Customer Reviews

D-Link DI-824VUP Wireless Cable/DSL Router VPN, USB/Parallel Print Server 802.11g

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The DI-824VUP is a very impressive device for the price, offering wireless routing for DSL, cable, and even dial up (through the integrated serial port) connections. The built in print server worked well with a HP 1100d Business Inkjet and a HP 895 printer using the built-in parallel port (USB functionality not tested). The wireless 802.11b/g offers various power levels up to 100mW, offering signal strength that rivals that of the Cisco 350 series wireless access points. The built in 4 port 10/100 switch worked without problem. The integrated DHCP server has the capability of always issuing the same IP address to a particular MAC address, which is necessary when using the virtual server settings of the DI-824VUP.

Had it not been for a couple bugs and/or limitations, I would have rated the device at 5+ stars. Problems and limitations experienced include the following:
* Attached printers eject a page with a single character at the top left every time the DI-824VUP restarts.
* The DI-824VUP must restart after making nearly any change to its configuration.
* The VPN functionality does not support X.509 certificates, preventing it from being used for corporate VPN connectivity.
* The VPN (IPSEC) pass-through does not work correctly - this feature must be disabled and a special application created on the DI-824VUP to allow UDP port 500 and 4500 packets to pass through, or a virtual server set up to forward those packets to a specific internal IP address, so that VPN client software on a computer can communicate through the DI-824VUP.
* The automatic modem backup occasionally did not dial out automatically (tested with a Zoom 56k external modem).
* The print server software did not recognize that I changed the subnet of the DI-824VUP (prior to the print server software install), requiring me to manually enter the correct IP address of the DI-824VUP on the client computer.
* The DI-824VUP worked as expected when the WAN port was directly connected to the corporate LAN (HP 4108GL gigabit), but would not allow traffic to pass through from a Speedstream 5100b DSL modem when connected in the same way. After setting the Speedstream modem to act as a bridge, and entering the PPPoE user name and password into the DI-824VUP, the DSL connection became available to devices attached to the DI-824VUP.

Nearly all limitations can be addressed using various combinations of the setting available from the web interface. For the cost, there are few devices on the market that offer similar capabilities.

The wireless connection has good range in my home. I bought this for the print server. It works well with either my HP PSC 1350 all in one, or my Hp Deskjet 970Cse. I will use this with a laptop so that I can print without docking the laptop.

The only thing that tripped me up was configuring the Windows XP printer port setting. After installing the DLink print server software, the IP address for the printer server port setting automatically defaulted to the correct value, but would not actually work until I typed the value into the field.

Other than that, very good.

I bought this router after a couple of frustrating years with an SMC 7004AWBR. I wanted to begin upgrading my network to the 802.11G standard, and I liked this router with its built in printer ports. Since I still have a HP 672C parallel printer, this router fit my needs.

The range is excellent. I get great signal strength in all rooms of my house. The feature set is too rich for most of what normal people will use. Maybe someday I'll dabble with the VPN server.

Printing with my machines (XP, 2000 Pro, Fedora) was seamless. I haven't had any trouble printing in color, BW, high qual or draft.

The only reason I gave this unit a 4, is the security setup. I have MAC filtering enabled for my network. After cloning each MAC addesss to the filter list, the router reboots, losing the rest of the DHCP addresses attached to it. It just adds a little more time to the setup. It'd also be nice to see any failed wireless associations what are attempting to connect, but I don't think there's a router that does show those.

These small router/firewalls have become a real commodity lately. This unit has two features that separate it from the rest. The first feature is the print server, which works flawlessly for me. I have an old laser printer centrally located next to this router in my house, and all of my computers print to this. It's a good feature.

The second neat feature that this unit supports is built-in VPN functionality. Before I purchased this unit I had my old router configured to allow VPN pass-through to an old Windows 2000 computer in my house that was hosting VPN. I wanted to get rid of that old computer, so I purchased this.

Unfortunately, this VPN functionality has one flaw - computers that attach to the VPN (at least the PPTP server) are assigned to a separate subnet than the LAN that they are connecting to. This means that you have to use the "Use default gateway on remote network" setting, which in turn means no split tunneling. In other words, all of your traffic has to route through the VPN when connected. The only way around this is with a explicit "route add" command, which becomes a hassle. Granted, the VPN is still useable, but I use it less than I would because of this limitation. Other than this VPN problem, this is a good unit.

At first set-up I was real dissapointed... Drop-out was awful, distance was a joke, and the DHCP server kept changing the IP's on me (I guess it's supposed to, but my LinkSys always reassigned the same IP if it was available). The only thing good about it was the control panel, which was very intuitive for setting up my encryption and other security settings. One day I was working on a project and got real fruistrated so I unplugged it and plugged back in my old 802.11b Lynksys just to save time and sanity, and then it sat for a while.
I realized one day that there are 3 access points within my building and maybe I needed to change my channel setting... HELLO!>!>! Way better (duh). This thing is great. Very reliable, decent distance (I have thick walls) and since I set up my static IPs it has been flawless.

I had an intermittment problem where the print server would lock up. I would need to power cycle the router to fix this. Spoke with tech support last night and they had me download the firmware from the D-Link website and reinstall,even though its the same version as what was shipped. Did not work. I then had D-Link exchange my unit. Major hassle to do the exchange. Still have interimitent problem with print server locking up which requires reboot of router. Wireless connection also freezes up from time to time. Overall,not reliable.

I bought this router to use with a dialup connection. The support staff at verizon told me you can not hook up a router with dialup service it has to be DSL. So with a little i'll show you attitude, i purchased this router to prove them wrong. The router has performed flawlessly it was even working with three computer accessing the internet while i was on the phone with verizon cleaning up some settings on a fourth computer. So don't listen to the "experts" at the phone company and go for it. I will be purchasing more d-link equipment for all my networking needs.

I've had this unit working flawlessly for the last 4 months at a client's site. It fulfilled the need of having a combined WAP and VPN Endpoint which was hard to find at the time. My major gripe was the lack of setting MAC security for wifi clients only. When enabled, it effects both WIFI and LAN clients no either or capability. Outside of that minor issue, it was a good purchase.

I ordered this unit because of the VPN pass-through capability, which was important because both my partner and I connect to different company intranets. I've had several problems with this unit which keep me from recommending the DI-824VUP.

First, I had to send the original unit back as it was defective. I spent a couple hours on the phone with D-Link tech support (who were helpful but required many minutes long sitting in call queues). They also have a semi-complicated RMA procedure, and I had to foot the bill for the equipment return.

I received the replacement and, thankfully, it was operable and set up easily. I have found, however, that even after flashing the firmware, it is slow to reestablish connections once I've enabled WEP. It also requires system reset and re-setup of WEP encryption if I've unplugged my D-Link DWL-120+ Wireless USB Adapter, or if I'm trying to get another wireless user on the network.

I've had my latest slew of problems after adding an Adaptec USB 2.0/Firewire upgrade card. Twice I've had to reset the DI-824VUP to reestablish connection.

For a month or so, after I flashed the firmware and before I upgraded my USB, I had a good run going where I didn't have to reset the router. That's why I gave the unit 2 stars instead of 1. I'm being generous. Upgrading to USB 2.0 has introduced enough change that the thing does not want to get it going.

If you're shopping for a unit I'd keep looking...

Easy to setup never had problem with this router. wireless range is perfect... LAN works very well and printer setup is very easy