Customer Reviews

D-Link DI-804 Broadband Gateway with 4-Port Switch

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I used to use Windows 98 ICS to share internet connection using a 56K Modem. Now that I have the D-Link DI-804 connected to my business LAN, surfing the internet in my business LAN with DSL was made possible. And I no longer have to use windows 98 ICS. I was even successful to hook two of our old PC's running on win 95 browse the web using one single DSL connection. DI-804 built in DHCP, needs absolutely no configuration. It automatically assinged IP addresses to my client PC's running on Windows95 and 98. Talk about security, the DI-804 provides safety and security from external hack attemts. It acts as a natural firewall.

Think about this... a safe and secure port blocking device, DHCP, firewall, NAT, 4 n-way 10Base-T/100Base-TX Fast Ethernet LAN ports, 10Base-T WAN port, multiple machine/OS compatible . It has everything you'll need to setup your small business/home LAN, worry free!

This router has the same problem as the SMC 7004ABR. When used in conjunction with older Motorola cable modems and @Home, it has serious lag for each tcp connection. For example, a web page with 30 images (no matter what size) will take almost a minute to load. The solution: get an SMC 7004BR (not ABR) or 7008BR. In other modem/isp situations it is probably just fine.

Also, someone else posted about only being able to map certain well-known ports through the firewall (FTP, HTTP, etc.), with no capability to do it by port number. The solution is to use the optional Telnet interface, which allows mapping by port number.

Once I recieved this in the mail, I was excited to try it out, but didn't think it would be so easy. You usually get a computer related product and you will have to shut down your computer, open it up, install drivers when you boot back up, etc. etc. The DI-804 was Super Quick and Easy to install. All i had to do was write down what my network settings are now, and change them to detect IP Automatically, (2 minutes), plug in each computer Physically with Ethernet cables, (2 minutes) and turn the power on to the router and reboot the computers, (4 minutes). When the computers came to, I was able to access the Internet from both computers right away. Then i went to go test the firewall, and my network is in Stealth Mode now. This product is unbelieveable easy to set-up (follow instructions) and works like a charm. I highly recommend this to anyone, who wants to share their blazing cable modem access and isn't exactly a network professional.

After considerable frustration, I finally found the solution to an elementary setup problem. The symptom: connection to WAN light on; no connectivity to the cable modem AND Device Status also reported no connection. The solution: press the recessed Factory Reset button on the back of the router. The result: immediate connectivity through to my ISP and the Internet. Furthermore, none of my router settings seemed to change (e.g., my password was intact). Raises the question of what "factory reset" really means. Can't seem to find it in the documentation. The lesson: it's just the usual poor documentation. You'll get it installed eventually, but it will probably go faster if you can recruit a consultant who's done it before.

I had this thing set up and running in under 15 minutes. I was using dialup on one machine at a time before and now I've got my Win95/98/2000 machines up and running on my SBC DSL using PPOE (people with static ip, DDNS, DHCP, and cable modems will find the point and click configuration options easy to use also). The manual and quick install guide was better than I expected. Overall, a very nicely designed package with a lot of great features at a very competitive price.

Installing the DI-804 is very simple and straightforward, even for those with little technical knowledge.

For the more technically minded, if you've been put off by the comments that you can't customize the access ports, don't worry! You can, but only through the console interface, not through the web interface. If you telnet to the DI-804 from your "intranet", you can configure specific port mappings, mapping inbound traffic on a specific port to any port on any of the internal IP addresses.

This isn't documented in the (thin) manual supplied, but it's fairly clear and straightforward when you are logged in to the console.

Highly recommended.

Bought this router about a week ago. Very easy to setup!. The router did not degrad my DSL connection. I still average 1150KBPS from Pacbell DSL. The router has a uplink port so that you can add additional switchs. The WAN speed is 10MBPS unlike older Hawking Routers which are rated at 1MBPS and actualy don't achive that rating. This router is very simple to configure. I highly recommend the DI-804!, It's easy to flash the firmware when new versions are available. You can't beat the price!. It also features a Intruder Log usful to catch attempted Hacks.

To the best of my ability to discern, the DI-804 is an inferior product. I strongly recommend against buying it. I tried to get the router to work with a DSL connection for 2-months before finally giving up. The router works for a couple of days and then quits. Turning the unit off and on worked for a while, but it has completely died now.

Even if the product did work, I would still recommend against it. The documentation is horrendous, both the printed and web versions. Many basic features of the product are not discussed at all. Finally, the telephone support was useless. After being placed on hold for 30 minutes, I was dropped into voicemail. Not suprisingly, my message was not returned.

The DI-804 installed ok. However, the set-up wizard did not work as well as it should for cloning a MAC address like my ISP requires.

The DI-804 worked to get my home network up and runnning. However, it failed to be able to maintain connections with my PC during any length of time spent using the internet. After some use, it would just drop the connection with my PCs.

I tried to contact D-Link via email. They were not responsive, just sending out a note to upgrade the firmware. I did that and it didn't help. I sent back a reply that it was still not working. They did not reply.

I am returning the product to Amazon and taking the hit on the shipping charges. Ten dollars and 10 hours of wasted time.

This router was very easy to set up and configuration was a breeze. You just plug in your home network and you're good to go. One thing I didn't like about this unit was the fact that the switch on the back (which determines whether the router will act as a switch and a router or just a router) was set to disable the switch function by default. But that's only about a two second delay in setup :)

Configuration can be through your web browser but the unit is also accessible through telnet. NAT, DHCP, DMZ, and an integrated switch and firewall make this unit a steal for this price [...], so pick one up today!