| D-Link DI-524 Wireless 54 Mbps High Speed Router (802.11g) |
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Model: DI-524
Brand: D-Link
Manufacturer: D-Link Systems, Inc.
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 253
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Share your Internet connection with built-in 4-Port switch
Compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b networks
Advanced Firewall and Security Controls
Built-in 4-Port SwitchOperating range of up to 328 feet indoors, up to 1,312 feet outdoors
Quick and easy set-up |
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| Description: |
| D-Link AirPlus G 802.11g Wireless Router - The DI-524 from D-Link can handle all of your networking needs. Utilizing the built-in 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch, you can wire your computers together in the standard fashion, or you can go wireless with 802.11g technology. Transferring data through the air at up to 54Mbps! The router and built-in firewall portion of the DI-524 allows for easy & safe broadband Internet sharing. Advanced Firewall Features - NAT with VPN Pass-through (Network Address Translation) MAC Filtering IP Filtering URL Filtering Domain Blocking Scheduling Dimensions - 5.6 (l) x 4.3 (w) x 1.2 (h) Weight - 7.8 oz. |
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| User Reviews (253 total): |
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nice unit though small problem with sbc dsl, April 9, 2006
By Gomakeitreal (San Francisco, CA United States)
this is a nice unit. i just bought it to have wireless at home via sbc dsl. but i could not get the connection after setting up pppoe. after browsing online, found this solution which may be useful for someone: log in to the modem. and change pppoe to bridge mode. after this, everything works pretty nicely. (prior to this, called dlink support. they did not know how to solve it.)
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Difficult to set up for PPPoE, April 2, 2006
By jbat (Fla)
I have 2 Di-524's and two Linksys - one wireless. One Di 524 purchased in June 05, I was able to easily hook this up to my linksys router and it works great in the network as a wireless access to the Internet.
So I recently purchased another Di 524. This newer one is a DISASTER. By itself I cannot get it to hook up to my verizon DSL [PPPoE] and it will not intergrate into another network as the older Di524 did!
Sometimes it will connect ok and then disconnects. What a hassle. i don't know what Dlink did to the newer firmware, but it seems to make the newer versions of the di 524 LESS compatible and unreliable.
I will trash this newer di 524, never buy Dlink again, and go back to the very reliable Linksys.
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Crash with 2.4GHz Phone, March 29, 2006
By k shane
Every time I answer my 2.4GHz phone, the Internet connection out of my DI-524 drops for both the wireless AND the LAN! I have changed channels on both devices many times. I also have the latest Frimware.
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The worst product ever!, March 25, 2006
By Boyoon Jung
It seems like that the life cycle of this product is less than a month. I bought this router three weeks ago, and it died yesterday. It had worked poorly for three weeks; it often got locked, and I had to recycle power once for a while. Now, it keeps rebooting by itself. What a waste of moeny and time!
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A router you can't count on, March 24, 2006
By G. Mavor
The first one I bought worked great for about 14 days, then it wouldn't stay connected for more than 5 minutes. Returned it...Now the second one is starting to act up. Not sure what is wrong with these things, but avoid this model if at all possible.
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Works great - but loses signal frequently, March 23, 2006
By S. E Seuferer
So, I decided to get a wireless router so I could hop into the world of wi-fi gaming with my Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. The router itself works just great. I haven't had any problems playing online and it was simple to set up following the directions the setup disc provided.
The PROBLEM however, is that it loses it's signal frequently, causing you to have to unplug the router and plug it back in to reconnect to the net. And this isn't just a once and a while thing, we're talking multiple times in a day on average. Very annoying. So, it's hard to recommend. If I were you, I'd do a little more research into wi-fi and routers before you spent your money on this one. I have had problems with DLink, but this one was recommended for compatibility with the DS and so forth, and so I bought it.
If you don't mind the frequent disconnects (like AT LEAST 2 or 3 times during an average day, in my experience) it does what it's supposed to do. And does it well.
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Router restarts perodically, March 22, 2006
By Simon (New York)
For the past few months, router started perodically and it caused disconnection from internet and stopped some operation which is really bothering me.
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WEP + VPN is a NO NO!!, March 20, 2006
By Sureel Bhurat (Boston MA)
I bought this new router and it SUCKS!!.Initially I started with setting up a WEP for my home office. And each time my VPN is left idle for sometime the Wi-Fi signal fades off.
I cannot even see a signal when I am sitting infront of the router.
On the other end in the same scenario a wired connections works fine. So if your work is wi-fi dependent, I would think twice before getting it.
Hope it helps.
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A good router, March 17, 2006
By snowman (Eagan, MN)
I purchased this router very recently (in the last week of feb 06) and I am happy to say that till now it works fine. The setup was easy and I followed the s/w provided by D-Link. I didn't expect the s/w to work (I had seen come complaints about it in some of the reviews) but it worked for me (I have a Dell Laptop with Win XP )
The setting up of security features was also easy. I can get consistent high speed connectivity with this router.
Right now the only problem I face is that the router signal drops from excellent to very good sporadically (the router is in my study and I sometimes take the laptop to the living room and the 2 are seperated by a wall). Hopefully this doesn't imply signs of trouble for me.
Also D-Link could improve on its mailing rebates trackinig. This part is pathetic.
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Works, works, works, March 15, 2006
By (Rick) (Manhattan Beach, CA United States)
D-Link's "cheap" wireless router has renewed my faith in home wireless. I'd been struggling along with an old 802.11b router for a couple of years, and I learned to put up with its mysterious dead zones, odd changes in TX rate, and periodic freezing that required a restart of the router.
Switching everything over to 802.11g, with the DI-524 as the centerpiece, completely changed the wireless environment for me. Setup was easy, no software required. I set the admin password, changed the SSID, set it to non-published, turned on MAC address filtering and 128-bit WEP just minutes after I activated the unit. Three wireless devices are connected almost all the time, and I haven't seen any kind of freeze or dropout in 3 weeks of heavy use. I'm getting 4 out of 5 signal bars throughout my house, even when punching through one floor and several walls.
The DI-524 is a stable, well-engineered product.
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PlugNPlay, March 13, 2006
By ff_mac (Fairfield, IA USA)
Great price
Easy to setup
Works like a charm
Has advanced features such as virtual server.
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Be Aware of Multiple Hardware Revisions, March 12, 2006
By David Rolfe (Pasadena, CA USA)
I bought a DI-524 a few days ago, and so far it's worked like a charm. Plugged right in, picked up the signal, zips right through my web transactions without stumbling. But I haven't used its wireless functions yet, nor have I had it long enough to testify whether it will stand the test of time. So as a review, this is preliminary, but I'll make a few practical comments to help you evaluate your choice.
First of all, my unit is Revision E, and you'll probably get the same thing if you order a new DI-524, or maybe even a newer model if they decide to make one in the future. If you look at the D-Link web site support page, you'll find reference to (at the time I write this) Rev. A, C, D, and E. Normally in electronics, I don't necessarily expect a revision update to be a big deal for the end user. I think of a revision as a few minor refinements to the hardware. But it seems likely that, for this model, each revision is changed enough to be judged as an entirely different product. I see that the D-Link support page offers different versions of the firmware for each revision; you would expect a single version of the firmware would support all the hardware if the changes had not been drastic. If you read the various user-submitted reviews of the DI-524, you'll see that comments vary all over the map. A few of the comments specifically reference the writers' knowledge of revisions, and these seem to generally approve of the D and E revisions. It's possible that Rev. A and maybe C were not quite ready for prime time. (I generally assume that a newer revision or firmware update is better, but that isn't always true.) So I've got to look with some uncertainty upon reviews that do not specify the product revision.
With a low price and periodic rebates, I assume the DI-524 is getting blown out as the newer 802.11a or 802.11n or other enhancements come to market. So if you want serious, maximum, leading edge wireless coverage, this probably isn't your choice. If you want basic coverage at a minimum price, this looks good. And it's modern and full-featured enough for a typical user: Router, 4-port switch, 802.11b/g wireless with WPA encryption (but not WPA2). (WPA is better than the older, compromised WEP.)
The DI-524 worked right out of the box with my Surfboard cable modem. (Some comments suggest the setup is slightly more involved for a DSL PPPoE configuration.) Following the advice of some other reviews, I ignored the included disk with the D-Link setup wizard, and simply pointed my browser to http://192.168.00.1, and logged in as user "admin" with a blank password. This gives access to all the settings, for those who know what they're doing.
With respect to any comments about D-Link tech support: When purchasing a low-priced device like this, I have no expectation of live technical support. The instructions and support on the manufacturer's web page (supplemented, if you care to look for them, by various user-supported forums) are adequate.
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D-Stink, March 10, 2006
By M. Walczak (Chicago, IL)
Alright, so I don't mean to say that I could build a router better than D-Link myself, but this one stinks. There is about seven feet between it and my HTPC, and I can't tell you how many times I need to repair my connection each day. Furthermore, I sometimes use my laptop on my bed (approximately 3 feet from the antenna) and rarely can I connect to my network. You get what you pay for with this. The hardwire routing is great, but the wireless signal is shamefully weak. I would recommend anything made by Linksys. You pay more, but your product is far superior to anything made by any other company. You can also find cheap routers by Belkin and Netgear - both of which are better than D-Link. God Bless, and Happy Shopping!!!
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Excellent, March 9, 2006
By Nish (Des Moines,Iowa)
This is an excellent wireless router. I am using it from last one month.Till today no problem at all.
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Freezes and locks up, March 7, 2006
By jpfischer (Porto Alegre, Brazil)
I didn't paid attention to the customers that described this router behaviour... Forget using anything like EMule, Kazaa, DCC or VoIP software with this router, it will freeze randomly and very (I mean VERY) frequently. It will also lock up when the network demand a higher throughput.
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Good Product, March 5, 2006
By R. Pawar
I didnt have any problem with this product. It was easy to install the software and it was up and running Over all a good product.
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Good performance, March 3, 2006
By Raja Ruban (Houston, TX, USA)
I bought this router a month back and it seems to be very good. I have not faced any problem and the setup is also very easy.
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Works great.., February 27, 2006
By R. Gangisetti
Not a bad wireless router..I saw lot of bad reviews regarding this after I made the purchase. I have been using for over a month now. It was very easy to setup, and did not encounter any problems so far..
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Simple answer to complicated tasks, February 27, 2006
By Ruslan Shlain (Buffalo Grove, IL United States)
Greate product. Fast and esy setup. It does all things that expancive routers do, but with out the hassle of the set up and paying lots of $$.
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Worked but not now, February 26, 2006
By Ashish C. Goel (Chicago, IL)
First of all CD that comes along with the router is crap. Don't even open it. You will have to go to D-Link support site and check setup guide anyway. Secondly mine was working but suddenly stopped one day. I haven't tried after that so can't say. I gave three stars because it worked well while it was working !!
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