I'm looking at buying the DLink DIR-655 Extreme N-Gigabit router. I currently have a cheapy ADSL modem/router and really need to boost my range for a fairly large home.
Questions
1. Can I hook this Dlink up to my current router & how.
2. Will the quality of my connection speed not still depend on my cheap router
3. Will I be able to forward my ports and do other advance settings if my current router don't have this functionality?
Roger I went ahead and bought a DIR 655 from sybaritic, only realized when I got it that it doesn't have an ADSL port, duh, that's what happens when you read up on every router in the world...
but besides that it's a kickass piece of hardware!!
it does exactly what I need it to do
basically it's connected to my Telscum ADSL router (which is set up for bridge mode, which is very easy to do, no telnetting required) via its WAN port, which leaves another 4 LAN ports open, in this setup the Telscum router is acting as a modem ONLY, it's not included in my LAN, cos it's physically impossible...
then, it doesn't have a Pass-Through mode specifically, but it's normal PPPoE mode (default account on the router that provides a connection to any device that isn't dialing its own connection) allows mulitple Pass-Through anyway! so i can still use Route Sentry on all my pcs
the wifi is unburstable, range is huge, 3 badass cancer in your kidneys from radio waves antennas make sure of that and it does every combination of b,g&N wireless along with lots of party tricks to improve signal and throughput
the features on the admin page of the router are endless, i think the only feature it doesn't have is that guest wifi thing that the Belkin N+ and Airport have (I tested one of them) but it does have an Access Control page that I haven't explored yet that might provide that feature
it also has a USB port but with the current firmware its only for windows connect now setups, whatever that means, but in the states their version of this router has received a firmware update that turns it into a SharePort, which allows you to attach a flash drive or maybe even a usb powered HDD to your network, we just have to hope that our version gets the firmware update soon
lastly, the router runs the most stable and smoothest software I've ever encountered, it never loses the plot for no apparent reason, requiring a reset (so far) and when you do change something that needs a reboot, it takes a mere 15 seconds! and it'll only reset the module that you're fiddling with, for instance, i was streaming music over wired lan while i was fiddling with the wifi, it reset the router after i saved the settings and i lost the wifi signal for about 10 secs but the music coming over the wired lan never stopped playing
also, if you want to use your existing router as a hub to extend your number of LAN ports you can sacrifice 3 LAN ports in total with the setup that I'm running now, or you can go the roundabout route and only give up 2 LAN ports and leave the DIR655's WAN port unconnected, but this requires the router that's playing modem to have Pass-Through capable PPPoE (if that's what you need, otherwise just normal PPPoE will do), this method is a little more complicated but I can talk you through it
all in all it's the best router I've owned so far, it's just a pity the d-link SA support guys don't know anything so don't count on them to help you out if you get stuck
Re: your questions,
1 - yes, ask me when you've got a router
2 - what do you mean? speed and quality are mutually exclusive, speed is determined by your line, never heard of a router making a line slow, quality could be cos your router has given up the ghost or cos you have a crap line in which case you should get on telkom's case
3 - yes, if you set it up as THE router, then it handles basically everything, if you set it up in some other way then your existing router should be able to handle the port forwarding too
What sort of range are you getting?