D-Link DIR 615, Intermittent *REALLY* Slow Connection

Hey all,

I have a new DIR 615 and I've been struggling with it. It started out with slow speeds, but after updating the firmware of both the router and my 5100 AGN card and getting help from support tweaking the settings, it was running better.

At that point the wireless was getting me about 8-10 Mbps (wired was getting me 12 Mbps for comparison). The wireless is occasionally, but much too frequently, going very slow.

More often that not, when it's working well, it's getting 4-6 Mbps. Now it's getting 500 Kbps and has been for several hours.

The return policy ends Wednesday - would I be better off with a 655? If you'd like me to post my settings I can do so, just ask.

Thanks!

 

You get what you pay for - you'd be better off with the DIR 655, but it also costs more. If you're willing to fork over even more cash, there's even better routers than the 655.

 

So, no ideas on how to tweak the DIR 615 to get better results? If that's the case, how much better would you expect the 655 to be?

I don't mind forking over some cash if I know for sure it's going to be more reliable and have better overall speed.

 

You probably can't do anything about the performance... The 615 doesn't even support DD-WRT at the moment.

But first of all, do you really need wireless N? I'm assuming the answer is no since you picked the cheapest router. If my assumption is correct, you can get a tried and true Linksys WRT54GL and put Tomato firmware on it for about the same price as the DIR 615. It only supports wireless G, but it's considered one of the best consumer-grade routers and it's a favorite of many people.

If you do need wireless N, then the 655 should at least guarantee that you get a reliable connection, though you shouldn't expect anything faster than 130 mbps max. There's a lot of choice for wireless N routers and no clear winner, so you'll need to figure out just how much performance you want and how much you're willing to pay for it.

By the way, when you say you have a 12 Mbps connection, you mean mega bits, right?

 

Yes, it is 12 megabits. I suppose we don't need wireless N, but we live in an apartment complex and near several other complexes and I'm wondering if its interference from the millions of other wireless signals floating around.

I'm considering a Linksys WRT400N to get the wireless N on 5Ghz, hoping that would clear up some interference problems.

I'm not too knowledgeable about routers, though. Do you still think the wireless g router your recommended is the better choice?

 

In that case, you would definitely be better off with a dual-band N router.

Unfortunately I don't have any first hand experience with them, so I can't offer any advice on that.

 

Look into some sort of Super G extended range routers and some good antennas.

cheers ...