| 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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DI-524 can't hold a connection, April 22, 2005
By Gadget Lover (Northern Virginia)
I've had the DLink DI-524 for eight months. Although the wired features work well, I have been unable to maintain a wireless connection (at 20 feet). The signal drops every 2-3 minutes. I've upgraded the firmware twice and spent 20+ hours troubleshooting. Tech support solved some issues, but couldn't resolve the signal loss. Forums on the web contain dozens of examples for this same problem. When I finally gave up and bought a Motorola, it performed flawlessly from the same location with the same settings and network systems. Caught red handed, DLink finally agreed to discuss a replacement, but it took them five weeks to respond to my email -- after four follow-ups and an info copy to the better business bureau. They reminded me that they never provide a refund ("No exceptions!") and reminded me that if I'd read the manual, I would have KNOWN that I had to call the 800 number instead of using email. I called, and the recorded message referred me to the RMA.DLINK.COM web site!
I've had bad products before, but the key issue here was DLINK's repeated denials that anything serious was wrong, and their attempt to ignore me, then blame me for the problem. I have 20+ years of IT experience. Evidently SOME of these routers work as advertised ... DO YOU FEEL LUCKY?
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Easy to use and Recommeded for First Timers, April 21, 2005
By Lucky
I installed this for my parents so that they could also roam wirelessly throughout their home with their laptop. Even though their laptop is usually in the same spot everytime I come over. :p
I have a mostly wired network at home and have my own access point seperate from my router. But this little device actually performs quite well for it's price and size.
The setup was easy, the confugurations were simple and straight forward, and I haven't had any trouble from it in the past 3 months my parents have been using it.
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The Darn Thing Just keeps on Going!, April 21, 2005
By Meatball Sub Incense (Unified Carcass Burners)
I've had this router with me for about 3 living arrangement changes and each time I change my location this comes with me. Each and everytime this is the device that powers my Internet conenction sharing and firewall, AND wireless access. I love it.
Whether it sits on the dirty cement floor, or high up on a shelf, it seems to work great.
Setup is always simple thanks to the setup wizard, and if need be I can set it back to factory settings with a paperclip and some patience. I really do appreciate the low cost of this router and the over abundance of use I get out of this. I once had all four wired ports full of computers and 3 wireless connections connected to this router and we were all playing some online web games and everything worked fine.
I can't get over the price per performance this thing outputs. Big ups to D-Link!
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Perfect Little Wireless Router, April 19, 2005
By Mr. Wheel and Deal
I brought this home from Best Buy as a replacement to my old router as for some reason it stopped working. When I got home I was able to setup and get this router working in a matter of minutes. Setup and installation weren't hard at all thanks to the quick install guide and easy to use wizard.
After installation everything has been working fine since the second I plugged it in. I did have to upgrade the firmware, which made me re-configure the firewall and router settings, but after that everything worked great.
My wireless connections are stable, my wired connections are stable (as expected), and my wireless range is surprisingly further than my old wireless router. This was almost too easy.
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Not a helpful company!, April 19, 2005
By pbjrrapp (Cleveland, Ohio)
I bought this unit for a small retail store. It's primary purpose was to act as the router for the three computers in the store, and to access the DSL.
I spent more than four hours on the phone with tech support trying to get it to communicate with the DSL unit. The tech support from my ISP was more helpful than D-Link. My ISP even tried to help me fix the settings on the D-Link unit. End result is that I have replaced the unit with one from US Robotics and it hooked right up without a hitch!
D-Link's tech support tried for a while then gave up pointing the finger at my ISP, saying that the name and password had to be wrong since all of their other settings were correct. I could have accepted this, except that when we logged on without the D-Link in between the password worked fine.
D-Link's tech support finally (after two days and more than four hours on the phone) admitted that the unit may not be working properly. Worst tech support I have ever experienced!
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I wish foresight was 20/20, April 14, 2005
By I do this for a living (Just west of the Big Dig)
I bought the DI-524 to replace my LinkSys BEFSR41 and to be able to use my laptop wirelesly.
The wireless connection was horrible. It kept dropping. The speed would go from 1.1 MBps to 11 MBps & back. I figured, "well, it's wireless, it's bound to happen."
However, even my workstation that's wired DIRECTLY to the DI-524 would disconnect every 10-15 minutes. I play MMORPS & getting disconnected even for a second is a very bad thing indeed.
I updated to firmware, replaced the cable, replaced my NIC. All the same. I reinstalled my NIC & reconnected the LinkSys & all is good again.
I'm returning this unit & I'm going to get a LinkSys WRT54GS instead.
Moral: I should have stuck with what I had to begin with.
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I Love the 802.11g Speeds!, April 12, 2005
By Vegan Warrior (Seattle)
I just upgraded from 802.11b to 802.11g (I know I'm late, but whatever) and the speed increase is amazing! I can transfer files over the network so much quicker now.
I have been using 802.11b for a while now, and didn't feel like upgrading because of money and the fear of getting my router/AP working the way I want. Most router/APs are difficult to get working properly.
Well this router was not one of those older router/APs. This one was easy to install, and I get blazing speeds anywhere in my apartment. OK so it's not amazing that I get wireless coverage in my one bedroom apartment, but believe it or not I'd get dropped sometimes with my older 802.11b router/AP. Now I don't get dropped and I have faster speeds. Weeeeeeeeeee!!!
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Fits my Simple Needs at Home, April 11, 2005
By Peaches (Austin, TX)
I have this wireless capable router in my home, and have for about a month now. I am pleased with it's performance as I've never had to curse it out for being a bad router. :)
From what I remember the installation of this router was very easy and I had zero problems. I can always check and see how the router is doing by going to it's web interface via my web browser and checking out the status page. Or the Logs. I don't always knwo what they mean, but if nothing looks out of the ordinary then I feel ok.
The wireless portion of this router works pretty good to. Nice and secure, which keeps out my neighbors, the range is good in my home, I can even go outside. Overall I like this router and would recommend it to other casual computer/internet users out there. It's priced right too!
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The No Hassle Small Wonder, April 9, 2005
By Chris Balzack (Blue State)
This wireless router is so small. I pictured it would be bigger than it actually is. It takes up so little space and I like it.
Other than the physical attributes the software and hardware side seem to work very good as well. It wasn't hard to setup, as most people have found, and for me, the reliability of connections seemed to be just fine. I've been running this router for about two weeks or so now and I've never had to touch it since the first install. I use my PC a lot and would notice if I dropped from the Internet or network all together.
Since this is easy to use, reliable, and has such a small footprint on my desk I have to give it a 5 star rating. Not to mention the low low price. :) w00t!
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No cheap to be good, April 2, 2005
By tech girl (San Francisco, CA)
I bought this router mainly because of a $40 rebate offered through Bestbuy. Since I got such a good deal...I wasn't expecting it to be the best router I could find. I was just looking for something simple to set up a small network in my apartment. It was easy enough to install, but the quality of the connection was terrible. It keep droping from the internet about every five minutes. I downloaded the upgrade from the support site, and still the same problem. This is definately an item that is priced too good to be true.
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Setup According to Plan, April 1, 2005
By Admiral Ackbar (It's a TRAP!)
First I should note that the setup was very easy to do. So easy in fact that when I was done I was sad there wasn't anything else to configure. I've always thought that setting up my own router would be a difficult task and I needed to know all about networking to get it done correctly. Well, apparently I don't *have* to. :)
Just follow the setup guide included in the package and you will be fine. I've heard that cable internet access is easier to configure than DSL, but I've never had DSL so I can't say yes or no.
After the initial setup I haven't done anything else to this router and it just keeps on working like it should. I haven't had any Internet hick-ups, or dropped/rebooting problems, and I definitely can say that this router does it's job very well.
Summary:
Setup was easy. duh.
You don't have to be a network guru to get this working.
It keeps working good for me, so I see no reason why it wouldn't for you.
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Very Good Product for the Money, March 31, 2005
By Jer Jer (Atlanta, GA)
I have installed this router in my parents house and I have the model up from this one DI-624 and they are both very similar. This is like the DI-624 due to it's reliability and wireless coverage area. It is different in regards to it's max speeds (base speeds are the same) physical size, and cost.
I love my DI-624 and this DI-524 gives my parents zero problems. The setup wizard on this DI-524 is very straight forward and walk you through crucial steps rather nicely. I'd recommend it to all.
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Works for me (so far!), March 30, 2005
By Outdoor cook (Burlington, NC)
I just got this router today, and with a rebate it comes to $19.99. I plugged it in and followed the instructions, it worked immediately. We have 4 wired desktops (XP pro in 3 and W98 in 1) and 3 wireless laptops (2 with wireless built in Centrinos, b and g running XP Pro and Home, and 1 is a 3 yr old IBM Thinkpad with a Dlink Wireless G cardbus card running W2000). Everything worked after configuring as instructed and restarting. Hard to complain with 7 different networked devices all working at once! Now, time will tell if it holds up. I still have one more laptop to try, an old Toshiba Celeron 400 with a MS wireless card running W98.
Update 4/12/2005
Got the old Toshiba laptop on the network, no problems with that. But there was one computer with drop out problems, which were solved with the firmware upgrade: I have the C revision which had the 3.0 firmware, and now 3.02. Seems to have cured the dropout problems, and a throughput issue: seems much faster now too. I think it was worth the $19.99 after rebates!
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Five stars for Affordability to Performance Ratio, March 29, 2005
By Indy (the dog)
I couldn't believe how inexpensive this router was when I bought it. I intentionally kept the recipt away from the trash while I was setting this up in case it was rubbish. I've come to find out that I was wrong with my assumption.
This router is;
1) Easy on the bank account
2) Had a simple setup guide
3) Easy to setup
4) Easy to configure
5) Reliable in its function
6) Has been running perfect for 2 months
I have to compliment D-Link on thier achievement to provide good quality low price routers. In this day and age, everyone should have a router at home for security reasons, and wireless accessability is just a plus.
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Excellent little Router with Wireless, March 24, 2005
By Jedi Knight (Dantooine)
All-in-all this is a good router for it's price.
OK so some features are left out and it's not the fastest (108Mbps = DI-624) router D-Link makes, but it's just fine for most.
Let's face it, most people aren't avid wireless networking buffs who know how all this stuff works. But this router makes things a little easier to handle with its small price tag and simple to use inferface and the whole "set it and forget it" mentality.
Personally, I've setup a couple of these, they were for either family members or friends. All I have to do is update the firmware, set the basic features up and leave it that way. The only problems I've come across involving this router were with my parents. They said their internet "just wasn't working" so I had them reboot (unplug power, count to 10, plug power back in) their cable modem (provided by ISP) and the same to this router. tehy were back up and working in 3 minutes. The router handles everything automatically when it's rebooted. As most do.
Either way I've never had to replace any of these, nor have I heard complaints of wireless connections being dropped while in range.
I gave this 5 stars because from the few that I've actually installed I haven't had to see them again since. And that's a good sign for me. Thanks D-Link for the inexpensive, yet reliable router.
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Works Wonders, March 23, 2005
By Jared Pie
I am just pleased this inexpensive router can handle all my WinMX transfers. It wasn't hard, thanks to the easy to navigate web based interface, to open certain ports so I could use WinMX properly. I have tried other P2P programs, but I find WinMX to be my favorite, and I've heard of other P2P programs not working correctly with some cable/DSL routers.
Everything else with this router works as it should. I didn't really put everything to the test, but the wireless works, my Internet connection is reliable, and I can use my WinMX. Everything is great on my end, and if you are like me, I think you will enjoy the simplicity of this D-Link router.
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Router was easy to setup and works great!, March 22, 2005
By Internet User 554 (Indiana, USA)
This router was very simple to set up. It basically walks you through the setup procedure with a setup wizard. This will take you to the settings that are necessary to change in order for it to perform its basic functions and be secure.
After that you can tweak the settings to your liking. It's very straight forward and if you want to see it for yourself go to D-Link's product page of this product, or other router, and look for the link labeled "EMULATOR" underneath the picture of the product itself. This is an emulator of the interface so that you can become familiar with it while you are waiting for your online order to arrive. This helped me whiz through my setup.
The wireless range of this covers my apartment well, and both wireless and internet have been more reliable since I bought this.
TIP: If the wireless signal/range isn't what you'd like it to be, try changing the channel the wireless network uses. Default is channel 6, so try 1, or 11 for best results.
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This Router is Inexpensive and Works!, March 22, 2005
By Marcus J. (ATL)
That's right, I just wanted a wireless router that 1) worked and 2) didn't cost very much.
I found it! This D-Link router can do 54Mbps 802.11g support and the reliability/up time is perfect. I don't see any wireless signal drops, or internet connections dropping so I am very happy.
Setup was rather painless, and further configuration was simple once you figured out where to go within the router's configuration screens.
I'm pleased with this inexpensive purchase and would recommend D-Link, if not just this router, for ease of use and reliability.
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Wireless is the Way to Go!, March 22, 2005
By Mr. Man (New York, NY)
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
I'm on my couch surfing the Internet without any wires attached to my laptop. Just some blinky lights and the perfect seat. :)
I am so happy I bought this router. I've personally never tried wireless until now. My laptop had it built in, but I never had an access point to connect to. Well this D-Link router can handle it, and it handles it well.
At first I was hesitent about wireless all together, but now that I read up on it a bit, and learned what I needed to know to secure my wireless and getting running best I did it. And thanks to this little D-Link router I was able to do it with no fuss.
Plug it in like the quick install guide says, go to the right IP address, go through the setup wizard and off you go! I was connected to the Internet and tested it on my desktop and it worked. Then I went straight to the laptop and configured the wireless settings to the right SSID and WEP code, and viola!
I'm now on the couch surfing my favorite sites while I half pay attention to the TV. This is great! I never have to leave the couch again. Except for the bathroom, and even then I can bring my wireless laptop with me. :D Thanks D-Link!
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No complaints here. This router works just fine for me., March 17, 2005
By A. Yang (San Francisco, CA United States)
I was very apprehensive about buying this router because of all the negative reviews. However, I couldn't resist the tempting price tag and decided to take a risk.
Setting it up was a cinch, and so far it's worked liked a charm. I purposely waited for a month before posting this review to make sure that it does not crap out on me. No problems here so far. I would give it 5 stars, but the router's build quality, along with many of dlinks products, does feel a bit cheap. My previous dlink router got stepped on by my fat sister and stopped working. I'm keeping this one away from her foot steps this time around.
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