DIR-655 Wireless N router - dropped connections

DIR-655 Wireless N router connected to Verizon FIOS actiontek router (wireless disabled) keeps disconnecting, so much so I've now gone back to the Actiontek wireless G just so the connection is 100% reliable. It happens every hour or so I'd say randomly, I upgraded all firmwares and double checked the bridge method described on Verizon website but no luck.

 

First of all- and I know it's by no means helpful but that may be the problem- DIR-655 is a troublesome device.
While hardware was good (at the time of its launch) the firmware was getting from bad to worse with every "update".
While having the most recent firmware installed is usually the best thing it's not so with D-Link. What's more you can't roll back some updates by flashing an older version due to bootloader changes or something like that.

It's possible that the problem is related to a specific channel- see what happens when you set D-Link to the same wireless channel Actiontek works fine.
Also set D-Link to use 20MHz channels (not auto or 40MHz)- 802.11g uses 20MHz channels so you will create the same test conditions for both.

Last things to check- what if D-Link is running in 802.11g mode, making sure that both use the same security setup (WPA2+AES) won't hurt either.

If D-Link still fails while working in 802.11g mode on the same channel Actiontek works it's probably time to buy something new to replace it (preferably with good factory firmware and 3rd party firmware support as an insurance policy)

 

Thanks, I'm back to actiontek because I'd rather have no drops than minimal performance increase at this point, thakns for the heads up, ebay time for the 655.

 

If you are looking for something new I'd look for a Linksys or Asus wireless router that you can use with Tomato or DD-WRT. They are rock solid firmwares.

 

You can find Netgear 3700 series for under $100 and Linksys e3000 for well under that (sometimes half). Either will serve you incredibly well.

The 655 was underpowered and had LOTS of firmware issues. The best firmware was some of the earliest, which D-Link of course made it impossible to revert to. More recent firmware supposedly fixed some issues but removed features, though knowing that router and D-Link, that probably didn't last.

I never sold mine because it was so bad, I would feel bad making someone pay for that kind of torture. Some of the best money in computing I ever spent was replacing it. It amazes me they still sell the pile of junk, it should have been recalled from the start.


Between the short life span of other D-Link routers (they were lasting a year in the offices I work at) and my experience with the 655, I swore off D-Link entirely.

 

Thanks guys, I wound up ordering the ASUS RTN56U, hopefully this one will work out better

 

Careful that it's not some other wireless device knocking you out. I have a dir-655 (older one) and all of a sudden my laptop would lose connection randomly. Same thing on my Android phone. I realized our cordless phone somehow would interfere whenever someone got on it. I had to switch channels. Until the next power outage and the cordless switches again at least.

 

I should have done a lot more research before buying this crappy door step! Connections always dropping. Even on wired to my desktop! Not to mention the blue lights can light up a whole dark room in the night! Worst computer purchase I have ever made! Looking for something new now nevertheless.

 

ASUS RT56U working fantastic for me.

I hooked it up in the same place as DIR-655. Have not had one dropped connection, added it as a wireless access point so I could maintain my G only Verizon FIOS connection and basically add a 2.4 GHZ N and a 5 Ghz N. Now when streaming video to the kids rooms etc they have their own connections so less bandwidth worries.

 

amazing how computer users have so many different experiences with wireless devices. One guy swears by netgear, someone else swears by Linksys, another Asus etc...

in my case, i have a dir 655 and it is working flawlessly. Has been for 2 years...and i have a son and wife that have high demands, but the Qos holds up. I can't remember it even dropping once in that time. Even while my son is streaming and downloading, and my wife is playing her online games, i can get on BF3 and suffer no slowdowns. I swear by the 655 and even bought an extra one when it was dirt cheap over boxing week to keep as a spare

 

I hear you, when I am ready to buy a product I go to Amazon reviews... how can one person say this is the most amazing product and the very next says its completely worthless... Its possible I had a bad egg never know.

 

You guys should have seen the experiences during the first year and a half of that device. D-link has culled the old threads on their help forum, hiding this. I know one cull alone removed 10k threads for the 655, more than the entire rest of their forum.

When it takes 2 years of fiddling with firmware after releasing a product to make it run decent, you have serious problems.

I documented my experiences with this router and D-Link a while back ( link), it was quite a lengthy read, suffice to say I will not buy anything from that company for a very long time.

 

Long story short, I just unpacked a WNDR3700v2 and got it setup.

I got terrible wireless range (4 stars sitting right next to the router) and download speeds (10mbps) both on wired and wireless. I fiddle with the router for about 2 hours thinking maybe I could get it to work as it should like others have said on this forum but nothing worked and worst of all being a 5Ghz router my Centrino 6205 didn't see the 5Ghz network.

After hours of trying to get the router to work as it should I finally gave up and connected my trusty old DIR-655 back in and guess what everything returned back to normal 35mbps download and 5 star wireless coverage thought my home.

Maybe I got a defect, maybe not and maybe it's just they way the router works with the structure of my home but one things for sure I'm returning the router for a refund and getting either a newer revision DIR-655, DIR-665, E3200 or just keep my existing DIR-655 A4.

I'm not taking anymore chances with a another WNDR3700v2 router in which I've been trying to tell myself before the purchase (suppose to go with the E3200) but I seen so many others on this forum have good results with the WNDR3700v2, all in all my own doing for not listening to myself.

I've tried a Linksys wireless router back in the days when the DIR-655 first got released and the experience was very good but I ended up returning it because I couldn't get my PSP to connect to the router at the time (which was my error for setting N only) but other than that the router was very fast and range was great (was one of those without external antennas).

Now, I'm not trying to put any router brands down but in my case my experience with a WNDR3700 wasn't all the great and so I'm just going to stick with what I already know so that I go online problem free.

Ended up being a long story anyways.

 

Nemix, if your current DIR 655 is working well, why did you want to switch to a different router? Just to try it?

 

5ghz band, final N and IPV6 makes for a worthwhile upgrade for me and let's not mention that torrents makes the DIR-655 slow to a crawl even though my configuration is very optimized. All the devices in my home is wireless nothing connected wired. My laptop gets the lowest signal of 75% being furthest away from the router, so I was thinking perhaps a E3200 or WNDR3700 could get me 100% signal strength from my laptops location in the home.