us some time to work out how to start the setup process.

The router's web interface has its own setup procedure, which covers the essentials such as Wi-Fi security. The interface isn't very inviting, though, and demonstrates a poor grasp of the English language. Advanced users will be able to find their way around but others might struggle.

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