D-Link Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router

10 Review to this product

• 

  K. Eckert
  November 3rd, 2008 on 8:33 am

  Rating

  PROS:
  
  Easy setup that is somewhat secure
  
  Signal strength seemed better
  
  N was faster

  CONS:
  
  Would have like a more comprehensive setup by default
  
  Computer had problems reconnecting after a reboot of the router (probably a Windows problem).
  
  Couldn’t figure out the 5Ghz band not getting good signal strength.

  First off I am by no means a networking expert. I have a small network at home that includes 3 PCs/Laptops, a Wii, PS3, NAS, Printer, and DishNetwork DVR box. So in all 8 devices that connect on a regular basis. Since the DVR box is downstairs and I don’t have it connected via cable, I bought a repeater that hooks up to the network wirelessly, and then shares that connection over a wire to the DVR. Ok now that you see the extent of my network, here is what I thought of the D-Link DIR825.

  The Setup was pretty fast and simple. I plugged in the wire that was provided to the router from there to my computer, and plugged in the cable modem. I then used the disk that was provided to run through the initial setup of the router. It went pretty quickly, though there were a few oddities. First off the disk didn’t start up right away like it should have. I am not sure if I can attribute that to Windows Vista or what. But opening the disk and running the setup manually was easy anyway. I then ran through the install, which asked for a password for the router, which I was happy about, and by default it enabled WPA2, so you have to enter the passphrase for that. When the process was at the end, the second odd thing happened. The end of the install program asks to write a file to the desktop with the configuration for the router. I found this odd because it has your router password in plain text, and it put your WPA2 key phrase in plain text. I didn’t really like this because of course it isn’t very secure. It is however on your desktop, so if the computer is password protected, I guess you have some security. I deleted it almost immediately, since I don’t want sensitive information sitting around on my machines if I can help it.

  By default the only security enabled is the WPA2. The SSID is not hidden, and there is no mac address filter. On my old router I had set it up with these two security measures because they are fairly simple to do, and they make it a lot more difficult for someone to get on to a network with this setup. Now my old router didn’t set these up by default either, so it wasn’t a big deal. So I poked around in the configuration screens and changed some things that I think are important. I was impressed by how many options you have on this router. It seemed much more robust than my old router, which was a 802.11g router, and is probably 3-4 years old now. I did run into a problem with connecting back to the router after a reboot because I changed some options. I had to reboot to get my computer to reconnect. This didn’t bother me all that much, but it was kind of irritating.

  Next I went about changing all of my computers over to the new router. This process is fairly painless when it comes to the computers (1 dual boot Windows/Linux which both attached just fine). I basically just had to add a new connection for the new router which is by default on the 192.168.0.x address segment. The Printer and NAS are set up with fixed IP addresses configured on their own boxes, and they are both hardwired to the router, so they were really easy. After that comes the odds and ends. Overall I had this router in within an hour with the configuration that I wanted.

  I then moved around the house a little to see what kind of strength I got. Since most of my nics are 802.11g, I first tried that. It seemed about the same to me, though I really wasn’t expecting much difference, since there should have been no increase in speed. I did notice that it seemed like I got a little bit better signal strength from further away, even on the older nics. The Wireless N also worked very well. I tried connecting up with a wireless USB NIC and that went pretty well too. I didn’t get a chance to check to see if the speed was better by numbers, but eyeballing a couple of downloads from my NAS seemed quite a bit quicker. So overall, the DIR825 seems like a pretty good router to me, way better than my old router which will now be retired…..

  The other interesting thing about this router is that it has two bands, it can use 2.5Ghz or 5.0Ghz. Both are given their own SSID, and are basically separate networks. The box says that the 5.0Ghz is meant for streaming HD content, while the 2.5Ghz is meant for the normal junk (e-mail, web-browsing, etc). I was having a problem with the 5Ghz ban not having that good of signal strength. Even when sitting near the router, the NIC that I was using was only getting 23% signal strength, but the 2.5Ghz band was getting 99% signal strength. I looked into it a little, but wasn’t able to figure it out. So I ran the test I wanted to run anyway. I connected up with two different computers, one on each band, and tried to take up as much bandwidth as I could. I could tell that it was faster because both of the computers were able to transfer files quicker with each being on their own band, but the 5Ghz band took longer for the same size of files, than the 2.5 Ghz band. I have a feeling that there is just something I was missing, but not sure what it was. Either way, it was nice to have two bands, and it will work out well in my house since a couple of the devices are really close to the router, so they can stay on the lower strength band, and the others can be on the 2.5Ghz band and still get good speed and strength. Since the traffic for each is independent, it works out really nice!
• 

  Jerry Palmerino Jr
  November 10th, 2008 on 6:19 pm

  Rating

  I am a Linksys person and I teach a Wireless course using Linksys products. I have been using Linksys products since their 802.11b wired routers first became available. I recently purchased the WRT610N and after trying this D-Link, I am sorry I chose the Linksys WRT610N.

  As my first D-link product, I failed to realize D-link uses a 192.168.0.1 network address for its router. I am used to 192.168.1.1 on Linksys products.

  PROs:
  
  It is a Dual-Band wireless router, just like the WRT610N. It allows you to schedule wireless access. It has a great manual, which even tells you how to hook up one router to another for extending coverage. I was surprised to see this. I like being able to adjust power output of wireless radios. I love the idea of Guest wireless internet zones. It allows guests, such as friends, to get on your network without having access to local resources or giving out your normal SSID/Password.

  It clearly has more options than the Linksys WRT610N, which can be seemingly less user freindly and requires more knowledge of networking. The web configuration screens are similar to Linksys screens though. Anyone familiar with Linksys can find their way around. I did not try the setup CD. Instead I manually configured it using the web interface.

  I did not experience any of the instability issues I had with WRT610N. With a Lenovo T61, Apple TV, iPhone, two Macs, a PS3, and a PC connected to a Buffalo LinkStation Gaming Adapter, I needed to find the least common denominator wireless settings in order for all of these devices to connect and stay connected successfully. There were just too many disconnects, which necessitated the least common denominator approach. This approach meant I had to choose “Mixed BG” instead of “mixed (which includes n), had to set channel width to 20, and had to use Tkip WPA only. The D-link allowed me to use all three speed grades (B, G, and N) with WPA or WPA2 (becuase it autodetects the best encryption method available with client devices). I was also able to set the Channel Width to auto (40 or 20 depending on the clients).

  CONs:
  
  It only allows up to 63 alpha characters for the wireless passphrase/password. I prefer 64 hex character passwords.

  The menus are a bit more complex, which could be an issue for some.

  Only one person at a time can access a USB hard drive attached to the D-Link wireless router. Many can access the USB hard drive hanging off of the Linksys WRT610N.

  OVERALL:
  
  This is a great wireless router. I tested it as a drop-in replacement for my Linksys WRT610N (after changing the subnet to 192.168.1.x) and it performed admirably. If you are looking, I would consider this strongly before purchasing any other brand.

  DECEMBER 2009 UPDATE: When my company moved to a webpage-based VPN solution (we have to access a webpage and login which then opens up the tunnels), I discovered that the firmware version (1.01) I had caused issues. I upgraded to version 1.12NA and now I am experiencing daily wireless connectivity dropouts on the 2.4 ghz band. The only solution thus far is to restart the router. This new development has been detailed across the web. I am going to try some of the suggestions, such as any one or a combination of…disabling DNS Relay, disabling IPV6 on client computers, downgrading to 1.11.

  SECOND DECEMBER UPDATE: After disabling the DNS Relay, I have been running for over a week with no issues.
• 

  Matthew Buckley-Golder
  January 23rd, 2009 on 9:45 am

  Rating

  I bought this router as an upgrade/replacement for my D-Link DI-724GU. With the 724GU, I had frequent problems maintaining a connection at a fair distance from the router. Dropouts were common. There are perhaps 5 other WiFi networks within range from my location.

  My expectation with this router was that it might be a better drop-in replacement for the 724GU. The 724 is also a Gigabit router, and my home LAN is gigabit throughout, so I was looking for that. If it turned out to produce similar results to the 724GU, I would have used the 724 as an additional access point in the upper level of my home.

  I only have a need for 802.11g. None of my equipment is capable of 802.11n and I have no 802.11b-only devices. Therefore, the router is configured for 802.11b and 802.11g only.

  Fortunately and somewhat surprisingly, the DIR-825 was a good enough replacement that I have no need for a second access point so far. In the same locations that were giving me problems before, I can maintain a stable connection. In one location, for example, a typical connection duration before some kind of reset was about 5 minutes. Last night, I maintained an uninterrupted connection for more than 8 hours (still going).

  The wireless devices I am working with: a couple of Thinkpad T60-series notebooks (Intel wirelss) and some Squeezeboxes. The router is in the basement of a three-level house. The house is not very big, though. My problem spot used to be in the upper level. Even with a lower reported signal strength when compared to my previous router, the connection is overwhelmingly more stable.

  So, for what I bought this for — a solid 802.11g WPA2 wireless connection with speed as a secondary consideration — this is as good as I can expect. Speed is perfectly adequate and indistinguishable from wired for my modest applications, but I have not measured it. The router has been up continuously for about 3 days since I first installed it.
• 

  inlvnv
  February 17th, 2009 on 10:48 pm

  Rating

  PROS:
  
  Speed. From my HP notebook with 4965AGN network card, I’m seeing actual transfer rate up to 140mbps at 5GHz band, which is about 3 1/2 times the speed I was getting from my old DIR-655 router at 2.4GHz. I have about 20 wired/wireless devices connected, including 2 DAP-1522. Easy setup and intuitive web interface.

  CONS:
  
  Range. 5GHz range not as good as 2.4GHz. With both enabled, one computer with an USB n adapter at one end of the house cannot see or connect at 5GHz but can at 2.4GHz.

  Overall, I’m very happy with this upgrade.
• 

  Dryvlyne
  February 21st, 2009 on 5:10 am

  Rating

  I purchased this router to replace a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I would recommend this router only for users who are comfortable with and understand how to manually configure routers. Otherwise this is probably just overkill for an average home user.

  Be sure to check out this router’s support page at D-Link (http://support.dlink.com/products/view.asp?productid=DIR-825) and find the link on the left that says “Emulator”. This gives you a hands-on demo of the router’s manual configuration interface. I found this to be very helpful in researching this product prior to making a purchase decision.

  PROS:
  
  - essentially a DIR-855 for a lot less money (it has the same exact internals, but just lacks the 3rd antennae and OLED display)

  - can run 802.11b/g and 802.11n devices simultaneously on separate spectrums for maximum performance

  - ability to setup a “Guest” wireless zone that you can determine whether or not can see other devices on the network

  - very easy to setup/assign static IPs via DHCP to devices on the LAN (Just pick and choose a connected clients from the select box and assign an IP to it that’s within the DHCP range. On other routers you typically have find and write down the MAC Address of a device in order to input into the router’s configuration utility and assign and IP to it.)

  - Virtual Server feature (the router can be configured so that remote users accessing Web or FTP services via the public IP address can be automatically redirected to local servers in the LAN)

  - ability to setup multiple Inbound Filter rules to control which machines outside of your network can or cannot access certain resources within the LAN

  - QoS (Quality-of-Service) engine which can helps improve network performance by prioritizing applications

  - WISH (Wireless Intelligent Stream Handling) similar to the QoS engine, but specifically designed to improve performance of wireless clients by prioritizing the traffic of different applications over the wireless network

  - can configure the router to email you when a firmware update is available

  - can email yourself various log options on-demand

  - DDNS support (DynDNS is a choice) so that you can associate a domain name with your public-facing IP address if your ISP dynamically assigns this IP to you. Very useful if you are running a server of some kind on your network.

  CONS:
  
  - interface for configuring virtual servers and port forwarding rules is a little confusing at first

  - the SharePort feature can only be used by Windows machines

  - SharePort feature is not a true NAS solution as any connected device can only be accessed by one user at a time
• 

  B. Assaf
  March 13th, 2009 on 6:23 pm

  Rating

  For about 7 years I owned Linksys(now Cisco) wifi routers, including the excellent WRT54G. (I also had one D-link that was not very good at that time). In early 2008 I decided to upgrade to an N-router, but this last Linksys was a bummer, dropping the connection to the internet frequently and with a very poor actual range(WRT150N). So last february(2009) I went to pursue a new wifi router.

  I researched a lot of opinions on the internet(websites, amazon,etc.), I was decided not to go with Linksys since their quality is declining, and on the end I decided to give D-link a try again with a D-LINK DIR-825 !

  I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER WITH IT !!!!!

  It has both 802.11g and 802.11n networks, dual band , at the same time but in two different radios frequencies(and two SSIDs), so you can have dedicated highspeed wireless network for video, etc and a 802.11g fast network for other stuff.

  It is full gigabit with 4 ports(I am now using 3 and plan to use the fourth( 1 for a desktop, 1 for a notebook docking station, 1 for a 1 TB NAS and plan to use 1 for a PS3 which is now connected over wifi).

  The print server is very neat and actually is a USB over the network, that allow you to access the USB device(whatever it is) through a client on multiple computers, so they recognize it as a USB device, not a network printer. This increases a lot the chance of working well with strange printers.

  I also use a wifi skype phone regularly so my fiancée talk to her parents, and we can say that the internet connection does not drop anymore(at least one tenth of what happened with the Linksys).

  You really should give this speed demon a try…On the smallnetbuilder tests it trounced the competition in throughput and I can say I experienced the speed bost myself:[...]

  And it is not thaaaaat expensive, I got mine for about USD 130. That for the perfect wifi router I always wanted. You can see a full review on the smallnetbuilder website here: [...]

  so if in doubt, GET IT NOW !!!!

  Best Regards
  
  Bruno

  PS:(I am not affilliated or anything to samllnetbuilder site, it was just the most detailed review I found when searching for routers back in february). I also DO NOT work for D-link or linksys. I am just using this product for over a month and I am completely satisfied.
• 

  P. Kay
  April 5th, 2009 on 5:19 am

  Rating

  As our home router was dying a slow and painful death, yesterday was the day to finally can it. I ended up picking up the dual band Dlink Xtreme N DIR-825 with four wired gigabit ports and a shared USB port. This thing rocks for the price. On the G-band SSID we are getting full 48-54Mbps connections to areas of the house we used to have signal issues in – even with an extra 10db external antenna. The N-band SSID doesn’t quite have the same range, but from where our “media server” sits downstairs in the entertainment center, constantly getting 240-300Mbps connect speeds – file x-fer & streaming media tests seem to be backing that up. Out of the box the unit required some tweaking, such as the N network by default broadcasts in mixed mode – kind of defeats the purpose allowing a “G” band device connecting to it taking the entire 5Ghz band down to 54Mbps, etc. The port forwarding, access rules, DyDNS, firewall (with SPI), etc are much more comprehensive than our previous Netgear and it was a breeze setting up schedules based on MAC addresses restricting internet access from the kids computers and Xbox from 10pm-7am Sun-Thurs (school nights), etc…

  Outside of not having any real content filtering capability, this “consumer router” is feature rich and highly recommended to anyone needing/wanting to upgrade their home router… For those not too “tech savy” I would reccomend finding someone who understands networking pretty well to help in setting this up in order to take full advantage of it’s capabilities – I am a network engineer by trade and LOVE this product, but there’s no way I’d reccomend my mother go out, get one, and try setting it up herself
  
• 

  John Edward
  May 13th, 2009 on 7:36 pm

  Rating

  Step 1 – Open the box.

  Step 2 – Go to the Dlink website and download and update to the latest version of the firmware for the router.

  This router is a great value for the price. It has all the current bells and whistles. 2.4 and 5.0 Mhz, simultaneous dual band, gigabyte ethernet ports, USB port to plug in any USB device to share. The user interface is really nice and has a lot of features to set your router up any way you want. This router has all the features of the more expensive “gaming routers”. I’m using this router for everything; web surfing, gaming, voip phone, video streaming, media server with PS3, and file and print sharing. This router doesn’t miss a beat. I have experienced no shuttering or slowdowns. Video streaming is smooth and steady, and voip calls are as clear as a landline.

  If you buy this router, download the latest firmware for the router on the dlink website. I struggled for two days trying to get the shared printer to work. But once I downloaded the latest firmware it worked immediately. There is a little button in the user interface that says “check for latest firmware version” or something like that. When you click it, it says you already have the latest version. That was the first thing I checked when I had problems with the printer. Two days of struggle later, I went to the dlink website and saw there was a much newer version of the firmware. So, don’t believe the little status button in the user interface, go to the dlink website and look for yourself, download and update to the latest firmware.

  Most of the problems people reported in earlier reviews have been corrected with the latest version of the firmware. So save yourself a lot of time and hassle and update to the latest version. Even if you just opened a brand new package, it probably still has an old version of the firmware installed. So, go and update the firmware first thing. I think the orignial problems dlink had in late 2008-early 2009 was that they released this router before the firmware was ready for prime-time. Now the problems appear to be fixed in the newest version of the firmware.

  I love this router! So many features! A big upgrade from my three year old wireless G router.

  The only real negative I read on reviews from other websites concerning this router was the signal range. I live in a two story concrete house. The router is in the second floor in the far front of the house. I can go outside all the way to the back of my back yard and still get “excellent” signal with all bars showing. That’s got to be a total distance of 200 feet through about four drywall walls and an exterior concrete wall. So the latest firmware might have solved that issue that was reported with the first versions that came out in late 2008.
• 

  C. Caltagirone
  May 15th, 2009 on 9:48 am

  Rating

  After years of Linksys (good stuff, no complaints) I needed a draft N router, dual band with gigabit ethernet. After reading all the reviews I took the plunge and I’m very happy with this router. My Mac uses the 5 ghz band while my PC’s use the 2.4 ghz. Everything works great. Very easy to set up. You can not go wrong with this router!
• 

  Mike Stevens
  January 9th, 2010 on 1:51 pm

  Rating

  Here is my current set-up:

  Comcast Cable
  
  Motorola Surfboard SB5101 Cable Modem
  
  DIR-825 Dual-Band Router
  
  1 X Wireless Laptop
  
  2 X Hardwired Desktops
  
  1 X Xbox 360 W/ Microsoft N Adapter
  
  1 X PS3
  
  2 X Iphones

  Previous router: Linksys WRT160N

  Let me start by saying this is my first review ever. I felt that this router was getting a bad rap and biased reviews so I thought I would write a quick review. I was recently thinking about upgrading my previous router WRT160N after having to constantly power-cycle the router and having poor speeds. I also wanted to upgrade to dual-band so that my Xbox could use the 5GHZ frequency for HD streaming and gaming. An IT tech from my job recommended I use D-LINK if I have Comcast cable. I was also thinking of purchasing the WNDR3700 but I read online reviews and was honestly not that impressed.

  I’ve had the D-Link DIR-825 for about two weeks and have been nothing but pleased with the product. No dropped signals, no power cycling, no hassles what so ever.

  Setup was simple, I followed the included CD and had no issues. I’m also fairly new at wireless routing in general. As of yet I have not upgraded the firmware of the router. I’m still using the shipped product’s firmware.

  Dual-band works seamlessly, I’ve had no problem operating in the 2.4GHZ frequency as well as the 5GHZ frequency. I mostly use the 5GHZ frequency for my Xbox for streaming HD movies on Netflix and for online gameplay. The 2.4GHZ I’ve been using for all the other gadgets I have.

  The speed of router is great. I can really feel a difference in speed from all of the devices that are connected to this router as opposed to my previous WRT160N router. I confirmed that I am receiving a greater overall speed with this router by checking various net-speed websites.

  I would highly recommend this router if you use cable internet and have a use for both the 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ frequencies. To be honest I can’t believe how many negative reviews this router is receiving.