In The Zone

« Prev | Next »

ASUS RT-N13U Super Speed N Wireless Router: Taking Up The Right Route

littlelion | 23 July, 2009 15:26

As what we all know, the chief function of every router is very simple: it enables you to set up a network and connect to the Internet. Period. If these were only the criteria that pedestrian consumers can put into consideration, it will turn out that all routers are equal and there is no competition at all. But in reality, that is not the case. Looks aside, routers differ from one another in terms of user-friendliness and their supplementary features. These were two of the decisive factors that we looked into when we set up the ASUS RT-N13U wireless N router.
 
 

 
The RT-N13U wireless N router package is bundled with a regular set of accessories that you would find in other offerings: an RJ-45 Ethernet cable, driver and utilities disk, and power adapter. For connectivity, the set of ports is ordinary as well, with the USB 2.0 as an exclusion, which can accommodate an external storage device such as a USB hard drive or a USB flash drive with at least 2GB capacity.
 
 
 
 Underneath the router, we found the hard reset button and operation mode selector switch. The latter provides users with three modes: router, repeater and access point.
 
 
 
Switching on the router, the light indicators turned on, giving off bright blue lights, indicating that all cables were properly hooked up. Our test network involved a group of four PCs running on Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2, along with a network switch and an ADSL modem. If the network that you have runs on older OSes such as Windows 9x or NT 4.0, you don’t have to worry as these are supported as well. For Internet, the connection speed was rated at 768Kbps.
 
 
 
 To get the RT-N13U fully up and running, installing the supplied software is required. Aside from the device driver, three new programs were installed on our computer:
 
 
 
Device Discovery,
 
 
 
 
Download Master,
 
 
 
and WPS Wizard.
 
 
 
 After the installation process, the Internet browser, Mozilla Firefox in our case, led us to the router’s Web-based graphical user interface (GUI). It can also be manually accessed by typing in 192.168.1.1 at the address box. We keyed in the default user name (admin) and password (admin) on the login page.
 
 
 
On the upper left hand side of the control panel window, we went to the Network Map tab. Initially, the Internet Connection icon hinted disconnection.
 
 
 
 Once clicked, it guided us to the Internet status panel where we hit the Quick Internet Setup (QIS) button. The kind of connection that we chose was PPPOE.
 
 
 
After a few seconds, we were hooked up to the Internet, thanks to the router’s QIS feature. But if you prefer configuring your Internet connection manually, you must have to face this form instead.
 
 
 
Wandering around the Web GUI, we had discovered other interesting features that we deemed relevant for home users and small business owners as well. The AiDisk feature enables users to designate an external storage device as an FTP hub that can only be accessed through a password-protected account.
 
 
 
Parents can take full control over their kids’ online activities by using the URL filter. Simply add the URL of the potential licentious website on the URL Keyword List and the router’s firewall will block it automatically.
 
 
 
EzQoS Bandwidth Management allows you to set the bandwidth priority based on your Internet usage. Four options are provided, namely Gaming Blaster, Internet Application, FTP, and VoIP/Video Streaming.
 
 
 
If what we have shown were not enough for you, here is a screenshot of the Web GUI's Advanced Setting tab with a complete set of tools.
 
 
In this age in which information dissemination is crucial to both personal and professional life, living and surviving without the Internet and an existing network is relatively impossible. If you are considering these elements essential, the ASUS RT-N13U wireless N router is a feature-laden and user-friendly router that can help you stay connected with the rest of the world easily.
 

General, HWM Philippines, Unwrapped, Preview, Spotlight :: Comment (6) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

comments

Comment Icon lanshop

net worth | 23/07/2009, 22:18

ASUS routers are among the cheapest in the market. I'm planning to get one for my LAN shop.

Comment Icon RT-N13U

dranreb | 26/07/2009, 12:59

So this router can also work as a storage server, right?

Comment Icon RT-N13U

cetasian | 04/08/2009, 22:19

Yes, if you attach external storage through its USB port.

Comment Icon RT-N13U

cetasian | 04/08/2009, 22:20

Yes, if you attach external storage through its USB port.

Comment Icon QoS

jekyll&hyde | 21/08/2009, 20:23

The QoS feature is really useful especially when you are running a gaming LAN shop.

Comment Icon Shaw Cable

Daniloth | 10/10/2009, 04:15

Just as an FYI, there would appear to be an issue with using these with a Shaw Cable internet account, as it fails to pick up settings automatically, and since Shaw doesn't use static IPs, configuration has been a problem. I'll be contacting ASUS support, but just wanted to give a heads up. Newest BIOS makes no difference.

Add comment
authimage
 
Advertise | Content RSS | Terms Of Service | Privacy Policy | Feedback |

This site requires Internet Explorer 5.0 and above or FireFox 1.0 and above to be viewed correctly.

Copyright ©1998-2006 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.