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Specifications
Basically, the DI-713 is just a home router, like the SMC Barricade that we reviewed earlier, on steroids. Unlike the SMC Barricade, however, is the fact that it also has a built-in wireless access point so that wireless adapters can both access the Internet connection that's being shared and also the computers that are connected through the built-in switch. You can read about the differences between Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure mode wireless networks here if you missed it. The access point is IEEE 802.11b compliant, which means that all other IEEE 802.11b-compliant wireless networking device, such as those in D-Link's Air series of products, will work with the DI-713.
Built right into the DI-713 is a 3-port 10/100Mbps switch for connecting your computers directly into the router. We addressed the benefits that a switch has over a hub way back in our review of the Linksys Switched 10/100 Network in a Box quite a while back. To briefly summarize it, a switch is able to transfer data through only the needed ports, freeing the other ports for communication between other computers, while a hub will just transfer data through all the ports, therefore creating a traffic jam in the hub if other computers wish to transfer data as well. The 3-port switch in the DI-713 will work with 10BaseT and 100BaseTX networks and is able to adjust to the correct setting automatically. Unfortunately, although the 3-ports for plugging in 3 computers should be enough for a lot of people, there are also others, like myself, who will find that 3-ports will not be enough. Luckily, you can link other hubs and switches from the DI-713 if you find that the 3-ports are not enough for you-which, of course, will require some money for buying that extra hub or switch.
Finally, the third major feature of the DI-713, of course, is its built-in hardware router. Providing hardware NAT (Network Address Translation), it allows the user to share an Internet connection between multiple computers (the maximum should be about 253 computers--a limit of the TCP/IP protocol--and more is possible using advanced networking techniques). A quick look at the spec sheets above tells us that the DI-713 includes both a WAN port for connecting to a broadband connection such as your DSL or cable line, and also a serial port for those who use external analogue modems. It's good to see that D-Link has included support for regular modem users as it shows that they recognize that not everyone is lucky enough to have broadband. Now, of course, the viability of this feature is another thing, since sharing a 56K modem connection between even two computers will be unbearable for most.
Also built-in is a hardware firewall, which acts to protect all users behind the firewall from external threats such as hackers and probes. It allows for port blocking and redirecting as well as packet filtering for maximum security and flexibility at the same time for computers behind the DI-713. To top everything off, it includes a DHCP server which allows for the dynamic configuration of up to 252 computers to connect to the network and the Internet automatically. Using a DHCP server means that users won't have to manually type in their network configuration settings, such as their IP address, gateway, DNS, etc., as everything will be automatically assigned to them by the DI-713.
A diagram to showing ideal application for the DI-713.
As you can see, the DI-713 is clearly chocked full of features.
 On to: First Impressions
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