D-Link today officially announced a new lower-cost dual-band dual-radio draft 11n router and said that it has started shipments.

The DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router is essentially a cost-reduced version of D-Link's DIR-855. It drops the OLED front panel display and has two antennas vs. the 855's three. The new router has two draft 11n radios based on newer Atheros chipsets for simultaneous operation in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.

The new router has a few new features including a USB server that D-Link has dubbed SharePort. The new feature requires a utility installed on each computer and provides one-user-at-a-time network access to a single USB device plugged into the router. The only devices supported are USB printers, multi-function printers and USB flash and disk drives.

The 825 also has a wireless "Guest Zone" feature that provides a each radio with a separate SSID that provides Internet access, but allows no connection to wired or other wireless LAN clients.

In a related announcement, D-Link said that it is making the SharePort capability available via a free firmware upgrade on all of its Xtreme N Gigabit router models (DIR-628, DIR-655, DIR-855, DGL-4500).

Other features of the DIR-825 include " HD Fuel" automatic QoS technology for wireless and uplink Internet traffic, WPA and WPA2 wireless security and a four-port gigabit Ethernet switch.

The DIR-825 is available now with street pricing around $160.

Tags: 802.11n, D-Link, WiFi,

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