Dynamode BR411NT review

Modern routers are often packed with extra features such as dual-band wireless networking, built-in USB storage servers and mini status displays, but these often come at a high price.

If all you want is something to connect all the PCs in your house to your internet connection, these extras are overkill. That's where basic routers such as Dynamode's BR411NT come in. It has a WAN port for you to connect your cable or ADSL modem to, four 10/100 Ethernet ports and 802.11b/g/n wireless networking, which is everything most people need.

You can either use the provided setup CD or the built-in configuration wizard to select your connection type and enter any relevant information from your ISP. If you use the setup disc, you'll be prompted to configure your wireless channel and secure your wireless network. If you're using the router's built-in configuration tools, you aren't prompted to secure your network. However the router's interface is extremely well designed, so the WLAN security options are easy to find and change. Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is also supported.

The router has a single wireless antenna. This has two coils, so the router can do channel bonding and MIMO, but only with a maximum throughput of 150Mbit/s. We've seen this kind of single-antenna 802.11n technology before, on Buffalo's WBMR-HP-GN. It's great if you want a fast wireless connection from a budget router. The WBMR-HP-GN is cheap, but Dynamode's router is around half the price.

Its wireless performance was very quick in our Near and Far distance tests with a Centrino 2 laptop. It managed 51.4Mbit/s throughput at 1m and 39.3Mbit/s at 10m. It didn't do quite as well at 20m, but its throughput of 5.5Mbit/s is sufficient for basic web browsing. We also tested the router with Dynamode's tiny WL-700N-MINI wireless adaptor, available separately for around £13. This produced a blistering transfer speed of 76.7Mbit/s at 1m, but was slower than our Centrino 2 laptop in all our other tests.

There are a few extra features that can be configured via the router's web interface. You can enable remote web-based management, blacklist URLs so that they're only available or unavailable at specific times, enable Dynamic DNS via the free DynDNS service and apply very basic hands-on QoS by adding upload and download bandwidth limits to specific ports ranges or IP addresses.

This is a low-cost, no-frills router. It does exactly what's required and little more, but it's easy to use and provides a fast wireless connection at all but the furthest ranges. We would have liked Gigabit Ethernet - it's unusual to see a non-ADSL router without it - but at this price, we're not complaining. It's a Budget Buy.

Author: Kat Orphanides