Customer Reviews

D-Link DI-624 Wireless Cable/DSL Router, 4-Port Switch, 802.11g, 108Mbps

5 star:		(196)
4 star:		(68)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(47)
1 star:		(131)

 

 

This is my third wireless system. The last either had bad reception problems, bad connection problems or just stopped working. They both were SMC systems. They both were small nightmares to get up and running, and of course customer support sucked. I got rid of my last wireless system which was 802.11a which I bought because I thought it was much better. I am not a computer wiz I'll admit that but this technology should be easy for people like me to set up and use. I am who they sell this stuff to.

I read reviews and decided to get this system with the D-link DWL-G650. I held my breath when I started setting it up. I was waiting for the minute when I would realize that I would need to call customer support. That didn't happen. This system did almost set itself up. I have a 2.4GHz phone and it doesn't seem to effect the range. I live in a brick house and I just went outside in my driveway, on the other side of house from where my wireless router is set up and I was getting almost 100% full signal strength. The online interface is very easy to use and the instructions are easy to follow. I did upgrade the firmware before I set up any of the hardware and the 108Mbps system is up and running. I can't say if this system will work tomorrow, but today I am very suprised at how it works.

Compatibility issues are always present and, depending on hardware you already have, there is a chance that any given router will not work for you. That said, I had a chance to test my DI-624 on four networks (both LAN/Ethernet and Wireless B/G) and it worked perfectly. Cable modems I've used were Motorola, Cisco and Netgear.

I know D-Link's tech support is somewhat sketchy in the US, but I don't think this is a product you'd need support on. It self-explanatory, really. You can access it's configuration interface from any PC that's connected to one of it's four LAN ports via Internet browser on 192.168.0.1. However, there's only wireless SSID and optional password to set, everything else in plug and play. Unless you want to customize firewall, DHCP and things like that. Actually, there's a demo of this interface on manufacturer's site so you can check it out yourselves.

Using DI-624 in a home network with 3 "wired" PCs and 2 wireless notebooks has been a trouble free experience. Suddenly, all 5 PCs were connected to the Internet and were in LAN. It's range is superb - I can connect to it from the parking, which is some 300ft from my builing, and router is on the 5th floor, behind a reinforced concrete wall. Of course, inside the apartment itself, reception is always perfect. I just had to set password, though, so I wouldn't provide free wireless Internet to entire building.

EDIT: After a firmware upgrade, the unit is working far better, and has been in use for about 3 months at my residence. Still, it drops out intermittently, and there are better choices.

(1) Drops connections - a lot.
(2) Many - hundreds of websites - report the same problem.
(3) D-Link hired lots of marketers to write good opinions of this device. Don't trust them.
(4) I know what I'm doing. I've set up my computer on literally a dozen different networks without a problem, and configured routers of various stripes for almost a decade. This isn't a newbie error - I was floored for many hours trying to get this thing to work.
(5) It still doesn't work reliably.
(6) This issue isn't a 'bad unit' issue - many other people sent in their D-Link routers, got a new one, and had exactly the same problem.

Bottom line: one of the worst purchases I have made -- and I know what I'm doing. AVOID AVOID AVOID!

I've owned this router for about a year. Its primary usage is light to medium home web browsing and Apple Mac <--> Windows XP PC networking. Since then I've upgraded the firmware twice. The latest firmware update added WPA support, a much needed replacement for WEP's mediocre wireless security. I've used the D-Link DI-624 on wired/wireless sessions with no problems. I'm using a Mac PowerBook aluminum on wireless to write this review. My current DI-624 setting using a Mac PowerBook is Super G with Dynamic Turbo (backwards compatible), 802.11g only enabled. I can't compare this to similar routers made by other companies, this being my only purchased router, but I'm satisfied with its performance and ease of use via browser configuration. There are plenty of professional reviews on the web, so be sure to read all you can before buying any brand of router. A router is an amazing device and I'd never use the Internet without one.

As other reviewers have stated, the help files aren't the best. It would be nice to see a router help menu that stays current with each new firmware update and feature set. There is additional help information on D-Link's web site if you desire more information, such as settings for WPA and what it means for your home or business network. There was a bug in the configuration wizard in earlier firmware versions, but I'm not sure if it has been fixed since. Nonetheless, manual configuration is what I've always used to apply changes.

I strongly recommend before you finalize your network, you apply any available firmware updates to both your router *and* computer hardware (wireless card). A router firmware update will wipe out any MAC filtering data, settings, etc. There are two firmware updates for this model, so be sure to note how to tell what file you need and only apply the correct one. Jot down information that you might need to enter after the update. Complete the router upgrade over a wired network, not on a wireless connection. Update your operating system and drivers first thing, as always.

The setup of the router is simple. You can actually go to D-Link's website and use the emulator, that way you can get an idea on what the configuration screens look like.

I have the Rev C router, which is smaller and has only only 1 antenna. It supports both WEP and WPA security.

The range in my 2 story house is good. The router is on the second floor. From time to time, while sitting down stairs, I will get interference from my Neighbors router, if my card loses connection with my router.

With the firmware upgrade you get speeds of up to 108 mbps. I average around 42 mbps sitting downstairs. Keep in mind if you have any wireless hardware that does not support 108 mbps turbo mode it will prevent your router from using it.

I have had it for a month now, so far everything is working good.

This router is my first wireless one ever and I am very pleased with the purchase. After a lot of research, I decided on the D-Link. I have read that LinkSys routers set the standard for ease of use, but I cannot really imagine how much easier installation and setup can get! Honestly, I had the router setup in under 10 minutes with my laptop connected to my cable modem and accessing the internet via the router's LAN port (i.e. ethernet cable). The router sports some nice firewall features. I was not too impressed with the online help however. Several options that the router offers for configuration were not described in the online help (stored in router firmware). The D-Link support site has decent information, perhaps enough for you to get most problems taken care of. However, I had an issue when using the D-Link DWL-G650 card with WAP security which after about 6 hours of frustration got resolved in about 5 minutes with a phone call to customer service. Anyway, this was no fault of the router itself since the blame lies on the outdated driver D-Link ships with the PC card. I use AT&T VPN solution to access my office network and the router works just fine. The DHCP server came up just fine and my machines were happily on the network via wires.
Pros:
- easy to setup
- good security features
- D-Link website has pretty good cust service info
- IPSEC VPN passthrough worked without any issues
Cons:
- online help included in firmware not the best
- Several advanced options of firewall etc not very well documented (ie. not that easy to use for those inexperience with advanced security settings)
Overall, I'd give this router a 4.5 stars and would definitely consider it a good buy for both the novice as well as experienced computer users.

The Dlink DI-624 router/wireless AP is working great. I bought this when I bought a new Mac w/ Airport Extreme (802.11g)... It plays very friendly w/ both Macs and PCs, and Dlink is on the few companies out there who specifically advertises that they support mac (I know they all do since it's not software specific, but it's nice for them to at least give effort!!)

The Router is very good... it was setup w/ my cable modem in moments, with a few more minutes of looking around (didn't touch a manual except to learn the default login procedure) I was able to have the router configured to my specific private IP address range (this was replacing another unit, so I wanted to keep everything the same). I was also able to setup the unit to email me logs of renewals/connections (just to be sure my neighbors aren't using it!)

The wireless has been flawless so far... the speed is quick, while I haven't done any exact measurements, I can say that's it's a big boost over 802.11b from what I've seen so far.

The range has been great too... the unit is setup in the utility room of my basement, the room where my laptop is most often used is also in the basement... but I'm able to go the top level and still have connection... looking forward to nicer weather so I can go outside with it!

It's much bigger (physically) then I expected... but it's on a shelf next to my furnace so what do I care... but if you're going to have this sitting on your desk or shelf, keep the size in mind.

This is my second router - my first was a wired, D-link DI-604, which worked like a charm. Then, I bought this wireless one. Almost immediately, the problems started - random router reboots, like everyone else seems to have.

Four calls to tech support got me nowhere, until the final, 2nd level support person I talked to suggested something interesting. I disabled the wireless capability entirely via the setup interface, and physically removed the antenna just to make sure. The support person said that if it then works without incident, that means something in the "environment" is sending a signal that is causing the modem to reset itself.

Well, sure enough, the router is 100% OK now. But, it's also now not a wireless modem. The culprit? In the next room, no more than 5 feet away - a 2.4GHz Cordless Phone, bought around the same time as the modem. If I leave it unplugged, or if I leave the wireless capability of the modem off, I'm OK. With both on, I get the drops.

So, you have two choices: avoid cordless phones or any other appliances in that frequency range (good luck - it's amazing how many appliances cause various radiation signatures), or alternately, you could buy a modem that DOESN'T ACCEPT RESETS FROM EXTERNAL WIRELESS CONNECTIONS! I recommend the latter. This modem has an obvious, fatal flaw.

Well after reading tons of reviews between the Dlink and the NetGear 108Mbps Super G Wireless Routers I decided to purchase the DLink DI-624. The prices on Amazon were similar as were the rebates so money wasn't the deciding factor. Being a Macintosh user I wanted to make sure it'd be no problem to use, as most things are built for PC these days... and the DLink was more recommend towards Macintosh users than NetGear.

Only down thing that surprised me about the DLink is that it is housed in a silver plastic shell, not brushed metal as I thought. No big deal. And for those that complained you can't stand it on it's side. They now ship it with a stand similar to NetGear's so you can sit it on it's side.

I basically installed it out of the box to my ComCast Cable internet line. Went through all the installation proceedures in the quickstart guide and was up and running. I have not updated the firmware, as it shipped with version 2.28 and see no reason to fix something that's not broken, though I will probably update it soon just to keep things current. I'm running it in 128 bit encryption mode and have been able to keep connected with no problems inside my home. I'm runing one iMac on ethernet, a PC tower on ethernet, a Mac G4 laptop on wireless using the internal airport card, and a PC laptop on wireless all using the DLink router... and it all works just fine! No connection problems, nothing! Just enter the correct password and it's a go.

I've also used NetGear routers in the past and have had no problems with those either. I don't know how people get confused or end up with faulty products. I'm no I.T. pro, but I understand the basics... No reasons not to buy this product. I'm guessing I wouldn't of had a problem with NetGear's wireless router also, but who knows...

I've been working with 802.11 for two years now, setting up networks for friends, family and small businesses, so I'm fairly experienced. when I set up my networks, they are secure - 128-bit shared bit encryption, SSID broadcasting disabled and the end-all defense of MAC address filtering, which is how I configured this router. installation and configuration was a breeze, and the configuration options for this router cover just about any and every setting you could think of (VPN/PPTP support - excellent!). after a couple days of use, though, clients on my network started to suddenly and inexplicably stop seeing the router, right in the middle of active use. one client connection would go down while my other clients hummed along fine in full contact with the router. at another time, one client would see the router fine, put the client couldn't ping it. TCP/IP wasn't the fault, the loopback address worked fine, the problem lay elsewhere in the OSI model. disabling the NIC and re-enabling it (WXP) would solve the problem, though. baffling. since clients were randomly loosing contact with the router, I hunched that turning SSID broadcasting back on - against my security preferences - would solve the problem and, for now, it apparently has. at least I still have the power of MAC address filtering in place, so if someone really wants to try cracking the encryption and then spoofing a MAC address, have at it. my suggestion would be to move on since there a many easier targets out there, guys. note that all this applies to a DI-624 Rev C with the latest firmware (the upgrade of which was a snap). contrary to some of the other reviews here, I've found D-Link's tech support to be excellent - thorough, patient and able to actually support, but each situation is unique and your mileage may vary. I did have some problems getting my DWL-G650 PC card to operate at the advertised Super G transmission rate (it started off at 11 Mbps!), which I will write about under the reviews for that specific card when I get a chance. if you've been thinking about upgrading to a wireless network, I do indeed recommend D-Link's products (I keep all parts of my network under the same vendor for ease of support and a better chance of minimizing problems). if you're a novice user and aren't going to do advanced configurations like the kind I discuss here, I'm guessing there won't be a single hitch. and seeing as how I paid almost three times the cost of this router for my 802.11b router two years ago, the prices can't be beat. frankly, I don't see how they could get much lower. and the transmit speed of Super G is awesome - I stream mp3's off my file server all day long without any hiccups. I give the DI-624 a four star rating simply because nothing's perfect - as witnessed by the minor issues I had - but overall I definitely buy it again.