Price : Too low to display
The D-Link Xtreme N® 450 Gigabit Router (DIR-665) represents a breakthrough in Wireless N connectivity. The 3x3 MIMO technology in the DIR-665 uses three distinct data streams to enable extremely fast data transfer rates (up to 450Mbps?), making it ideal for streaming high bandwidth content such as HD video.
This review is from : D-Link DIR-665 Xtreme N 450 Gigabit Router Selectable Dual Band 802.11n
Runs perfect for me setup does require some mid-level knowledge . I'm not sure why people are having such problems with their DIR-665 Xtreme router - I am happy to report that after three solid days of use, the router hasn't even so much as hiccuped for me.
My DIR-665 from Amazon Vine is replacing my purchased D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Gigabit Wireless Router. For those who know the older DIR-655 model, you will find the updated DIR-665 to be very familiar. In fact other than some cosmetic changes to the faceplate, the physical body is exactly the same between the two products.
I'm an IT person so of course I don't read any of the instructions or follow any of the guides. Out of the box I remove the DIR-665, notice it uses the same power adapter as my 655 so I just pull the local LAN cables, the WAN cable and the A/C Adapter and swap them over to the new 665. I'm in cable-internet country (TWC) so unfortunately the cable modem is somewhat fussy about dynamically releasing and renewing IP addresses on the fly to a new MAC, so I had to unplug/replug the cable modem in order to initiate a power cycle. After that, internet connectivity on physically connected machines was up and running.
So to recap:
1 - Unbox DIR-665
2 - Move LAN/WAN/A/C cables from DIR-655 to DIR-665
3 - Reboot cable modem
4 - Internet is go!
Wireless connectivity was a tiny bit harder since I had a specific pre-shared key that I wanted to keep in order to make reconfiguring my wireless connections easier. In that same theme, I kept my SSID name the same from when I had the DIR-655 installed. This was the first time I cracked open the web-based router configuration (192.168.0.1). Step 1 is always to change the basic blank password to something you'll remember. Step two, I simply did a once-over on the internet settings - every thing was auto-set to dynamic (which is normal for most ISPs nowadays), however if you have specific PPOE or other authentication requirements, they were all laid out here.
I noticed that the wireless config had the option of going through a wizard, so I selected that option first. Wizard is a bit misleading as you assume a wizard would explain what the options you were selecting meant. This would be my biggest gripe about the DIR-665, you really do have to have some knowledge of what you're looking at, setting-wise. Unfortunately the web-based configuration does not help in any way, there are no "?" popups or descriptions. You'll have to Google in order to find out what all the settings mean (which may be an issue if your router is down). The wizard seems to default to the widest acceptance settings, not locking out any wireless configuration, leaving security open to WPA or WPA2 and running on a closed 20Hz channel width. I didn't play around with the wizard too much so your personal results may vary.
Next, I went into manual wireless configuration in order to set up my personal preferences (a screenshot of my settings is included in the Amazon customer photos). Once I had moved to the 5GHz band, mixed 802.11a/n, Auto 20/40 Hz, my laptop reports 216-270Mbps connection speeds (screenshot also included).
One thing to keep in mind with the DIR-665 is that it runs a bit hot (again, just like the 655), so make sure it has ventilation room.
Since installation I have had zero issues with my DIR-665 - my laptop did initially have disconnect issues when I first switched to the 5Ghz spectrum, but a quick driver update for the NIC fixed that problem. In my home there are four wired computers, two wireless laptops (one 802.11g, one 802.11n), an iPod, two XBox360's (one with the new 802.11n adapter, one with the older 802.11g), and a PS3. Almost all of these devices work flawlessly. Streaming HD content from Netflx (via XBox) takes less than ten seconds to buffer. When you switch to the 5GHz network the protocols are limited to 802.11a and 802.11n. Therefore, if you have older devices that only run on 802.11g networks, they will not work when set to 5GHz (this could include iPods, phone WiFi, laptops, consoles, etc, etc). So check your wireless NICs, this may not be the router for you. Of course you could always get a secondary 802.11g WAP to hookup to your DIR-665 (this is actually what I ended up doing). For "gamers" this is how it breaks down for the 5GHz spectrum - the only units that will be able to use the 5GHz network will be XBoxes using the external "black" version of the 802.11N wireless adapter. This means that XBox 360 "slims" and PS3's will not be able to see the 5GHz network. The 360 "slims" can use the 802.11N black wireless adapter if you wanted to hook it up.
Now whether or not you'll be able to get the full oomph of the theoretical 300Mbps speed out of the dual band router is so dependent on your home configuration that it's probably silly to even try and address. Just know that just because something runs in the 5Ghz spectrum it does not mean that it's better than a 2.4Ghz device - we're not talking CPUs here, bigger does not always equate to better. Ideally the DIR-665 when in 5GHz mode is utilizing both the 2.4 and 5GHz spectrum (I really don't know how to check if this is true - if someone has a guide, I'd be willing to give it a try) and using the concept of channel bonding in order to use dual channel communication. I never saw the magical 300 number reported by Windows on my wireless NIC, but it does stay over 200 constantly and maintain a full 5 bars of signal strength.
Misc info - My router is located upstairs (laptop/xbox downstairs) in a home built after 1990. There is approximately 18ft of distance as the crow flies, but that goes through the roof/floor.
This review was done with hardware version A1, Firmware version 1.00NA
*Update 12/20/2010 - Just writing to let everyone know that I've been running this router for a little over a month and a half. Still works like a champ with zero issues. The laptop I'm writing this update from is reporting a 270Mbps connection as we speak.
D-Link DIR-665 Xtreme N 450 Gigabit Router Selectable Dual Band 802.11n Reviews
I am not an I.T. professional . so...I cannot provide some technical jargon for anyone. However, I am your average computer owner. I was able to read a few lines of the directions and set up this router within ten minutes. The majority of those minutes were spent unpackaging and reading the directions first. I haven't had any blips using it in the past 2 weeks. I wanted to give it time to see if I had crashing or had to unplug and allow to reboot like my old netgear sometimes did. I can only recommend this product with my limited knowledge. I am your average Jill home dual laptop user. This item does what it says it does.
D-Link DIR-665 Xtreme N 450 Gigabit Router Selectable Dual Band 802.11n Opinions
Great range; some misfeatures but worth it . The good:
This router gets great range for the wireless network in our house. I can get wireless now in the far reaches of the basement or upstairs, far away from the office where the router is set. Really, the range is so great I can live with the other hassles and shortcomings of this router.
It looks classy.
The bad:
I also wasn't able to get the LAN port on the router to connect to the WAN port on my SPA-2102 VOIP adapter, which was a hassle (it worked fine when I made the same connection through a 8-port switch). The only way I could solve this problem was to use a second router which could connect to the VOIP. I assume it's some sort of auto-sensing issue, but I didn't really want to spend the time tracking it down. The only way I could solve this problem was to use a second router which could connect to the VOIP. For non-techies, that means that it messed up my Internet phones and basically I can't use this unit with them.
Changing configuration settings requires you to reboot the router for each setting you change, which can get tedious.
It comes unsecured.
It doesn't seem to support IPV6.
The LEDs are too bright. I keep the router on my desk and they are so bright as to be distracting. I'm going to have to tape over them so they don't drive me nuts.
In a nutshell, I'm so happy with the range I'll deal with the other issues, but it's not like this is my dream router. When I realized it had caused all my phone problems, I was ready to give it eleven billion negative stars. But at this point, I need to acknowledge that the range is exceptional and it's going to be good from now on.
Xtreme N: teaching problem solving skills to everyone! . This was very easy to set up as I just switched out a netgear router and pretty much just moved the lines going into it from one to the other. Because I have had a D-Link router before, all of the computers recognized it right away. I did go through the entire setup on a PC (our Macs didn't like the setup disk for some reason) and it was very simple and direct. The ONLY difficulty I had was setting up security. Because I have done this so many times before, I thought I knew what I was doing. (Famous last words.) To log into the page to select WPAs or WEPs, I kept stumbling over the password to log in. Admin is the user and admin is usually the password. Or admin user and password for the password? Because I've never gotten past this seemingly simple roadblock, I have always left our signal open when I had a D-Link router in the house. This time I decided to find the answer to this mystery and it wasn't that difficult. The first time you set up, the password field should be left blank. It was ridiculously easy. Would that that had been the end of problems caused by using security.
Hooking up with the Xtreme N was initially very easy. EVERYONE in the house was able to connect. The location of routers has always caused us some trouble. We have gone through a number of routers in our old farm house which has some interesting twists and wall placements, even after we created a great room in the middle of it. The problem has always been that the router is either back in my husband's office which puts it forty feet from mine with three walls in between or it is in mine with the same handicap. Now that his new desktop has wireless, the netgear router had been moved to my office which made his speed considerably slower, as low at 5 mps while I have 16 or so. The Xbox is upstairs. Everything seems to be in far flung areas.
The Xtreme N D-Link changed everything! Most of our neighbors have always been able to see and use our signal while we have had D-Links involved. Neighbors who live a block away and across the street, those neighbors on the other sides of streams, hundreds of pine trees, and apple orchards ALL had access. (The only reason I removed our old D-Link was because I was not able to put a WPA key on it and was not able to get a stable link sometimes.)
The problems with the Xtreme N D-Link all began after I put a personal WPA on it. At first all the Apples connected to the D-Link without any problem. Type in the network security and let it always connect. The problem started first with the PC laptops that both run XP. After typing in the new code, neither could hook up to the internet. Then the Xbox couldn't connect, then the PS3 and wii all went down.
First, I actually resorted to reading the directions to no avail. Then I started calling around. After spending 46 minutes troubleshooting with a D-Link tech named Anthony, the Apple MacBook Pros and Apple desktop could no longer connect to the internet. That meant FIVE computers down. Anthony quickly accelerated my case to a higher power. Stage 2 of the negotiations had me talking to another woman in a conversation that needed extensive repeating and Alpha-Bravo-Charlie-ing my way up to I is for India.
After being disconnected from the person I was then talking to, I called back and was not able to be connected to tech support because dialing the correct number "could not be heard." There were several problems connecting again Then, finally, after having spent a certain amount of time on hold, I can tell you that the cheerful young woman who talks so brightly about D-Links of all kinds of networks is not any of the people I talked to.
On the other hand, after 1 hour and 31 minutes, we discovered the problem. The tech I talked to said that the choice of WPA or WEP probably didn't cause any problem. When you log into the router to set the WEP key for security, the pin number has to be disabled if you are using Windows XP. One small box on the wireless settings caused ALL of the trouble.
Now that the problems are solved, the Xtreme N is PERFECT.
Regular Jane weighs in. . I'm a bit intimidated reading through everyone's comments. I am not a network administrator, or programmer, nor do I work in an I.S. department and I got the router working just fine. Perhaps I don't know what I don't know - but the instructions out of the box were easy enough - all in one small poster - the wires/cables and power cord were all included in the box, which is really nice, I didn't have to go out and buy more stuff at Radio Shack - YAY!
This router replaced another one that had recently died and other than one little glitch with a corporate based laptop - you have to click a few extra things to get it on the wireless network - everything picked up and worked smoothly - in fact, better than before, really.
The design is super sleek, too and I love the arctic white color. I think it is a product that works very well.
There you have it, a regular person's experience. Works great, easy to install and looks fantastic ;-)
Cons Review Not Easy to Setup and unreliable . While I consider myself as knowledgeable when it comes to the basic setup of wireless routers, my old router before the D-Link DIR-665 was a 3-yr old basic and simple Linksys WRT54G router. Setting up the D-Link DIR-665 router turned out to be a challenge for me. For starters, there is a lack of documentation included with the product. Oh sure, it comes with the Setup poster that shows you where to make your connections, as well as a setup CD that should be run first. This was where I encountered my first issue: the CD only works on Windows. For Mac users like me, I was directed to see the manual. Hence, problem #2: the manual is on the CD, and not printed. I could go on a rant about how inconvenient this is...
After making the connections, I was able to login to the router console manually using my web browser. There are two main wizards to help setup the router. The first one, for setting up your internet connection, was painless for me. All I to do with find my ISP in a drop-down list and the router seemed to do the rest. After 30 secs, I got the connection succesfully. I can see this as a challenge if your ISP is not on the list. The second wizard is for setting up the wireless. Here, I ran into serious trouble. The main issue is that there are several complex settings that you have to select from, even within the wizard. Upgrading from an old basic router to this state-of-the-art device meant that there was a lot of new terminology that I had to learn fast. Unfortunately, there are no "plain English" descriptions within the console; the manual wasn't of much help either. It took me a good hour of trial-and-error tinkering, trying different settings, searching online for the terminology, etc. before I could determine the correct configuration in which my Macbook, my iPhone, and my HP work laptop could connect successfully. While changing and saving settings, the router makes you wait a mandatory 15 seconds before you can continue doing anything! Not cool.
I used this router for a few weeks before unplugging it and returned to my old router. Why? This was unreliable to the point where it required a daily reset. Webpages would all of a sudden just start loading really slow (brought back the great memories of AOL dial-up) and I was unable to remain productive, especially if I was using my work laptop through VPN. I went back to my Linksys and it was like a miracle. It feels fast all of a sudden...reliably fast. I had initially felt the D-Link was faster than my old router when I had set it up...well, the honeymoon was short.
Good-bye D-Link router! You won't be missed.
DIR 665 xtreme N 450 gigabit router . I previously had a DIR 655 which once updated with firmware performed well and was fast.
I saw this router and thought it would be a step up but not so
I found that the dual band 5 ghz was not really of any use unless you had laptops with the intel wireless chip in it.
You also need to select either 2.4 or 5 GHZ. and 5 GHZ will not work with a lot of current wireless devices such as B and G.
There are no firmware updates and there is no forum for this device. It is as though DLINK brought it out and wish they had not.
On top of this the router is unreliable. Takes ages to reboot.
Takes some time to recognize all the devices on the network. Gradually slows down and I have to reboot it weekly.
I would not recommend this router
Good Luck to You... . Despite several opinions, setup was a breeze. Everything configured, the router start working very fine... but only for a few hours. I was talking on Skype when the call drops; "just a normal drop", I think, and minutes later it drops again. This happens 4 times in a 30 minutes call. Next day I'm just browsing when my notebook says wireless connection was lost, and back on line a minute later; a few minutes later it happens again, and again, and again...
One more day and the router begins to restart periodically, and the more time passes more frequent was the restart. "Overheat" I think, and then removed the cover. Same result... Useless!
Detail: A relative also bought one and the result was exactly the same!
Result: I'm using my US$ 200 router as a "de luxe" access point, connected to a Mikrotik router and with your own router disabled.
This product was an "alien" in D-Link line, and I think there will not have future support for it.
Too much money for too little . . . . This is not a terrible product . . . just not worth the money. I had little difficulty with setting it up, but I did have to spend some time tweaking it to get the best performance. Even then, however, the performance was often worse than my Netgear draft-N router with 300mb/s top speed. In close range tests, the d-link router was marginally better with speed ranging from 270-320 most of the time (it occassionally reached 405 and rarely reached 450). The Netgear was a consistent 300. Throughput was typically better on the d-link so that it averaged 102 mb/s compared to the Netgear at 92mp/s. At long range, the d-link was down to 32mb/s while the Netgear only dropped to 82mb/s.
The slow long-range performance and only marginally better short-term performance do not speak well for this product. Worse still, connection to the device takes considerably longer. I would recommend against buying this router.
how bad could it be . hard to setup. hard to figure out the setup with the write trasmission and types of security.
gets worse when you somehow have terrible speed even when wired. really had a lot of hope for this product but had to return in the end
Product Image
Feature D-Link DIR-665 Xtreme N 450 Gigabit Router Selectable Dual Band 802.11n
- IEEE 802.11n, 802.11a, and 802.11g Compliant
- Xtreme N® Selectable Dual Band Technology (2GHz or 5.4GHz)
- HD Fuel® for Smoother Video Streaming and Online Gaming
- Optimized to Work with Intel® Centrino® Wireless
- 24/7 Basic Installation Support3
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Product Details
EAN : 0790069329227
UPC : 790069329227
MPN : DIR-665
Brand : D-Link
Weight : 2 pounds
Height : 3 inches
Length : 11 inches
Width : 9 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Manufacturer : D-Link Systems, Inc.
Model : DIR-665
Publisher : D-Link Systems, Inc.
SKU : ELA504737
Studio : D-Link Systems, Inc.
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