Rating: Summary: SuperFast Speeds! for 802.11b Review: I was amazed to find out that my 802.11b network can go 8.6 Mbps when I test throughput ratings with Qcheck. Normal 802.11b, not 802.11b+ like some D-Link products are, can only go 5.5 Mbps max so I am getting those extra 3Mbps for the same price, actually even cheaper than other 802.11b stuff. I am excited and enjoy the fact that I am faster than others without paying more.The range of this router/Access point isn't what I expected either. I can get a signal in 3 rooms down the hall from my "office" and still be able to get a good 2Mbps throughput, and since my DSL is only 1.5Mbps down I am still faster than my Internet connection, thus noticing no difference in surf speed. I like everything about this thing. 256 WEP is a nice thing to have along with your blazing 802.11b+ speeds. I also have the easy capability to open certain ports in the firewall so I can play games securely. I like playing games and so do other family members so this was an important issue when picking out a router.
Rating: Summary: very short range Review: I bought this sh.. four days ago. Tried to make it work at home, but looks like it has a very short reception range. I had my server on the first floor and tried my second PC to add to the network and nothing worked ( I installed dlink wireless adapter). The distance is about 40-50 feet max. Bad, bad product - a lot of frustration :(
Rating: Summary: Cheap, Feature rich, and easy to use. Review: With a price tag of about half of one hundred bucks plus rebate this router/wireless access point is well worth buying. You might pay the same price for either a router OR an access point. With this you get both, plus a firewall and medium level parental controls. As far as setting it up goes, this was rather painless. I've needed help before from my more technically inclined friends, but this comes with actually hepful instructions and is fairly straight forward. It took me a while to figure out certain terms, but then realized what they ment after a while. I've configured this and my laptop to work wirelessly with 256-bit WEP encryption and I've been running just fine since then. I have signal in almost every room in my home, but my garage is too far away from the office, so that doesn't get a solid conenction. I might buy a repeater to help extend the range.
Rating: Summary: Great Product, Lousy documentation Review: I just configured this router yesterday. I was up and running in minutes. This is a full featured router complete with a DHCP and a built-in firewall to protect your local network from being probed or attacked from outside. All features of the router are easily accessbile via a web browser (IE) with more advanced options then I can list here. HOWEVER, my one gripe with this product is the very poor documentation that ships with the box. It only provides info for the "quick setup" with no added documentation on any of the advanced features or recommended security settings. What does this mean? It means that out of the box with defaults, you are opening up and sharing your 'private' local network for your neighbors or anyone who gets close enough to your home to detect the access point with a standard 802.11b/g card. Got shared folders? They're visible. It's easy enough to secure the wireless network (change the SSID, don't broadcast the SSID and implement WEP with a mandatory encryption key) yet there is no d-link documentation that tells you this. Same for the firewall - unless you're a network admin (and I am), you wouldn't know that you have to open ports in the firewall to make some internet savy programs & hardware work correctly (think webcams, netmeeting, online games, etc). Bottom Line: I love this product. It works great. But it really needs more comprehensive documentation then a quick setup guide, especially for the network newbie.
Rating: Summary: Needs more power/range. Doesn't work w/ 2.4 GHz phones. Review: It looks good, is fairly small, and was a breeze to set up. At first, when the computer was in the same room as the router, it was great. Super fast. When I moved the computer to the basement, it still worked fine at first. The basement is two floors down, but directly underneath the router. So the actual distance was only 20 feet at the most. The next day I couldn't get a signal at all. I tried rebooting the router and the computer. No luck. It would pick up a signal for about five seconds and then drop it. Then I disconnected/unplugged the 2.4GHz cordless that was on the same desk as the router. Voila! I got a signal with the link quality at 99%, and the signal strength at 70%. However, apparently that is not nearly as good as a 33.6k modem, as it took both Yahoo! and espn.com about 4-5 minutes to load up. Each. So, I took the router and NIC back. What was the point of that? I think that this router does exactly what it is billed to do. I also think that it would work great if it only had to go through one wall or floor. Two was too much. The equipment worked perfectly fine. My problem was that the technology just isn't good enough yet. At least, not without an external antenna. I'm waiting for the prices to drop on the 802.11g stuff.
Rating: Summary: Good at short distances; firmware issues Review: Hoping to avoid compatability issues between multiple manufacturers, I purchased an all Dlink system - DI-614+ router, 2 DWL-650+ PC cards and a DWL-120+ USB adapter for a desktop. This was supposed to replace an older Intel Anypoint 1.6 Mb/sec system, which I thought were to slow and cumbersome, as it requires 1 PC to act as a router, meaning that it has to stay up all the time. Tried the new combination and after 1.5 days of wasting my time, I am now back to my old one. The system has several major problems: 1. Router's DHCP kept issuing duplicate IP addresses to multile clients. rebooting/releasing the addresses on the clients did not seem to help. 2. Performance was good only within the same room. Moving a laptop about 40-50 feet away caused the throughput to drop significantly (1 MPS rate) and, at about 50 feet, no data could get thru. In my kids room, 1 floor above, approximately 25 feet away, the old Intel cards could get ~30K BPs (30K bytes/sec). Dlink, despite 15X theretical speed improvement, at best got about 50K, and, as I moved the laptop just a few feet, I could not connect at all. 3. AirPlus utility showing Signal Strength and Link Quality is pretty much useless. This may be related to the previous issue, but at 98% link quality and 70% signal strength, the system would no longer work. One would expect that 98% and 70% should be good enough to work. 4. After rebooting the router, the PC with the USB card (also rebooted after the router was bounced) began to drop connection and reconnect every few seconds, rendering it useless. Seems like yet another firmware problem,. Tried new firmware - no help. 5. Tech support took 1 hour to get thru; was not of much help, other than say that the router is 'defective' and I should get it exchanged. I find this ('defective unit') highly doubtfull, as it operates perfectely fine within the same room, and the DHCP problem sounds like a firmware problem, which means that changing the unit would not do much good. The bottom line is that the system does not seem to work beyond about 10-20 feet, or accross more than 1 wall/ceiling. At these distances, I am better of with a wired system. For obvious reasons, the whole package went back to the store.
Rating: Summary: Plugged it in and it started working........Perfect! Review: First, I want to thank everyone who wrote reviews for all of the wireless broadband router's I was looking into. I was dead set to get the realy swoopy looking Linksys, but after reading the reviews, calling the D-Link Customer Support for a few dummy first timer questions, I went with what seemed to be the popular favorite--the D-Link Air Plus DI-614+. This is my very first DSL and Wireless experience. I have never hooked-up a system before. Now being the type just like all of you that was looking for price...Waiting for my DSL Modem to arrive from Earthlink, I bought the unit, and was sort of puzzled by the lack of information or minor directions, until I found the entire works of it on the CD in pdf form. I never once got around to reading any of it, mostly spending my time routing an ethernet cable to and from the modem to a HP Pavilion Desktop in one of the bedrooms. It would end up that I would never have to! For my computer, I just recently bought a HP ze5375us with wireless modem, so the lack of wiring was going to be welcomed. After hooking up the Netopia DSL modem, I went and utilized the notebook to get it all working while attached to an ethernet cable. When finished, I plugged the desktop in through the router, and after some minor network assistance from Earthlink, it too was up and running. But then it was time for the big test! Hooking-up the D-Link Air Plus DI-614+ could have been done blind. I rebooted my notebook, and went into Network connections and clicked on the Wireless Aerial Network, it immedietely prompted that it had an excellent signal; I clicked on Internet Explorer and in a flash my home page opened up! Amazing! While I have yet to have to deal with their customer service, other then call them when I was considering buying it, just to ask a few dummy questions, they were stern, but helpful. Definitely NO PROBLEM! I have run into much worse talking to others. I'm going to give it 5 star right now, but will report back if needed. So far, it seems to be the most effortless perephial I have ever bought. That alone has to stand for something! August 6, 2003-The unit is working better then ever. Never had it reboot or shut down as mentioned in other reviews. Congrats D Link! Your product is 5 stars in my book! I would recommend it to anyone, especially beginners in the wonderful world of WIFI. September 1, 2003-The unit has yet to lock or crash as previously reviewed by others. This unit has been plugged-in and working as specified since the day I installed it!
Rating: Summary: Easy to setup, use - compatible w/ Centrino Review: I have tried two wireless routers to date with my IBM Thinkpad w/ Centrino wireless. My first, the Linksys BEFW11S4, never sustained a connection for longer than 30 seconds before dropping the connection, then re-establishing, then dropping, etc. Impossible to download large files, get booted off IM constantly, and took forever for simple websites to open. Linksys technical support tried to dump me off to IBM technical support, but I just didn't buy it, considering my wireless connections have been fine elsewhere. I have also seen many websites offering this suggestion and that, tweaking the connection software, upgrading firmware, blah blah blah, but honestly, how hard does it have to be to get my wireless network up and running. The D-Link DI-614+ has since worked like a charm. Easy to setup. No dropped connections. Seems like it works fine with my Centrino.
Rating: Summary: So far it has been reliable after firmware upgrade Review: So far it has been reliable after firmware upgrade. This used to perform somewhat scepticle as far as a solid internet connection. then I remembered that you should upgrade firware ever so often and found that the firmware that came with the unit was waaaaaay behind what is released now. heck there is even a new hardware version of this router with only one antenna that is supposed to be better. either way I downloaded the latest firmware and everything has been solid for the past month or so. i am happy with my d-link router and appreciate the upgrades they provide.
Rating: Summary: Don't buy this piece of junk Review: I got this device 3 month ago. First, I set it up very easy. Boom, it's up and running. However, one month later, it died suddenly. Simply just dead. No signal, no web interface, just silent (my hardware vsersion is A2). So I spent 1 hour with their tech support and managed to sent this thing back to dlink. During my waiting time, i got another one of this. And this new one doesn't work at all out of box. The m2 defective light is always on. I was angery and just returned it. This one is version B1 (with only one antenna). Couple days later, I got another one from dlink service center as a replacement of my first one. This one lasts only 2 days. Now it's dead again. The m2 defective light is solid on. I have to fight with their tech support again... I've never run into a product like this. Don't waste your time with this junk. Go get a linksys. They produce much more decent products.
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