| D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Wireless Router |
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Model: DIR-655
Brand: D-Link
Manufacturer: D-Link
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 305
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Delivers up to 14x faster speeds* and 6x farther range* than 802.11g means Greater Coverage for Your Entire Home or Office
Ideal for streaming HD video or streaming multiple applications simultaneously
Intelligent QoS technology prioritizes both wired and wireless Internet traffic to enable enhanced gaming and phone calling (VoIP) experience
Gigabit Ports for Incredible Wired Network Speeds
Dual active firewall protection (SPI & NAT) helps block malicious attacks on networks from the Internet. |
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| Description: |
Create a wireless network to share high-speed Internet access with computers, game consoles, or media players from greater distances in your home or office. Using D-Link Xteme-N wireless products makes it really easy!
The D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router is a draft 802.11n compliant device that delivers up to 14x faster speeds and 6x farther range than 802.11g while staying backward compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b devices. Connect the Xtreme N Gigabit Router to a cable or DSL modem and provide high-speed Internet access to multiple computers, game consoles, and media players. Create a secure wireless network to share photos, files, music, videos, printers, and network storage.
With some routers, all wired and wireless traffic, including VoIP, Video Streaming, Online Gaming, and Web browsing are mixed together into a single data stream. By handling data this way, applications like video streaming could pause or delay. With D-Link's Intelligent QoS Technology, wired and wireless traffic is analyzed and separated into multiple data streams. These streams are then categorized by sensitivity to delay, so applications like VoIP, Video Streaming, and Online Gaming are given priority over Web browsing. This enables multiple applications to stream smoothly to your TV or PC. Delivering best-in-class performance, network security, and coverage, this router is the ideal centerpiece for your wireless network in the home or office. Backward compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b devices including game consoles and digital media players |
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| User Reviews (305 total): |
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Wireless ready to go, May 23, 2007
By user
Right out of the box, folowing the inclosed instructins it was up and working. There are many options in set up that I dont understand but it's working very well with the basics. Good buy.
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A worthwhile purchase, May 21, 2007
By user (Tucson, AZ USA)
When I began searching for a new router, my criteria were:
1. Gigabit ethernet
2. Wireless N
3. Some packet prioritization scheme
This router had all three of the above at a reasonable price. I managed to get it set up with DHCP to all machines but my server (static IP), wireless enabled with encryption and no-broadcast, and all of my port forwarding profiles back in place in about 10 minutes. All of my devices recognized it as the new replacement immediately, and it has worked flawlessly since that time.
The user interface is fairly intuitive, and the router has many options that others I've used didn't have. (e.g. I can ping a system on the LAN from the web interface to ensure it's still up and running.)
I haven't had a chance to test the wireless-n at this time, but the wireless-g is working throughout my two story house. Although I haven't used any testing to get an official value for the gigabit transfer rates, I am able to cache a full 4.7 gb DVD worth of files across the network in about 5 minutes.
My only complaint with this router is that the blue LEDs on the front are extremely bright and I needed to cover them.
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Quick Router Setup Wizard Did Not Work, May 13, 2007
By user
I have been using a D-Link DI-624 AirPlus Extreme G wireless router for several years, but I now have a new computer and am using Windows Vista Ultimate so I wanted to upgrade to the latest wireless technology. The DIR-655 is a good-looking unit in a white case with flashing blue LEDs. The instructions for setting it up were easy to follow; however, the Quick Router Setup Wizard software did not work for me. I could not connect to the Internet even though my NIC was hooked up to the DIR-655 correctly and the router to my cable modem. I called D-Link tech support and a technician worked with me for almost two hours before passing me on to the second level technician. Neither one had me use the setup wizard. The second tech determined that my computer was trying to connect through another gateway rather than through the D-Link gateway. When he gave me the workaround for this, the router finally connected to the Internet and it has been working as it should ever since. The unit provides more signal strength to the other two computers in the house than did the DI-624, and even though it didn't work for me, the setup wizard appears to be easy to follow. Setting up WPA encryption was very easy.
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Never More Disconnected, May 12, 2007
By user (Chile)
Since I bought this wireless router I have never ever more experienced sudden disconnections. I am truly happy with it.
The set up is easy but is better if you know a little of the stuff of instalation, since you will get better performance of your dlink router.
Do not hesitate, go and get it!
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A high Quality Product, May 12, 2007
By user
The D-Link DIR-655 is an excellent product that has performed flawlessly for me. The setup instructions were excellent and easily understood. I do not know the range limits of this device because it simply works anywhere I want to use my laptop computer in my home which is well over 2000 square feet. This device has my highest recommendations.
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all I want, May 8, 2007
By user (NJ USA)
Enabled me to multiple surf, play online games on my wireless laptop without any noticeable lag.
I was able to take advantage of redirecting web requests to my desktop so I can use my computer as a web server.
I printed the manual on the CD. I haven't explored all the features yet but it seems so far that I got what I wanted.
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the best home/office router available!, May 8, 2007
By user (Aguascalientes, MX)
This router works great with my Cable connection. The security within in is excellent and the range is pretty acceptable tho I really recommend also use wireless-N adapters to gain its full strength. Overall a great and competitive product.
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Excellent wireless router, May 7, 2007
By user
Easy to install and with the enclosed software a breeze to connect a local network.
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Great router, May 7, 2007
By user (Quito, Ecuador)
This router is very easy to setup on a Windows XP computer, but the interface doesn't work with Safari, so I think D-Link needs to improve that. It has a excelent signal strength and the draft N works great I have connected two Intel macs and my old 11b HP.
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The WORST investment I have made for my network to date., May 4, 2007
By user (Westchester, NY USA)
I think that Dlink has hired people to write positive reviews for this thing, because it is a joke.
Let me say, I have a $30 Linksys router Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Cable/DSL Routerthat I have replaced with this one. I moved into the basement, 3 floors from the computer upstairs, and thought that the Linksys would not reach. I was wrong, the Linksys reached fine, however, we had already ordered this router, its talks of faster internet and safety sold me on it, I thought it may be worth replacing the old router, which I had bought in 2004 I believe.
Upon recieving this router, I installed it, and immediately, my internet was slowed down by at least 5x of what it was. It made my system crash, because of this software it came with, and my internet would disconnect CONSTANTLY.
I called Dlink technical support, which has been a joke! I spent 3 days talking to these people. 30 minutes to get to a technician, just to have them insult your intelligence and tell you to reboot the router and the computer, and call them back if you have any more problems. No matter how many times I told these people I have done that, and that there is a problem, they keep telling me that as if it will magically fix things. It doesn't, obviously.
Finally, I got some semblance of good advice before being hung up on, adjusting a number on my router's advanced settings, that stopped the constant DCing, however my computer was still running like a turtle carrying a refridgerator on its back. I rolled back my system to the day I recieved the router before I installed anything, now my internet is fine. However, I am hard wired into the router.
the computer upstairs, say that it is out of range of the router. I had to bring it all the way down stairs, and it still said it was out of range!
upon turning encryption WAY DOWN it finally said that it was connected, yay, sort of. Unable to use WPA encryption? how is that SAFER then the $30 router I had previously? its really not.
However about 1 minute after I got it to connect, it promptly lost signal, even being NEXT to the router. Absolutely useless. Even though it had a full 5 bars, it cannot connect.
its not the network cards fault, this computer was connected wireless from 3 stories up with the $30 Linksys, mind you, and cannot with a $120 peice of garbage.
Finally, someone from Dlink, upon my billionth call, tells me that there is a chance that you cannot encrypt with Dell computers, (the upstairs computer is a Dell) notice how, no where on ANYTHING about this router, does it tell you that.
I also purchased the network card that acompanies this router, the same model and what not.
I installed it, and my computer doesn't see it, or see it exists.
I cannot install the drivers, as it doesn't detect the new hardware.
I STRONGLY advise anyone thinking of purchasing this, think again, or at least, just take the money and throw it down the toilet you will be doing the same thing, just saving yourself money on phone calls to Dlink and from ripping your own hair out from frustration.
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Don't count on 802.11n support, sporadic disconnects overall, May 4, 2007
By user
I bought this as an upgrade from my d-link DI-524 router, because I needed something more dependable for wireless, and something with a better signal (and performance). Overall, I have zero improvement from my last router, and its just as undependable, if not more. There are some improvements in the interface, but not worth the $125+ you'll spend.
CONS:
First off, I have a new thinkpad that supports the 802.11n protocol, and I am able to connect at a very pleasant 300Mbps. However, I get disconnected about every 5-10 minutes, and I have to reconnect. This is annoying, and as soon as I turned off 802.11n support, the problem went away. So don't count on getting any "xtreme" performance from this router. I know that 802.11n is draft, but I'd still expect it to work a little more than 5-10 minutes at a time.
Second, overall the router disconnects from the DSL line randomly every few days, and it takes it several minutes and sometimes a reboot to connect again. My old router would even go for weeks without disconnection issues. This is a bit discouraging when the whole idea is to spend top dollar to get the latest router for the most dependability and performance.
PROS:
Decent interface with lots of options. Still, there may be too many options with too many links and buttons, the interface can be jumbled and more complex than it needs to be. Possibly the effect of over-development.
The range is good on the router, but its not outstanding. Again, maybe a slight improvement over my last d-link (classic $30 DI-524). I definitely expected to get 70-80% in my tiny condo, but I don't, and I've taken the precautions of mounting it away from any interference, and my phones are all on the 5.8GHz bandwidth.
SUMMARY:
If you need something very dependable, I would reconsider purchasing this router. If you are looking for draft 802.11n speeds, don't buy this router. I work from home so I need something up 99.9% of the time, and this hasn't been doing the job for what I paid. The router has lots of options and a sleek appearance, but this is second to performance and dependability in my book. Maybe wait a few firmware patches or models before buying...
I gave it two stars due to the money spent in proportion to the dependability and performance I have experienced. Overall I'm not sure why I keep buying d-link. Their customer support is sub-par, and their products aren't the best. Linksys is probably a better product.
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FAAAAAST!!!, May 2, 2007
By user (Denver, CO)
Wow! I used a Linksys RT31P2 for the last year or so. It was a piece of junk!! Would slow down, get constipated, and finally died. Since we are Mac family (I have been an IT consultant too long to stay PC) I used the Airport Extreme (802.11g) for a while also. It was reliable.
BUT WHEN I PLUGGED IN THIS D-LINK ROUTER, I realized that all my previous routers had been huge bottlenecks. Over the Airport, my upload speed on Comcast cable modem increased from 4Mbps to 20Mbps. Wow. Didn't even realize Comcast had opened up that much bandwidth. [...]
So in my house we have a wired Mac, wireless Mac, wireless TiVo, Vonage adapter, Airport printserver, Airport iTunes, and they all work fine. I am currently using 802.11g and WPA2 since I don't own any 802.11n stuff yet. Signal strength for 802.11g has doubled on the fringe areas from 30% on my Tivo adapter to 60%.
I bought the D-Link vonage ATA adapter and plugged into one of the ports. I was concerned my phone calls would get choppy since the ATA is behind the router. HOWEVER, THE D-LINK ROUTER HAS SOME VERY GOOD QoS FEATURES AND USING THE AUTOMATIC SETTINGS, THE VONAGE CALLS ARE NOT CHOPPY AND EVERYTHING WORKS FINE.
Build Quality: This router is built a lot more solid than many other routers I have seen, especially the Linksys P.O.S. I just placed in the trash can (best place for it really).
Summary: Gigabit switch is awesome. Router can do SPI and even some deep packet inspection such as H.323 (Netmeeting) compatibility and QOS stuff while maintaining lots of speed. It is VoIP aware and supports SIP and QOS is tuned for VOIP. It works great in a Mac environment and I'm sure would in a PC environemtn also. VERY extensive router setup settings for the home user including INCOMING filters, flexible DHCP server with ability to reserve IP addresses for specific MAC addresses (nice). Will email you the log files, and automatically checks D-Link's website for firmware updates. Overall an awesome router for the money.
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A bit flakey, April 28, 2007
By user (Seattle, WA USA)
I found this router a bit flakey in two repsects.
First, I've found that even after it has estabilished a connection with my ISP, I frequently can't access the internet through it. If I plug my old linksys in, no problems. It usually happens if I've physically done something with the router. At first I thought it was the network cable, but after replacing the network cable twice I don't think that's it. I've found that resetting the router usually gets it back into a good state, but that doesn't leave me feeling very good about the router.
The second thing I've found is that when copying large files (media files > 1 GB) around on the wired LAN, my machines lose connection to one another frequently enough that the copy takes a LONG time to complete due to the network timeout. I haven't tracked down why this is the case, but it doesn't happen with my 100 MB linksys and it does with this router. Again, leaves me kind of regretting the purchase.
I will say that I like the config UI and it was really easy to set up. The wireless has worked flawlessly and the signal is MUCH stronger than from my previous router. The logging it supports is also much better than anything I've seen in other routers.
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So far so good, April 28, 2007
By user (Irvine, CA)
Shopped for a router for a while, took a chance on this one. First one was a lemon -- after calling D-link support, they told me to return it. Just bought a replacement, and this time setup was a snap. Network range is improved, but not stunning. That may have more to do with the peculiarities of our house, hard to know. Most importantly, it works as advertised thus far!
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Finally a Router that Works, April 20, 2007
By user (New York, NY USA)
I had many years ago a d-link router that had problems. Since then I was using Edimax and Linksys (WRT54GS). The latter was crashing several times a day. I replaced it with Dir-655 and since then no problems.
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Link to good review, April 20, 2007
By user
First off, I don't own this router, but I had to rate it in order to post a review. I gave it 5-stars to stay consistent with the other reviewers.
The reason I'm reviewing a router I don't own is because after reading the (very helpful) reviews from customers, I wanted to add a link to a "Barefeats" review that got me interested in this router since a few of you mentioned that there isn't a lot of info out on this router yet. Barefeats is an excellent site and had this to say: [...]
I am purchasing this router today based on what I've heard. My first router was a D-link, and I have to say that I said I would never buy another one again. Initially their customer support was so-so, and then they gave me the cold shoulder and refused to talk to me once they stopped providing tech support for my particular model of router. I only needed the tech support b/c it was my first router and D-link offered no Mac support via a set-up wizzard or in the way of a paper or on-line manual.
Apparently D-link is still the same...bad customer support and no Mac instructions. But now I know how to set-up a router and if the product works like everyone says then I won't need to talk to D-link. I trust BareFeats a lot, so I'm going to give it a try. Hope the link helps.
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Xtremely good product, April 17, 2007
By user (Vancouver USA)
I bought this the other day along with a D-Link DSL-2320B modem. The router works beautifully. Easy to set up and very good signal strength. The D-Link modem didn't work out and D-Link Tech Support wasn't very good at resolving the issue so I had to take that back. I connected another modem to the router though and it works great. I haven't bought a media streamer yet so don't know how that will work but suspect it will do just fine based on what I've seen the DIR-655 do so far.
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Works fine with Mac OS X, April 13, 2007
By user (Seattle, WA USA)
I'd like to address the previous rant/review. It took 10 minutes for me to configure this router with my Powerbook G4 running Tiger 10.4.9 (fully patched) using Firefox 1.5. I didn't experience any issues. I also connected to the router interface with my Powermac G4 MDD running 10.4.9 and Firefox 1.5 without any issues. I browsed all the panes since I wanted to check out all the settings and options. I'm not a fan of Safari so I don't generally use it but I fired it up to test the interface. I was able to connect and browse the management interface without any problems. Mileage may vary, but I couldn't duplicate the reported errors.
As for the general review, I'm happy with my purchase. I moved into a 3 story house last April and had been experiencing wireless connectivity issues with my Aluminum Powerbook and my old SMC wireless router located in my second floor office. I had limited signal strength on the first and third floors. There were a couple of 'sweet spots' where I could sometimes get 2-3 bars (roughly 25% signal strength)on either floor. I was ususally unable to get a strong enough signal to connect. I tried external antennas from various vendors and experienced the same problems. My new Xtreme D-Link DIR-655 (using only the built-in antennas) shows full bar strength throughout the entire house. Air Stumbler showed signal strengths between 50-85% throughout the entire house. I can even get a 70% signal strenght outside on our third floor deck.
As I stated earlier, configuring the router out of the box only took 10 minutes. This included MAC address filtering, WPA2, SSID, changing IP settings, configuring DHCP, and all the associated reboots. I thought it was silly that each saved change required a system reboot but the boot process is quick so it isn't really that much of an issue. The interface is pretty intuitive. I didn't look at the manual since I would have had to load the CD and open up the PDF file (doesn't come with a printed maual). The router shipped with the latest firmware so I haven't gone through the update process yet. Once you have the router configured, your are able to save the settings to a file that can be used for future recovery.
My only regret with this purchase is that I waited so long to upgrade my old SMC router. I'm not interested in the N functionality since I'm stuck with the Airport G card on my Powerbook. This is more expensive than the G protocol routers but the improved signal strength is worth the cost. The price is also more palatable considering the number of features that I haven't used yet (QoS, Port forwarding, etc.) I'd recommend Xtreme N to anyone hoping to improve signal strength issues. If you are serious about upgrading to the N protocol, you might want to wait a little longer to get a better read on when the standard will be established and to see if a firmware upgrade would bring the Xtreme N into compliance.
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Intel Mac users beware!, April 12, 2007
By user (San Francisco, CA United States)
Intel Macs running the current version of Mac OS X (10.4.9) are incompatible with this router. The configuration page does not render properly on any of my three Macs, regardless of whether they use a wired or wireless connection. And with the latest AirPort firmware on the MacBook, the WPA settings cause a system crash (kernel panic).
D-Link technical support was no help. I sent them an email with a screen shot from Safari and Firefox, and they responded: "You shoudl [sic] be able to do it with safari. Can you try it in another environment?" So they didn't properly answer my question, and they never responded to my two follow-up emails. Zero stars for tech support!
The reason I'm giving this product two stars is that it did work properly with my Windows computers. But Intel Mac users should look elsewhere. I did.
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Great speed and range but at first it killed my laptop, April 1, 2007
By user (Novato, CA USA)
Extreme N Cable Router has fantastic range and speed. My laptop seems like it's hooked directly to my DSL. For these reasons, I give it a good recommendation. BUT BE CAREFUL. Initially, it repeatedly gave me a blue screen of death in my two year old Dell laptop. I got tremendous help from cnet.com and got a cure. Althouth "backward compatible" in theory, I had to get updated drivers for the built in Intel wireless in my laptop. If you plug in the router for the first time, and within seven seconds your wireless computer crashes in a blue screen of death, turn off the wireless router, get online with a "hard wire" connection and get updated drivers. Do not take your laptop to a repair store. Out of range of the wireless router it will work fine and they will not understand your concern that there is a computer killing death ray at your home. BUT, once you get the cure, it's great.
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