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Product Reviews:
D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Gigabit Wireless Router |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Greaattt
Comments: Great wireless router thats wireless N and G. Great speed however i do not see a difference in the range, however that might be because of my router location. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Installation Was Soooo Easy
Comments: I had the prior version of this router for 2 years. I started having connection issues and based upon process of elimination it appeared to be the router. I decided to purchase a new1rather than spending hours trying to confirm the router was dying. Installation of my old router had been difficult however since it always worked well until it apparently died I went for it. In less than 30 minutes the new router was installed and all computers and printer tied into the network - working perfectly. It was a cinch - loved the CD which made installation a breeze. Connectivity is great. Reception is great. Got a new mini computer this weekend and it found the network easily. I am happy :) |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: For the price, excellent purchase
Comments: On seeing that this product has been reduced in price, I figured I would post a review to help others looking for a new router.
I have had this now for over a year (Hardware A4 version, 1.21NA firmware) and with some small caveats, am happy I purchased it. No router is perfect, and this1is flawed in some respects, however at less than $70, it's a steal.
1st the great. At my firmware level, I have had absolutely no issues with performance or reliability. Many router owners have to live with the occasional need for a hard reboot, however this1keeps on going. Reboots are required for many of the Advanced routing feature settings to be edited, however once you are set up, you stay up.
Initial set up was relatively straightforward even though I did not use the included setup disk. There are wizards in the web interface for both wired and wireless setup. I had a few attempts because I was using some bad DNS addresses at 1st, however this was user error. I used advanced DNS eventually which works well. Some users have reported issues with this with some 1.3xNA firmwares, however it works fine for me on 1.21NA and is easily disabled if you need to.
Wired performance is great with my setup. I have a Windows 7 desktop (and was using Windows XP before my upgrade with this also), a Mac OS X 10.5 MacBook Pro with a Windows Vista VM on it (I often use this on wireless also). I have a VOIP telephone using a LinkSys adapter and a PS3 console. All run with no issues. Connecting wirelessly, I have a Windows Vista Dell laptop, running on the useful guest access feature. This allows you to give a different account which can have limited access (i.e. no LAN access) or a different security type if needed. useful for visitors.
Wireless range is great, and even wireless G gives great speeds. I have tested with wireless N and can connect at 150 MB/s. It is due to the limitation of the AirPort card of my MacBook Pro that I can not connect at the full 300 MB/s that wireless N supports, so I can not comment on this side of the router's performance. What I can say is that the N range I have is great and that others on the D-Link forums seem happy with this aspect of the router.
The web UI is great and well organized. The feature set is quite extensive for the price. You have virtual routing, which allows you to route an incoming port to1of your attached devices for a particular service. 1example might be to route port 22 to port 22 on your desktop PC and allow ftp to run on that box. Used with dynamic DNS (which allows you to use a free service that constantly 'maps' your router's dynamic external address assigned by your ISP to a web URL of your choosing) you can set up an ftp web site for yourself, available anywhere on the internet at (for example) [...]. Not bad for $65.
I also use this to stream HD content from my desktop to my PS3. I now use wired and can stream 1080p content without a hiccup, however with wireless G, I was able to do 720p well. The use of gigabit LAN ports helps here I think, and this is another feature you will not find on similarly priced routers widely. Gigabit is only useful for devices requiring extra bandwidth, however it certainly helps with media streaming and file shares for example.
Finally, the automated QOS (Quality of Service) is just the best I have seen. I use lots of bandwidth-hog applications, and no matter how heavy the traffic, I can still browse the web or make a VOIP phone call comfortably. And this is with default settings. I could add rules for certain devices, however I have not yet had the need to.
There are1or2caveats. Those looking to this as a cheap NAS (Network Attached Storage) or print server solution will be disappointed to learn that this is only designed to give NAS/printer access to1user on the LAN at a time, and each user has to load a software client to use the device at all. Also, this feature is reported to have problems at the firmware level I run. I simply do not use it. I am not tempted to run higher levels of the firmware after reading instability reports on 1.3xNA firmware. Common complaints are having to reboot the router daily/weekly/monthly. Using 1.21NA, I only reboot when I change a setting or my internet goes down.
Please note that this is not a dual band router. It works on the 2.4Ghz bandwidth only. Dual band routers can assign wireless traffic to either band, making your total throughput better. I have no 'real world' experience of this, however do not use wireless that heavily, so it doesn't overly concern me. If you have lots of devices using 2.4 Ghz (wireless phones/mice/keyboards, bluetooth etc.) this may be a feature you would benefit from.
For anyone out there looking for a 'best bang for the buck' router, I would endorse this one. However, I would advise caution with firmware updates. If you want stability guaranteed, remain with 1.21NA and join the forum to keep an eye on the stability of the latest build. Note that once you update to 1.3xNA, any downgrade to 1.2x or lower is unsupported (though it is possible). Only do this to use the USB port or other advanced features designed to work better on those firmwares.
It seems that 1.34NA is performing well, so it may well be worth testing out if your device comes installed with 1.3xNA firmware already. If you need to upgrade, read the upgrade instructions thoroughly, backup your configuration (via the web GUI), reset the router to default settings, perform the upgrade then restore your configuration from the backup. This has been seen time and time again to avoid upgrade issues. In many cases, I endorse screen-capping your settings and changing them manually after the upgrade.
Hope my review helps you make your decision. |
Rating: 1 (out of 5)
Summary: Waste of money
Comments: I have used a D-Ling router for years and decided to upgrade to this "N" router. After 10+ hours on their support line speaking with about 6 different techs I was finally told it was a defective router and it should be returned for a replacement. I recieved the same router back. It still did not work. I am familiar with setting up wireless routers. I contacted the D-Link a second time however did not get a response. This router was a waste of money. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Reliable product
Comments: This has been the almost all reliable wireless router I ever had. It has been working for several months without reboot. I had other brands that need reboot between a couple of days to a couple of weeks. |
