-Link, the industry leader in wireless networking, continues to offer breakthroughs in wireless connectivity. With the new D-LinkAir DI-514 Wireless Router, the latest member of the D-LinkAir family of competitively-priced wireless networking products, D-Link once again sets the new price/performance standard. The DI-514 combines the proven stability of 802.11b wireless technology and D-Link’s own robust firewall security features. The DI-514 is ideal for those creating their first wireless network, as well as for more advanced users looking for additional management settings and policy-based content filtering. Filters can be set based on MAC address, IP address, URL and/or Domain Name. simple yet intelligent, web-based setup wizard makes the DI-514 easy for any user to quickly and securely connect computers to share a high-speed Internet connection, files, resources, games or just to communicate. An integrated 4-port switch allows direct connection of up to four computers. Several wireless clients can also securely connect to the network using 64 or 128-bit WEP encryption. Additional advanced features include pass-through of multiple concurrent IPSec and PPTP VPN sessions for telecommuters or for anyone who needs to transmit sensitive information more securely. The D-LinkAir DI-514 is the ideal networking solution for small business, workgroups, home offices, and schools.
1 all DLink is JUNK! Avoid at any price
I bought one of these two years ago, new for $150 but could never get it to work even with the matching DLink wireless card and a $90 extender. Max range was less than 30 feet line of sight! Turns out it was defective but support ran me around for weeks and wouldn't replace it. I'm a network engineer and had no trouble with a cheap Netgear router that's widely available. AVOID DLINK WHATEVER THE PRICE. It is all junk. A friend who owns a computer store got stuck with 20 of these that don't work (both single and dual antenna models are weak or don't work at all from the factory). I've never seen such a poor excuse for equipment spread around so widely. Avoid this entire brand.
2 You get what you pay for . . .
...most of the time. In this case, take the $7 and buy yourself lunch - you'll get a lot more for your money. This router is trash. It will never stay connected for more than a few hours at a time. The settings web-interface is unintuitive and the help is no more than a vague description of the "features." I've never gotten it to work correctly with multiplayer internet gaming and you can also forget using a psp with it. I'm still using it, and I'm plagued by it every day. One day, though. One day. I will get duct tape it to a tree stump and smash it with a hammer. It will be a good day.
3 easy full function for the mac platform....
....i'll admit, with some of the negative reviews listed, i was a little worried, but i couldn't resist finding the exact list of features that i needed - at this price . . . it is "only" 802.11"b", but so is my ibook's airport card. considering the other positive reviews, all i really needed to say here is that i have no problem using the wireless with encryption on, and i lose a few bars at the far end of the house, but i have had no singal drops. it all worked straight out of the box (we are talking about macs), but it did take a few hours to make sure i had everything set up how i wanted (though that included running 100' of ethernet cable outside and around the house to an older imac). there are no problems viewing other os's on the network, and speeds are good, and understandably taxed when two machines are viewing image heavy web. i believe most of the problems people have written about could have been resoloved if they'd just disconnected their cable modem for ten seconds. finally, seperate from the product performance, amazon has really proven their customer commitment to me with their service this one....
4 IT ROCKS!!!
The Dlink 514 router is my second router in a short span of time and i am really happy with the performance i am getting through it. in simple words it ROCKS!! the setup was done and the router was ready in just 10-15 minutes. Though i needed some help related to ports forwarding, but i got all the information on their support site and they have a list of applications for which u can use port forwarding and the range of ports to be forwarded. I guess the support team for dlink is wonderful. Previously I had a netgear MR814, and i had constant problems with dropped connections, and hard boot of modem and router every 2-3 hours!!!
For this less price, This is a great router for its price....
Completely Recommend it
5 Avoid this router.
This product has so many bad reviews that I'm surprised they're still selling it. The router drops the signal every 1 or 2 minutes. Wireless doesn't work if you want to use WEP. Don't waste your time and money in this item. I got much better results with the LynkSys G wireless router.
6 Never had a problem...
I basically use this router to connect to 3 devices. I connect it to my PC and Xbox and use the wireless connection for my PSP. I have so far not had any problems. I don't get much lag in games unless my connection drops out, which is due to my modem. My modem is connected to the opposite side of my appartment from where it was installed to be used at. Since there are multiple cables running through my appartment to get to my modem, the connection drops from time to time. I have yet to find a problem witht he router though. When I got my PSP, I did learn that I had to download and install a firmware update to get connected wirelessly, but have done so and get online without a problem. I'm probably going to get another to stick at the other end of my place to get a better connection than the cables I have strung about...
7 Keeps dropping the connection
Just got this 514 today. I got it on buy.com for 9 bucks so that was a steal. However, I am starting to realise why they gave it away for $9. The setup was pretty smooth. I got it done in one shot. However, it has been dropping the connection every 5 minutes or so, sometimes even more often. I am sitting right in front of the thing and the signal strength is excellent. I do not understand why this is happening.
For what I paid, I will live with the dropped connections. This router is not worth even a penny more though, so be careful before you buy.
ps. The connection dropped thrice in the space of writing this mail. I am starting to think whether it is even worth what I paid!
8 Don't waste your money and sanity on this junk
This is the worst piece of junk I've ever bought. And the customer service people are idiots. I had to send mine in for a replacement and now that has crapped out as well. We even went so far as to hard-wire our computers by going through the attic with 80-ft. of cable and through the walls and disabling the wireless component and it still didn't work!!! Buy the Linksys instead.
9 Not one single problem -- set up in 5 minutes!
This is a great wireless router. [...] I don't need the extra bandwith of G, so B works just fine -- I am just sharing the internet and printing. I got the router and had it set up in less than 5 minutes. It actually started working right when I plugged it in. I spent the next couple of minutes setting up the WEP protection. This is my first router ever so I am not a pro at this by any means. I have left it on for days and I have not been knockec off once. And the range is pretty good too. I have it on the 1st floor, far end of the house. It reaches the other end of the house in my basement.
10 Complete garbage
I also have a linksys router and the linksys works perfectly. The d-link router was included for free when a friend bought his laptop. Even for free it was not worth it. We couldn't even access the config menu in the first one we had. Upon returning it, the store gave us no trouble and said they had lots of problems with them. The second unit (the same model) can access the config menu but barely connects. I can't believe the speed is so slow and the range is so bad. Basically, if it even connects, you can count on your speed being half of the speed you'd get with a direct connection, and the range is limited to the one room (maybe the next room if you're lucky, but it'll soon disconnect).
As I said, I have a linksys and it is so much better than this d-link. This was my only experience with a d-link router, but I'd highly recommend staying away from this brand.
11 A so so router
Well, I kinda agree with the bad reviews: my experience is that it basically works BUT: every so often (say every week) "forgets" the configuration, which means I have to wire the computer to reload the config.
NTP (automatic time setting) does not work, the date jumps back and forth randomly between 1956 and 2030.
Static assignment of DHCP addresses in the LAN also is unreliable, i.e. it gets "forgotten" as well, so that if you open a port for ssh to one address but then the address changes you are screwed.
The built-in dynamic DNS update system does not work (you need a software client on one of the computers to do the same thing).
I use 64 bit WEP encryption without problems.
Performance is reasonable.
In summary: I bought and so I try to make the best out of it, but I wouldn't buy and I do not recommend (quite strongly actually).
12 You guessed it....it sucks
Keeps on dropping my connection...makes it virutally impossible to work from home with this thing...I thought it was just my connection until I read the rest of the reviews. I would just stay away from this one.
13 Works great with my Mac
I've had this baby up and running for about 8 months. Never any problems, and I use it for hours a day. It has great range and great reliability. I would note that many of the bad experiences are probably because of the PC that people are using. The Macintosh works great with this router (like a macintosh works great with everything.)
14 Not a good product.
Used it for about a week now. Constant problems. Half the time you can't access the web based administration. The only way you can fix it is by unplugging it. Sometimes it won't save changes either. I've used Linksys, and I will return this unit and buy the Linksys. I've had a linksys router for about two years now with zero problems.
15 Terrible product
I bought the DI-514 because I wanted to have a wi-fi router and it was only $20. What a mistake. First, if WEP (encryption) is turned on, wi-fi simply does not work. I've tested this with three laptops and two Pocket PCs. Wi-fi does work with WEP turned off, but it's painfully slow, and keeps dropping the connection.
Second, the router's firewall cannot be configured, even though the documentation says so and there's an area in the "advanced" configuration that supposedly lets you set specific firewall rules. No luck. I set the rules and tried everything, but the firewall was still blocking my applications. Very frustrating. The website support is just terrible, with lots of errors in their knowledge database.
I'll never buy anything from D-Link again. My previous router (a Microsoft) was easy to set up and worked like a charm. I shouldn't have given it to my dad... should have just bought another one.
16 Used to drop connections CONSTANTLY -- now fixed!
I've owned this product for about six months, and a while back, I gave it a poor review. The main problem was dropped connections: I'd get dropped about 5 to 15 times per hour. Intolerable!
Well, for those having this problem, visit DLink's website and upgrade the firmware. Apparently, there is a compatibility problem with some laptops. Once I did this, I've had ZERO dropped connections.
I wouldn't say that the setup and upgrade of this router was particularly easy, but my main complaint has been addressed. If you're confident enough to tinker with this piece of hardware a bit, it may be worth the money.
17 Unstable and the worst technical support
I bought this 2 months ago. Since then I couldn't have it working without problems. It reboots itself without any alert. No logs about the problem and D-link don't have any response for this.
18 Connection drop-offs
As others mentioned, it constantly crashes down when the network traffic gets heavy no matter if it's wired or wireless. I wish I could buy an auto-resetting device for it.
Now I'm using belkin, which crashes less frequenty than D-link (about once a week). It seems these consumer routers all lack reliability. Perhaps I shall go for a industrial-grade product.
19 Poor Product -- Worse Support
OK. I should have done more homework in buying the router but simply took the first one the salesman handed me. The connection seems to be OK but when I tried to add a range extender, I ran into huge problems. The first extender I bought was 802.11g compatible. Tech support told me I needed the 802.11b extender. So I bought that. When that didn't work, I called tech support again and spend 90-minutes reconfiguring the I/P addresses to match. When THAT didn't work, I called tech support again, was put on hold for 20 minutes before being told that the two pieces were simply not compatible. I called customer service to find out why the tech support rep couldn't have figured out this incompatibility before wasting my time reconfiguring my system, I was told, alternately, the rep might have been new, the rep may have assumed I knew which one to buy, and that I should have intuitively known to call pre-sales not tech support with compatibility issues. Finally, I called presales to find out that the 514 router doesn't have a repeater so I actually need to buy two range extenders to get my system to work. I think I'll invest in someone else's router instead!
20 Could a wireless router be any worse?
Constantly drops wireless connections, poor firmware, can't handle firewalled connections, and weak signal.
21 Call customer service before you buy any DLINK product
I called customer service for this product, press 1 for sells, press 2 for product info, press 3 for tech. Any number you press, you get the same answer: contact the web site support.dlink.com. Well, as I expected this web site is invalid or inaccesible. Good Luck with Dlink products.
22 Just avoid it
Much like the experience of many people here, I feel that this router is just a wast of time and energy. I got the rev. C and upgraded to the latest 2.4 firmware off of www.dlink.ca I have a lot of experience with computers/networks and the like. At first I set up the router with wireless and 128bits encryption. Well, it kept on freezing. Again, and again, and again. With just one computer connected via cable (not even wireless). I had to unplug the router to re-gain connection.
I hate unreliable hardware/software... so it really iritated me. I read everything in their knowledge base, and followed their advice. It still freezes, but not as often. I wish I had paid a little more and get a reliable connection.
About dlink support. A big joke. I called both their local support line (near Toronto) and their 1-800 number. Well, sometimes these numbers were just busy (for a long time). Have you ever called customer support and it's busy? Worse than waiting a long time in the queue. I called them about a wireless network card (after their support hasn't answered my email request for an rma) AND THE GUY ON THE PHONE INSTEAD OF GIVING ME AN RMA, TELLS ME THAT EMAIL IS UNRELIABLE (EXPLANATION FOR SUPPORT NOT ANSWERING ME) AND THAT I SHOULD SEND ANOTHER EMAIL!!!
Well, my blood pressure went up.
P***ed off with dlink. No more dlink products for me. I'll buy even Microsoft HW over dlink from now on.
23 Others dont know what they wrote
This is probably the best router I have had and I have used both Linksys and Dlink. The setup was easy and it has been working fine for me for the past 2 years without any problems and with WEP 64 bit encryption. I suggest to every one to check whether their ISP connection is perfect before blaming every thing on the router.
24 D-Link has gone downhill. Get another brand
I got this wireless router after I had accidentally fried my previous 2-antennae D-Link router when I mixed up my cable modem and router ac adapters.
I wish I never burned out the old router. After a year, this router has been the bane of my existence. Dropped signals became the norm. Firmware updates fixed nothing. The signal drops and comes back randomly, if your lucky. Most of the time, you have to unplug the adapter to reset it, then pray for no interruptions. We run bot Macs and PCs at home, and the dropped signals happens to both computing platforms.
D-Link seems to be turning into a high-and-mighty company that has an "it's not our problem" attitude. In fact, the major University where I work is getting rid of all it's D-Link wireless routers because D-Link refuses to fix a Firmware problem that is causing the University's wireless networks to become unreliable.
I gave this product 2 stars instead of 1 on the sole basis that it has a lot of good customization features for a home router, if you manage to have a stable wireless connection or go wired. A downside is that it has only one antennae. 2-antennae routers allow "wireless diversity", which combines the wireless signals hitting both antennae, giving you one strong signal. It's not a major factor, but a nice plus to have.
Save yourself the aggravation, get another brand like Linksys. Their wireless routers may not have all the techie bells and whistles that the D-Link may have (like Dynamic DNS account updating, etc.), but they have all the important wireless and wired security features you need without frequent dropped signals.
25 Timewaster
The only reason I gave this 1 star is because I can't give it 0 stars. I had this for over a year, and it was terrible. I was always having to reset it, and it would constantly crash in the middle of transferring files. Then, it would just stop working. I called tech support and their answer was to unplug it for five minutes!!! what is that?
I have since bought a Linksys. It not only worked right the first time, it has yet to crash, and it is faster. This D-Link is just a piece of junk.
26 very unreliable
When my computer was idle but connected, the router would disconnect for a few seconds and then reconnect about once an hour. When web-surfing, sometimes it would disconnect/reconnect several times within one minute!!! I got really annoyed at it and returned it. I'm going with Linksys instead, which I've had better experience with.
27 OK for limited Internet use
This router is a low cost solution for someone who doesn't do a lot of heavy Internet use ie. email and a little surfing.
I upgraded the firmware to latest version but the router still occasionaly loses the wireless connection (sucks if you play online games). Tried to enable port 80 forward to setup a small personal website which then caused the router to lockup and I had to reset factory defaults (still haven't go it to work correctly). The router's firmware likes to crash occasionaly when you change settings. If I try to transfer files between computers using wireless it causes the router to occasionaly power cycle.
It's cheap and OK if you only need limited use but any sustained use I wouldn't recommend it. I bought this since it was cheap and looking at many posts on the Internet this router along with other DLINK problems have many issues ... I only used linksys before and probably will never by another DLINK product, anyway you get what you pay for.
28 So far so good...
Purchased this a few weeks ago and just set it up. The instructions in the box are basically useless - compared to the Netgear, for example, you better know what you're doing. But I basically do and didn't have any real trouble with initial setup: MAC address filtering didn't work right the first time and I had to do a hard reboot, but otherwise ok.
Also, a bright spot for customer service. Two of my laptops worked fine out-of-the-box but one could connect but not send or receive packets; I called tech support, and while they slowly read to me off of some manual, they asked enough questions to talk me through configuration steps I've never had to touch before and that worked perfectly - fixed that laptop and kept the others running. Kudos on that, and so far everything's working great!
29 completely unpredictable behavior
this is by far the worst wireless broadband router i've ever used. it shuts any session that's been open more than a couple of minutes down, meaning i have to log back into any ssh connection i'm on. it has very low wireless range compared to similar products by linksys. it randomly drops the connection with my ISP and freezes, most of the time needing to be rebooted. this thing has just been a pain and i can't wait to get rid of it.
30 the worst piece of junk i've ever purchased
DO NOT buy this router. I've installed this in my home and the range is literally 15 feet. Anything beyond 15 feet and the signal comes in and out. It's so bad that I've had this warrantee replaced. Problem is that the replacement is just as bad as the original.
An extra long cable for $20 is a better buy than this router.
31 Don't try using this for serious online gaming
I bought this router because the Linksys version B would not work with my version of AOL (9.0 optimized). This one worked just fine. One problem though, when playing games that transfer a lot of data, such as Planetside or City of Heroes, I lose connection every now and then. Other online MMORPG's work fine 99% of the time (have only been dropped from them about 3 times). So, if you are thinking of purchasing this, or any wireless router, for heavy gaming make sure you get a G model and not a B.
32 First time was chore, but now works great
(4 stars if you read the instructions) I had some issues installing the router to the modem and getting my wiress connection in the other room to read the wireless signal, but that wasn't the fault of the router, the software or the installation process. It was my fault for jumping ahead of the game. If you are running a cable modem, make sure you have reset your DHCP by un plugging your modem first and repopulate the DHCP IP upon the modem reboot.
From there the process works great for what I am using it for. My main "surfing" computer is hard-wired in to the router and I am at about 2500 kps. The wireless access point is sold and the computer in the other room with much less internet use is connected all the time able to surf, retrieve mail and download files quickly.
I am running a secured WEP connection and followed all the installation suggestions in the manual the website to keep my Access Point secure.
The price is great when you include the rebate .
Just remember the promises of works out the box only apply if your read all the installation instructions.
33 Good Buy
I got this router (...) last winter to provide wireless/wired access in my dorm room for my many visitors and studymates. It was fairly simple to set up a MAC address filter and mount the hub to the side of my desk with double-sided tape. Occasionally, I have to leave it unplugged for a few minutes if it stops projecting wirelessly, but otherwise, it provides wireless and/or wired access 24/7. This is a good machine for someone who is interested in simple setup, fair range, and sufficient speed.
34 Enabling Encryption makes the wireless connection useless
This works fine with wired and no encryption modes. If you want your data to be safer then this router may not be the best bet.
Once I enable the WEP encryption, my wireless connection keeps disconnecting for every few minutes ( some times 2 minutes, some times 10). I've upgraded the f/w to 1.02 ( which supposedly fixes connectivity with my laptops Centrino Mobile)
but still the same issue. Made few calls to the support and they tried changing some parameters and obviously for no use :).
D-link support web page says, enabling WEP causes wireless connection speeds reduce by 10-25%. May be its the same problem with all the wireless routers. Hope d-link fixes atleast the connectivity issues.
35 Utter lack of quality
Bought this item based on low price... first unit was defective out of the box -- returned. Second worked at first, reception was poor. Eventually the unit's reception somehow so much that I'd have to sit right next to it in order to get any wireless connection at all. Response times were then an issue with pages taking from 1-5 minutes to begin loading. Latest firmware installed to no avail.
Finally purchased a Netgear 802.11g router (even though my laptop only has 802.11b built in), reception is excellent, response times are quick.
D-Link has always had quality issues, and hopefully that will be my last experience with them.
36 Good but Slow
I have computers connecting both wirelessly and over CAT5 with this router. Overall, as a router, it has preformed adaquetly. The wired D-Link 604 it replaced never had to be powercycled over 4 months, whilst this 514 has required the treatment twice in 5 months. The 514 has a particulary curious trait that took a call to tech support to iron out. If you run a server, and set up the router to do port forwarding or DMZ to that computer, and then try to open your public IP address from inside your network, the request will be terminated at the router. It doesn't go out to the ISP and back in, the router tries to respond to the request and won't pass the request off to anything else.
The wireless abilities of this router are OK. From my expierence, the router is better off a fair distance from the computers. The optimal distance seems to be about 20' - closer or further, the signal strength fades away. The web administration program offers you fine control over the settings. It supports 64 and 128 bit WEP in both hex and ASCII modes. You also have the ability to disable the wireless portion of the router while leaving the wired portion active.
Port forwarding, outside of the quirk above, is easy to get working. I've only had to call tech support once, and it was an overseas tech I spoke with. Hold time was short, but getting the reason for the router's behavior took a while.
If you're looking for something comparable in speed to wired ethernet, this is not it. I had a media server running inside my network. MPEGs encoded from my TV Tuner couldn't stream in real time, whereas on wired ethernet, there's bandwidth available simultaneously. The 11 Mbits this offers should be enough, but barely, so its hard to know whether the router is not preforming or if there's another factor involved. If you'll be doing file transfers, spend the money to get a Wireless G router instead. But for anything short of file transfers, this should offer you all you need, and the flexibility of not needing the run CAT5 is worth quite a lot.
37 too many drops
i often play online games, and my router has a consistancy of dropping me from time to time. It'll drop connection and reconnect within seconds, but is very annoying and inconvience for a user as myself. this router is okay for seldom use of the internet.
38 Excellent Customer Service
I got this router + wireless card around a month ago. I did not have any problem. Customer service is very good.
39 Very Good Product, with good support.
I have been using this wireless router for over a year and I have had no problems with it. I also have a D-link card in my pc and I get 22MB transfers instead of 10MB or 11MB like most 802.11b wireless networks. You can't beat this router for the price.
Currently I have my desktop, laptop, and xbox live (all wireless) running through this wireless router and it all works flawlessly. I'm also getting the same speeds I used to get with my hard-line connections.
40 Do not upgrade the firmware to 1.02
This product used to work great. A week ago I bought a new IBM laptop, which uses centron CPU. And I found that there was a newer firmware version for the router and then I upgraded it. After that, numerious problems arised. My MSN messenger kept disconnecting once it logged into, and the IE always got stunk while I tried to surf the internet. Sometime it made the IE frozen. Initially, I thought it was ISP's problem or the router configuration's fault. I tried many times to power off the cable modem and modified the configuration of the router and then everything was fine just for a couple of minutes. After that, the wireless connection kept dropping. Even after I restored the factory configrations, the same thing occurred. Finally, I tried to restore the firmware back to version 1.0, then everything is Okay now. Very disappointed in the new firmware. Why put something unreliable in the web? My point is that users do not upgrade your firmware if you have not any problems.
41 Serious wireless security hole
The router works great for me, but I have an important warning: Do NOT disable the wireless feature. I discovered that checking the 'disable' button in the wireless setup page actually leaves the wireless fully operational BUT WITH NO ENCRYPTION. It broadcasts an SSID of 'GeorgeAP22' -- apparently some leftover test mode.
So, set up the wireless encryption, and leave it enabled, even if you have no current need for it. Otherwise, your network is there for everyone to see.
Tech support told me it's a known problem that will be fixed in a firmware upgrade. After two months, still nothing on their website. I have firmware version 2.00.
42 Low wireless data rate and poor tech suppport
The first thing I noticed about this router was that my internet download speed was about 2700 Kbps when connected directly to the router but dropped to 1200 Kbps when operating wireless.
That's with link quality of 100 and only one other computer on the network with no applications running on either computer (aside from the one browser window required for the test). Both computers use DLink DWL-520 Wireless network cards.
To solve the problem I updated the firmware to 1.02. That didn't improve the data rates, but it did make the router's HTML-based menu screens load so slowly that the browser usually timed out.
Following industry standards, DLink apparently mans their first echelon phones with technical illiterates who while capable of following a scripted check list, haven't a clue what's causing your problem or how their sequence of steps might might solve it. For example, to solve the slow menu problem they had me reset the defaults on my browser even though I had no trouble bringing up any other web page I tried. And it made no impact on them that the router menus wouldn't come up any quicker with Netscape.
So, after numerous calls, multiple case IDs, and never talking to the same person twice, I decided it was best to cut my losses and give up before they reconfigured my computer to the point where it wouldn't work at all.
If you surf the web a lot or do internet gaming, stay clear of these products. Stick with a reputable name and save yourself the aggravation and wasted hours trying to make cheap junk like this work. The money you save isn't worth the headaches.
43 Dropped packets
This router seems to have a big problem with dropped packets. I put sniffers on both sides, and found that hosts on both sides would do "a lot" of TCP re-transmits through the hub. Fairly regulary, re-transmits would fail, and it would backout-retry up to 132 seconds before finally getting the data through. As you can imagine, this has a major impact on performance.
I've tried every variety of option, especially the ones on the "performance" tab, to no avail. I've tried re-positioning the hub and the host on the wireless side.
(...)I'll look other other brands of wireless hubs for my next purchase.
44 Good router, great price
Overall this is a good router that is easy to install and performes well. The only reason i did not give it a 5 out of 5 is because it does not support WPA (the new encryption standard) but hopefully there will be a firmware upgrade in the future.
45 Is the best..Excellent Customer service
I bought this router along with the DW650 PC card.
Works very good.
Excellent Customer service.
Easy to install.
46 Lemon!
I bought this product because it at least got three stars and was cheaper than other 3-star routers. I spent three-hours to setup with three separate calls to the D-Link tech support. I would have been better off buying a bit more expensive product.
It would "ping" just fine, but would not be accessible through IE-6. The problem would have been caught if they had just plugged it in before packaging.
Tech Support was OK, but they were very disorganized and seemed to be working on an extremely slow "network" - each one asked for the case#, but couldn't find it - and after stating my name and number they would tell me that I am calling regarding"DI-514" but would not pull-up rest of the info.
Bottom Line: My time is way too expensive to deal with D-Link. Never again.
47 set the preamble to long
This is an option on the advanced tab, performance section. It ships with the default being short, and disconnects every 2 minutes, even when there is activity.
Oh, and go to their website and upgrade the firmware.
Otherwise, the setup is very easy.
Will update after I get a chance to use the firewall.
48 D-Link tech support gets 5 stars
The provided manuals get 0 stars. I could not get this product to work with what the manuals told me, but I sent an email and got a very prompt response that solved all my problems. I'm using a D-Link cable modem, this router, and 2 Dlink DWL-122 USB adapters and it works flawlessly so far. I also have connected one desktop with an ethernet connection. This is great value as long as you can get it to work.
49 Something's messed-up about the encryption and firmware!
I recently attempted to setup a D-Link DI-514 for a friend. Here's what happened:
(1) After changing settings at the router's admin page (...) AND clicking the apply and continue buttons, frequently the settings would not take effect until after the DI-514 had been powered off and on again. This looked like bad firmware to me. (...)
(2) I could not get 64-bit or 128-bit encryption to work with two known good notebooks that work on other encrypted, wireless networks. Encryption is essential for security!
(...) If you didn't change any of the settings, you are not using encryption! Anyone that strolls or drives nearby with a Pocket PC can use your wireless connection. If they monitor your network long enough, they can get your computer's MAC # then use your connection to do bad stuff while making it look like it came from you! Be careful! Also, if you don't change your admin password, a cracker can surf in through your cable/DSL broadband connection and do the same bad stuff I listed above from far away!
(3) Resorting to MAC address filtering, I went to the router's page to set that up. I entered the MAC # and clicked the "apply" button. The screen filled with error messages, and I could not log back onto the router until I pulled the power and turned it on again.
This was a "hardware version: B firmware version 1.00" brand:D-Link model:DI-514 . The release date for this firmware is Oct. 2003. (...). Tech support was squirrelly about commenting on that as well (Although I did get a *BIG guffaw* from the 877 number support rep when I said I was trying to get encryption to work on this model. Was he trying to tell me something his boss didn't want him to tell?).
I do have to give a good rating for the 877 tech support line's *short* wait time. After punching in the last digit before being put in the queue, it was only 7 minutes before the rep was on the phone with me.
(...)
BOTTOM LINE: I could only get it to work in unencrypted mode. The bargain is tempting, but the firmware design is poor and plagued with problems, and it doesn't really do all it says it does on the box. Spend a little more money and get a good wireless router. As they say "YGWYPF" and "The cheapskate pays the most in the end!"
50 Don't do it.
The price is tempting but it isn't even worth 17 bucks or whatever it is after the rebate. I spent three months constantly re-setting the firmware and monkeying with the settings, and finally the thing just gave out and stopped powering up entirely. A completely worthless product that you should avoid at all costs.
51 Know what you're doing?
First, I would rate myself an "experienced hobbyist" when it comes to home networking. Second, I believe most of the well-known suppliers (linksys, netgear, d-link) provide relatively similar equipment. I buy whatever's cheapest, at the time of purchase. So why only one star? This wireless router's firmware is TERRIBLE. It isn't impossible to understand; it isn't impossible to get it to work properly; but it should NOT be this awful. Neatgear and Linksys have great, easy-to-understand firmware installed in their products. For that matter, the DSL modem that Sprint gave me (from Xytel) even has good firmware (it looks an awful lot like the netgear router firmware, actually).
Hey D-Link... The quality of your firmware shares a DIRECT RELATIONSHIP to the ability of a novice/hobbyist to set up your equipment on his/her home network without calling tech support (an additional cost to you). Get it right; get better reviews on your mediocre products; catch up with your competitors in terms of quality and respect.
Easy. Now, do it.
[6-MONTHS-LATER UPDATE: Well only "3 of 10" have found my review useful. okay, i can take criticism. by the way, they've released 2 (TWO) firmware upgrades for this thing. so... maybe i was right? the 2d upgrade fixes almost all of my complaints. The DynDNS updating works (sporadically), and the firewall editor is fixed. had it shipped this way, i'd give it 3 stars for being a perfectly servicable appliance.]
52 Time sucker AVOID this cheap router
Spent hour and hours and hours trying to get this thing to be reliable. It works, doesn't work, it works, it doesn't work. Reset, reboot. It worked for a day then stops.
Absolute crap. My guess is that I got a bad one. Seems there a lot of bad ones out there.
53 Stay away from this Router
Never could get it to pick up an IP address using Dynamic IP, had to type it in manually. Only then would it work. Would drop the wireless clients when any heavy traffic was experienced (and sometime when not so heavy). Finally quit sharing all together, returned it for a Netgear router, much happier.
54 didnt work
It Kinda worked when I first got it, but
once in a while would disconnect. I made
sure no other devices were interfering.
I then turned on WEP, and it also intially
worked, but then it really started getting flakey,
disconnecting every couple minutes.
I felt the top of the unit, it was hot enough
to cook an egg.
Even after I disabled WEP it did not work any better.
I eventually replaced the unit with a netgear 802.11g
unit and wow, so much better.
I did have a rev B unit, maybe they fixed things
for the rev C unit.
I actually used this unit without the wireless port
for several months and it worked great. Just never worked
right on the wireless port, when I got my laptop.
55 Mediocre performace: IMPORTANT CONFIGURATION TIP
I purchased this router because the price was right. I should have stayed with my gut and got a Linksys -- I had connection problems right off the bat. Only one PC would connect at all, and it dropped its connection every few minutes (Using the DWL-650 PC Card).
I finally found an obscure post on a forum for APPLE users, which hinted about a preamble setting in the performance section of the config utility -- SET THIS TO LONG (Short is the default). Connection dropping went from a matter of minutes to a matter of hours and both laptops were able to connect. I was unable to find information on this matter ANYWHERE on D-Link's site.
Overall, I got what I paid for. The DI-514 works marginally well, considering I got it for around $30. Still, I wish I'd spent the money for a Linksys.
56 wireless newby
I bought the DI cause it was best price.
Was able to get wireless connection but unable to get internet access.
D-Link support was helpful. did not wait long the 2nd time i call ed but had to hang up first time cause i could not wait longer. Support was helpful but at end of 15 min they said the unit was defective and to send it back and get new one. So that's what i am doing now. If it works when i get the new unit then i would up this review to 3 or 4 but given it hasnt worked yet ....
57 Good basic wireless router
I bought this router because it was lowest priced unit at the time. It works as expected with no problems except ONE: after few minutes inactivity it kills ssh session from an inside computer to an outside linux/unix server. It is a big hassle because I am used to be able to log in to a mail server and stay connected while the computer is on but now I have log in every time I want to read mail. I think most wireless routers have this problem (Netgear 814 has the same problem) and I suspect it is probably related somehow to NAT/firewall feature which can not be turned off. For example, Netgear 314 does not behave this way.
It is a great product for the price since you really do not need 802.11g routers for two reasons:
1) The standrad is new and still being finalized
2) 11 Mbits/s is all you EVER need unless you are streaming HDTV signal over your home wireless network which I am sure you are not
I also called D-Link customer service about my airplus 802.11b card and as somebody else already wrote hold time was short and I got professional help from an AMERICAN rep.
58 Good support, common features, good product for the price
I looked at many brands. D-Link is commonly thought of as a low-end brand, but the packaging and support would say otherwise. The product is packaged very nice, drivers work great (except for a problem with the USB 80211.B D-Link adapter on Win98 but that's another product to be fair), range is fair. Easy out the box setup, I would one problem but a quick tech call to their 24/7 tech support fixed this (and it only took about 3-minutes to get in and talk to a person), very impressed for what you get her for the money.
I'll save the performance review for the D-Link USB adapter write up, here I'll just say I'm pretty happy.
59 Good basics, poor features
This router works great out of the box as long as you stick with the default settings.
I'm using it with a D-link DWL-700AP to bridge two networks. Using the default settings, everything is great, but when I tried turning on the 64-bit encryption, the two units stopped talking to each other. I called tech support and they said that the encryption simply did not work on the DI-514. I then tried turning on the MAC address filtering, and the router's set-up utility just froze after I entered my computer's MAC address.
Just remember - YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. On the plus side, the tech support guys are helpful once you get through to them.
60 Works well so far
I recently got this router and I had some problems setting it up. I have Windows XP with an Orinoco card, and I experienced the same problem as one of the previous reviewers who could see signal but not get any route. Once I changed my Preamble Type from short to long it worked. If they would have set this as a default option or mentioned it somewhere on their site this could have saved some time, but other than this setup problem, everything has been working well since.
61 Possible gotcha for Mac users
Amazon sent me the 614+ by mistake originally, but it worked fine with my G3/900 iBook. Then they sent me the 514, but it wouldn't let me get on the web when connected wirelessly. I connect via ethernet and no problem, so DHCP is OK. Finally, remembering something I read about using Linux with this router, I went to the Advanced section on the config utility, then selected "Performance", then set the "Preamble Type" to "Long" instead of the default "Short". Wallah! It worked! Don't know if it was because my neighborhood was crowded with other wireless routers, or if because I set the SSID to not transmit (though this didn't cause a problem with the 614+) but anyway that's something to consider if you're having a problem with this router and an iBook. Otherwise, it seems fine so far.
62 go more
First let me say. set up was easy and the router works well, but fork up some extra dough and please get the "g" version. Man Im topped at 11Mbps normally keeps me around 5.5Mbps. This is really slow. You can run a wire and get the norm stregth, but I will be returning this item and the card cause I need more power Scotty. I want to run at 100Mbps.. can't wait for the new modem and card
63 DI 514 WIFI
works great, had a little trouble installing and called customer service. They were very helpfull and solved my problem. I would recomend this product for home use.
64 Small Package, Just Works
I actually travel with a wireless router for work so I wanted one that was small and light. I've tried several and this one is the best of the bunch for being small and light. Some Linksys products have a slightly smaller box but they come with huge, heavy, bulky brick-type transformers. The D-Link products have a very neat, light and small transformer so when combined with the router and transformer, this DI-514 is clearly the winner.
The DI-514 is also shorter and smaller than its 614+ brother and works just as well. (Supposedly the 614+ can have higher bandwidth when combined with a matching PC card but if you want higher bandwidth nowadays, you might as well go with 802.11G anyway).
Meanwhile, this router seems to work very easily. In some applications (like at a hotel) you just plug in the cables and you are on-line wirelessly without any setup at all.
65 Performs Well
This is just about as simple as Wireless Networking gets. You take this out of the box and it only takes a couple minutes to setup. This device practically walks you through every step and suddenly you are done and connecting your laptop wirelessly.
After setting this up I can now share my Internet with multiple devices (PC, Laptop, PS2, and whatever else is Internet capable.
I am happy with this router from D-Link because of the ease of use and simplicity of this router, oh and the low low price. Thanks D-Link!
66 Hey, it works.
I just got cable internet and wanted to share it on my other computer. I've never used one before, and was able to set this up fairly quickly. It works fine, and there's really nothing more to say.
It's low cost comparing to other routers kinda bugged me before I used it, but not anymore. It works, and I can't see spending anymore on another one.
67 Base 802.11b Router that does what it says
I bought this router because I wanted basic 802.11b wireless with my built in wireless adapter in my laptop. This was also my most inexpensive option with the mail in rebate and all.
So far I am pleased with my purchase since the setup and functionality were a breeze. This router has performed perfectly since day one. I get reliable wireless connections with my laptop, and our connection to the Internet is always up. Now all of our computers have access to our broadband with a nice firewall to protect us.
128-bit WEP causes no dips in speed, the range of the wireless is surprisingly good, and the parental controls provide some help in preventing ads and improper sites from appearing on all of our computer screens.
