D-Link DI-524 Wireless 54 Mbps High Speed Router (802.11g)

by D-Link

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4 x 1 inches ; 1.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001PFQ08
• Item model number: DI-524
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,791 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 16, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

D-Link, the industry leader in wireless networking, introduces another breakthrough in wireless connectivity. The D-Link AirPlus G DI-524 Wireless Router which is capable of transferring data at rates of up to 54 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz frequency -- the same wireless frequency as 802.11b. The D-Link DI-524 Wireless Router also offers four Ethernet ports to support multiple computers.

The advanced wireless technology built into the DI-524 Wireless Router offers data transfer speeds up to 54 Mbps through its wireless channels allowing streaming videos and other high bandwidth applications, such as online gaming events, to operate without the hassle of Ethernet cables. The ability to use high bandwidth applications also makes streaming real-time programs more enjoyable and more efficient.

With the DI-524 Wireless Router's built-in advanced firewall, threats of hackers penetrating your network are minimized. Some firewall features include functions that allow or disallow certain ports to be open for certain applications. Time scheduling can be established as a firewall rule so that specific ports will be open at certain times and be closed at other times. Features like content filtering, MAC filtering, URL blocking, and domain blocking are useful tools to prevent other unwanted intruders from connecting to your network or browsing restricted sites.

The easy-to-use configuration wizard takes only minutes to setup and guides users step-by-step through configuring the DI-524. With all the versatile features and an user-friendly utility, the DI-524 Wireless Router provides an enhanced networking experience.

Product Description

The advanced wireless technology built into the DI-524 now offers up to 54Mbps through its wireless channels, allowing streaming videos and other high bandwidth applications, such as online gaming events to operate without the hassle of Ethernet cables. The ability to transfer high bandwidth also makes streaming real time programs more enjoyable and more efficient. Network Security is a precautionary threat and with the built-in advanced firewall, these threats are minimized, making it more difficult for hackers to penetrate through the DI-524. Features like content filtering, MAC filtering, URL blocking, and Domain blocking are useful tools to prevent other unwanted intruders to connect to your network.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little wireless router, July 18, 2004

By 

Eugene Mah "physics geek" (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: D-Link DI-524 Wireless 54 Mbps High Speed Router (802.11g) (Personal Computers)

I'm not sure if the other reviewers have problems reading instructions or if they just skipped steps. Had no problems at all getting this unit set up and establishing connections between my desktop and Inspiron 5150. Take it out of the box, connect an ethernet cable between the desktop and router and plug it in. Use your favourite browser to connect to 198.168.1.1 and run through the setup wizard. Then once you've got everything set up, read through the manual, go through the various setup options and tweak as desired. I opted to go with the WPA-PSK authentication protocol because its supposed to be more secure, but if you have other devices that don't support it, you'll probably have to stick with WEP.

It can be laid flat on the desk, or propped up on end vertically using the little rubber feet that are supplied. There are 4 ethernet ports that allow you to connect via 10/100 Ethernet and the WAN port to connect to cable, DSL or LAN. The antenna is on a swivel and can be rotated to just about any convenient orientation.

The only thing I don't like about the router is that it doesn't have an internal clock, so every time it is powered off the router's system time goes back to it's default start value. It can be configured to set the time from an NTP server, but only if it's connected to a WAN network (via DSL, cable or LAN). It's only a minor inconvenience though. The other thing is that the router's web interface only seems to work properly if you use IE. Using Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox sort of works for most things, but not everything.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does the job, June 1, 2005

By 

N. Caine (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: D-Link DI-524 Wireless 54 Mbps High Speed Router (802.11g) (Personal Computers)

I've recently had the opportunity to set up two wireless networks for my friend's and now my home, all on WinXP systems. For my friend, I picked up a Buffalo Airstation on advice of the head of the tech department (not the floor salesguy) at a computer retailer, and it installed flawlessly in minutes, including a firewall, valuable 128-bit WEP security, plus --what is even more important to me to prevent hacking-- MAC filtering. For my own home, I went with a sale and got the Hawking 54M wireless G, and I couldn't get it to work. Even with tweaking (I've been doing non-networking IT for fifteen years), I couldn't get the router to connect with my ISP through my DSL connection. I went out and bought a D-Link (also 54M wireless G) on heavy discount at a different retailer, and like the Buffalo, it went up and running right away, and I easily set up the firewall, 128 bit WEP, and MAC filtering. [MAC filtering, for those of you who don't know, allows you to specify exactly which machines are allowed to connect to the router, and all other ones are shut out. This keeps the neighbors and others from hacking into your network, since WEP passwords aren't foolproof.] I like the D-Link.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreliable, problematic, poor support, buggy firmware, February 13, 2006

By 

booshleeg - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Link DI-524 Wireless 54 Mbps High Speed Router (802.11g) (Personal Computers)

I bought the DI-524 (Rev A2) after my trusty Linksys WRT54G v1.0 croaked. At first, everything appeared to work well with DI-524. Web browsing and small file transfers on the wireless intranet seemed to go without a hitch.

But once I started doing some heavy file transfers and run some bandwidth intensive applications, the problems arose. I noticed repeated DHCP Requests in the log (approximately every 2-5 minutes), dropped packets, DNS resolution failures, slow transfer speeds, and consistent problems with wireless connections. According to the log, the router would also reboot itself almost every day (the log would automatically clear itself whenever the router reboots).

I would consider myself much more tech-savvy than the average person, and I tried all kinds of settings with this router to make it perform better. To no avail, it simply did not work as well as my now dead 3 year old WRT54G.

Based on my experience, if you get this router...

- Forget running any kind of P2P application (azureus, utorrent, bitcoment, emule, limewire, etc.). The issue is not related to firewalls, uPnP, or any other router setting you would typically configure to ensure an optimal P2P transfer. Because of the router's inability to maintain a stable connection (whether PC to router or router to ISP), any kind of P2P activity will be negatively affected, period.

- Forget transferring any kind of large file (600MB+) between 2 wireless clients or even between a wireless and a wired client.

Here are some 802.11g file transfer scenarios I've tried:

Between a PC running Windows XP SP2 and a Mac with OS X 10.3.9 via Samba.

Between two PC's running Win XP via Windows file sharing.

Between a Mac with OS X 10.3.9 and another Mac with OS X 10.4.3 Server via AFP

None work consistently well. About half the time, the file transfer would be interrupted and fail, or it would look like the file was still being transferred, but nothing was actually coming through. Occasionally Windows Explorer or Mac's Finder would lock up due to the router's poor communication with clients.

- Forget about mixed wireless environments where you have both 802.11b and 802.11g devices. Max transfer speeds between a "b" and a "g" device were less than 100kbps.

- Forget about using any web browser except Internet Explorer or Opera to configure the router. There is a Javascript bug on the wireless configuration page that renders the "Apply settings" link useless in browsers like Firefox or Safari. This bug exists in firmware version 1.20 and 1.21 (the two latest). When I raised this issue with D-Link support, their official response was "Downgrade to firmware v1.11 if you need compatibility with Firefox" I kid you not, folks.

- Forget connecting any kind of networkable printer to the router's ethernet port. Due to the many reboots or some other unknown reason, print jobs to my networked printer would not spool to the printer sometimes, even though the printer was visible on the network (via Rendezvous/Bonjour).

I did email D-Link support a few times raising the issues I mentioned above. Their answers never really addressed the issue, or the solution they provided was not acceptable (see "downgrade firmware").

After 3 months of tinkering I finally gave up on the D-Link and bought a Linksys WRT54G v5.0, even though I had major reservations due to all the negative comments about the v5. My worries, however, were put to rest after the first couple hours of use. Every problem with the DI-524 I mentioned above does not exist with the Linksys WRT54G v5. Comparing the two routers is like night and day - the difference is astonishing.

I've used the WRT54G for about a week now in the same environment, and so far not a single hiccup even under heavy bandwidth duress. For all intents and purposes the WRT54G v5 works as well as my v1 did, if not better.

So my "professional" geek recommendation based on the 3 months I lived with the DI-524 is to avoid it at all costs, even if you are just a basic web surfer and don't plan on doing any heavy file transfers. Don't be fooled by the low price after rebate or its compact size compared to other routers. This is not a quality product and your internet experience will suffer for it.