Zyxel NBG5715

[oldthor]

This router on the surface looks like it may blow every other router out of the water according to the advertising Zyxel is displaying. It appears to be a brand new model and is quite pricey, about 185.00 street price. Looked at the Users Guide and it was quite detailed. Hopefully once a few reviews are up this will turn out to be at least half as good as Zyxel claims it is. If it is I'm in!

 

[hedbert]

I would be interested in reading some reviews on this unit as well. OR if anyone knows how I could get my hands on one I would be happy to write a review!

 

[thiggins]

Don't get too excited, gentlemen. These products tend to be more alike than different. And three stream ("450 Mbps") N provides benefit only with very strong signals and three-stream clients.

 

[beq]

Yeah I grew disillusioned after reading about all the performance pitfalls of three-stream N gear on this site.

Still, a review of this Zyxel NBG5715 and the Trendnet TEW-692GR routers would be interesting (the only concurrent dual band models with three streams on both bands, unless I'm mistaken?).

 

[Arty50]

Still, a review of this Zyxel NBG5715 and the Trendnet TEW-692GR routers would be interesting (the only concurrent dual band models with three streams on both bands, unless I'm mistaken?).

The 5th Gen Airport Extreme has three streams on both bands too.

 

[claykin]

The 5th Gen Airport Extreme has three streams on both bands too.

And its pretty much no better than the other crop of current routers. Arguably more reliable, but not better performance.

 

[Arty50]

And its pretty much no better than the other crop of current routers. Arguably more reliable, but not better performance.

Yup. Just saying it does three streams on both bands.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the review of the Zyxel too.

 

[claykin]

I also like the Zyxel. It reminds me of a clock radio I had in 1973.

 

[limmes]

I own this router and I would say that this router is not finished.
It looks like early beta version.
let's take even simplest thing - there is no MAC address cloning (despite that manual states that it exists)

 

[njweb]

I own this router and I would say that this router is not finished.
It looks like early beta version.
let's take even simplest thing - there is no MAC address cloning (despite that manual states that it exists)

How does it perform so far?
How is the wireless range and speed?

 

[limmes]

I didn't test this router very much.
Using not full month. So far no crashes, stable.
Max torrent speed I've seen about 11MB.
Wireless for me is just an option for future. Tested it for couple of hours with old laptop (54Mbit). Signal strength I would say is OK. Router is in metal rack and in distance of 15m behind 2-3 concrete walls I still had good signal value. When was pinging router - every 20 packet wasn't responding.

WEB GUI is buggy and unfinished.
Inside router some castrated Linux (Luci)
Zyxel support is nonsense. Basically no support

 

[njweb]

I didn't test this router very much.
Using not full month. So far no crashes, stable.
Max torrent speed I've seen about 11MB.
Wireless for me is just an option for future. Tested it for couple of hours with old laptop (54Mbit). Signal strength I would say is OK. Router is in metal rack and in distance of 15m behind 2-3 concrete walls I still had good signal value. When was pinging router - every 20 packet wasn't responding.

WEB GUI is buggy and unfinished.
Inside router some castrated Linux (Luci)
Zyxel support is nonsense. Basically no support

Thanks!
I appreciate the feedback.

I was wondering which chipset it uses. Maybe Tim knows.
I like the fact that it has beamforming technology (assuming it makes a difference) and that it has replaceable antennae so I can upgrade then to 5 or 9 dBi versions.

 

[njweb]

I ordered one of these (Zyxel NBG5715 routers) today, along with three Rosewill 8dBi 2.4GHz antennae (with SMA connectors).

I already own a Cisco Linksys E4200 router and RE1000 range extender that I use together), but I was intrigued by the Zyxel beam forming and the fact that it has user-upgradable antennae (the E4200 does not have external antennae).
My goal being to get better signal quality in the far sections of my home without using an extender (the RE1000 and E4200 work amazingly well together - in the distant locations I get a wireless signal strength of 4 bars out of 5 with the extender, as opposed to only 2 bars out of 5 without the extender, on my Blu-Ray player's user interface.
(i.e. not Windows signal strength although each bar may represent the same thing on both the player and a Windows machine).

I am not expecting any miracles here (can always take the restocking fee hit on the Zyxel and Rosewill antennae, if needed, and chalk it up to the price for confirming for myself that the E4200 is still the overall king of the hill)

I will post my performance and stability findings once I receive the Zyxel NBG5715 router and antennae and compare it to the Linksys E4200's wireless signal strength.

Has anyone else here tried the NBG5715 router (other than the one user who posted above)?
There is very little out there on it - no amazon or newegg user reviews (yet) and no reviews anywhere else for it (yet).

 

[Thomasmj86]

Something new about this router?

 

[njweb]

Something new about this router?

I will be getting one tomorrow.
I will post my feedback and test results (compared to E4200).

I guess nobody else here has tried it yet unfortunately (other than one person who was nice enough to post his experience during limited use).

I wonder whether the 3 external antennae it comes with support one frequency (2.4 GHz) or both (2.4 and 5 GHz) or whether it has internal antennae for the 5 GHz frequency.
The three 8dBi antennae I bought to attach to my NBG5715 only support 2.4 Ghz (I knew that going in but forgot to confirm whether attaching them will have an impact on 5 GHz, depending on whether the stock antennae are for 5 GHz as well).

 

[njweb]

I received my Zyxel NBG5715 and three added 8dBi antennae (at a relatively significant extra cost) today.

Bottom line, the three 8dBi antennae did not seem to help at all versus the stock antennae of the NBG5715.
(The antenna package says 802.11b/g but the site says 802.11b/g/n, so I assume they were compatible with 802/11n signals but I would love confirmation if anyone knows - they are Rosewill 8dBi antennae - RNX-A8-EX.
In any case, the NBG5715 (with stock 2dBi or optional 8dBi antennae) was no better than the E4200 alone for 2.4GHz wireless performance (I did not test 5 GHz).

I should note that, in my limited non-scientific tests of 2.4 GHz wireless performance (comparing wireless signal strengths between the two routers), the NBG5715 was not necessarily any worse than my E4200, but certainly not any better either.
Given the added cost of the NBG5715, the fact that the E4200 looks nicer and has a proven track record, I will stick with my Linksys E4200 router and RE1000 range extender.

As I posted before, I suspected this might be the end result.

I will eat the RMA and shipping charges for the router and antennnae.
I guess I could eBay the router instead but I already have a number of items to sell right now).
One of the three antennae packages was missing the antenna and only came with the base, even though the blister pack was completely sealed (some kind of screw-up at the manufacturing / packing facility).
Hopefully the merchant will trust me.


This might explain the lack of 5 GHz signal when using the 2.4 GHz 8dbi antennae:
From the Zyxel product page for the INCLUDED antennae:
"Three 3 x 2dBi detachable dual-band antenna (should be antennae)".
I also wonder whether for 2.4 GHz as well the optional antennae don't help due to their design. I would love to get confirmation from an expert on that

 

[njweb]

I received my Zyxel NBG5715 and three added 8dBi antennae (at a relatively significant extra cost) today.

Bottom line, the three 8dBi antennae did not seem to help at all versus the stock antennae of the NBG5715.
(The antenna package says 802.11b/g but the site says 802.11b/g/n, so I assume they were compatible with 802/11n signals but I would love confirmation if anyone knows - they are Rosewill 8dBi antennae - RNX-A8-EX.
In any case, the NBG5715 (with stock 2dBi or optional 8dBi antennae) was no better than the E4200 alone for 2.4GHz wireless performance (I did not test 5 GHz).

I should note that, in my limited non-scientific tests of 2.4 GHz wireless performance (comparing wireless signal strengths between the two routers), the NBG5715 was not necessarily any worse than my E4200, but certainly not any better either.
Given the added cost of the NBG5715, the fact that the E4200 looks nicer and has a proven track record, I will stick with my Linksys E4200 router and RE1000 range extender.

As I posted before, I suspected this might be the end result.

I will eat the RMA and shipping charges for the router and antennnae.
I guess I could eBay the router instead but I already have a number of items to sell right now).
One of the three antennae packages was missing the antenna and only came with the base, even though the blister pack was completely sealed (some kind of screw-up at the manufacturing / packing facility).
Hopefully the merchant will trust me.


This might explain the lack of 5 GHz signal when using the 2.4 GHz 8dbi antennae:
From the Zyxel product page for the INCLUDED antennae:
"Three 3 x 2dBi detachable dual-band antenna (should be antennae)".
I also wonder whether for 2.4 GHz as well the optional antennae don't help due to their design. I would love to get confirmation from an expert on that

Perhaps this would work better?
I would just have to give up using 5 GHz since it is 2.4 GHz only.
Amped Wireless SB1000 High Power 1000mW Wi-Fi Signal Booster

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833995088


PS: I am also looking for confirmation as to whether the Rosewill antennae
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833998042
are perhaps just not compatible with 802.11n technology and hence don't help.

 

[limmes]

I believe you should have bought something like this:
http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22324

From what I read in internet, I believe that your antennas in 5Ghz range have big attenuations

I received my Zyxel NBG5715 and three added 8dBi antennae (at a relatively significant extra cost) today.

Bottom line, the three 8dBi antennae did not seem to help at all versus the stock antennae of the NBG5715.
(The antenna package says 802.11b/g but the site says 802.11b/g/n, so I assume they were compatible with 802/11n signals but I would love confirmation if anyone knows - they are Rosewill 8dBi antennae - RNX-A8-EX.
In any case, the NBG5715 (with stock 2dBi or optional 8dBi antennae) was no better than the E4200 alone for 2.4GHz wireless performance (I did not test 5 GHz).

I should note that, in my limited non-scientific tests of 2.4 GHz wireless performance (comparing wireless signal strengths between the two routers), the NBG5715 was not necessarily any worse than my E4200, but certainly not any better either.
Given the added cost of the NBG5715, the fact that the E4200 looks nicer and has a proven track record, I will stick with my Linksys E4200 router and RE1000 range extender.

As I posted before, I suspected this might be the end result.

I will eat the RMA and shipping charges for the router and antennnae.
I guess I could eBay the router instead but I already have a number of items to sell right now).
One of the three antennae packages was missing the antenna and only came with the base, even though the blister pack was completely sealed (some kind of screw-up at the manufacturing / packing facility).
Hopefully the merchant will trust me.


This might explain the lack of 5 GHz signal when using the 2.4 GHz 8dbi antennae:
From the Zyxel product page for the INCLUDED antennae:
"Three 3 x 2dBi detachable dual-band antenna (should be antennae)".
I also wonder whether for 2.4 GHz as well the optional antennae don't help due to their design. I would love to get confirmation from an expert on that

 

[njweb]

I believe you should have bought something like this:
http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22324

From what I read in internet, I believe that your antennas in 5Ghz range have big attenuations

Thanks. Yes, I saw antennae like that one, but the gain on 2.4 GHz is only 3dBi (the router comes with 2 dBi antennae).
The ones I bought are 8 dBi
(I just hope they work with 802.11n and not just 802.11g - the description mentions 802.11n but who knows whether they just mean it works with 802.11n routers in 802.11g mode).

I returned the NBG5715.

I may get the Ubiquiti AP-N (even though I am happy with my E4200 router with an RE1000 range extender) and try my extra antennae with it.
My hesitation is that I want to ensure I get confrmation / instructions / guidance on the iptables setup for firewall rules (for some reason the AP-N ships without default firewall rules).

 

[limmes]

This weekend for half an hour I had laptop with Wifi N and 5Ghz range.
So made small test
With Total Commander over Win7 share tried to copy 25Gb movie (PC equipped with 1GB card , Wifi WPA2 security)
Distance from router to laptop about 5m and 1 concrete wall. In range there are about 4-6 other 2Ghz routers

2Ghz Wifi - speed varied 30-40 Mbits/s
5Ghz Wifi - speed varied 60-80 Mbits/s

Also with Window media player tried to watch over Win7 share 25GB M2TS movie. Most of time it runs OK, but time from time because of speed instability there are some lags.


And found one issue:
By default I had 5Ghz range disabled. Then couples times switched router off and 5 Ghz got enable by itself