D-Link Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router DIR-825 Review

2 Stars

Not recommended - Random Connection Loss under moderate packet load

Vadue Updated - 1st Jan 2009

I have a gaming server I have connected to this router. When I first set the router up, I was unable to get the port forwarding to work properly which caused my server to not receive any player?s attempts to enter into it. I then tried to get the server to connect into someone else's server but was unable to do so as long as the port I was trying to use was set up in the port forwarding table. Once I removed the port from the port forwarding table, I was able to connect to another server. To get around the inbound connection problem, I just placed my server into the DMZ and had no problem getting people to connect to my server. This was my first indication of an issue with this router however; I continued to use it until I noticed another problem.

About a day after I installed the router, I noticed that my server would randomly start lagging and nearly everyone would lose their connection to my server. At first I thought someone was causing this however, after logging all packets coming in and out of my server, I did not find a pattern that would suggest that this was an "outside" issue. After reviewing other D-Link router issues, I have come to the conclusion that this router ( DIR-825 ) is suffering from similar issues other D-Link routers have been having. Other D-Link Routers seem to have a rebooting issue but I don't think that is the same problems this router is having. This router seems to start dropping nearly all of its connections at random when it is under a moderate load. I have placed the other router back in the network and have had no connection issues. My server only host 15 simultaneous connections which requires a constant upload of 768 Kbps and about 1024Kbps download (estimated download). Although this is not a lot of bandwidth, it is a lot of packets pre second. Also, I know its a router problem because my other computer can not access the internet when people start lagging out of my server. I am going to put the D-Link router back in my network and try to tweak some settings to see if I can get it to stop randomly dropping connections. One thing I thought of is that it might have something to do with its logging. The log could be getting full and it might be trying to clear its log which might be causing it to use a lot of its processing to accomplish this. I am going to see if I can turn logging off.

I also have a problem with it dropping its wireless connection for no reason and it will take a little while for it to reconnect which can be annoying. I haven't had a chance to check out other features like the dual band wireless and the throughput of its G-Bit ports. The router seems to have a lot of thought behind it but the quality seems to have been overlooked. Having to restart the router after you make a simple change is pretty annoying also as well as time consuming when trying to troubleshoot any issues you might run into.

I would not recommend this router to anyone else as long as it is having these issues. I hope a simple firmware upgrade will fix these issues. If I can't find a fix soon, I will be forced to return the router and get a different brand.

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7.6

CNET Review

October 26, 2008 | 11:31 PM PDT

The Good: Virtual networked USB port; mobile router capability; true dual-band; intuitive and responsive browser interface; gigabit LAN and WAN; easy to set up; support separate wireless networks for guests; convenient preset settings.

The Bad: Slow mixed mode performance; 5Ghz range could be better; bulky design.

The Bottom Line: The D-Link Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router DIR-825 is a stable performer with great features and an excellent Web interface. The outdated and bulky design, relatively short range, and merely average throughput, however, lessen its appeal.

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