[Routers] D-Link or Linksys?

[AimLXJ]

:pVote vote vote!

[Jeston Veteran]

Well, had there been a poll my vote would have been for Linksys...

Edit: Now my vote is for Linksys.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Linksys, and preferably one that can run either Tomato or DDWRT.

[Sikh]

Linksys. Always linksys

[Alan-]

If this were early 2000's I'd say Linksys, however recently I haven't had good luck with Linksys routers. I have heard good things from some friends about D-Link so my vote goes to D-Link.

[e-berlin.org]

Linksys, of course.

[kukubau]

Both, although I currently own a Dlink DIR-615 wireless router, which works flawlessly. It is ddwrt capable so you might consider it.

[HawkMan]

It's not really much of a choice, the products aren't even in the same league.

D-link is the kind of stuff you see being used in the homes of the peopel who think they don't need to spend a little extra on quality on their network stuff, or just don't know, and then they have slow internet, disconnects, packet loss and the whole nine yards.

Linksys, it's what the people who knows that quality matters buys, and who don't think they need the full cisco package for their home networks

[JoeyF]

The router that I actually use as a router is a Linksys WRT54Gv2.

I also have a Linksys WRT54G acting as wireless bridge.

Finally I have a Belkin F5D8236-4 acting as a secondary AP.

[Somnus]

It is ddwrt capable so you might consider it.

Really? I have a 615 rev b1 and would love to get DD-WRT on it.

I just switched to a WRT400N (linksys) and is listed as WIP (work in progress), and the default firmware is just plain horrible.

[TemperingPick]

Is there any reason why that most people prefer Linksys/Cisco stuff? Is it just brand name or is there an actual reason?

[e-berlin.org]

Once I made the mistake to buy a D-Link - the 'famous' DIR-301. I sold it one week later for 10 EUR on eBay and I was more than happy someone got fooled to give that much money for that piece of xxxx. Then I bought myself a LinkSys WRT54GC and for years and years it runs without a single reset.

[FizzyChickenBroth]

Gonna have to say my Linksys experience has sucked. Ever since I bought their routers in 04, I've had nothing but trouble. My D-Links on the other hand have been performing superbly. My friends who have Linksys have also switched to D-Link and are problem free. The modern Linksys, as far as I am concerned, SUCKS.

[HawkMan]

Really? I have a 615 rev b1 and would love to get DD-WRT on it.

I just switched to a WRT400N (linksys) and is listed as WIP (work in progress), and the default firmware is just plain horrible.

WIP doesn't necessarily mean you can't install it on it. my 610 is listed as WIP still as well I believe, but it does support DD-WRT. make sure you follow instructions exactly when flashing a WIP device though. sometimes there are special routines. like needing to flash a special mini rom first.

As for problematic linksys routers. if your linksys routers isn't working properly, then it's broken and should be replaced under warranty. When a dlink doesn't work, it's working as designed :) Usually problems with linksys routers are the result of users configuring stuff they don't understand and messing it up themselves. QoS in special can cause a lot of problems if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

I pretty much exclusively sell linksys routers now, since they never come back with problems unless they're faulty, which I think has happened once of al the ones I sell. D-links on the other hand, whenever I do sell them, It's almost guaranteed I'll see the customer again, wondering why something doesn't work.

[kukubau]

Really? I have a 615 rev b1 and would love to get DD-WRT on it.

I just switched to a WRT400N (linksys) and is listed as WIP (work in progress), and the default firmware is just plain horrible.

Check ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/06-12-10-r14594/dlink-dir600b/ (factory-webflash bin file) for the latest DLINK B rev ddwrt firmware. The latest build 14594 was released today june, 12.

Linksys WRT400N DDWRT firmware: ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/06-12-10-r14594/linksys_wrt400n/

Do a 30/30/30 hard reset to access the emergency webpage (check ddwrt wiki on how to do this) and upload it. It works great. Some fw are shown wip because they need more testing, but the firmwares since build 13637 are all working for B, C, D & E revisions.

[random_n]

Is there any reason why that most people prefer Linksys/Cisco stuff? Is it just brand name or is there an actual reason?

Lots of Linksys gear runs third-party, customized Linux-based firmware that offers features and stability far in excess of what you get out of the box. The WRT54G/WRT54GL is probably their most famous model, and has been in production for somewhere around 8 years. Their newer models aren't all as good, of course. Cost cutting has them putting cripplingly small amounts of resources and vxWorks on many of the low end models. Put short - the attraction of Linksys routers (around here, anyways) is mainly in their ability to run third party firmware such as DD-WRT and Tomato.

D-Link's consumer routers have been pretty awful in the past - broken features, lockups and spontaneous reboots, overheating, etc... Bad enough that I've not even looked at what they've been doing recently, and really have no desire to find out.

Cisco's stuff is another level entirely. Until you need more than one hand to count your routers and consider things like restarting the router to make a configuration change unacceptable, you don't need Cisco.

[e-berlin.org]

D-Link's consumer routers have been pretty awful in the past - broken features, lockups and spontaneous reboots, overheating...

...chips with smaller capacity [1-2MB] unable to fit any DD-WRT firmware, etc.

[kukubau]

Gonna have to say my Linksys experience has sucked. Ever since I bought their routers in 04, I've had nothing but trouble. My D-Links on the other hand have been performing superbly. My friends who have Linksys have also switched to D-Link and are problem free. The modern Linksys, as far as I am concerned, SUCKS.

Since the N protocol implemented the wrtgl series is continuing to loose market share as it is not N protocol capable. (wrtgl routers are great products but only b/g). And I don't think they're making it anymore. As for the the wrt400n router, it is the worst N router I've used.

Dlink dir-615 on the other hand is working great. No issues what-so-ever.

...chips with smaller capacity [1-2MB] unable to fit any DD-WRT firmware, etc.

not anymore

[bluewind.]

No problems with this one: D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Wireless Router.

[KaneHusky]

It's not really much of a choice, the products aren't even in the same league.

D-link is the kind of stuff you see being used in the homes of the peopel who think they don't need to spend a little extra on quality on their network stuff, or just don't know, and then they have slow internet, disconnects, packet loss and the whole nine yards.

Linksys, it's what the people who knows that quality matters buys, and who don't think they need the full cisco package for their home networks

I have to disagree. I've heard far more horror stories with people who own a Linksys router than anyone with a D-Link router. I've owned a couple of Linksys routers and they were horrible. There was always something going wrong or needing a reboot, not to mention the fact that they caused unnecessary decrease in internet speeds on two different network setups I had. I've owned the D-Link DIR-655 for over 2 years now and I have had absolutely no problems with it - no noticeable impact on internet speeds, no disconnects, no packet loss whatsoever.

[TemperingPick]

I had a D-Link that lasted until I upgraded my network to N. I had it for 2 years and got it on sale at Target and it never had to be rebooted. I now have a Netgear which is nice. I really like WPS.

[DigitalE]

I prefer Linksys, but my current router is actually a Netgear.

[rawr_boy81]

Get an Apple Airport Extreme; the latest support dual frequencies, they're very reliable and robust. Great with PC's, great with Mac's, great with all concerned.

As for linksys and dlink - had nothing but problem with both of them.

[brink668]

It's not really much of a choice, the products aren't even in the same league.

D-link is the kind of stuff you see being used in the homes of the peopel who think they don't need to spend a little extra on quality on their network stuff, or just don't know, and then they have slow internet, disconnects, packet loss and the whole nine yards.

Linksys, it's what the people who knows that quality matters buys, and who don't think they need the full cisco package for their home networks

Have you ever owned a D-Link? I've owned both. If you are not doing heavy duty transferring go with a Linksys if you want more features without having to use Tomato or other code get D-Link. I have 2x DIR-655 they work flawlessly for the past 2 years. (3 Wireless Laptops, 1 HP MediaSmart Server, 2 Desktops, and connecting to the other DIR-655 with XBOX 360) I went through 2 Linksys in 1 years. They burn out. I move a lot of data around from the server back and forth between machines and they are solid.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Linksys without a doubt.

My D-Link DSL modem would drop the connection every couple of hours (requiring a restart), and my friends D-Link wireless AP used to lock up whenever you entered the network password (rendering it very useful)