Help to find a new life for an old Dlink DIR-655

[xair76]

Hi, I recently got fed up with the Dlink DIR-655 which I have had for the last 5 years... it has for the most been stable, but it was very user unfriendly, exemplified by for example it taking me one year (not really trying hard of course) to figure out how to make the computers in my network to be able to see each other... it was something with a very not-obvious name and which wasn't described at all in the help files (they may have called it the Plaza Rolls Royce and it would've made just as much sense as the name it had).

It was as a said for the most, stable, and it has given excellent wifi coverage over my entire house. but streaming from a laptop to a ps3 has always presented some hiccups (at times unbearable), and the rotuer would require reboots, upon rebooting, devices that were off during the boot wouldn't see the network afterwards, so a second boot was almost always necessary, after which things worked as usual. the drop that overfloweth the cup was that upon updating to the latest firmware, not only was my settings backup completely useless (so I had to manually re-enter everything) but it is now very unstable. I have spent more than enough time with this router, and have given up on it.

I have now decided to upgrade my router to an ASUS R66U "Dark Knight", and am wondering if I can find anything useful for the DIR-655 after the Dark Knight arrives?

I don't think I'll need it as a network extender (at least until I move to a larger house), but can it be used for that purpose? what about setting it as a "reciever", to recieve by wifi from my new router so that I can connect other things (Hometheater reciever, PS3, etc.) by network cables? I suppose for the PS3 the wifi would be faster than the inbuilt one, and for a reciever there isn't an inbuilt wifi reciever so it would eliminate the need for a dongle.

Other possible uses I might be overlooking?

 

[thiggins]

Unless they added it via a firmware update, the DIR-655 doesn't support wireless bridging either via WDS or as a client. So you can't use it as a "receiver".

 

[tipstir]

Wow! 5 years you say! Well you go your money worth out of that purchase. You must have the A1 hardware. Today's technology with the prior one best to just move that old friend to a nice resting area. I pile I call the old gear.

The ASUS you have purchase will run rings our your old friend that has served you for 5 years. But you can't really use today with the newer hardware. You want better WiFi handling through the CPU on these devices vs the 655 was 276MHz. More RAM as the old one with 16MB vs 128MB vs 256MB big different.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Turning a router into an AP.

 

[thetoad30]

Wow! 5 years you say! Well you go your money worth out of that purchase.

I really can't understand this kind of an attitude with people today.

Granted, technology changes. I'm not speaking to that point.

What I am speaking to is that the hardware should last, and the software shouldn't get worse.

My WRT54G V2 is still running, and still gives me solid signals and connections. Is it slow compared to today's WAN throughput? Yes. But it still works. Nothing today has changed from when it came out, except for the better (more stable wireless, and solid signal). This thing is a tank of routers, and I wish more were built that way today. I'd gladly spend an extra $10-50 to have something I know is going to last.

If electronics are hooked up to a good power source, they should run forever as long as they have no moving parts.

I hate it when someone looks at a product and puts a time-limit on them. It's like how manufacturers are designing things to fail after a certain amount of time. It's ridiculous in my opinion.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Ya one problem is that technology changes. The other is that us silly americans want it cheap. This happened in the 80s and from then on, thats what we get.

 

[thetoad30]

Ya one problem is that technology changes. The other is that us silly americans want it cheap. This happened in the 80s and from then on, thats what we get.

And I would totally agree with that point, except that prices have continued to increase back to the point where they were, and things still fail earlier than they did. Some bean-counter somewhere said they could cut costs by 50%, raise prices by 50%, and then lower MTBF, thereby doubling profits.

Bean-counters are going to be the end of us.

 

[PaulKemp]

I'm in the exact same position as you. Replacing a dir 655 with the dark knight

I was hoping I could use it as a range extender. Unsure if I'll need it tough. However, you can easily use it as a access point. Give it a static ip, turn of dhcp, and turn off the wifi radio. This way you can use it to connect ethernet ports to it. The issues you are describing is mostly regarding wifi, so my hope is that this router will continue to work for yeas just as a switch. Good luck

 

[thetoad30]

I'm in the exact same position as you. Replacing a dir 655 with the dark knight

I was hoping I could use it as a range extender. Unsure if I'll need it tough. However, you can easily use it as a access point. Give it a static ip, turn of dhcp, and turn off the wifi radio. This way you can use it to connect ethernet ports to it. The issues you are describing is mostly regarding wifi, so my hope is that this router will continue to work for yeas just as a switch. Good luck

This is a great suggestion - most times the switches will work flawlessly for years. It can even still serve as a router, with no wifi, and leave the wifi work for another AP/router. This has the added benefit of allowing you to muck with wireless settings without taking down the house internet. It also allows the CPU of the router to just route (bigger deal the faster the internet) and the CPU of the AP to just do WiFi (bigger deal the more you utilize wireless clients throughout the home).

 

[tipstir]

I really can't understand this kind of an attitude with people today.

Granted, technology changes. I'm not speaking to that point.

What I am speaking to is that the hardware should last, and the software shouldn't get worse.

My WRT54G V2 is still running, and still gives me solid signals and connections. Is it slow compared to today's WAN throughput? Yes. But it still works. Nothing today has changed from when it came out, except for the better (more stable wireless, and solid signal). This thing is a tank of routers, and I wish more were built that way today. I'd gladly spend an extra $10-50 to have something I know is going to last.

If electronics are hooked up to a good power source, they should run forever as long as they have no moving parts.

I hate it when someone looks at a product and puts a time-limit on them. It's like how manufacturers are designing things to fail after a certain amount of time. It's ridiculous in my opinion.

Hardware you have is not made the same way as it was back then. Today HD streaming, BT stuff and other demanding loads on these current routers just can't handle the stress and go duff to quickly. Mostly I am seeing WAN goes duff more than the LAN ports. Then there is overheating issue. I had GS105 from Netgear a gig switch overheat to a temp of 131F before all ports had gone duff.

 

[stevech]

Today HD streaming, BT stuff and other demanding loads on these current routers just can't handle the stress and go duff to quickly.

I have to disagree with this kind generalization.

 

[tipstir]

I have to disagree with this kind generalization.

Well I know you can I can't agree always.. But I am sure you and I have different environments and backgrounds in networking.. But from what I have been exposed too both here (my neck of the woods) and in enterprise client domains. I feel this is the right course of action. I use to tell my Senior Engineers how I run my networks here in the past but they too have other ideals. Though one make a suggestion which was to offload the router and uses dedicated lines drops through external switches. Let the router do the DHCP and Internet Management. Let the switches take care of the routing of systems. That I can see happening.

We all can learn from each here and where we have been expose too. Don't you agree?

 

[stevech]

We all can learn from each here and where we have been expose too. Don't you agree?

I like other people, assess who has a sound technical/engineering basis and thus is correct most of the time.

 

[Richard Chrisian]

Wow, I'm reading your post 3 years later in 2015 and I have been using my DIR 655 for at least 10 years. it has been a workhourse and I could not get the firmware to upgrade past 1.37NA with hardware A3. So, it's stuck where it is. If anyone knows how I can move it up let me know. Otherwise, I think i"m moving on and purchasinng a new DIr655 to replace it. I also have two others linked to it by wire for extending purposes. Hardware B1 firmware 2.11.

Does anyone know if there's a better option for me? I really like the idea of spending less than $100 and getting something that does a great job like these. But, I will say that the bandwidth for Wifi sucks. but I attribute to the fact that wifi just sucks empirically. It's highly overrated and I've never found it to work well. This is primarily because all wireless devices basically share one single pipe. So, when the kids are watching streaming video, which is all the damn time, we can't get much else to work.

 

[System Error Message]

3rd party firmware lets you use it as a mini linux server. Openwrt has lots of options.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Wow, I'm reading your post 3 years later in 2015 and I have been using my DIR 655 for at least 10 years. it has been a workhourse and I could not get the firmware to upgrade past 1.37NA with hardware A3. So, it's stuck where it is. If anyone knows how I can move it up let me know. Otherwise, I think i"m moving on and purchasinng a new DIr655 to replace it. I also have two others linked to it by wire for extending purposes. Hardware B1 firmware 2.11.

Does anyone know if there's a better option for me? I really like the idea of spending less than $100 and getting something that does a great job like these. But, I will say that the bandwidth for Wifi sucks. but I attribute to the fact that wifi just sucks empirically. It's highly overrated and I've never found it to work well. This is primarily because all wireless devices basically share one single pipe. So, when the kids are watching streaming video, which is all the damn time, we can't get much else to work.

v1.37 should apply to A3. Be sure to use IE in compatibility mode or FF to apply any FW updates. Follow this for doing any FW updates for D-Link routers:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=42457.0

The DIR-655 doesn't support any 3rd party FW so your stuck with OEM FW.

The DIR-655 series is a solid router, Rev A, B and C.