TRENDnet TEW-624UB Wireless N USB Adapter Review

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Product: TEW-624UB
Manufacturer: TRENDnet
Supplied by: TRENDnet
Price: 68.99USD/RM250
Launch Date: NA

As we are aware wireless devices are getting more and more popular with its greater flexibility and lower price nowadays. After reviewed couples of wireless devices such as wireless router, wireless HDD and today we'll take a look on a wireless N USB adapter from TRENDnet; TEW-624UB. TEW-624UB is an IEEE 802.11n (draft 2.0) USB adapter which has greater speed and range than IEEE 802.11b/g.

Company Profile

TRENDnet is a global provider of award winning networking solutions to small and medium size business and home users. Building networking solutions since 1990, TRENDnet enables users to share broadband access, multimedia content and networked peripherals for true anywhere connectivity. TRENDnet's diverse product line includes Wireless, Fiber, Switch, Gigabit, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM), Internet Camera, Print Server, Powerline, Bluetooth, Storage Server, Power over Ethernet (PoE), and Multimedia Accessories.

Based in Torrance, California, TRENDnet maintains branch offices in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central America, South America, and Asia. TRENDnet's 250-plus product portfolio is distributed in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistently recognized for high quality, exceptional performance and professional support.

Features

- 12x the speed and 4x the coverage of wireless g
- Connect your PC or Laptop to a wireless network in minutes
- Advanced wireless encryption provides robust security
- One-step encryption setup with Wi-Fi Protected Setup
- Wi-Fi Compliant with IEEE 802.11n (draft) Standard
- Wi-Fi Compliant with IEEE 802.11g and IEEE 802.11b Standards
- Supports Ad-Hoc (Peer to Peer. b/g only) or Infrastructure (AP-Client) Mode
- High-Speed up to 300Mbps Data Rate using IEEE 802.11n connection
- Supports MIMO technology with Built-in 2 Internal Printed Antennas
- Dynamic Data Rate Scaling from 300Mbps to 1Mbps
- Maximum Reliability, Throughput and Connectivity with Automatic Data Rate Switching
- Universal Wireless Connectivity for Seamless Roaming among 802.11b/g/n Networks
- Supports 64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK
- Low Interference and High Susceptibility Guarantee Reliable Performance
- Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista Operating Systems
- Easy User Setup & Diagnostics Utilities
- 3-year limited warranty
- Link to Wi-Fi certification

Specifications

Package & Contents

TRENDnet TEW-624UB is same with other TRENDnet products where it comes with an attractive and good quality packaging box. On the front of the packaging box, TRENDnet states some important features such as speed and coverage comparison among IEEE 802.11n (300Mbps) /super g (108Mbps) /g (54Mbps).

Specifications of TRENDnet TEW-624UB are written at the bottom of the packaging box. Some diagrams and product description are stated at the back of the packaging box in Multilanguage format. All these information are sufficient enough for user to select a right and suitable wireless USB adapter.

Besides the outer packaging box, TRENDnet TEW-624UB is stored within another cardboard packaging box. Besides TRENDnet TEW-624UB wireless N USB adapter itself, other accessories that are bundled together are utility & driver CD, quick installation guide and a USB extension cable.

A Multilanguage quick installation guide shows the information such as system requirement, application, installation guides and wireless configuration. This quick installation guide and a more detail user's manual can be downloaded at TRENDnet website. The USB extension cable cradle can be twisted into any form so that TRENDnet TEW-624UB can get better signal.

TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter

TRENDnet TEW-624UB is a wireless N USB adapter which works the same way as our notebook wireless mini PCI card. Why we need this wireless USB adapter since our most of our latest notebook are already equipped with integrated wireless device? Some of the reasons for purchasing such device are for upgrading purpose, replacement or desktop system. IEEE 802.11n comes with 300Mbps throughput in ideal case but in real life, it will never get close to it due to other device limitation.

TRENDnet TEW-624UB is pretty small USB device with 80 x 27 x 12 mm and only 20grams. MAC address, S/N, hardware version and etc are labeled at the back of the TRENDnet TEW-624UB dongle. Both sides of the TRENDnet TEW-624UB are having some small air vents for better heat dissipation. Latest version of TEW-624UB is B1.1R which comes with black plastic casing while older version came with blue plastic casing.

TRENDnet TEW-624UB has a removable cap which only can be inserted in one way direction. TRENDnet brand, product model and lanyard hanging hole can be found at the end of the dongle. For improvement, we hope TRENDnet can improve the cap design to make it as retractable so that the chances for losing the dongle cap will be eliminated. For some technical information TRENDnet TEW-624UB is using MIMO technology with two integrated internal antennas inside the USB dongle and it has ability to use 64 and 128-bit WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK as well as Ad-Hoc (Peer to Peer - b/g only) and infrastructure (AP - Client) modes.

Software Setup

The utility & driver CD comes with driver, software utility, user's guide, product registration as well as bonus which is McAfee Proven Security. Although most of us have our own internet/antivirus software but it is still good to have this McAfee Proven security for blocking identity theft, spyware defense, 24/7 anti-hacker protection, award winning virus protection, anti-phishing defense, spam filtering and etc.

The installation for this wireless software utility is a pretty simple which only takes around few minutes; after that TRENDnet TEW-624UB is ready to be used (no reboot is required). TRENDnet TEW-624UB software needs to be setup first in order to make this device useable. There are couples of sections of this software; link info, configuration, advanced, site survey, WPS and about. Once the setup is completed, this section will display the basic information of the connected wireless network such as SSID, signal strength and etc.

In configuration section, some of the options can be fine tuned are SSID, wireless mode (infrastructure or ad-hoc), adhoc-band (auto, 11b or 11g), channel, power save (continuous access mode, maximum power save or power save) and preamble type (short, long or short & long) while auth mode (open system, shared key, auto, WPA/WPA2 or WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK), encryption, WEP key, default key and format (ASCII or HEX) in advanced section.

In site survey section, it will display all the available wireless networks and user can select and connect the desire wireless network. WiFi protected setup will be popped up if the wireless network is protected and require sharekey in order to access the network.

Test Bed

Notebook: Dell Inspiron E1720
Processor: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7500
Memory: Kingston 4GB HyperX 666MHz DDR2
Hard Drive: 120GB 2.5" 5400RPM 8MB Seagate
Graphic Card: Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS
Optical Drive: DVD RW
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Operating System: Microsoft Window XP SP2
Benchmark Software: HDTech, CrystalDiskMark
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

For the testing purpose, we have compared TRENDnet TEW-624UB (left) with Dell 1720 integrated wireless device; Dell 1505 Draft 802.11n WLAN mini-card (right). Based on the results above, there is any major performance difference between these two wireless devices as both of them are 802.11n wireless device. However even for performance comparison between 802.11g and 802.11n, there should any significant differences also between most of the time the performance is limited by other devices and the broadband service as well. Distance between the wireless router and USB adapter will impact the performance and this will be same for all kind of wireless devices so we won't concentrate much on this. For the reliability of TRENDnet TEW-624UB, we didn't encounter any instability issue during whole week of testing and besides that this device doesn't generate a lot of much as the dongle was just warm during our testing.

(All the tests above were done within the same internet service provider and the download & upload speeds are really dependant on the limitation of the service provider)

Conclusion

Wireless USB adapter is a great device especially when it is equipped with latest technology and fastest speed; 802.11n. TRENDnet TEW-624UB fulfills all these requirements but does anyone really need such device then it will be another question. This is because most of the notebooks are already integrated with wireless device so such wireless USB adapter is only useful for desktop system or replacement/upgrade on sustaining notebook's wireless device. TRENDnet TEW-624UB costs around 69USD which is considered expensive which mostly due to lower demand. Last but not least, TRENDnet TEW-624UB comes with 3-year limited warranty.

Pros:

* Greater flexibility for desktop wireless card
* 802.11n with 300Mbps throughput
* 3-year warranty
* Bonus McAfee Proven Security

Cons:

* Low demand
* Expensive

Thanks to TRENDnet for providing this sample for us to review.