I’ve been running a DLink DI-524 wireless router at home for the past year or so. I’ve liked it, but I’ve had connectivity “glitches” – dropped connections, short delays when computers come onto the network, etc. Further, the wireless shared-key mode never worked, which wasn’t a huge problem, but definitely undesirable, as it forced me to use cable drops when I hadn’t intended to originally. Fortunately, my home is already wired. Reading reviews online reveals that lots of other people have similar problems with the DI-524.
I finally decided to get a LinkSys WRT54G router. I bought it for $49.99 at Fry’s. Wow. What a difference! Immediately, I’ve noted a speedup of download performance (annecdotal). A link testing program that I used to run and have consistent connectivity failures with now never fails at all. It’s clearly better right out of the box.
Setup of the Linksys was easy – I was back up and running in less than 5 minutes of downtime. The user interface on the Linksys is good, although the submenus are hard to discover at times. On the administration front, the DLink does a better job of logging dropped packets and such, which the Linksys doesn’t do at all, but its not a feature I really use much. I also thought the DLink had a slightly better UI for configuring access filters and such. The functionality is available on both routers, but easier for novices on the DLink.
But who cares about minor UI differences. The reliability of the router is what is key, and its a feature which the Linksys has and the DLink does not.
Now I just have to decide if I can overcome my conscious and sell the DI-524 to some hapless soul via ebay! (let me know if you want it!)