Looking at D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N - please inform

Hi all, sorry if this is a noobish post, but bear with me as I have a few questions. I just received a new XPS notebook and I configured it with an intel 4965 AGN mini wireless card. My linksys WRT54G is on its last legs, and I need to buy a new router. I've looked around and I'm most interested in the D-link 655 Xtreme router, but after reading cnet's review i'm a little hesitant to pull the trigger as they say that it's based on an unfinished spec.

What are your guys thoughts on this? Is it still an unfinished spec or is it more mainstream as of today? Also, since I have a wireless N mini card, do I still need to get D-link's Xtreme N Adapter as well to experience the speed benefits, or is this just for people who don't have wireless N adapters? Any experiences with this router? Thanks..

 

In order to achieve 300Mbps, you will need to use an Atheros chipset wifi card. The Intel cards do not use Atheros chipsets. The card will connect, but you will be limited to 130Mbps.

I have a DIR-655 and it works very well. It has gigabit ethernet ports, so any PCs with gigabit NICs will enjoy the speed increase. The router has fantastic range, is very stable, and has a number of perks (UPnP, the ability to restrict websites based on MAC addresses, etc). I have three laptops (one with a D-Link DWA-643 card, one with a SparkLAN WPEA-124N internal Wifi card, and one with an old Linksys G PCMCIA card) and one desktop (with a D-Link DWA-552 PCI card) and all of them connect quickly and have no drops. I also have an old Dell PC running WHS, connecting via gigabit LAN. I have yet to run into any bottlenecks, and I do a lot of multimedia streaming. Of course, when the laptop with the Linksys connects, all wifi connections are limited to 54Mbps, but that is just part of mixing bands on the same router.

I highly recommend this router. As I said earlier, you won't get the full speed if you stick with the Intel card. For about $60, you can get a SparkLAN card for your laptop, if you want 300Mbps. Remember, 300Mbps is a theoretical speed, and you will never see this; you'll be limited by your PC components (hard drive, processor, etc).

 

Very impressive set of computers/network you have there kegobeer. I will support you in all what you have said, but about the 300Mbps, some NBR members have claimed to reach 300Mbps and I don't think they are lying.

 

if you have the intel card as you say, get the linksys wrt600n (see my sig)

with it's dual band, dual radio's, it's the only router, darft N or not, that's going to give you the full 300mbps(at this time). The only other one is a buffalo, and they are not for sale in the us right now due to a lawsuit.

the airport extreme(apple) can possibly due the same, but it's only got 1 radio. W/ the dual radios on the wrt600n, you can set each one up separately, like 2 separate routers-- 1 on the 2.4Ghz freq and 1 on the 5GHz freq.

The DIR-655 runs about $120. The Linksys and Apple each run $179. You can click on the link in my sig to read the review on the wrt600n.

as kegobeer pointed out, the DIR 655 is a great router, That is what I have also and am limited to 130mbps w/ the Intel card on my m1530. BUT, on any laptop can can accept the Dlink DWA-643 Express Card(and other type N xtreme adapters) you can hit 300mbps. This works well w/ many HP laptops. etc. We use the DWA643 in client laptops, etc, out in our shop.

hope this helps-- if you have more questions, post back and we will try and answer them.

 

If they matched chipsets, then they could achieve 300Mbps. 802.11n is just like the MIMO 802.11g - you have to stick with the same chipset to get 108Mbps. Do you happen to have links to those statements? I'd like to read them.

 

I have a 4695AGN minicard and I tried it with Netgear WR3500, and I got 144Mbps, my laptop is about 22' from the router. I'm very sure I could have gotten 300Mbps if I got closer.

You also have access to NBR database to verify that other people are reaching 300Mbps.

 

Wow, thanks for the replies guys. Without this forum, I would not know what in the world would work best for me. So if I were to go with the wrt600n, I would be able to get 300 mbps without having to buy another adapter or anything else for my notebook?

 

As per what the other are saying, the client's card would have to have an Atheros chipset based as well to be able to get the 300Mbps. In other words you would have to change your 4965AGN as well, but I wold personally don't do it. All will depend of your use, do you really need 300Mbps?

Keep in mind that 300Mbps would be behind the AP (home network), the ISP will always be the bottleneck, whatever you have now, that will remain.

 

I'm definitely not planning on switching out my 4965 - the whole reason I'm getting a new router is because my wrt54g is useless, and we just got new laptops with wireless N mini cards. I'm simply looking for a router that will give me a performance increase over "G" technology, that utilizes our new "N" cards. What would you recommend?

I thought nobscot6 above stated that I should get the wrt600n because it would give me 300 mbps without having to get an atheros card. No I don't need 300 mbps, but I want a router that takes advantage of our new mini cards...

 

I'm not sure but I think the wrt600n has an Athero chipset, so if you use a nic with Athero chipset then you could get 300Mbps, that's what kegobeer said. And I believe nobscot6 said that she has a D-Link nic and perhaps that nic also has an Athero chipset.

This is what I would do if I were you (I did it), get yourself the router and see if you get 300Mbps, if not just return it. Try the Netgear 3500 as well, is very good.

 

300mbps is the connection speed , not actual(real-life) transfer from pc to pc , currently not many routers go above 100mbps , see www.smallnetbuilder.com for comparsion.

 

I DID!!

And YOU CAN!!

Don't worry about all this talk about the atheros chips!!!!!!!!

If you want 300mbps w/ the intel card, just get the wrt600n-- it uses the 5.0 freg w/ the intel card to get 300mbps.

check out the linksys forums concerning the intel cards- they are much more informative and fact based than this forum!!

 

Good to hear that, the Athero thing sounds weird to me too, but I'm repeating what other members are saying.

I'll buy it just to try it and report my founds next week

 

This is an edited previous post of sparky's......... Just FYI!!!!

Also I think what everyone is saying is thay if you have a nic card w/ an atheros chip, you can hit 300mbps w/ dlink dir 655 routers because that is what it uses....

match the chip to chip and/or manufacturer to manufacturer......

If I remember right (yea right), for some reason, Intel disabled features in the 4965 card so that it couldn't hit 300mbps on just the 2.4GHz freg.-why, I have no idea.......

Hopefully this crap will all be sorted out when the final N draft is released in 2009 and the companies start trying to get their products to work w/ others

 

nobscot, that's exactly the meaning of my posts. In order to get 300Mbps with the current 802.11n implementations, you need to purchase matching equipment (all NICs/routers/APs from the same manufacturer). If you buy different equipment (for example, a D-Link router and an Intel NIC) you won't get 300Mbps.

Even after the 802.11n spec is finalized, it might not be possible to get 300Mbps when you mix and match equipment. It might turn out just like the 802.11g MIMO situation: if you want 108Mbps, you must buy all of your equipment from the same manufacturer.

 

I got 144Mbps with Netgear 3500 and intel 4965AGN, how is this possible then?

And I was 22' away from the router in another room.

Any comments?

 

I know that kegobeer

I was just trying to explain it to those that seem to have a hard time understanding, lol...........

also, this is why the Intel card can only get 130mbps from a single band router at this time:




This was copied/taken from the Intel 4965 spec's that I downloaded