The DGL-4300 Router:

Front Panel of the DGL-4300

The DGL-4300 from above

The DGL-4300 Gamers Lounge uses D-Link’s standard exterior router casing, but has a unique black color and very bright blue activity LEDs. Although the blue LEDs look good on the router’s front panel, they do not go very far in telling us about the activities of the router. For example, the LED’s indicating connection on one of the routers four
ports do not tell what speed the connection is at, 10MB, 100MB, or 1GB.

Backside of the DGL-4300

Another view of the back-panel

Underneath the DGL-4300

When we turn the router to it’s backside, we see a very standard four-port layout with a WAN connection for your broadband modem. There is a small reset button next to the WAN port that allows the DGL-4300’s settings to be reverted back to factory conditions.

Antenna screws in nicely

Router with antenna in place

The DGL-4300’s wireless 802.11b/g antenna is easily screwed into the back panel and has great range, up to 200 feet from our in-house tests. It’s important to note that the DGL-4300 supports a 108Mbps wireless interface, but unless you have a D-Link wireless card that supports D-Link’s Turbo Mode, you will be stuck at the 54Mbps limit of the 802.11g standard.

Installation

Login Screen

Installation of the DGL-4300 was very simple, with installation only involving plugging all the necessary connections in and turning the router on. For DSL and other broadband internet connections that require a password, logging into the router is very simple.

The DGL-4300 uses the common 192.168.0.1 local address and requires no password to log into. One thing you’ll notice about the web-interface of the router is that it is unlike any other home networking router; it actually looks good!

Basic Settings

D-Link put the extra effort into developing a web-interface that looks and feels like a real webpage, complete with Flash animation and easy to navigate menus. For the casual user, D-Link has included an easy to use internet connection wizard, allowing you setup your router in four easy steps. It’s nice to see that the wizard also includes a prompt to change the router login password, since as many of you know most people that own home routers never change their factory set passwords.

Also included in the basic section of the web interface is the wireless security setup wizard, which in four easy steps allows you to secure your wireless connection.