TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless N Home Router TEW-632BRP (Black)

10 Review to this product

• 

  Richard Park
  December 11th, 2010 on 2:12 am

  Rating

  Out of the box, I’m not sure how this router measures up to others but to me, if you have some knowledge of reflashing the router firmware, there are some options to improve the usability.

  Note that reflashing with alternative firmware voids your warranty unless you can restore the original firmware. This is not always possible; in fact, you can render the router inoperable (‘bricked’). Proceed at your own risk.

  Under the covers, this router is essentially identical to the D-Link DIR-615 and the firmware for the D-Link product can be installed on it. I found the D-Link firmware to have more options than the Trendnet original firmware which is frankly dumbed-down and only provides very basic function. A starter firmware that will load on this router is at [..] Once that is installed, the latest firmware from D-Link for the revision C hardware can be loaded.

  Going a bit further, the very popular (for techies, anyway) DD-WRT firmware is available in a beta form, i.e., it has not been fully vetted for functional stability. You won’t find it at the official DD-WRT download site but it is available at [..](latest build).

  I have one set up as an access point to my FIOS router (a 56Mbps wireless router that can’t be replaced because of the set-top box networking over coax requirement). DD-WRT provides the ability to bridge segments wirelessly so I will be acquiring another to network to my PS3 and media player box. I am now using another Trendnet product, the game extender TEW-647, with a switch to do this – works flawlessly, but I’d like to reduce the number of components and cables.

  Read up on the DD-WRT forums and get some background. This little router can shine with a firmware update. I like that the antennas are removable (unlike the newer TEW-652) and have replaced the 3db gain antennas with 5db gain. You can, with discretion, increase the output power of the transmitter on the router which DD-WRT gives you an option.

  This small, piano black box fits in inobstrusively in my home network.
• 

  Always Looking
  December 11th, 2010 on 6:58 pm

  Rating

  Purchased from CompUSA 1.5 yrs ago, $24.00 w/Rebate & Sale. I am still on the Nov ’07 firmware: v1.00 Build 0014. No problems, so no need to update.

  This router has been up since Dec 2007, 24/7/365. Trendnet products have really served me well and this router is no exception. We have 7 computers hooked up hardwired and wirelessly at various times and this router has given virtually no trouble. Relatively easy setup menus, works well with virtual networking and dynamic domain registration (updates my dynamic ip with my static domain name without problems). I have trendnet wireless N cards and g usb devices, and airlink wireless g cards. All connect flawlessly and give excellent throughputs on data transfer. I have just motherboard ethernet ports and all have worked fine with the router. The only devices that have problems are Dell laptops w/dell wireless cards. I swear out of the 5 laptops we have used over the past 4 years, the dell wireless cards really are junk. Get the intel card when buying a dell laptop. Paid the extra $$ for a daughter’s laptop and it works very well compared to the dell g or n cards.

  Wonderfull, seamless compatibility with ubuntu. I have a multiboot test platform of Vista, XP, & Ubuntu for testing media centers. Installed automatically in each case with no problems & no need for manual setup. I regularly push out High Def movies to the TV using various multimedia centers from this platform through this router with no problems.

  4-4.5 out of 5 is an excellent rating. It is tough to get a 5, must leave a little for those who go the extra mileage.
• 

  realitymyth
  December 13th, 2010 on 2:20 pm

  Rating

  I bought this wireless router for a small home network. It took a while to set up — an hour or so initially and then a week’s worth of tweaking — but now it’s working relatively reliably.

  PROS:
  
  - It’s an n router, so it has at least the potential to be as fast as your wired connection.
  
  - Aesthetically, it looks decent.
  
  - Compatible with both Windows and Macs.
  
  - For Windows computers, setup is probably pretty simple (so long as you don’t want to fully customize the install) since the router comes with an easy install CD.
  
  - The range is good. I have strong signal throughout my apartment and a good distance outside it as well.
  
  - For the technology, the price is great.
  
  - Nice options for security, whether you want firewalls or encryptions, etc.

  CONS:
  
  - For Mac users: It’s compatible, but you’ll have to go through manual setup, the steps for which aren’t yet up on the Trendnet site. For either platform, though, just plug your modem into the router’s WAN port, plug the computer into one of the router’s LAN ports, then type 192.168.10.1 into your browser’s address bar to take you to the manual setup.
  
  - The router disconnected too frequently for my tastes (say, two or three times a day, at least) when I had its n capabilities enabled. The speed was great, but the disconnects weren’t worth it. After restricting it to b and g only, the disconnects stopped. While the drop in speed is hardly significant, it is something to keep in mind.
  
  - Constantly blinking green lights on the front are a bit annoying if you keep the router facing you.
• 

  Mr. Richard L. Engel
  December 14th, 2010 on 8:26 am

  Rating

  I bought this to upgrade my home network – Works great with the n notebook card i also bought but its iffey with a 2 year old dell internal pre n card on my daughters laptop so I am stuck running 2 wireless networks – I would of expected better cross compatibility. Tech help was very good in setting it up.

  UPDATE

  After a few minutes with technical support; new firmware was downloaded and now works with all the PC’s in the house so I am changing the rating to a 4 from a 3 would of been 5 if it shipped with the up to date firmware!
• 

  Jeff
  December 14th, 2010 on 9:12 am

  Rating

  Be careful. If you are buying it for a specific advertised capability, make sure it actually works. The documentation isn’t reflected in the product. This is a home use product. I’ve been using it for a couple years in my home. If you just want a plug and play wifi router with better bandwidth than a “g mode” model, you’ll be happy with this. If you want to used the advanced features such as filtering access from various devices — laptops, iPods, etc., it might not satisfy you.

  PROS:
  
  -price, advertised capability, range, online customer support (technicians actually know the product vs. reading from a script), works well with my laptop 2ft from my microwave and 5ft from my cordless phone base station.

  CONS:
  
  -firmware limitations or bugs.

  I have the router installed on the 3rd floor. I consistently get around 100 Mbps throughput on floors 2 and 3. I max out at 130 Mbps. On the first floor, I get around 60 Mbps (still better than “g”). I was using fw 1.10B13 and everything was fine until I tried filtering my son’s new iPod touch via the MAC address. It turned out there was a bug in the MAC address filtering which was fixed in 1.10B19. I upgraded and MAC address filtering worked correctly, but now the LAN wifi client DHCP connection is periodically dropped and not restored until the router is reset. So I can either filter my sons access to internet or have a reliable wifi connection. My solution… time to move on to a different vendor’s product. For $24, it is worth buying if you are using g-mode or no wifi while you get educated on what you want to spend “real” money on.
• 

  HomeTHJunkie
  December 15th, 2010 on 2:40 am

  Rating

  I picked this up for $25 from [...] (through Amazon). The original firmware is quite simple (and a bit flaky). I did have it working pretty well with the latest version of the firmware but it would still disconnect at times.

  I downloaded the latest version of DD-WRT (which now supports this router) and loaded it. It is much improved now. The disconnects are gone and my range is slightly better. It took a bit of research to get the firmware to load but it was worth it.
  
  I also know this is the same unit as a D-Link 615 router and you can load the firmware for the D-Link on here and it works very well also. Do some research on the internet.

  Overall I would say this is a good product provided you use alternate firmware. It would be unused (or returned) if I had to only use the firmware provided by Trendnet. If you’re handy and comfortable with uploading firmware, etc., it’s a great bargain to get N-speeds with either D-Link or DD-WRT firmware.

  Otherwise, I would be leary of buying this. Wish the manufacturers could figure this out and actually put software on these things that work.
• 

  Jerry
  December 15th, 2010 on 5:21 pm

  Rating

  Great price with the available features.
  
  Arrived quickly.
  
  Good packaging.
  
  No problems, just plug and go.
  
• 

  B. Bolido
  December 16th, 2010 on 8:41 am

  Rating

  I bought this router at J&R in Manhattan, NY for about $60. All I have to say is that ti is a good buy. Though it is wireless N, I mostly use wireless G. This router is hooked up to a Playstation 3 (WIFI Wireless G), 2 ASUS Eee PCS(running linux…and it works!!!), and an HP Media Center. As far as range, the wireless G can go from the top floor of my house (2nd Floor) to the basement about 60 feet away and it could possibly go farther. The speed is quite good. It makes online multitasking good. It also is good for gaming. I hardly ever lag which is good. The oonly reason I gave it 4 stars was because of the installation. The installation was a little hard considering the installation software did not find the router. (For linux users, you have to configure the router manually via 192.168.10.1. This is because the instalaton disk is NOT linux compatible.) Luckilly, I know how to configure routers so it was fast and easy. For the price, It is pretty good considering other N routers are 100 plus dollars.
• 

  Saurabh Singhvi
  December 16th, 2010 on 6:07 pm

  Rating

  I got this router for $25. It is the same hardware as dlink dir-615. The stock firmware on this router isn’t much of a looker but has all the basic features.

  I flashed the router with the dlink firmware and it is running like a champ. No need to reboot, no hanging. Have had this for almost a month now and now issues except related to the dynamic dns. I am not sure why but the update just doesn’t happen.

  I am using it in mixed mode wifi with WPA2-PSK + AES, NAT for internal servers and pretty much all the features and have no problems whatsoever. The range is good and wifi speed goes to 130Mbps for wireless-n in mixed mode.

  Too much to ask but a usb port for mass storage / printer sharing would have been a nice addon. But I am happy with what I paid for. A definite buy for home consumers who aren’t looking to spend much but still want the speed and range of N.
• 

  rydvy
  December 16th, 2010 on 10:04 pm

  Rating

  Received the latest version A1.2 and it setup and worked fine. Only change I had to make to the otherwise automatic setup was to change the channel and bandwidth settings to achieve more than 65MB connection speed. With those two changes I now get 150MB connections reliably. The device does get a bit warmer than other wireless routers I’ve owned. Could be due to its small size. 3 year warranty is better than many. The automatic setup instructions were bullet-proof. The best I’ve encountered for a network device.

  *** Updated ***

  Still working great. Not sure why the negative reviews by some. Could be previous hardware versions and/or setup software.