How far can the term "cloud" be stretched? Here's the latest: the
In this case, "cloud" means that the router can be associated with a Mydlink account and hence be easily accessible via the Internet, either with a browser or a mobile app.
The Mydlink portal has been available to D-Link's Webcam for a long time and the DIR-605L is the first router from the company that also takes advantage of this "cloud" access. Whether or not the term is overstretched here, in my trials, the new feature worked very well.
I could easily use my iPhone 4, running the freely downloadable Mydlink Lite app, to monitor and manage the wireless network hosted by the DIR-605L, including viewing the activities of connected clients and blocking those I didn't want to have access. And all that could be done while I was away, out and about, using a 3G connection.
While the DIR-605L's cloud-based feature wasn't as comprehensive as I hoped and didn't offer access to all the settings of the router -- to view them you'll need to resort to the good old Web interface, accessible only from within the local network -- it was an exciting extra. It's good news that many future routers, from D-Link and other networking vendors, will offer a similar approach to remote home network management.
As a wireless router, the DIR-605L is, however, a frill-free router lacking most of the features common in other D-Link routers, including Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band, support for IPv6, and even the popular guest networking. To make up for that, it offers solid performance and comes with a very friendly price tag of just around $40.
To find out why the new router is worth every penny for home users, check out the full review of the