D-Link - You're Dead To Me

Topless DI-624

1 comment

I've been doing battle with my D-Link DI-624 router for several months now. Seems that if I send a 'high volume' of traffic through it at any given time it decides to pack up it's toys and go home- usually in a huff. While we were in Maui, I actually had my buddy- who was coming in daily to check on the cat- reset the router if I was having problems connecting remotely. Luckily that didn't happen- but I purposely didn't send a lot of traffic to my server either- text only.

But our home phone is a VoIP phone- so when the router seizes, so does our phone- and usually, nothing but VoIP traffic alone is enough to send the router in spasms. Hell, I usually can't even save a change made in the routers' admin panel without having to unplug the thing for several minutes. (At least it actually saves the settings).

Last week I had enough, and figuring that the cause of the problem was overheating, I removed the top half of the router casing in an attempt to allow hot air that might be trapped within the unit to easily escape. It was a desperate move- but for a while, it worked. Then it stopped- and before long the time between router hangs shrunk from double-digit hours, to single hours- and sometimes even minutes.

I gave up hope- so I tossed the router aside and replaced it with a router my brother lent me while we were in Maui. Unfortunately it too is a DI-624. *sigh*. But I wanted to give D-Link a second chance- so I plugged it in, uploaded the newest version of firmware- and almost bricked it in the process. This wasn't looking good. An hour, and several factory resets later- I finally got the firmware installed and my settings loaded. But things still were not going well. The wireless dropped- completely- and wouldn't come back for several hours. Tonight, we come home and check our voicemail (again, on the VoIP phone) and after being on the line for mere seconds- the router hung itself- just like the first one.

Disappointing. Very very disappointing. Usually I have a strict one-strike-you're-out policy with equipment on my computer systems or network- but my first router was a D-Link DI-514 (I believe) and it was a great router- certainly better than the Linksys I ended up replacing it with- so I was prepared to give D-Link a little leanancy. But two different routers, both with the same problem? Nope.
Sorry, D-Link, but it looks like I'll be replacing you with either an Asus or a Netgear unit this weekend.

I demand a lot from my equipment. If you can't hack it- you're out. That's how I roll. Sorry.