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New D-Link Router (DI-524)

January 29, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Internet • Wireless

UPDATE: 01/30/06 - I usually post my updates at the bottom of my articles, but this one is going to the top. My husband had major problems accessing the Internet on his Windows laptop, and I found some web sites were loading painfully slow, while others were fine.

I called D-Link’s customer support. It was disappointing to hear what the tech support guy told me. They don’t recommend WPA security on this router, they only “really” support WEP. EEEK! WPA support was my whole reason for purchasing a new router, and why would it state on the box that WPA was a router feature if they weren’t intending to support it!?!

I asked about other routers, and he said that any of them from the DI-624 upward, would fully support WPA.

Anyway, it really makes me very mad now that I am thinking about it. I guess they just take old crappy routers and slap in a firmware update so they can call it “WiFi Certified” - blah.

So, bottom line is I will be taking my router back to Office Max. The LinkSys routers are on sale, and since that is the brand I really wanted, I will spend a little extra for one of their better models.

End of update!

I picked up a new wireless router the other day. I found the D-Link DI-524 at OfficeMax for a really good price (around $20) so I grabbed it.

Reviews online were mixed, but I figured I would give it a shot.

Set up using the wizard was easy, but the wizard does not cover a lot of settings, including enabling WPA, so it is best to work through each page manually. Thankfully I have prior experience with routers, but for those that don’t, it can be a very daunting assignment.

On the Home>Wireless page, I enabled wireless connectivity, named SSID, chose a channel, left the default for Mixed mode & enabled SSID broadcast. I enabled WPA as PSK and created a very strong, impossible to memorize passkey.

Then I took a look at the Advanced tab. I was initially confused with the Firewall Rules configuration. I wasn’t sure if this needed to be enabled, or did NAT take care of my firewall needs. After running the Shields Up tests over at GRC.com, I realized I was in fairly good shape, and my NAT protection was working.

Shields Up brought a few security details to my attention. By default, my router left Port 113 closed, but not hidden. I found a tutorial on D-link’s support pages to stealth Port 113 and it worked! I don’t know if I will have connection problems in the future, but it is easy to reverse if needed.

Shields Up also let me know that my system was responding to pings. I found a setting on the Tools>Misc page to block WAN Pings. Also, on the Tools>Misc page, I disabled Universal PlugNPlay (UPNP). My security settings now passed the Shields Up tests!

On the Firmware page, I tried to update to the December, 2005 firmware, but a message kept popping up that there was a problem with the script. I have a feeling that it is because I am on a Mac. There was a warning to NOT use a wireless connection to download and update the firmware, so I had to connect by Ethernet. I will have to connect our Windows laptop and maybe that will work.

Extra Notes: I found a helpful web site called PortForward.com that offers Port Forwarding instructions for tons of different routers.

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