The software feature sets are also slightly different. The security logs on the DI-713P report port scans, while the SMC Barricade does not. On the other hand, the Barricade's support of MAC (Media Access Control)-based access restrictions is absent in the D-Link offering. As far as performance and range are concerned, the products were comparable. The DI-713P had the best range of any product we tested, but its performance trailed that of the SMC device, though the difference was less than 10 percent.

We had reliability problems with the DI-713P, as we did with the Barricade. The first two units we received from D-Link would not complete our performance tests. We had received earlier versions of this product from D-Link before starting our tests, and those units had reliability problems as well. We now have quite a collection of failed units in our lab, and though D-Link was generally responsive to our requests for support, we never got the sense that it had a firm understanding of what caused our problems. Persistence paid off, however, and the latest unit we received from D-Link worked well.