With a host of advanced features, Gigabyte’s B49GU is a SOHO router with a lot of promise for business users. Unfortunately, its lack of quality documentation and its issue with wireless dropouts and a general lack of wireless speed make it a less than stellar performer.

Based on the Atheros 802.11g chipset that supports Extreme-G speeds of up to 108Mbps, the B49GU was just as disappointing and erratic as the very similar D-Link DI-624. As a wired router, the Gigabyte B49GU is a solid performer with a lot of useful enhancements. But when you dig deeper into its feature set and take the wireless performance, or lack thereof, into account, the B49GU looks like a good idea that was poorly implemented and rushed to market.

We had hoped for more from Gigabyte because they really do make some high quality components. However, one poorly performing product shouldn’t doom a company. Hopefully Gigabyte (or Atheros) will straighten out the issues with this chipset in the near future and come back with a stronger product.