D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router

Drive sharing is easy, but limited by the fact that only one Windows computer (Macs aren't supported at all) can access the drive at a time through a special system tray application. If someone is using a drive and forgets to log out, other users on the network won't be able to access it at all.

The D-Link delivered somewhat faster drive-sharing throughput than the Belkin N+ Wireless Router F5D8235-4 when we paired each router with our Western Digital MyBook drive, but it was still much slower than with a typical gigabit NAS. Printer sharing works in much the same way, with each user claiming an available printer from the system tray utility, and essentially owning that printer.

The Wi-Fi guest zone has its own SSID and encryption password to keep your primary password private, and is completely locked out of your wired network by default.

While its drive and printer sharing features have serious limitations, the D-Link would be one of our top picks even without them, thanks to its low price, great performance, easy setup, and handy guest access mode.