Customer Reviews

D-Link EBR-2310 Ethernet Broadband Router

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(52)

 

 

I was using a Linksys wired router/switch for a few years. I was constantly losing VPN connection and having to re-connect. I put in VOIP (Vonage) phone and had to restart every 3 hours. I thought I had cable modem problems, network problems, config. problems on router. Finally, I ordered the D-Link EBR-2310 (because it was very inexpensive). I took it out of the box, plugged it in, connected my (4) network cables including a wireless connection. In 6 weeks I have not had a single connection problem. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! - highly recommended.

This router might make a good frisbee, but as a router it is an unspeakable piece of dog doo. Right out of the box, it intermittently dropped Internet connections for minutes at a time. Going through the installation process with the included CD, it informed me that I did "not have the correct router". Silly me. As for tech support, you would be hard-pressed to find support as bad as D-Link's. After navigating a mighty oak of a phone tree and a 20-minute wait, you'll find yourself talking to someone on the other side of the planet who learned English watching Rocky IV. Throw in a connection that sounds like two tin cans and long piece of yarn, and you're in for one frustrating phone call. No, make that many frustrating phone calls because you won't get any useful help on the first several calls, if ever. Some of the expert advice I received after describing my problem included, "Buy a faster cable modem" and "Call your internet provider for help." Uh, thank you? Moving up to a "level 2" technician resulted in a crankier support person who was equally clueless. The stinkiness of this router is only surpassed by its tech support. It'll be a chilly day in H-E-double toothpicks before I ever buy a D-Link product again.

Although the box doesn't say so, this unit does set up and run with the Mac. Just ignore the Setup Wizard on the CD and most of the 66-page manual on the CD. To set up the router, connect the unit to your Mac using the thoughtfully included Ethernet cable, be sure you are NOT connected to the Internet, power up the router and your Mac, [...]. The router will self-configure, asking you to change the password if you so choose. Piece of cake.

If the box had contained just one slip of paper recapitulating the above for non-Windows users, I would have saved considerable time searching for MAC addresses, DNS adressses, and IP addresses that the router actually finds all by itself; and I would have rated it 5 stars.

I'd give this 4 stars but I've deducted 1 star for the bad Mac setup documentation.

GRIPES FIRST:

Right out of the box some of the router ports are covered up telling the user to read the documentation first. If that's so critical, why is this setup poor for Mac users? The set-up wizard on the CD-Rom DOES NOT work for Macs. The CD-Rom sleeve tells Mac (and Linux) users to find the documentation in the bin\docs folder of the CD-Rom. The problem there is there isn't a "docs" folder inside the "bin" folder. But there is a "docs" folder outside the "bin" folder, inside you'll find a PDF manual that's for all platforms, and not just Macs. This PDF manual does not step you through connecting your network. It's more for reference after your network is set up. No special mention of Mac set up is mentioned in the PDF.

So for Mac users, here's a quick guide. The instructions are from the BACKSIDE of the flimsy, 1-sheet Quick Router Set Up Guide. The front side isn't that helpful as it refers to WIRELESS routers and this is a WIRED router. Since there is no mention of WIRED routers on the front side of the Quick Router Set Up Guide, it almost seems like they inserted the wrong guide in the box.

Turn to the BACKSIDE of the Quick Router Set Up Guide and follow my paraphrased steps :

1. Unplug the power from your Modem.

2. Assuming your Mac had been connected directly to the Modem before, unplug the ethernet cable from the back of your Mac and plug that cable to the Blue port labeled "1". This connects your Mac to the Router.

3. Use the ethernet cable supplied in the router box and use it to connect your Modem to the "internet" port of the Router.

4. Plug the power cord into the Modem.

5. Plug the power cord into the Router.

6. Reboot your computer. That's it. If you want to plug additional computers, just plug additional ethernet cables from the router to your other computers (No additional ethernet cables included). You won't need to repeat the previous steps though you will need to reboot your additional computers.

7. If you want to change the default password of your router, open up a web browser and go to http://192.168.0.1 and in the login page, your username is "admin" and your default password is blank (i.e. don't type in anything) and click to log in. On the next page there is a link called "Tools". If you click on that, you can change the Router's password. If you do this, be sure to write it down somewhere.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

- The form of the Router is nice and compact. The AC adaptor is also compact and not a brick plug but one of the narrower ones.

- The setup page (when you go to http://192.168.0.1) is nicer than the ones from Netgear. It's easier to navigate.

- This Router is supposed to have been tested for Xbox 360 connections as well.

- One gripe for Amazon is it listed the D-Link 5 Port SWITCH when I did a search for "router". So I had ordered the switch without thinking instead of this item. I'll need to return the Switch now that I have a real router.

If you are a heavy user and/or have quite a few devices on your network, this router will drop packets. It will look like you are losing internet connectivity for 5-60 seconds occasionally. If you look at the router's log, it says it is dropping packets when the load gets heavy. This is a known problem with this product, and they have not done anything to fix it in year. AVOID. Mine is going to the recycle bin.

Actually as far as a straight-through connection it worked - but there was a fatal flaw. I could not access the configuration page, which meant I could not do the IP assignments, Port Forwarding etc necessary to actually allow it to be useful in my environment. Instead I just got an error message when I tried to access the configuration page. D-Link Tech "Support" was a joke. They were overseas and clueless, and could think of nothing. So they said the unit must be bad, exchange it. I did - same problem. Again the "Support" was clueless. So I finally had to return this for a refund and am now looking elsewhere. I went on the 'Net and found other people with the same problem, also with no solution. Obviously, though, some people have had no problem. So if you buy it you are gambling that a) it is compatible with your system or b) you will never have to access the configuration page. Sorry, but that is a roulette game you shouldn't have to play. Avoid this.

The EBR-2310 had no problem in sharing either my DLS or cable Internet connection between three PCs. The router comes with the free version of Network Magic which makes Internet, file and printer sharing effortless. Network Magic also has the ability to track the bandwidth usage of all connected computers down to the application level. I upgraded to the Premium Version of Network Magic since the free version has limited functionality after 7 days.

This router works great when it works. However, It would lose connections every now and then and you have to wait a couple minutes to 10 minutes for the router to come back. When it's lost connections, you cannot use the internet. It might go a whole week without losing connections but sometimes(like today) you can lose connections a couple times a day. Today, I lost connections 5 times and that motivated me to write this.

Turning off and turning it back on helps too somtimes but it doesn't always work.

I was so frustrated today and went to their website. They do not have a firmware to fix this. Also they now have forums and other people were having the same problems at this product's forum.

I had a link to the forum, but amazon seems to disable it. if you want to see it, type dlink forum on google, go to the first page, and then there's a forum specific for this model ebr-2310.
[...]

It seems that no one has the clear answer after a couple months and I now have to buy another freaking router because of this issue.

I don't see myself buying another dlink product.

Pro:

+ Works great. Using a laptop, I noticed no difference between doing a speed test connected directly to my cable modem versus going through the router.

+ Very easy to setup. At the simplest level, it can be setup by simply plugging your modem into the WAN port and your devices into the LAN ports.

+ Worked fine for my XB360, PS3, P2P, and media LAN traffic.

+ It can be found very cheap. I paid less than $30 for mine off of Newegg.

+ DLink's new design is more appealing to the eye than their old design. This router is very small.

Con:

- This was a major show stopper for me. This router does not have a static DHCP IP feature. For many, this may not be an issue, but I prefer all my computers and devices to have static IP's. I also prefer them to be assigned over DHCP so that they can be easily controlled from a single central point. This router does not allow this, which is a shame because all of DLink's older routers have this feature. Because of this missing feature, I am now using an older DI-604 router. I have a number of wireless AP's in my network and prefer for my network to remain "alive" even if nothing is actually connected.

Target consumer for the EBR-2310:

- Anyone who isn't tech savy and just wants an extremely simple router. This router is plug 'n play simple, however I would recommend that you run the wizard so it at least takes you through the process of choosing admin/user passwords.

- Anyone who wants a simple "travel" wired router. This router is so small that it will fit easily into your laptop bag.

- Anyone that wants a wired router, but doesn't care about it not supporting static DHCP addresses. Perhaps you run a DHCP server elsewhere on your network, such as on a Linux box.

Summary: Performance is great, but it lacks a feature I don't want to do without.

Very easy to install and use. I got this so that I could have my PC (Dell XPS 410) and XBOX 360 connected to the internet at the same time. I have 2 tips for you:

1. If you have VISTA, DON'T run the CD. VISTA can detect a new network. All you need to do is, connect your modem to the primary port, then your computer and other devices to the numbered ports. That is it, that's all I did and everything works great.

2. Dont forget you will need a cable for any other things you want to connect. The unit comes with one (short) cable-so you can connect your modem to your router, then your pc to the router, but that 2nd pc, or 360, or whatever you'll need another cable. Suprising how many forget this :)

Its a great router, price is good, easy set up works great. Recommended!