D-Link DIR-825 B1 Quick Review

[thiggins]

I just posted the test data for the DIR-821 B1 using the standard SNB Intel 5300 WiFi Link client in the Router and Wireless Charts.

Bottom line: It ain't no WNDR3700...

I'll have an article posted tomorrow.

 

[claykin]

Looks like its got an issue with downlink throughput. Uplink isn't bad at all as far as I can tell.

When looking at the throughput versus location chart the 825 B1 doesn't look that bad. Not as solid as the 3700, but not bad.

Hopefully this will inspire Dlink to fix the issue in firmware. I know they are working on new firmware since they are releasing fix specific versions for beta test.

 

[jdabbs]

Those are surprising results; I'd like to hear speculation about the performance disparity.

 

[thiggins]

Those are surprising results; I'd like to hear speculation about the performance disparity.

Antennas, firmware, attention to detail and component selection in the radios.

 

[Chaplin]

http://www.cnet.com.au/netgear-rangemax-dual-band-wireless-n-gigabit-router-wndr3700-339298270.htm

 

[thiggins]

http://www.cnet.com.au/netgear-rangemax-dual-band-wireless-n-gigabit-router-wndr3700-339298270.htm

Can you please explain the reason for this link? This thread is about the DIR-825 B1.

 

[Chaplin]

Can you please explain the reason for this link? This thread is about the DIR-825 B1.

He indicates the speed of the WNDR3700 and DIR-825... For the end of comparison...

 

[thiggins]

Jdabbs, The memory doesn't look like its 64 MB. there is a single Mosel-Vitelic v58c2256164. The only info says that this is 128MB, but I think that's Bits, not bytes, which would make it 16 MB.

 

[jdabbs]

That's certainly a change from last year's FCC submission.

Edit: The memory part numbers were similar enough to warrant a second glance. I'm assuming you came to the 128 MB amount by googling the part number; the kazus site does not reflect what ProMOS has for that particular part number (256 Mb/32 MB). Still half of what was depicted in the FCC internals.

I don't think I'd recommend the B1 over the 3700, but performance-wise, it looks competitive with the 400N (another 32 MB model).

 

[tipstir]

So is it 16MB, 32MB or 128MB?

 

[thiggins]

16MB as far as I can tell.

 

[jdabbs]

ProMOS and Mosel-Vitelic have somewhat similar logos; given that and an exact part number match I believe it's 32 MB.

 

[thiggins]

Interesting that ProMOS didn't come up at all in Google and Bing searches.

But I agree on the logo. 32 MB it is.

 

[jjcrandall]

I'm glad at least to glance at the B1 performance. After purchasing a Trendnet TEW-633GR because its components matched the DIR-655, but at a lower cost, I went with the 825 A1. I was really disappointed with the 633's build quality, and then in turn Trendnet's lack of support.

the 825 A1 isn't horrible, but it's quirky sometimes.

 

[Gr11zzly]

I just posted the test data for the DIR-821 B1 using the standard SNB Intel 5300 WiFi Link client in the Router and Wireless Charts.

Bottom line: It ain't no WNDR3700...

I'll have an article posted tomorrow.

Perhaps the performance is not up to NEtgear but the support and documentation is SO much better.

My first WNDR3700 failed after I connected a USB drive with all my pictures and music files on it---it seemed to have a catastrophic failure trying to index that many files since the same connection had worked fine without all the music.
The second WNDR3700 seemed to work well until I looked at my software firewall which was recording PINGS from the WAN at a rate of 4 per second even though the router firewall was set appropriately----then I called support---I can't believe that i spent that long talking to that many ill informed support folks at various levels. It seemed as if at every question they went off and read the manual (badly). Over 4 hours on the phone so given the lack of competent support I declared the box not fit for purpose and replaced it with something 'similar' from D-link viz the DIR 825. Its adequate in my situation although I had real troubles connecting my Apple (802.11g) Airport express. for playing my iTunes. It only works if all the 'fancy' features on the router's 2.4Ghz connection are removed and the protocol is set to 'g' only (that reduces the connection speed to 52Mhz from 130Mhz ). Actually not sure which of those settings did the trick and perhaps I'll replace the airport express for something more modern later.

Unfortunately my software firewall which recorded no issues when using the old DI-624 is back to clocking up Pings and UDP connection requests when using P2P applications and given that the firewall interface is completely different from the 'old' DI-624 I am in learning mode trying to understand this effect. Went back and connected the DI-624 were I specifically disallow WAN connections to the LAN for UDP and ICMP and all is fine. The DIR 825 is using its default settings since I haven't figured out the best way to customise it for my situation.
Any help setting up the router for P2P use without the unsolicited connections getting through would be appreciated

 

[thiggins]

Any NAT firewall is going to block incoming WAN traffic that isn't the result of an outbound request unless you have opened ports. Have you?

 

[hellbringer]

Check it out: DD-WRT firmware on the DIR-825 rev B!
Is works for the most part, have some trouble with the WiFi....

Greatest thing about the DD-WRT firmware is that the router does not go in to reboot after every setting you change.

Also, checkout the CPU:
CPU Model: Atheros AR7161 rev 2 (0xaa)
CPU Clock: 680 MHz
and the memory: Total Available 65536 kB (/1024 = 64MB RAM)

 

[jdabbs]

CPU:
The AR7161 has been referred to in Atheros literature as both 600 MHz and 680 MHz. I've always assumed 680 MHz was accurate (and the other non-finalized specs), while Tim generally reports it as 600 MHz (400N, 825 B1). Given that your readout indicates multiple revisions, perhaps the AR7161 was 600 MHz at one point. Are there chip markings to distinguish both varieties? I don't know.

RAM:
64 MB is interesting because that's the memory amount in the prototype submitted for FCC approval. Is DD-WRT inaccurate, or is D-Link shipping both 32 MB (as reviewed) and 64 MB versions of the B1?

 

[ddelorme]

dir-825 stock firmware lacking but that can be fixed

I admit this is an old thread but i thought i would comment as i have had a DIR-825 for few years.
Stock firmware is crap. but the hardware is identical to a 3700 with 64MB of ram.
I also have a netgear wndr4500 stock firmware nice but when i loaded openwrt on the humble little DIR-825 it rocked the socks off the 4500. well not really but it is just as fast and lots of extra features... if you find one cheap pick it up.
here are the specs from openwrt
Hardware Highlights
HW Rev CPU Ram Flash Network Gigabit USB Serial JTag
B1/B2 Atheros AR7161@680MHz 64MB 8MB 4x1 Yes Yes Yes Yes
C1 Atheros AR9344@560MHz 128MB 16MB 4x1 Yes Yes Yes Yes
link to page http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/d-link/dir-825