D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless

Reviews: Networking

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
D-Link
Oct. 17, 2004

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Network Setup Cont'd...

Virtual Server

The settings in this section allow you to expose certain standard server services to the external network. By forwarding the external IP address to an internal address, you can run FTP, HTTP, or pretty much anything that you need special port forwarding for. The DI-624 does have most of the standard ones preconfigured for you - all you have to do is enable them. It makes it much easier if you aren't familiar with the standard ports used for various services.

Applications

This section is used similarly to the previous except that you will define a specific application that may have several ports or port ranges. This section will be used primarily for running online games or other application specific items. As with the previous section, several standard game services are already preconfigured, all you have to do is activate them.

Filters

In the Filters section, you can set up filters based on IP addresses or MAC addresses. You can filter out specific ports or even deny certain machines from getting access to the Internet. Using MAC filtering, you can deny all machines access except for those which you trust. This can provide an additional layer of security if you are fearful of having your information compromised.

Parental Control

With the growth of broadband has come an increasing need for control over the Internet for children. This section allows the user to specifically block or allow URL's and domains. The URL blocking feature uses keywords to block URLs. Blocking URLs might be useful for small children. Anyone with access to the router can easily reset it back to its original configuration, thus removing any blocks in place. A watchful eye on what your kids are doing on the Internet will probably be of more use.

Firewall

This section controls what you want to allow or deny through the firewall functionality of the router. If you have set up any special ports in the virtual server section they will show up with the default rules. You can also add new ones to the firewall. This is also a good place to look if you want to see what is being allowed or denied through the firewall.

DMZ

The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) allows you to expose a single machine to the Internet. There is only an IP address and an enable button here. For most people this function won't be needed. Exposing a computer directly to the Internet can be a very dangerous act unless the machine is properly hardened and updated. According to current statistics, an unpatched machine exposed to the Internet will be compromised after only 16 minutes. Besides, it is against most ISP's service agreements to run servers from broadband connections unless you pay for a business class service.

Performance

Finally we get down to the performance section. This section is an important one. Most of the items on this section you won't even change except for the last few. The last few settings are 802.11g only mode, CTS mode, and super G mode. These three setting will impact your ability to operate with other wireless g manufacturers' network hardware and also to interoperate with the 802.11b standard. This is also where you go to get that 108 Mbps throughput which gives this product the "extreme" name. We will dig deeper into these setting later in the review.

Finally, the other sections are tools and status that are exactly what their name implies. In the tools section you can update the firmware, change the time, etc. In the status section, you can view who is connected to your access point, general device info and the log. I would like to note that many of the changes you make in the first sections will require the router to be rebooted. A nice feature of the DI-624 is extremely fast reboots. The device is usually back up and running in 5-10 seconds. Unless you change the IP address or the admin password, the system will send you right back to the page you just edited rather than dumping you to a DNS error page which I have seen on some routers.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Network Setup
Page 4: Network Setup Cont'd...
Page 5: Adapter Setup
Page 6: Testing
Page 7: Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by Rich on October 27, 2004 - 8:19 am

I probably didn't go into too much detail about the fact that this router has a cable test feature. Although nice, it kind of got overshadowed by some of the the other items such as the wireless. I just got a chance to fully utilize this nice little addition. We had internet failure with our existing router and I figured the thing had just died, so I hooked up the dlink to test it out. Sure enough it told me the WAN cable was disconnected. Further information then told me that the Tx pair was OK but the Rx pair had a break at 28 meters. Tracking down the line found a major rip in the cable that was caused by a careless ladder, and sure enough half the wires were intact, the other half weren't so lucky. I would definitely rank that feature up their with the "don't know how good it is until you need it" catagory. Now if they could just get that setup wizard fixed,..... :wink:

2 - Posted by scott on November 11, 2004 - 12:28 pm

I have used the g520 card on XP and 98 machines with no problems connecting to a 624. However, trying to use the cards on win2k at a users has proved out to be misserable. There tech support has only suggested reloading the operating system, 3 times and no help. All in All I would say that it is not usable with win2k and that there tech support is not helpful having clocked up more than 12hrs talking to them.

3 - Posted by Guest on February 12, 2005 - 11:19 pm

I have now spent 5 days trying to get a DI-624 and DWL-G650 functioning on an XP laptop. I also bought a D-Link print server. Level 3 D-Link tech support can't solve the problems. What a mess.

4 - Posted by Rich on August 9, 2005 - 11:36 pm

I would like to post a quick update to this initial review. D-Link has new Firmware for this router which now enhances the virtual cable test feature and adds the WPA2 standard to the security setup. The setup wizard still blows (hint hint). They also removed the speedboost with static turbo to better conform to the WiFi Alliance specifications. All-in-all, I would still recommend this router. It is currently holding its own as my primary gateway. That is saying something since I have fried some gateways too.

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