Trendnet TEW-632BRP

For only $47 the Trendnet TEW-632BRP seemed like a steal. It’s not. I wasted 4 hours trying every possible 802.11 mode and channel trying to get this router to demonstrate any reliablity. It didn’t.

If your lucky enough to find the AP, and then actually get an IP address, you’ll find that it’s impossible to USE the connection for more than a few minutes without getting dropped. When it’s not dropping wireless connections, the router resets itself clearing both wired and wireless connections.

During the brief moments it wasn’t failing, the performance was marginal. The best I could get from it was 22 Mbps receive and 14 Mbps transmit. And on cue, after finishing each two minute test run, the wireless connection would get dropped.

No other AP I have tested has performed this poorly, this is one very flawed product. So I won’t spend any more time on this product. I hope this article will be read, and someone will decide to NOT buy this product. That would be the only good thing to come out the last 4 hours of my day.

By the way, I don’t have a grudge or dislike of Trendnet. In fact I LIKE the Trendnet wireless-N USB adapter, it a solid product. So I know Trendnet can make good stuff, just not this time.

note 1: I did check firmware versions, my version had 1.0.44, dated 3/2008. The website had a 1.0.50 dated 6/2008. I downloaded that version, and upgraded my firmware. After resetting itself, nothing changed, and the product did not get any better.

note 2: This has got to be a manufacturing problem, there is no way any Trendnet engineer could have let this product get out of the lab performing like this. The Hardware version I have is A1.0R.