| Article Index |
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| D-Link DGL-4500 GamerLounge Router Review |
| Page 2 - Setup and Operation |
| Page 3 - Conclusion |
| All Pages |
The DGL-4500 - A new wireless broadband router from D-Link which continues on from their original gigabit gaming
router, the DGL-4100 released in 2005, now with added Xtreme-N 300Mb/s wireless capability.
What is a Gaming Router?
D-Link’s original broadband gaming router, the DGL-4100 was more or less a typical broadband router which integrated a 4-port Gigabit switch instead of the 10/100 ports that most routers utilise, as well as protocols similar to QoS (Quality of Service) protocols called ‘GameFuel Priority’ by D-Link, to prioritise gaming traffic over everything else, to ensure you didn’t lag out when your flatmate or partner starts downloading something when you’re playing online.
The DGL-4500 takes up where the 4100 left off and brings the gaming router into the year 2008. The same 4-port Gigabit switch is still incorporated into the unit, however this time it’s also got a 300MB/s Wireless (Draft) N access point strapped along for the ride. GameFuel prioritisation is of course still included as well as a host of other advanced networking features you really wouldn’t expect in what is essentially a home router.
Features:
Aside from the aforementioned Gigabit Ethernet ports and high-speed Wireless-N networking, there’s a host of other features included in an attempt to justify the average AU$330 ($430 RRP) asking price, such as various QoS protocols, Access Controls, Web Filters and many advanced Firewall options. So as a router it’s got all the bases covered, there’s not much else on the market that will do more than this can do – for the price anyway.
On the unit itself, which is a nicely polished up glossy black box, we have a rather sizeable OLED display screen which flashes up a nice welcome screen when you first power on. It’s only a monochrome display (light-blue and black) but it’s extremely clear, vibrant and easy to read, despite using relatively small text most of the time.
Within this screen, which is navigated by two buttons at the front of the router, you can bring up a range of information about the device, such as current transfer speeds (separate sections for WiFi, LAN and Internet), connection status, time/date and view the system log from the router in real time. Basically if you have this in your bedroom, you can have the OLED screen display exactly what sites your flatmate is going to at the very second he goes there. So if you concerned about privacy, make sure you know where this thing is and who’s around when you’re looking at things you shouldn’t be.
Other than navigating the OLED screen (which turns off after 1 minute of inactivity no matter what you’re looking at – very annoying) there’s no way to monitor network activity, unlike most other routers which will have flashing LED’s indicating activity on both the WAN/LAN ports as well as the wireless connection. The DGL-4500 only has one light on the front of it, a bright blue power LED that doesn’t do anything but tell you the device is turned on. Some status lights for the LAN ports would have been nice, at the very least to be able to quickly see whether your cable is connected properly. Even a $20 switch includes this feature, so why can’t a $330 router?
On the back of the router, aside from the LAN and WAN ports, we have a USB2.0 port which serves no real purpose other than being able to plug in a flash drive to load preset wireless settings. It would have been much more useful if like some other routers on the market, you could use this port to plug in a USB hard drive to share it over the network, or in conjunction with a built in torrent client to download files. Sadly this is not to be, seems like a waste of a port really.
