Reviewed by: DaveMcLain on 07-Nov-09 Rating:

Strengths:Nice coverage/range at my house. It easily covers my house and property 1/2 acre. Easy wall mounting. 1000Mbs wired switch.

Weaknesses:Rather cheesy looking plastic housing. Very numerous and bright blue LED\'s which would be annoying if the router was placed where it could be seen. Latest firmware 1.32 should be avoided.

Summary:The router was given to my by a friend in a trade for a WRT54G set up as a repeater so the price was right. I have the router set up in my machine closet which is under lthe basement steps. It\'s wall mounted which is a snap with this box and something I really like and I think this can be used to help the range to some degree.

I made the mistake of updating to the latest firmware on the router after it was given to me. I think I started out with version 1.08 on my hardware version A2. I upgraded it to the 1.32NA version and this was not reliable using the stock settings. Disabling DNS relay solved the problems I was having with having the router hang after a few days of even light use.

This was my first D-Link router experience and I feel that the hardware is very nice and if they can get their firmware to be as good as the hardware this router will be excellent

Reviewed by: dpbrick on 26-Nov-08 Rating:

Strengths:Easy Setup, including with Vista, using Network Magic (free version); Great Range; Great Speed; Great Reliability!

Weaknesses:None I have found to this point.

Summary:Our SOHO purchased this to replace a NETGEAR router that we\'d almost always had problems with. We were having to reset it on an almost daily basis -- sometimes multiple times per day. I finally gave up on Customer Support after many calls and no help. Anyway, back to the DIR-655. It worked right out of the box. I DID have to follow the instructions -- yes, actually read and follow the instructions to the letter. But they\'re simple and they work. Don\'t believe the reviews about having to buy the Network Magic software if you use it -- I\'ve been using it for over 6 months and have never gone PRO. This router gives us markedly better downloading and uploading speeds with WPA2 enabled, with over double the range that we had before. Not only does it reach every part of our 3700 square foot home, but also reaches far out into our backyard as well. Where the signal strength is lower, it lowers transmission speed but doesn\'t drop signal. Torrent downloads at better than 500 kbps! AND: I have NEVER had to reset it once. Not a single time! What more do you want? BTW, we aren\'t using the GBit ports, but have three PCs connected wirelessly via the DIR-655. Way to go, D-Link.

Reviewed by: Reinier on 27-Sep-08 Rating:

Strengths:Very Easy Setup (use CD if your new or plug it in and goto 192.168.0.1 if you know what your doing), Feature Rich, Fast Speed, Doesnt drop signal while downloading with Bitorrent, Bargain Price

Weaknesses:Overheats if you place it down on your desk horizontal causing the router to drop your internet connection (set it up Vertical using the stand they provide to stop this from happening).

Summary:It works wonderful with Encore ENLWI-N PCI Adapters which cost 30 bucks compaired to D-Links PCI adapters that cost 80 bucks just make sure to download the newest software from Encores website. When I first set up the adapters I was only getting a Signal of 57-63 with the router horizontal on the desk but when I put the router standing up vertically and pointed the tips of the antennas towards the rooms where I had the wireless adapters the signal went from 57-63 to 90-100 and I saved 50 bucks over the people who paid for the D-Link adapters lol.

Remember to Disable QoS as well, it cut my bandwith in half and causes extra stress on the Router so its not really worth it.

Reviewed by: Darr on 20-Jul-08 Rating:

Strengths:For many years DLink has sold dozens of models of excellent 802.11a/b/g routers and access points, amassing a stellar reputation with consumers world wide.

Weaknesses:40MHz-wide 11n channels in the 2.4GHz band will take up channels 1 through 10, limiting those previously sold b/g devices to channel 11 (in the americas and japan). In urban areas that = interference.

Summary:Hopefully in the finished specification the IEEE will come to their senses and allow 40MHz-wide 802.11n channels only in the 5GHz UNII band, where there are a currently a dozen non-overlapping channels instead of only 3 as in the 2.4GHz ISM band. IMO, Linksys and DLink are urinating in the public pool by marketing any 2.4GHz-only 11n devices. (of course it\'s cheaper not to include a 5GHz radio too!) If the IEEE decides not to allow 40MHz-wide 2.4GHz channels in the final spec, the DI-655 will not be capable of reaching even half the currently advertised 11n speed.

Reviewed by: spiralsun1 on 01-Jul-08 Rating:

Strengths:LOVE the awesome blue LED\'s!!! Finally--LED\'s that are bright enough. I am ashamed to say I bought it partially for those... When it works, it works awesome.

Weaknesses:If you have Vista computers and an XP computer hooked into the wired plugs get ready for HEADACHES!!

Summary:I have 3 desktops and 2 laptops hooked into the router. 2 of the desktops have Vista and work fine. The 3rd desktop and the 2 laptops (wireless on laptops) have XP. The XP desktop does NOT WORK. The wireless laptops both work. VPN tunneling to work at home works fine. The one XP desktop has been offline for 2 months and I still cannot get it to connect to the internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I\'m giving it 5 stars for the blue LED\'s and the fast wireless anyway.
ATTENTION!!!
Update!!! I got it to work!!! The XP computer had been hardware upgraded and old driver remnants kept it from working. I uninstalled the Ethernet card in hardware manager and then re-started the computer. Problem solved. I LOVE THIS ROUTER!!!!

Reviewed by: N/A on 03-Apr-08 Rating:

Strengths:Gigibit ports, powerful range, low profile, not bad looking (I like the blue LEDs!), a lot of options, fair price

Weaknesses:Setup Disk didn\'t work; issues with mixed-mode processing (n,g,b); a lot of details to manage that if you don\'t read the manual, you can get frustrated easily.

Summary:This is a very good router for the price (I paid about $118). It replaced an older D-Link GameLounge router that blew out a wan port on a power surge. I like the white case with the blue LEDs - my switch and my other router and cable modem have green lights, and in the dark, it\'s easy to see what\'s blinking.

It keeps up the throughput nicely - I have a high-end cable connection (30MB down, 10MB up) and at my home/office I not only have multiple PCs on the LAN, I also have the kid\'s XBOX live and WOW running. Oh, and 3 VOIP phones as well. Doesn\'t skip a beat.

Had a problem with the wireless setup - the mixed \"b,g,n\" mode flakes out - had to switch to \"mixed b,g\" to work with my laptops (don\'t have \"n\" cards for them yet.) Seems like this is an issue with the router that may eventually get fixed in a firmware update, but we\'ll see.

The CD didn\'t seem to want to work for me (Windows XP SP2), but I\'ve set up dozens of routers before manually, so I jumped right in and got it going in about 15 minutes. However, there are a LOT of wonderful options for QOS, firewall, VPN and such - great flexibility, but you really have to read the help files to get the most out of it.

Customer support was kind of weak - nice enough, but obviously reading from a script. If you\'re a techie, this isn\'t a big problem. But if you\'re a novice or end-user (notice I refrained from calling them \"noobs\") it can get frustrating.

Overall, I\'m very satisfied with the router; there are some minor improvements that could be made, but the plusses definitely outweigh the minusses. If D-Link could get their tech support a little more friendlier, they might see a big jump in sales.

Reviewed by: marcin12 on 10-Mar-08 Rating:

Strengths:Better wireless signal than dgl4300, easy to work with. Gigabit connection, low ping times, wireless N

Weaknesses:Glitches in firmware, Wireless N 1.0, runs kinda hot, range not that much better than wireless G. Customer support

Summary:I had this router for about 5 months and I think it was possitive exerience till I uprgaded to firmware 1.11 or maybe it started behaving oddly around then.

Here\'s one problem that was solved. Router was making slow connection to some sites, like 1min to display a site. That was solved by changing wan speed from auto to 100m.

Current problem under heavy network usage router disconnects allconnection ,wireless, network, internet and 5-10 seconds later it reconnects. To bad if you are playing a games you get kickout out of server. I don\'t think router showed more than 5 days uptime with my usage.

Reviewed by: kryder727 on 03-Mar-08 Rating:

Strengths:NONE - poor quailty, dismal customer support

Weaknesses:The company, the DIR-655 and the people who work there.

Summary:DIR-655 was bad right out of the box. The bad unit defaults to factory settings on a regular basis. Wireless range less than optimal even on high power. Tech support was okay, but seemed liked they didn\'t care and didn\'t want to be bothered. Return service is even worse. Charged 197.00 hold fee on credit card, they promissed to send a brand new unit, but they sent an old refurbished one, have to send both back, one at a time so I can stay somewhat connected. Was on hold to speak to someone for over an hour. Had to call back and zero out to an operator to speak to someone in charge. So far there has been a total of about 11 calls to the company just to get poor service again and again.

Reviewed by: Ralph T on 26-Feb-08 Rating:

Strengths:Excellent 802.11N wireless coverage compared to that of G and Super G. Even G is better. Stylish Apple-like design. Nice menu based setup. D-Link has listened top the customers.

Weaknesses:None

Summary:I originally purchased this from NewEgg back when it was a loss-leader and got somehat of a better deal than it is priced now. Price has gone up due to this models populatity, stability and customer statisfaction. It is still a good deal. I have bought nothing but D-Link products for the past 6 years or so. D-Link engineers always provide firmware upgrades if a product has a problem. If you upgrade the firmware, update your NIC drivers and Windows and use good cables you should not go wrong. Pair this puppy up with a D-Link DSL or Cable modem for extraordinary throughput. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by: RonenA78 on 12-Feb-08 Rating:

Strengths:Easy to use Web UI, didn\'t get to other features

Weaknesses:Nonexisting quality assurance, poor support

Summary:I\'ve purchased it online from Comp-U-Plus but since I was flying abroad in a couple of days and was kind of busy I decided to take it with me and open it there.

Well, I opened it, configured the internet connection with no problem and then went on to wireless config.
Except there was no wireless. I\'ve tried everything - all possible configuration settings, all firmware versions, resets, setup disk that came with it, 3 different wireless network cards on 4 different computers - nothing.

I\'ve called the D-Link support in the states, and man it is bad. When the guy (his name was Shawn - it was so psychedelic that I can still remember it as if it were yesterday) realized that I was calling from abroad he went away for a while and then came back and told me that they do not support customers from abroad and pointed me towards a local D-Link representative. I explained to him that I bought the router in states, but he would keep on saying that \"they do not support customers from outside of US\". I then asked him to send me an email saying exactly that, so local D-Link support won\'t give me any problems, but he went into a loop and just kept going like a broken record: \"we do not support customers from outside of US\". At some point I realized that I\'m speaking to him like to a 3 year old and he still fails to understand me, so I decided to give up and try my lack with a local D-Link support.
To my surprise they were much more responsive - support engineer called me back in a couple of hours and after a brief discussion and one more attempted firmware update he said that the router is dead and sent me an RMA.

So I shipped it back to Comp-U-Plus for a refund and went back to my trusty WRT54G with DD-WRT.

Bottom line is - D-Link quality control was, to put it gently, careless enough to let a box with a DEAD RADIO ship and I had to pay for it\'s round trip across US and abroad.

I can\'t say if it\'s a good product when it\'s working, but if you are willing to take a risk - at least buy it from your local brick and mortar store, so you can exchange/return it with no hassle.

Reviewed by: Jaguar07 on 01-Nov-07 Rating:

Strengths:Solid range and bandwidth performance characteristics. Gigabit ports everywhere.

Weaknesses:The USB port on the back does not work for NAS. It wasn\'t designed to either.

Summary:I have had this for about 4 months now. I have not had to reset the router once. It\'s had 4 minutes of downtime in that 4 months. I have 3 Desktops, 1 server, 3 laptops and two wireless printers connected to this router 24/7.

I\'ve been a Network Engineer since 1990 and never seen a more solid product in the wireless router category.

Price was a nice $119 at Costco.

It also has great reviews at Tom\'s Hardware.

Reviewed by: darkman2 on 12-Sep-07 Rating:

Strengths:Very fast, easy to setup

Weaknesses:WPA2 does not work very good with MAC OS 10

Summary:People have problems with the router on Mac OSX have to configure manually because the disk is not made for OSX (not that hard to do). Then make sure to select WPA and WPA2 as the wireless card in the laptop does not seem to connect using just WPA2 only. Other than that got it working in no time flat. Configured on the same subnet. Like is good so far. I had the Buffalo routers before this as someone recommended it. I would not purchase those ever again as they sucked and buffalo admitted to having faulty firmware. They do have one good product in the Ethernet Convertor. A must have for someone with an Xbox, Media Center PC, Playstation etc.

Reviewed by: ryanyael on 09-Aug-07 Rating:

Strengths:NA

Weaknesses:Couldn\'t get it to work with my system.

Summary:I have a Mac OS 10. and a PC laptop and a skype phone trying to network them all together. The Install Wizard CD didn\'t work on my Mac and then I worked with support who tried to make me update the firmware and do a couple resets, which never worked. They were convinced that it was a dud and to get a duplicate of the device. The duplicate had the exact same problems...so then we tried with support to load the software onto the pc laptop and it was the same story. I never got a great explanation why it didn\'t work for me, but it was a real waste of my time. I say good luck to you.

Reviewed by: floydk on 19-Jun-07 Rating:

Strengths:Has just about everything you would need for a SOHO or personal router

Weaknesses:Not to be too picky but the LED\'s are annoying. Also, there is a button on the side which is not documented, but seemed to \'clear\' my initial problems.

Summary:I have 3 PC\'s on the Ports and 2 portable wireless connected. Bought for $118(total cost) on Amazon. Replaced my previous DI624 which I had for 3 years and was flawless. I just went VoIP so I was looking for a router that allowed QOS setup. I have SunRocket and two phone lines and therefore two gizmos. I stumbled in the beginning setting up the wireless and the QOS. It kept resetting the connection every 2-3 min. It appeared to go away when I \'properly\' setup the QOS (I should read directions first)

Only grip (Minor) is there is an undocumented button on the side. Had a label over it called \"Reserved\" There is no mention in the manual nor the DLink web site. I googled and cannot find information on what it does. When I first played with it, It appeard to be very slow when I used UltraVNC for remote access... Not sure, but when I pushed that button, is seemed to fix the problem. Since then, I am very happy with the product. - Lights are very (too) bright in my bedroom, and the Icons are too small, I would prefer large text instead of the tiny Icon but hey, it does look cool... All in all you will be satisfied. Oh Yeah, cannot tell if the QOS helped my VoIP connection because I only setup QOS to add insurance to my VoIP because I have a small business, but it does appear to work properly.
UPDATE
I contacted Dlink support on the \"RESERVED\" button
Here is their response....
\"The button is reserved for use in later firmware than the shipping firmware (1.00). In firmware 1.03 the WiFi Protected Setup was added that uses that button. The button is used to automatically configure your network for
wireless access and security\"
... this makes sense because I was using 1.03 when I saw the improvements... so all is well... I suggest DLink make notes in the 1.03 download about this button and save everyone allot of time....

Reviewed by: karthi525 on 22-Apr-07 Rating:

Strengths:Secure Router.Stable.Range is great.Singal strength is great.Excellent customer support.

Weaknesses:Installation is a pain.

Summary:I am computer expert (medium level)
Always networking is a pain.
Tried installing on my own. Would not work - Connection to internet was never made.
Called customer support. The guy was extremely knowledgebale.
Made the modem in bridge mode.
Then on flawlessly connected to the internet. Great product.