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amazon Trendnet TEW-827DRU reviews
The TEW-827DRU Trendnet AC2600 StreamBoost MU-MIMO WiFi Router, being one state below an entirely featured router, is intended for homes with more than just WiFi users. It can zoom past testers when it comes to raw download transfer speeds. It also supports all cutting-edge 802.11ac technologies, including MU-MIMO streaming technology, beamforming, and Qualcomm’s StreamBoost bandwidth management technology. The interface management option can be a little complicated, yet it has a plethora of options to work with.
Design and features
With dimensions measuring 1.8 x 9.8 x 7.1 inches, this router is a little smaller compared to the Linksys EA7500 router (2.2 x 10.1 x 7.2 inches). There are four extra-long antennas on the exterior, adjustable and detachable. Along the front edge of the unit is a row of small blue LEDs indicating Power, 2.4GHz and 5GHz band operation, Internet connectivity, port activity wired, and USB connection. In the back panel, four Gigabit Ethernet ports, one WAN port, two USB 3.0 ports, and buttons for Power, WiFi, and WPS are found.
TEW-827DRU is an 802.11ac router, running on a dual-core processor at 1,400 MHz clock speed. A theoretical speed of 800Mbps on the standard 2.4 GHz band and 1,733 Mbps on the superior 5 GHz band can be achieved. MU-MIMO streaming is supported, wherein data is communicated in parallel to multiple MU-MIMO users rather than being broadcasted sequentially. Elsewhere, there is burst transmission wherein signals are wirelessly sent directly to users over a broad spectrum. It also supports Qualcomm’s StreamBoost technology, a bandwidth management system that apportions bandwidth to each user depending upon their application requirement.
The Trendnet management console should be simple enough to use but could need a bit of tweaking. For example, you change any setting, and the interface turns an “impact Save” button to an active mode. After a few seconds, the progress indicator reaches 100 percent: the setting has been saved in the configuration. However, then you’ll need to hit the Apply Changes button at the top, on the toolbar, or else none of the changes you made shall take effect. After clicking for changes to be applied, sit back and wait for about a minute and a half until it is finished saving changes and has actually rebooted, which would allow you to log in again.
TrendNet AC2600 StreamBoost MU-MIMO WiFi Router (TEW-827DRU)
One opens a panel that brings up the corresponding home page, with the toolbars for Basic and Advanced settings on the left and the Network Status panel on the right, the latter providing one with a quick status of Internet, Wireless, Guest Network, and USB ports. Basic Wireless settings allow each band to be turned on or off, to select wireless mode, and to set SSID, channel width, and frequency. Other basic settings are Guest Network, Parental Controls, and StreamBoost by Qualcomm.
The Advanced Settings section is full of wireless, security, firewall, and other management settings. The Administration menu allows you to check the status of the Router, view the Syslog, change the password, and run diagnostics, and the Setup menu provides LAN, WAN, Routing, and VPN settings. It also has a calendar generator to restrict Internet access and enable parental controls and guest networks. Advanced wireless settings let you adjust things like Signaling Time, Fragmentation Threshold, and TX Source (transmission), and Firewall settings let you open the ports needed to play some of the most online games. Configure and enable Denial of Service (DoS) protection. The USB menu offers FTP and iTunes file sharing and DLNA media servers. It also has a built-in bit torrent client to download torrents to the attached hard drive.
Installation and Settings
TEW-827DRU is a quick and easy installation. Upon linkage of the Router and the cable modem as well as the PC (with the pre-supplied Ethernet cable), the Web-based Setup Wizard popped up, confirming the Internet connection and making necessary changes in the process. What about wireless security?
Performance-wise, this is an above-the-normal device. The 108Mbps performance on our near 2.4GHz (same room) transfer rate test took the top spot over other products-we’re talking here of Zyxel Armor Z2 AC2600 MU-MIMO Dual-Band Wireless Gigabit Router (NBG6817), which achieved 97.2Mbps; Linksys E8400 AC2400 Dual Band Wireless Router, which got 82.2Mbps; and Linksys EA7500, which reached 97.3Mbps. Again, the one-meter distance transfer rate of 75.3Mbps from the TEW-827DRU considered in our tests elicited the top performances over the Zyxel Armor Z2 (69.9Mbps), Linksys E8400 (71Mbps), and Linksys EA7500 (52.1Mbps).
Our numbers during the 5GHz transfer rate tests were equally breathtaking. At the mere distance test, TEW-827DRU passed 590Mbps against 558Mbps of Zyxel Armor Z2, 549Mbps against Linksys E8400, and a mere 495Mbps for Linksys EA7500. At 1 meter distance, TEW-827DRU gave speeds of 260Mbps, besting Zyxel Armor Z2 (251Mbps) and Linksys E8400 (171Mbps) but trailed behind Linksys EA7500 (298Mbps).
Trendnet AC2600 StreamBoost MU-MIMO WiFi Router (TEW-827DRU).
Three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm’s QCA61x4A chipsets were used to test MU-MIMO transfer speed. The 238.3Mbps transfer speed of the TEW-827DRU on the proximity test was just behind that of D-Link AC5300 Ultra WiFi Router (DIR-895L/R). Zyxel Armor Z2 stood at 150Mbps, while the Linksys EA7500 had a 176Mbps transfer rate. In the 30-foot MU-MIMO test, TEW-827DRU achieved 127.6Mbps against D-Link DIR-895L/R’s 134.5Mbps, almost crushing the scores of Zyxel Armor Z2 (72Mbps) and Linksys EA7500 (81.2Mbps). The Linksys EA9500 Max-Stream AC5400 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router with 162.3Mbps holds the crown (much to the disgust of many).
File transfer speed with TEW-827DRU is another matter. We test our file speed transfer (reading-and-writing) by moving a 1.5GB folder that contains a mixture of music, videos, photos, and office document files between the USB hard drive connected to the Router and the PC connected to one of the Ethernet ports of the Router. The TEW-827DRU read speed of 53.7MBps is fairly close to what Zyxel Armor Z2 scored (51.2MBps), slower, however, than the Linksys E8400 (74.5MBps) and the D-Link DIR-895L/R (78, 3MBps). In terms of writing, the category in which it scored 30.3MBps, it performs worse than Zyxel Armor Z2 (35.1MBps), Linksys E8400 (38.2MBps), and D-Link DIR-895L/R (39.5MBps).
Concluding
The Trendnet TEW-827DRU AC2600 StreamBoost MU-MIMO WiFi Router arrives with all the brand-new technologies of 802.11ac, along with StreamBoost, MU-MIMO data transfer, and beamforming, plus a series of excellent performances. It gives one of the fastest 2.4GHz scores we have seen, with 5GHz and MU-MIMO transfer speeds just on par with what the priciest high-end routers were testing lately-a fraction of $400. But its file transfer write speeds are not very fast. My main concern with this Router is its interface; it’s easy enough to use but slow in saving changes since the whole device will reboot from there, and you have to remember to save and apply any changes before they will take effect.
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