D-link routers? any good? also, do i need an ADSL one?

spiers69

hey everyone,

im looking at getting a standard wired router (not wireless). Currently im looking at D-Link ones, does any one know if they're any good?



im currently receiving the interent through an ethernet cable, so will "ADSL routers" work for me? Also, i dont want a firewall that's going to prevent me from using certain sites (such as eBay/hotmail). I found i had this problem with a Netgear router.



can anyone give me any advice?

what are you all using (if you've got a wired one)?



thanks all

lundy

Quote:

Originally posted by spiers69

hey everyone,

im looking at getting a standard wired router (not wireless). Currently im looking at D-Link ones, does any one know if they're any good?

Heard they were fine. I use Netgear myself, just installed a new one yesterday.

Quote:

im currently receiving the interent through an ethernet cable, so will "ADSL routers" work for me?



A router is a router; will work fine with cable or DSL. However, if the product you are talking about is a COMBINED DSL modem/Router, then obviously that won't work if you have Cable. I generally don't recommend getting a combined product, as you need to update the router as speeds get faster but the modem is fine.

Quote:

Also, i dont want a firewall that's going to prevent me from using certain sites (such as eBay/hotmail). I found i had this problem with a Netgear router.



That's not a Netgear problem - something was configured in the router to block those sites. It doesn't come that way from the factory.

Quote:

can anyone give me any advice?

what are you all using (if you've got a wired one)?



thanks all



The new RP614 rev 3 should be fine, but the wireless routers all also have 4 wired ports and only cost $40, so if you have even 1 thing that could use the wireless (like a TiVo), then it's handy to have.

spiers69

thanks for all that, i'll have a look into it.

gon

I got three broken D-Link wireless routers in a row, broken in two different ways.



The tech support seemed generally pleasant folks but the picture their words and procedures painted of D-Link was not very good. Upon hearing that my router freezes and requires manual hard reset everytime I try to set up encryption, they suggested I would not setup any. Upon hearing that I was making the setup on Firefox on Mac, they suggested I try IE on a Windows machine I happened to have around, because despite the box saying "Windows/Mac/Linux, IE/Netscape" they were only sure of IE 6.0+ working. Et cetera.



Not saying that D-Links do not work in general, or do not work with any standard browser - I believe they probably do. But the general attitude I met there, coupled with three successive broken routers, was certainly enough that I'll go to great lengths to avoid D-Link products.



Indeed it sounds strange that any router would block ebay unless explicitly configured to do so.

smalm

I have a DI-624+ running for a year now and absolutely no problems.

I use it for both my Mac and my IBM T40 notebook (WIN2K) with WLAN only.

mac the fork

I have a DI-604. It is overwhelmed by large numbers of connections. When this happens, it will refuse to make any new connections for a few minutes. This only occurs when running eMule. Pragmatically, it's a good thing, since P2P is usually a waste of time for me, but it's something you'd probably want to be aware of.



Two of my friends also have D-Link routers. One has an earlier revision of the DI-604, which occasionally has the same problems mine has. His DI-604 was a replacement for another D-Link model (not sure which) that gradually became totally inoperative. Another has a DI-704, which also acts up for other reasons. I didn't have any problems with a DI-704P I used at work, though.



It's a mixed bag, in my experience.

spiers69

i've looked thru my Netgear settings over and over. It shouldn't be blocking ANYTHING. I've turned off every security feature it has.



But when i try to search for eBay, the browser just keeps seeming to load the page, but then eventually gives in saying something about the server being busy.





talking to you seems to have turned me off D-Link, so what do you all recommend (remembering i just wont a standard wired router - nothing fancy)?



thanks

a_greer

My d-link is great, with one exeption, the crashes...the router crashes and needs a reboot about 2 times per month. Not a real problem if you power cycle your rig 2 times a month, this will not be a problem...PS i think i have a dirty power issue, but I am too cheap to grab a UPS

lundy

Quote:

Originally posted by spiers69

[B]i've looked thru my Netgear settings over and over. It shouldn't be blocking ANYTHING. I've turned off every security feature it has.

Did you just reset it to factory? Either thru the browser interface or by pushing the reset button on the back?

Quote:

But when i try to search for eBay, the browser just keeps seeming to load the page, but then eventually gives in saying something about the server being busy.

Could you give more detail? What do you mean "search for eBay"?

slughead

I've serviced, configured, and recommended at least 20 d-link products to my customers.. never had a single problem, especially with wireless!

gon

Quote:

Originally posted by smalM

I have a DI-624+ running for a year now and absolutely no problems.

These are the ones that I got three broken ones of.



It was probably a freak accident, but the attitudes/policies of the company are never an accident, and *that* is what'll keep me from buying D-Link.



A friend just got a D-Link router (dunno the model number, but supposed to be twice as fast than 802.11g) and it's working fine.

towel

I've used several wireless D-Link routers, at home, at work, and at relatives' homes, over the last five years, and have had no problems. I think the tally is three 624s, two 614s, and a range extender. They work reliably, setup is easy enough, advanced settings are all there, and the ones at relatives' homes have never needed maintenance beyond the inevitable once-a-year power cycle. I've been real happy with them.



Routers are almost, but not quite, commodities now. Probably any brand will work fine for you. Some do have their idiosyncracies, though, like how Netgear didn't play nice with AOL for a few years. If any particular application is critical to you, check out the boards at broadbandreports.com, or amazon.com customer reviews, to see if anyone's experienced issues with that application with a particular brand.

spiers69

Quote:

Originally posted by Towel

the ones at relatives' homes have never needed maintenance beyond the inevitable once-a-year power cycle. I've been real happy with them.

what's this power cycle you speak of?

You simply mean resetting it?

spiers69

Quote:

Originally posted by lundy

Did you just reset it to factory? Either thru the browser interface or by pushing the reset button on the back?



Could you give more detail? What do you mean "search for eBay"?

ok. i've now tried resetting it by pushing the little button at the back. Nothing has changed.



When i got to ebay.com.au the page loads fine. But if i type anything into the Search field it will act normal Safari will appear to be loading the page... but nothing happens. After about 5 mins a message will come back saying



Safari can?t open the page ?http://www.ebay.com.au/search=ipod/?. The error was: ?lost network connection? (NSURLErrorDomain:-1005) Please choose Report Bug to Apple from the Safari menu, note the error number, and describe what you did before you saw this message."



i've reported it to apple, but as i believe the router is at fault i don't see what good it'll do me

sunilraman

Quote:

Originally posted by spiers69

what's this power cycle you speak of?

You simply mean resetting it?

heh power cycle is a fancy way of saying, turn the power completely off, count to five, then turn it on, then pray for a few minutes, then see if it works.



my dsl modem/dsl service is so ass crap i "power cycle" it twice a day. one of these days the power cycle procedure will include an irreversible step also known as "dropkicking it out the window".



my wireless Dlink router is okay, but it is power cycled along with the dsl modem so i cant comment too much.



dlink, netgear and linksys, i think very hard to say about how reliable or not these brands are. it is a commodity product, my advice would be go with something you feel confident about or get it from a dealer you trust/ or can easily return/ seek technical help, etc. etc.

sunilraman

Quote:

Originally posted by Towel

.... Netgear.....

yeah i must comment that from sep2003 to july2004 i had a nice Netgear all-in-one dsl modem and wireless router. nice design, worked well enough, once i figured out that my housemate kept not being able to connect because her crappy uni pc laptop kept associating with a base station in the next house not my Netgear downstairs in the living room

spiers69

hmmm... so perhaps i should give D-Link a go...