Replace DIR-655 with what?

[Abini]

I have a DIR-655 running my home network. We are a tech heavy family with a desktop, a HTPC, three laptops, all running Windows 7. I'm running a Synology Diskstation as my NAS. I also have three wired network printers, a net enabled A/V Receiver, multiple ReplayTVs (soon to be retired), two smartphones, and two ipod Touch PMPs. All told, I have 19 net enabled devices using the network at various times throughout the day.

I'm looking to add some WD Live boxes in the future for streaming shows off the internet and from the NAS.

My desktop, the NAS, and HTPC are hardwired GB. We watch a lot of Recorded shows on the HTPC and use it to watch shows off the NAS as well.

I've had the DIR-655 for years now and it is a solid performer, rock-steady and stable. I'm just curious as to what else is out there that could provide faster throughput or is what I've got good enough?

At times you can notice performance hits when we are watching shows on the HTPC from the NAS and other people are trying to use the internet. I know it can partially be the Synology drive and I'm looking at upgrading that as well. I have tried enabling and tweaking the QoS settings, but haven't noticed a real change.

Thanks is advance for any advice.

 

[Petter-S]

Hi, I'm in same situation. I've got the synology spinning along with dozens of devices. I would like to upgrade my dir-655 because it's so unstable. The wireless is awfull even when the signal is good.

So far I been a bit tempted by the Netgear WNDR4500, that genius application looks nice. Like the feature where you can see what devices are connected..

 

[stevech]

have you tried using other channels? In 2.4GHz, best choices are 1, 6 and 11

If you have many household users doing heavy WiFi simultaneously, you can add WiFi access point(s), each on a different channel (up to 3).

 

[Petter-S]

Ok, I will check it out.
I have problem with that "limited connection" comes up every now and then. Very annoying because my internet connection gets lost for 10-15 seconds.

 

[Briant73]

I too am wondering if there is a router out there that would be worth upgrading to from my dir-655. I currently have a network consisting of
wired - 3 game machines, two gigabit desktop computers, tv, avr, 2 sat receivers, blu-ray (three gigabit devices, the rest are 10/100)
Wireless (n only) - smart phones, tablets, laptops
Cable modem with downstream speeds anywhere from 10mbps-30mbps and up around 1mbps.

Now my dlink 655 works well enough overall but if there is a router out there that would be an upgrade in terms of performance/features for my network I'd like to know which ones. Or would it be best to get a wired router and use the dir 655 as a wireless AP?

Also to the person saying he constantly loses his signal - I had the issue where performance dipped or I lost connectivity all the time, the fix for me was pick a channel such as 1,6,11 and turn off auto channel scan. You might want to try insidder or a smartphone app for wifi activity to see what channels have little to no traffic on them.

 

[Briant73]

I'm guessing by the lack of responses the DIR-655 for home use is still a decent router performance wise.

To those having an issue did you get it resolved?

 

[stevech]

I and others have WiFi products at home that just work. No "drops". Me myself, I avoid mass produced consumer products.

I've been using Cradlepoint's routers for a long time in my home and job. These are often used for unattended machine-to-machine and public place uses. E.g., I recommended this to a friend who does IT for libraries. He says the Cradlepoints he put in libraries for DSL modem to WiFi/LAN run without any attention for months. That's been my experience; Cradlepoint's firmware is robust and is about the same on all their products. This is the difference as compared to firmware-du-jour for consumer products.

Not saying Cradlepoint is the best; just excellent.

 

[Briant73]

I and others have WiFi products at home that just work. No "drops". Me myself, I avoid mass produced consumer products.

I've been using Cradlepoint's routers for a long time in my home and job. These are often used for unattended machine-to-machine and public place uses. E.g., I recommended this to a friend who does IT for libraries. He says the Cradlepoints he put in libraries for DSL modem to WiFi/LAN run without any attention for months. That's been my experience; Cradlepoint's firmware is robust and is about the same on all their products. This is the difference as compared to firmware-du-jour for consumer products.

Not saying Cradlepoint is the best; just excellent.

My dir-655 is working fine overall, I was asking in case my network has outgrown or newer routers are just that much better performance/feature wise. Good to know what other options are out there in case I need a new router.

 

[DaveMcLain]

I had a DIR-655 running as a wireless AP in a large single story house with good coverage but it started to get flaky. It would drop wireless connections randomly and it would take several seconds to reestablish the connection with the client. I replaced the DIR-655 with a Linksys WRT610N V2(very inexpensive from E-Bay) and it's been amazingly good. Coverage in the house is superior and I've had no problems with any dropped connections and no reboots needed after running for several months. This box is also set up to work as an AP only and is also running DD-WRT 14929 firmware with power settings of 28mw.