26/03/2023
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[Shigeki Inoue's latest communication equipment circumstances] IO Data "WN-AG450DGR" ~ 5 GHz band 450 Mbps / USB sharing / wireless LAN router with VPN server – PC Watch

"WN-AG450DGR" is a wireless LAN router that supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands released by IO DATA DEVICE in December 2011. It supports wireless LAN connection at a maximum of 450 Mbps (5 GHz band), can share USB devices within the LAN, and is a multi-functional model that can be used as a VPN server.

●Overview

WN-AG450DGR is equipped with 4 1Gbps wired LAN ports and 1 WAN port in addition to 2.4GHz band and 5GHz band wireless LAN functions. You can connect at a maximum of 300 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band and a maximum of 450 Mbps in the 5 GHz band (both in double speed mode). The wireless LAN throughput is said to be 213 Mbps in actual measurements.

< td>< td>Top page of management screen.


A list of accessories other than the main unit. AC adapter, LAN cable (1m), manuals, cautionary sticker	Top surface of main unit (side when placed vertically). Power, notifications, wireless, and WPS lamps line up. The protrusion on the right side of the WPS lamp is the WPS button. There are rubber feet and an exhaust port for horizontal placement. MAC address, serial number, license key, encryption key, PIN, SSID, QR code are listed on the sticker in the middle of the main unit

Back. From the left AC connector, WAN/LAN combined port x 1, LAN port x 1, USB 2.0 port x 2, mode switch, reset button ). It has an exhaust port. The opposite side (the top surface when placed vertically) has a symmetrical shape.

ECO mode, which is also a status screen. It cannot be set across days. When I checked with a watt monitor (Sanwa Supply), it was 6.0W at the time of shipment. 4.1W when the lamp is turned off, wired LAN and 2.4GHz band wireless LAN are set to low speed mode, and 5GHz band wireless LAN is turned off	External as a URL filter

The USB Equipped with two 2.0 ports. For example, you can connect an HDD and use it as a NAS, and connect a printer and use it as a print server. USB devices are compatible with a wide range of devices other than HDDs and printers, and can be remotely shared by PCs within a LAN.

Other convenient functions include a PPTP server (VPN server) and free dynamic DNS service "iobb.net", an "ECO mode" that saves power by turning off the lamp and slowing down the connection speed, and connecting Android and iOS devices. You can use the easy-to-use free dedicated application "QR Connect". In addition, although it is charged, it supports a service called "Family Smile" that blocks access to malicious sites, and can be set on the management screen.

●Benchmark

This time, two types of LAN speed and Internet connection speed were performed. They are explained in order below.

First, LAN speed was measured with "Crystal Disk Mark 3.0.1" by mounting the shared folder as a network drive. The measurement source PC is Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit (Celeron M 723), the measurement destination PC is Windows 7 Professional 64bit (Pentium G620T) and Ubuntu 11.10 32bit (Atom D2700). I also tested FTP speed using vsftpd installed on my Ubuntu machine.

All the PCs to be measured were connected directly to the WN-AG450DGR via a 1Gbps wired LAN. In addition to the 1 Gbps wired LAN, the PC used for measurement was directly connected to the WN-AG450DGR using Logitech's wireless LAN slave device "LAN-W450AN/U2". The test environment was a room in a one-room apartment with many IEEE 802.11b/g/n users nearby. When I opened the list from the network icon in the notification area and checked it, there were 5 or more 2.4GHz band users and 0 5GHz band users. The wireless LAN security function used WPA2-PSK.

The measurements were performed in three modes: "router mode" (with and without PPPoE connection) and "AP (access point) mode". In general, the FTP speed is often the fastest when the PPPoE connection is not used (light load), but this is not necessarily the case. In many cases, the wireless LAN has a speed equal to or higher than the wired LAN of 100 Mbps, and the fastest reading speed is about 179.0 Mbps and the fastest writing speed is about 184 Mbps (both when using 5 GHz band wireless LAN in router mode). The fastest wired speed was about 493 Mbps for reading and about 635 Mbps for writing.

[Shigeki Inoue's latest communication equipment situation ] I-O Data

[Table 1] Measurement results in router mode (with PPPoE connection)

	2.4GHz 11n x2	5.2GHz 11n x2	1000BASE-T
Destination	READ	WRITE	READ	WRITE	READ	WRITE
NTFS	99.6< /td>	75.7	131.0	184.3	357.0	387.0
Ext4	54.7	90.2	83.5	162.1	430.3	591.0
Ext4(FTP)	51.7	95.6	156.4	149.0	493.5	454.6

Benchmark result of 5GHz band 11n double speed mode in router mode (when connected to PPPoE) (Windows shared drive)

[Table 2] Measurement results in router mode

	2.4GHz 11n x2	5.2GHz 11n x2	1000BASE-T
Connected to	READ	WRITE< /td>	READ	WRITE	READ	WRITE
NTFS	138.2	107.4	155.6	167.8	291.7	205.7
Ext4	76.8	84.3	88.3	176.9	412.3< /td>	635.2
Ext4(FTP)	133.2	81.8	179.0< /td>	182.7	420.8	420.0

< tr>

Benchmark result of 5GHz band 11n double speed mode in router mode (Windows shared drive)

[Table 3] Measurement results in AP (Bridge) mode

	2.4GHz 11n x2< /td>	5.2GHz 11n x2	1000BASE-T
Connect to	READ	WRITE	READ	WRITE	READ	WRITE
NTFS< /td>	122.3	87.9	154.9	157.7	362.9	394.4
Ext4	66.2	101.7	79.0	139.3	458.5	622.7
Ext4(FTP)	135.0	106.6	130.9	136.7	527.7	470.7

< tbody>

Benchmark result of 5GHz band 11n double speed mode in access point mode (Windows shared drive)

Now about internet connection speed. WN-AG450DGR is equipped with a function called NAT accelerator that improves Internet connection speed. To see the effect, we measured the speed with the NAT accelerator turned on and off. For the measurement, we used the "speed test" of "Kakaku.com". The line is FLET'S Hikari Next.

NAT accelerator settings are in the NAT tab of advanced settings. Note that it cannot be used with IPv6 passthrough. It seems that the upload speed has improved by more than 10%. There is not much change in downhill speed, but this may be because the speed limit is reached and the numerical difference is not visible. However, Internet connections can vary widely in speed, so even if you consistently get the speed improvements you see in your test results, the actual benefits you receive may be within the margin of error.

[Table 4] Internet connection speed< td>78.7

	test 1	test 2	test 3< /td>	test 4	test 5
Down	96.2	42.8	95.8	95.6	95.8
Up	81.1	74.4	61.2	80.0

Internet connection speed (using NAT accelerator )

	test 1	test 2	test 3	test 4< /td>	test 5
Down	96.0	95.9	92.2	96.2	96.7
Up	93.7	93.7	93.7	93.7	93.6

USB

WN-AG450DGR is USB 2.0 It has two ports. This USB 2.0 port is for remote sharing of USB devices from a PC connected to the LAN, and it can be used as a NAS by connecting an HDD, and as a print server by connecting a printer. In addition, a wide variety of USB devices such as scanners, Blu-ray drives, DVD drives, mice, display adapters, terrestrial digital tuners, and USB memory can be used.

USB storage connected in NAS mode.

Displaying NAS in Explorer. Folders with the same initials in parentheses are physically on the same drive and on different partitions

Usb memory and pointing device connected in net.USB mode

net.USB client for Windows. You need to install a driver to use the connected USB device. Being unable to connect. The WN-AG450DGR can be used as a NAS by connecting an HDD, but the NAS function and the function called "net.USB" for remote sharing of other USB devices cannot be used at the same time. However, only the printer is an exception, even if you use the NAS function, even if you use net.USB, you can connect the printer at the same time and use it as a print server.

To use net.USB, you need to install the "net.USB client" (Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS compatible) provided on the support site. To use a USB device connected using net.USB, it is necessary to install the driver in the same way as when connecting to the USB port of the PC. Since the USB device in use is in a proprietary state, it cannot be used from another PC.

The speed when using the NAS function is as shown in the table below. When using a USB 2.0 compatible HDD, the fastest reading was around 87 Mbps and the fastest writing was around 107 Mbps (when connected to a 1 Gbps wired LAN). With a wireless LAN connection, the fastest speed was about 68 Mbps for reading and about 69 Mbps for writing when using the double speed mode of the 5 GHz band.

[Table 6] USB NAS (FAT32) measurement results

	2.4GHz 11n x2	5.2GHz 11n x2< /td>	1000BASE-T
Destination	READ	WRITE	READ< /td>	WRITE	READ	WRITE
RT	46.4	46.1	67.6	69.4	87.1	107.9
RT(PPPoE)	43.9	54.1	59.8	65.6	86.8	107.3

Benchmark result in NAS mode (using 1 Gbps wired connection, 1 TB USB 2.0 compatible HDD)

- VPN and other network functions

WN-AG450DGR is equipped with a PPTP server. A PPTP server is a VPN server that allows you to connect to your home or office LAN over the Internet. It can be used to take out files forgotten on the go, or as a means of transferring files. A PPTP client is installed as standard on Windows PCs, and can also be used from Android and iOS terminals. Up to 3 simultaneous connections are allowed.


VPN setting screen. "Remote IP range" is the range of IP addresses assigned to connecting computers.	Setting screen for dynamic DNS service "iobb.net".

Dynamic DNS service "iobb.net ” can be used for free, so even if you are not using a fixed IP address service, you can always use the PPTP server with the same address (domain name) without additional investment. Of course, iobb.net is not a service dedicated to PPTP servers, so if you use the port forwarding function, you can operate websites and FTP servers with the same address.

●QR Connect

If you have an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet equipped with a camera, you can use the "QR Connect" app that allows you to enter the SSID and encryption key using the QR code on the sticker on the back of the main unit. . There is no need to manually enter not only the SSID but also the encryption key.


Screen immediately after launching QR Connect for iOS. Use the camera to read the QR code	Screen shot of the QR code.

When the QR code is successfully read, the SSID is displayed. SSID1 (also written on the sticker on the back of the main unit) will be displayed if the factory default settings are used.	If there is no problem, press the install button and set (SSID and encryption key). You don't need to enter the SSID or encryption key manually

As far as I tried using it on the iPod Touch, it took a while to recognize it, Still, it was easier than setting it manually. In addition, since the factory setting SSID1 and encryption key can be set using QR Connect, if you change the name of SSID1 or the encryption key, you will not be able to use it.

●Summary and Impressions

WN-AG450DGR is a latecomer as a 450Mbps compatible wireless LAN router. It's not the fastest in terms of speed, but if you look at the installed functions, it covers almost all the functions installed in other companies' products, and as an extra, it is equipped with net. ing. If you compare the functions in the catalog, you can probably say that it is the first product that interests you.

Compared to the feature richness, the management screen is simple and unobtrusive. Some people may feel that it is a little difficult to approach compared to the management screens of other companies' products, which are as polite as a commentary book and have a lot of terminology. However, one of the directions is to reduce the amount of information and pursue simplicity. No matter which one you aim for, I would like to expect another brush-up.

QR Connect is a little more convenient. It's a simple but nifty app that makes it easy to use your wireless LAN router from your smartphone or tablet. However, if it can be so convenient, is it too much to expect that the management screen should be designed to be easy to use on smartphones and tablets? Also, I think it would be convenient to have a QR code generation function for when the SSID or encryption key is changed.

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