dlink dir-655 defective?

[dealy663]

Hi I have a brand new DIR-655 A4 wireless router, with firmware 1.21. It seems to work ok when I only am using one of the switched ethernet ports. But as soon as I plugin a second device the router becomes very unstable. Basically all wired connections start misbehaving, dropping packets sometimes working, sometimes not, sometimes very slow. While all this is going on the wireless clients all seem to function properly.

So I assume the device is defective, I've tried resetting it and that didn't help. I know that this is a well reviewed and liked wifi router, but I'm not sure if I should buy another one. The reason is that the wifi signal strength seems to be considerably less than my old Linksys WRT54 GL. When I'm downstairs with my notebook connected to the Linksys the Windows signal strength meter shows 4 bars, but when connected to the DIR-655 it shows only 1 bar.

Generally speaking how well does this device perform as the wifi clients move further away? Should the S/N ratio be so much less than my Lynksis? Maybe the fact that the device is obviously malfunctioning on the wired side is also effecting the radio?

Do you guys have any other suggestions for replacement wireless n, gigabit routers?

Thanks, Derek

 

[dealy663]

One further question

Should I be looking at an access point instead of a router?

My ISP (Verizon Fios) provided modem has a standard 100Mb router, this is connected to a 24 port gigabit switch for all ethernet ports throughout my home.

If I just use the 100Mb Fios modem's router I shouldn't be effecting the gigabit traffic for all of the computers within the house right?

Is there a better/less costly WAP only solution?

Derek

 

[thiggins]

I also recently had a DIR-655 A4 die on me after only a few weeks of use. One day I turned the wireless off to do some testing and when I went to turn it back on, it wouldn't. I tried resetting to factory defaults and reflashing, but no joy. Ah well.

Look at the Wireless Charts to look at throughput vs. location. The DIR-655 A4's performance is relatively good.

In general draft 11n routers do not provide longer range than 802.11g routers. They provide higher speed at a given location, as long as you have a strong to medium signal. I wouldn't pay much attention to the signal/noise, speed or other information that an adapter's client utility provides. For signal strength or S/N, there is no calibration, so you can't do a relative comparison.

What matters is the actual speed that you get. Best way to measure that is to time a long file transfer or copy a big file and use a program like NetMeter.

You can look at some of the Access Point/bridge products like the D-Link DAP-1522 if you like. But there isn't any advantage to using them. If you would like to use the Verizon-provided router, that's fine. Just convert any wireless router that you buy into an Access Point.

Finally, the only time the 100 Mbps limitation of the Verizon router will come into play is for traffic to/from the Internet. Any LAN traffic going through the Gigabit switch will be unaffected.

 

[tipstir]

I also recently had a DIR-655 A4 die on me after only a few weeks of use. One day I turned the wireless off to do some testing and when I went to turn it back on, it wouldn't. I tried resetting to factory defaults and reflashing, but no joy. Ah well.

Look at the Wireless Charts to look at throughput vs. location. The DIR-655 A4's performance is relatively good.

In general draft 11n routers do not provide longer range than 802.11g routers. They provide higher speed at a given location, as long as you have a strong to medium signal. I wouldn't pay much attention to the signal/noise, speed or other information that an adapter's client utility provides. For signal strength or S/N, there is no calibration, so you can't do a relative comparison.

What matters is the actual speed that you get. Best way to measure that is to time a long file transfer or copy a big file and use a program like NetMeter.

You can look at some of the Access Point/bridge products like the D-Link DAP-1522 if you like. But there isn't any advantage to using them. If you would like to use the Verizon-provided router, that's fine. Just convert any wireless router that you buy into an Access Point.

Finally, the only time the 100 Mbps limitation of the Verizon router will come into play is for traffic to/from the Internet. Any LAN traffic going through the Gigabit switch will be unaffected.

Wow! I had thought I was the only one with real problems with DIR-655 and it's cloned DIR-615 firmware on TEW-652BRP. I've notice if you have these active as AP with Belkin N+ some gets screwy in wireless in the location. Removing them excess AP solves the issue. Strange that the old WHR-HP-G54 using the latest DD-WRT runs flawlessly all day and all week long without any issues.