A home router is quite an ordinary piece of hardware nowadays. It comes in various flavors, designs and technical specs, but mostly has such typical traits as four LAN ports, a WLAN module (if it is a wireless router), and one WAN port. Some routers offer extended functionality by means of USB ports, yet they are not anything extraordinary, either. Still, the market of home network equipment occasionally produces a router that stands out among the rest with some special feature. It is about such a device that we are going to talk today. The router is called BR-724 and is manufactured by Edimax. The mentioned name is for the American market. In Europe the router goes under the name of BR-6624.
So, the special feature of the BR-724 is that it has two WAN ports. It is not something unique, yet such models are indeed rare. What benefits can you get from two WAN ports? It depends on what functions are implemented in the router’s firmware for with these ports, of course. There are obvious advantages, though. You can have a backup Internet connection, increase the overall bandwidth by joining the two channels together, and connect two different WANs (e.g. a local network and an ADSL modem).
We will check out the BR-724 as a router and will test its Load Balancing technology that can distribute the load on the available WAN ports.
Specifications
Parameter | Characteristics |
Wireless standard | No WiFi |
WAN | 2 RJ-45 ports (10/100 BaseT) Fast Ethernet 10/100Mb/s auto MDI/MDIX |
LAN | 4 RJ-45 ports (10/100 BaseT) Fast Ethernet 10/100Mb/s auto MDI/MDIX |
Other interfaces | None |
CPU | 175MHz MIPS |
Power | External power supply |
Dimensions | 140 (L) x 245 (W) x 34 (H) mm |
Additional features | Load Balancing I/O
Multi DMZ
ARP Proxy |
Package and Accesories
The box contains:
- Edimax BR-724 router
- External power adapter
- CD with a user manual
- Advertising booklet
