Digital Trends

Gigabyte B49GU Router

September 2nd, 2004 | by Jeff Fila

Setup and Management

Setup of the B49GU is generally as simple as most other SOHO routers. Much like other manufacturers are doing now, Gigabyte offers two setup wizards to walk you through basic setup. The “Smart Setup” button detects what kind of internet connection you have and connects your router to your ISP's modem. If you have DSL with PPOE it can even detect that and prompt you for your username and password. The button labeled “Setup Wizard” allows you to fine-tune your LAN settings such as the IP address of your router and the range of addresses DHCP will assign.

But for wireless setup, you're on your own in the sense that there is no setup wizard. And because of the layout, the wireless setup can be confusing to inexperienced users. One oddity of this setup is the fact that the layout allows you to enable both WEP and WPA encryption at the same time. Client computers wouldn't be able to connect to a network with both algorithms in use at once. As you can see from the screenshot below, this can be quite confusing.

A strange occurance, the layout seemingly allows for both WEP and WPA to be turned on.

The main problem we had with setup of the B49GU was the poorly translated instructions. This was evident in both the printed and online documentation, as well as in the web-based management console. First time users may run into problems because the English instructions just don't make sense in many cases. For instance, Gigabyte's explanation of the setup wizard is: The "Setup Wizard" will direct you to inclusive the internet connection setup. The description of the management tool says “The "Management Tool" offer the other service of the Router for you.” As the screenshot below shows, the settings in the firewall management section are even more cryptic.

Gigabyte's English instructions are often hard to follow, even for experts.

Besides the often unintelligible instructions, our other major setup issue was the fact that nearly every action required a reboot of the router. This was the case with the D-Link DI-624 but D-Link's reboot time was minimal. The B49GU uses a 30-second timer after for most reboots, a 65-second timer for some wireless changes, and a 110-second timer after a firmware upgrade. This often-encountered long reboot time can be very annoying to say the least. One of the things that impressed us the most in our review of the Compex NP26G-USB was the fact that very few actions required a reboot. In the case of the B49GU, that is exactly the opposite as most actions require a 30-second wait for a reboot.

Every change in the management tool requires a reboot which can seem like an eternity.

The management console also suffered from a few inconsistencies such as some reboots happening automatically and some reboots requiring you to hit a “click to reboot” button and then a “reboot” button. The left side navigation had a few inconsistencies as well, with some links highlighting and underlining as you hover over them and some not changing in appearance at all. This certainly may be a small issue, but combined with the poor documentation and the often confusing menus, the B49GU management application looks like a product that was rushed to market.