Billion BiPAC 7700N review: Billion BiPAC 7700N

Billion's BiPAC 7700N is a tiny router. At 150x110x22mm, it could almost be cute. Almost entirely white and quite boxy, it'll also likely be easy to hide or stack somewhere, unlike a certain UFO-shaped brand.

8.5

Billion BiPAC 7700N

The Good

Amazingly cheap for what it does. Good wireless performance.

The Bad

Smaller NAT table means it might find some torrents taxing. No progress bar during firmware update.

The Bottom Line

Billion's BiPAC 7700N is a fantastic little router for those on a budget, or if you need to set your parents up with something basic. It may not handle P2P as well as its bigger brother the 7800NL, but if your needs are simple, this is temptation in a tiny package.

Despite being an amazing AU$89.95, it is quite similar to Billion's slightly more expensive 7800NL, just without IPv6 support, removable antennas and features a smaller NAT table.

Specs at a glance

Connections

The 7700N follows the tried and true 4x 100-megabit Ethernet port path, meaning it's fine for those who just want wireless access to the internet, and don't care so much about large local file transfers.

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Phone line in, 4x 100Mb Ethernet ports, WPS button, wireless on/off button, power button, power jack.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)

UI and features

The 7700N is running a different operating system to the 7800NL, but still manages to retain almost all of the features. The interface is more intimidating to newcomers than Billion usually presents, so we'd advise neophytes to stick to the quick set-up, or have a techy person on hand.

There is plenty here to like, considering the price point. Port, IP, time of day and URL filtering is here, for a start. Port forwarding, dynamic DNS, UPnP and QoS are too, and it can act as a wireless bridge. You can have up to three guest wireless LANs running. It even supports grouping interfaces so you can run multiple networks from the one router.

Performance

After analysing the spectrum with InSSIDer, the clearest 2.4GHz channel is chosen wireless testing. Usually, the router is restricted to the 20MHz band if the option is available.

We use iperf to determine throughput, running eight streams, with a TCP window size of 1MB and an interval of one second. The test is run for five minutes in three different locations, on two separate occasions. The locations are in the same room as the router: one floor down around spiral stairs and with concrete walls and floors, and two floors down under the same conditions.

The wireless throughput is tested using three chipsets (the Atheros AR5008X, Ralink RT2870 and Intel Ultimate-N 6300), and then all results are averaged.

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

For a sub-AU$100, the Billion 7700N does rather well on its 2.4GHz performance.

Warranty

Despite being a budget router, a two-year warranty is still the norm on Billion's routers, doubling the likes of competitors Netgear and Cisco.

Conclusion

Billion's BiPAC 7700N is a fantastic little router for those on a budget, or if you need to set your parents up with something basic. It may not handle P2P as well as its bigger brother the 7800NL, but if your needs are simple, this is temptation in a tiny package.