Design
In physical design terms, the iConnect Access 624W looks like a router. Pretty much any router, in fact. If you pushed us, we'd probably fall over, and after we'd gotten back up, we'd probably grumble a bit and then say that it fairly closely resembles the recently-reviewed TRENDnet TEW-432BRP, albeit in a much darker, less Smurf-friendly blue casing.
The rear of the router houses four 10/100 Ethernet ports, a power switch and an ADSL phone line port. Inside the iConnect Access 624W's box you'll also find a power adaptor, a length of Ethernet cable, line filter and a length of phone cable, along with installation CDs and a small printed quick start guide. As is the norm with most routers, the manual is supplied in PDF format on the CD.
Features
The iConnect Access 624W Wireless Router is a 802.11g wireless router, four port 10/100 wired router and ADSL/ADSL2/ADSL2+ compatible modem.
It supports ATM QoS UBR/CBR/VBR and comes with an inbuilt SPI Firewall, and can act as either a router or wireless bridge via the inbuilt web-based interface.
Performance
This far into the review, and you're probably thinking that there's nothing that remarkable about the iConnect Access 624W. To a certain extent you'd be right; its feature set is nothing to get so terribly excited about in such a competitive market, and as a single antennae, 802.11g router you probably couldn't expect too much from it in terms of signal strength. That was the case in our testing, where the 624W performed acceptably well, but in no way exceptionally.
So what makes the iConnect Access 624W stand out? It's the installation software, which is tailored to each specific ISP that you purchase it from. This takes the form of a Flash-based interactive setup routine that takes a very simple, handheld approach to setting up the router and the surrounding wireless network. If you're a networking novice this kind of thing is a godsend, as the 624W will take care of setting your environmental variables -- passwords and so on -- and all you really need are details that your ISP should provide you with anyway, such as username and password.
In our tests we were, for the most part impressed with how easy the 624W made installing and setting up a wireless network. We did however have a few reservations. One of our test laptops was a Centrino model running the Intel ProSET Wireless utility, and the 624W didn't like it all that much. Its configuration utility presumes that you're always just using the Windows wireless configuration utility, and conflicts with other driver-based configuration utilities. The explanation of how to disable ProSET and use the Windows utility was rather short in our opinion, and in stark contrast to the handholding that the 624W offers otherwise.
There were other small niggles that we encountered in the installation, although they were slightly more minor. Installation includes entering your password, but in direct contrast to just about every password setup routine ever, your password is on display as you enter it, reducing its effectiveness somewhat. In the home/consumer setting that the 624W is pitched to this is admittedly less of a concern, but it's still poor security. In the same area of installation mistakes that could have been easily rectified, the default password for the router's web configuration page contains a zero -- but the printed text makes it difficult to work out if it's a zero or an "O". Not terribly shattering stuff, but it's also stuff that could have been fixed rather easily as well. In comparison to the very easy configuration utility, the 624W's web interface feels a little cluttered, although for the target market of this particular router, you're probably not expected to spend too much time tinkering with the small details.
During our set-up testing, the install routine intelligently spotted our network resources, and even advised of a potential conflict with an existing router -- very intelligent stuff. We were somewhat concerned that, despite running an existing WPA-secured network on the same hardware, the 624W elected to set up a less secure WEP network instead. Again, at a home level this is probably less of a concern than at a business level, but it's important to realise that this kind of easy set-up may not give you the best possible security level.
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Gawain Wu
24/07/2008, 10:07 AM
rating
1/10
abysmal router its impossible to port forward it properly to host games. same problem with numerous users
OPEN networks do not know how to make a router at all
Pros: it lets you connect to the internet
Cons: everything else.
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wireless
30/05/2008, 02:59 PM
rating
7/10
Good network router with some simple functions. I like this router because this gives networking speed very well. Best modem/router I've ever used. Catches signals very powerfully.
Pros: Compact and attractive design router.
Cheap and reliable.
Solid signal strength.
Cons: Pricey.
Indicators can be hard to read.
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AUSSIE
23/12/2007, 01:38 PM
rating
8/10
I WANT TO HOST A GAME.BATTLEFIELD 1942 DEMO. I CAN GET THE SERVER TO SHOW WITH DIAL UP.BUT WHEN I USE MY 624W ROUTER ,IT WONT SHOW.PORTS ARE OPEN,I THINK, AND IM AT A LOSS.ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT ,CHEERS..............
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cath3219
22/12/2007, 06:17 PM
rating
9/10
Works fine for me I've been using mine for 2 years now never had to reset it at all.
Pros: Easy to install. Works well without problems.
Cons: Only 1 antana but has no problems with wireless anyway.
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Stomach ulcer
16/12/2007, 07:38 AM
rating
2/10
We are the clarence environment center have had nothing but problems with this ahem "quality router'. Essentially we spend more time reseting it then in actual data transfer.
So yeah, imo, stay away from this router.
Pros: None
Cons: Its entire existance
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Nep
21/11/2007, 05:45 PM
rating
10/10
Very good for the price. As for the buzzing noise I got that also it's easily fixed just turn the power off & make sure all the cables are connected properly then turn it back on. The noise should go away :)
I didn't see any flaws in the installation Routine like the review says. It's very basic type user info in & connect not to much that could possibly go wrong with it...
Pros: Easy setup, Dose what it's expected to do, very reliable, great speed.
Cons: None that I could see...
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Maca69
18/09/2007, 04:10 PM
rating
8/10
I have owned one for 1.5 years and has worked fine until recently. I've noticed a soft buzzing sound like a frying noise coming from the power supply connection to the router! Still working ok, has anyone else noticed? Are there any know faults?
Pros: Simply to set up. Easy to use.
Cons: Wireless strength could be better.
Buzzing noise after 1.5 years!
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Maca69
18/09/2007, 04:09 PM
rating
8/10
I have owned one for 1.5 years and has worked fine until recently. I've noticed a soft buzzing sound like a frying noise coming from the power supply connection to the router! Still working ok, has anyone else noticed? Are there any know faults?
Pros: Simply to set up. Easy to use.
Cons: Wireless strength could be better.
Buzzing noise after 1.5 years!
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Me
09/08/2007, 10:00 AM
rating
9/10
Personally I think it's great the best router I have ever owned I have not tested out the wireless feature as I'm using Ethernet to connect but it's just great...
Pros: Very fast and easy to setup...
Cons: No updates from what I have seen I'm not sure if that is actually a down side though as theirs no problems happening with mine.
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Geoff Stokes
18/02/2007, 03:21 PM
rating
8/10
I own one, and while a little difficult to set up with certain devices (IE getting more than one wireless device to cooperate nicely) it works pretty darn well, and has very good speed for what I've experienced.
Best modem/router I've ever used.
Pros: Fast.
Just works once set up properly.
Only "Crashed" once - and i think that was a brownout's fault.
Nice understated casing.
Reasonably useful browser-based setup interface.
Cons: A tad counterintuitive to set up...
Setup could use some extra detail on the settings.
Didn't like having more than one wireless device connected without first disablin security, connecting them and then connecting them again with security active.
Had trouble assigning IP addresses when some are reserved.
NO updates to fix these in sight...
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