D-Link today unveiled a family of 3G mobile broadband wireless routers that use cellular (EVDO or HSDPA) wireless backbones. The $300 D-Link routers are available in two versions: the DIR-450 (EV-DO) and DIR-451 (UMTS/HSDPA).

 Compatible wireless ISPs for the DIR-450 include ACS Wireless, Alltel, Cellular South, Embarq, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. For the DIR-451, UMTS carriers include Orangenet, Vodafone, Exelcom and Maxis, and Cingular, T-Mobile, Exelcom, Maxis, Vodafone, Celcom and Globe for HSDPA formats.

The DIR-450 (EV-DO) is compatible with the Kyocera KPC 650, Novatel V620 and Sprint PC-5740 notebook adapters, and the Audiovox 8940, Kyocera KX18 and Samsung A890 cell phones. Compatible notebook adapters for the DIR-451 are the Novatel Wireless Merlin U530 and U730, Option Wireless GT 3G Quad, Sierra Wireless AirCard 860 and Sony Ericsson GC89.

Security features to prevent unauthorized access, including WEP, WPA and WPA2 that ensure a secure Wi-Fi network regardless of the connected devices. They also employ dual active firewalls (SPI and NAT) to prevent potential Internet attacks. The 802.11g wireless router includes a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 switch.

Advanced firewall features include Network Address Translation (NAT); Media Access Control (MAC) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and Website filtering; scheduling and Virtual Private Network (VPN) pass-through via Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Layer 2 Protocol Tunneling (L2PT) and IP Security (IPSec).

Without a mobile broadband connection data card, the DIR-450 and DIR-451 work as standard 802.11g wireless routers, such as the popular D-Link RangeBooster G models.

The DIR-450 model of the D-Link Mobile Wireless Routers is available now for the suggested retail price of $299.99. The DIR-451 is targeted to begin shipping later this quarter with pricing to be announced at that time.

Kyocera’s WiFi Router ($200) and Sprint’s WiFi Router ($250) also provide cellular backhaul. A Netgear router (right) uses Flarion’s broadband wireless for the backbone.

DailyWireless has more on Municipal WiFi Clients, Mobile WiFi Routers, Open Source Routers, Cingular 875 HSDPA Card, Park City: Solar WiFi, IPWireless Mobile Gateway, Linksys WiFi/Cellular Access Point, and Mobile Hotspot How To.