D-Link Sub-50 Routers

D-Link aims to be the first with a router using the faster 802.11n Wi-Fi standard at or below the $50 mark, say tips from industry sources at its Taiwan manufacturing base. The network equipment producer is said to be instituting price cuts that will drop the cost by as much as 35 percent in a bid to undercut rivals such as Belkin, Linksys, and SMC. D-Link has ypically had some of the lowest-cost wireless routers on the market and has offered wireless routers significantly below the $100 level in the past, but until today has not crossed the $50 barrier. The model is most likely the base DIR-615 (not pictured).

The move is designed to spur sales and could result in a major boost from 570,000 N-capable routers and cards in the late summer to as much as one million in the fall, the alleged insiders say. By contrast, Linksys has attempted to move upscale with dual-band routers that can operate a 5GHz 802.11n network separately from a slower 2.4GHz B or G network, allowing users to get closer to the newer standard's claimed 300Mbps peak speed without interfering with the slower devices on the network.

By Electronista Staff