Rating: Summary: Do Not Be Fooled By These Reviews Review: I purchased this product, as well as the DWL-G520 PCI Adapter, in part because of the positive reviews I found on Amazon.com. After using the product and returning it after four days, I am very suspicious about the validity of these reviews.I installed and reinstalled and reinstalled the router and the PCI Adapter, downloaded patches from the internet and checked and rechecked the router's configuration. Virtually every time I tried to access the internet over the wireless network my connection was either dropped or my computer froze. The directions that came with both products provided very little information, the DLink website was equally uninformative, and after reading the comments on this site about DLink's customer service line, I didn't even try to call. After four days, I gave up and returned both products and purchased the Microsoft MN700 base station and the MN730 PCI adapter. I had both products installed and running perfectly within 15 minutes. Do yourself a favor and buy a different product. You'll save yourself a lot of frustration.
Rating: Summary: Pay a Few More Dollars for a Better Design and Support Review: Full Disclosure: I have just decided to buy a Linksys unit after hours on hold/talking with D-Link tech support who couldn't solve an apparently simple WEP setup problem. On the other hand, I have owned several wireles router products, and have been setting up Windows networks for 7 years. The Good: * Well priced * Units reasonably good looking * If all you want to do is set up a simple, non-secure wireless connection, D-Link works just fine. The Bad: * Confusing setup screens make secure wireless connections difficult to set up (since security is now required, weight this difficulty heavily). * Poor manuals and web site resources make configuration and troubleshooting difficult. * Poor technical support. They do offer phone support, but the techs seem as clueless as most beginner customers. * Upgrading your unit is made more difficult by D-Link's practise of making multiple, near-identical units with subtle but critical differences between them. So you have to look at pictures on their site to figure out which model you really have. The Ugly: * D-Link's level 2 tech support finally said that they can't help when users don't use D-Link products on *BOTH* sides of a wireless connection. So, if you have built-in wireless capabilities in your Dell, IBM, Apple, ....., laptop, might want to buy another router. Bottom line - buy something else.
Rating: Summary: Revision A and B are fine, They work the same. Review: My neighbor has a B revision of this router with two antennas and it works just as good as my RevC. The difference is that the B has two antennas, a not as fast processer, and a little different hardware construction. Overall they work the same. Although only rev C has the upgrade to 108Mbps, rev B will get one soon. Rev A wont get one because it uses a different chipset for wireless operation. But Rev A was made very early in production, before the 802.11g protocal was even ratified completely. Rev A was an early adoptor router. Overall this router works great. try and get a Rev C obviously, but if you get a Rev B don't worry, it will work. Rev A shouldn't even be out there anymore. And don't believe everything you read here on amazon when customers write it. Do the research yourself and find out the truth. www.dlink.com has a lot of useful info on their products.
Rating: Summary: This product is defective. Review: The revision A and B of this product is defective; revision A/B has two antennas, this revision cannot be updated to the latest firmware and has physical defects which make it operate at sub-par performance, not even a fourth of what was advertised. This is a fact and can be found on d-link's website. If you buy this, dont be sucked in by the revision A/B's two antennas, and larger packaging. Get the revision C which has one antenna, and smaller packaging. I am a victim of this trap.
Rating: Summary: Configured and Running in "No Time" Review: With the easy to use setup wizard that takes you through setup step by step I don't see how it could have been any easier. You setup a new password and wireless settings so everything isn't default, then you select what type of Internet connection you have (ADSL, Cable, or other). I chose PPPoE because I have an ADSL connection, then I entered my username and password and when I applied the changes the router rebooted and it took about 30 seconds and suddenly I was connected to the Internet. About a week later though my connection was lost and when I called Verizon about it they suggested I reboot the DSL modem and again the router agusted itself to connect without any trouble or configuration by myself. I am very pleased with this router and it's capabilities.
Rating: Summary: Extremely pleased Review: I replaced my LinkSys wired cable router with this wireless-g router. I can't believe how easy it was. I am thrilled that we can use our laptop two floors down from where the router is located on the top floor of our three-story house. Everything just worked. What really blows me away however is that this router requires no additional setup to play Asheron's Call on multiple machines, unlike the LinkSys router which required advanced forwarding options and was very arcane to setup. I was amazed that none of the special setup I had learned to do on the Linksys router was necessary at all. I am really thrilled by this product!
Rating: Summary: Try Something Else Review: The router starts rebooting over and over after I initiate a file transfer between two PCs over my network. It works great if you don't plan to transfer files over the network (which defeats the purpose of a home network). Upgrading the firmware to the latest version 1.25 did not help and neither did my two calls to their tech support.
Rating: Summary: Tough to configure with DSL - long wait for tech support Review: I purchased this with a Dlink G650 to use with my Verizon ADSL service. The install application is fairly simple, but, when finishing up the install it would not assign an IP address. The wireless connected fine but what good is it if it can't access through the DSL modem. When I tried calling Dlink I waited over half an hour and gave up. I tried calling Verizon who said they could only help me if I had a Linksys :-(.. So I've been trying to call Dlink support without success in getting through.
Rating: Summary: Great Solid Router Review: If you are getting bad range try changing the channel you use. I was getting bad range in my home and I was getting very frustrated and finally found that someone suggested changing the channel from the default channel 6 to 1 or 11. So I changed to channel 11 and now I get much better range and my signal strength is way better. I guess there was some interference from something. Plus the new firmware does help with speed. Everyone who already has this router should go out and get that new firmware. This works best with my DWL-G650 adapter for the laptop. Very easy to setup since it practically connects to each other out of the box.
Rating: Summary: From a knowledgeable consumer Review: I'm a systems administrator and have years of experience working with networking equipment, and this is one of the best, if not the best product in it's category. I have always been happy with D-Link products but I was a bit skeptical with this one because of the mixed reviews. I took a chance and I definitely was surprised, as this product is even better than any of the other previous D-Link products I have used. Where can I begin...first of all make sure you get rev. C, not A or B. I have a lot of networking knowledge, but most people who would consider this product could at least have an internet connection with it in a few minutes. Despite it's simple easy to use setup interface, the features are unmatched in any product in it's class. D-Link is always good about releasing significant firmware updates and this prodcut is no exception. Everything you read in reviews about this product, that users complain about, has been fixed with future firmware revisions. For example, they added MAC reservations, they added an option for 802.11G only mode, they now have 108Mb/s support (although you need their network card for this). etc. I can't go into detail in this space about the excellent features, but let me say that I have a very sophisticated home network and this is the only home router that does the job for me. Multiple VPN connections, using PTP or IPSEC work great on this thing, WITHOUT turning off the firewall (read the fineprint with other products). The product does port redirection not just port forwarding (again look at similar products). This product is also very useful if you are looking for a product that can help limit what your kids can do. More features for restricting Internet Access than any home router I have seen. Oh, and range is excellent I get 54Mb/s anywhere in my 3 bedroom house, and I get good signal strength all the way out to our street (and beyond) at about 5.5Mb/s. Mixed 802.11b and 802.11g clients also work very well, contrary to what some others have said. Anyway, I have had no problems with this product whatsoever, and it's one of the best pieces of networking equipment I have ever used.
|