D-Link's DGL-4500 Gaming Router ready for purchase

D-Link's DGL-4500 Xtreme N Gaming Router has followed a somewhat typical route to availability, as it was first spotted in the FCC's lair and then admired up close in the wild. Now, the time has come at long last for the unit to find its way into the loving arms of consumers. The 802.11a/b/g/n router -- which features four gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, a USB connector, three detachable antennas and that svelte OLED display -- can be picked up now for $239.99 direct from D-Link, and after that's taken care of, we guess the next logical step would be unboxing it on camera, right?

[Thanks, Kydo]

[Ghen @ Oct 25th 2007 8:14AM]

Does it make comcast get off their collective lazy asses and update their upload speeds?

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Oct 25th 2007 2:13PM]

Same for Bright House Networks, Verizon DSL, and Time Warner Road Runner. All three have approximately 6Mb/s downloads with 384Kb uploads.

[keemyb @ Oct 25th 2007 8:14AM]

Wonder if its worth gettin me one of those monsters...

[Erwos @ Oct 25th 2007 8:15AM]

Where's the wired-only version, D-Link? I don't need to replace my AP.

[bsm0f0 @ Oct 25th 2007 8:42AM]

yay christmas!!

[Kamokazi @ Oct 25th 2007 8:48AM]

Out of stock already?

When I add it to my cart, the stock column says "No".

Or is this more of a pre-order setup?

(Yes, I was actually going to buy the damn thing, and anyone who says I am paying too much for a router better not have an iPhone hiding in their pocket.)

[Hollywood Ron @ Oct 25th 2007 12:25PM]

That's not an iPhone, I'm just happy to see you.

[DavidTheMan @ Oct 25th 2007 8:55AM]

I wonder how much the adapter for this is going to cost. I'm going to need one for my PS3 and Xbox 360 if I want to use the N frequency.

[FrankTheCrank @ Oct 25th 2007 9:02AM]

These hardware manufacturers are a bunch of CROOKS.

A simple wireless ethernet bridge is cheap to build. And if you look high and low, you can find one for less than $40. A gaming router is just an wireless ethernet bridge. But the minute they slap "gaming" on there, they charge everyone through the nose. A linksys gaming router is $99. That's highway robbery. They should be ashamed.

[Maestro @ Oct 25th 2007 9:54AM]

Huh? I have a wireless bridge on my network and it is nothing like a router.

[Kamokazi @ Oct 25th 2007 10:53AM]

The main benefit of this is a QoS system that prioritizes game traffic. It's not much better than the DIR-655 which runs for $100 less (The DIR-655 QoS does not focus on game traffic unless you tell it-it prioritizes VoIP, streaming media, etc as well). But if you take a look over at smallnetbuilder.com and look at their comparison charts, you will see a major difference in router performance-a $40 router does not perform nearly as well as a $100 router (with a few exceptions, of course). And the QoS does work if you have other traffic; your games will perform about as well as they would without the extra traffic (the extra traffic suffers from this however; these things don't magically increase your bandwidth to your ISP). So you can download a bunch of hentai torrents without worrying about your game ping :-)

[portwineboy @ Oct 25th 2007 11:05AM]

I wish I could manage the traffic at the cable modem level to some extent.

I have optonline boost service, so I get great bandwidth, but if I am watching an HD show, recording an HD show and/or downloading a large file at the same time, I get lots of breakup on the HDTV.

I can do my own QoS stuff on my router, and I have, but what I really need is to be able to manage the cable modem to prioritize what's going to the digital cable TV and what's going router. Any thoughts anyone?

[bnceo @ Oct 25th 2007 9:46AM]

I added it to the cart and it was priced at 239.99. I think. Anyways, waiting for the first price drop, then it's mine!

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Oct 25th 2007 2:16PM]

Price drop happened already, check froogle this router has been listed for a few weeks now.

http://tinyurl.com/2gdcp5

[Scooge @ Oct 25th 2007 10:05AM]

If this thing is as good as the previous model. Its multi-user/computer network performance more than justifies the cost. With three roommates we had tons of problems staying connected to game severs on our DSL shared via $50 Linksys router until we got the DGL 4300. Two games of BF2142 and a roommate looking at porn with no problems what-so-ever. Don't be fooled by cheap, quality is where it is at... depending on circumstances of course.

[Shadowise @ Oct 25th 2007 10:20AM]

Would be nice if this shipped with an ADSL modem built in. Maybe we'll see a different version in the UK...

[guyver3 @ Oct 25th 2007 10:43AM]

I have the 4300 as well, absolutly worth every penny for gamers with roommates. The best router I have ever owned. Now to the real question with this new one engadget......Contest? Please?

[portwineboy @ Oct 25th 2007 11:11AM]

Does the DGL 4300 lose all of it's settings after a power outage of more than a few seconds?

[guyver3 @ Oct 25th 2007 11:18AM]

No not that I've ever had. I've unplugged the thing from the wall for a little while and it didnt lose them.

[David @ Oct 25th 2007 11:33AM]

Is this using the Atheros 9001 chipset or the 5008 chipset or even Atheros at all?
I haven't been able to find any revealing engineering specs on this yet..
Anyone have any decent revealing links on this sucker?

I was really waiting to purchase this for some time then after research I have decided to go with the Trendnet TEW-633GR.. Far cheaper and the same specs from what I have been able to pull from papers.

No matter what, it will be hard to pull away from DD-WRT firmware and my pathetic v.4 linksys WRT54G...

[Majortom1981 @ Oct 25th 2007 11:54AM]

Hmm The thing is my router (x-550) has hardware qos already. My notebook has an 802.11n card though.

This is a much better router then the linksys one that just came out and I am sure they are about the same price.

My thing is though id rather get one of the cheaper 802.11n routers that allow dd-wrt to be installed on them.

[tekdroid @ Oct 25th 2007 12:47PM]

has Dlink still got that horrid convoluted interface and iffy reliability (several routers died after little more than a year, in my experience).

If so, passsss....

[Kamokazi @ Oct 25th 2007 1:36PM]

D-Link's old interface was HORRID...I set up a basic G model for my mother a couple years ago. It works ok, but it had an ugly, clunky, UI (it was $10 after rebates...I usually use Netgear for low-end). The DGL-4300 I have now has a pretty nice interface, works well. But the one on my DIR-655 is even better. Very quick and responsive, loads of options, and laid out well.

I've had the 4300 for probably close to two years now, and it's spectacular, no issues whatsoever. I've never had a problem with it that was not caused by my ISP or other hardware on my network. The 655 I've only had a little while, but I expect it to be even better. A friend of mine has has it for about 9 months now and it runs perfectly as well.

[Kris S. @ Oct 25th 2007 3:22PM]

I game on wireless all the time using my Linksys WRT54GS and I have a ping only 5ms higher than if I were wired and no lag.

Oh yeah, cost only $69.

[Amit @ Oct 25th 2007 3:44PM]

I just called d-link and they told me that the router would not be available till mid november and that they are not in stock.

[James @ Oct 25th 2007 8:19PM]

Odd, I bought this in my local Best Buy about 2 weeks ago. Had no idea that it hadn't really been released yet. I happened to have need for a new wireless AP so decided to step up to one that offered both a/n over 5.00 GHz to avoid some of the overcrowding over 2.4 in my apt. building.

Thus far it's been an absolute rock. The only times i've dropped connectivity thus far has been when my DSL itself drops connectivity. Range seems slightly better than the Linksys 802/11 b/g AP I'd been using previously.

The last d-link router i'd owned was years ago, but the web based UI for this one is astounding. Heads and above superior to my previous D-Link, Linksys, and Apple Airport (though the Airport only was configurable via a USB connection, which pissed me off to no end, causing me to return it).

I'm generally very happy. The OLED display on the top is a cool "oooh, shiiiiiiny" reaction getter, but hasn't really proven to be all that practical really. Particularly on a wireless AP where presumably the average user wouldn't be anywhere near the damn thing.

[wratchet40 @ Nov 5th 2007 10:58AM]

Just ordered mine from Circuit City, the unit was 149 and shipped on the 31st, is on route for november 7th delivery.

Will update whe it arrives

Goodby DGL-4300, hello new friend

[Moses @ Nov 5th 2007 6:25PM]

Just got mine from Best Buy...lucky for me that they have a price match agreement and I showed them the Circuit City price drop so I just saved 50 dollars. I'm anxious to set it up but I have to go to work...damn!

[PhatBoyG @ Nov 6th 2007 11:51AM]

I just picked one of these up from BestBuy last night. I wrote a review of it on my blog (blog.phatboyg.com). So far it is all the DGL-4300 was but more. I'm getting solid 99-104 Mbps on the built-in wireless bandwidth meter talking to a MacBook Pro with build-in 802.11n wireless. All the original things that made the DGL-4300 a great router are refined a bit and the polish is excellent.

[Emon @ Nov 16th 2007 2:38AM]

Well I just got this router today from Compusa for 189$ +2 year warranty, I love this router it works great, Been downloading some large files on my PC, and then downloading content on my 360 and still be able to play Resistance Fall of Man online on my PS3 without lag. This router its great.
Now I bought a PC adapter,the D-Link DWA-130, its totaly garbage, it drops connections all the times, now on my 360 and my PS3 they have WiFi, and the connection never drops, so it must be something wrong with this stupid adapter.
Overall I rate this router 10/10, its a must have for a gamer that wants it all.

[Charles @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:22PM]

I've had the DGL-4300 for less than a year, I'm now on my 3rd one. D-Link's customer service is terrible, and their hardware has failed on me 3 times now. 1st one Radio failed, stopped allowing connections 3 months after I bought it. 2nd one bricked itself less than 6 months later. 3rd one in less than 5 days after receiving it, had the radio die again. I thought maybe they were over heating, so actually moved the last one away from any possible ventilation issues, it's mounted on the wall by itself. So that's not the issue. The issue is they are an over priced piece of crappy hardware. My 4 year old netgear router that I'm currently using still works. I need a router that does QOS however. I spent $130 on basically nothing, and lot's of headaches.