30 reviews

D-Link DIR-615

$50.00 Released May, 2007

The Pros:Supports secure WPA/WPA2 encryption. Inexpensive compared to other wireless N options. Enhanced reach of the wireless N signal is useful.

The Cons:Connection is very flaky, wireless goes in and out many times a day. Three different hardware revisions are on the market, refurbished A1 revision is plaguing the market. 10/100Mbit wired connections only (some are gigabit).

The D-Link DIR-615 is a wireless broadband router, allowing users to share a broadband internet connection across their home or small business network. The DIR-615 features Wireless-N technology, but is still compatible with Wireless-G and –B technologies.

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It also allows four wired 10/100 Megabit connections. The DIR-615 boasts dual built-in firewall protection, using SPI and NAT firewalls. The D-Link DIR-615 uses WPA and WPA2 security encryption, and allows VPN pass-through as an option. Released May 2007, the D-Link DIR-615 retails at $50.

Features

Wireless-N Technology
Supports up to four wired 10/100 Megabit connections
WPA / WPA2 wireless encryption
Allows VPN Pass Through

User Reviews (38)

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ProScore

Pros

11

supports secure WPA/WPA2 encryption
9

inexpensive compared to other wireless N options
3

enhanced reach of the wireless N signal is useful
1

Pretty good support compared to other companies
-1

good speeds and connectivity
-1

compatible with openwrt firmware but requires a little hacking
-2

Relatively high quality
-2

Easy to setup with the included software, but 60% of the people screw that up and blame the router.

Cons

13

connection is very flaky, wireless goes in and out many times a day
8

Three different hardware revisions are on the market, refurbished A1 revision is plaguing the market
4

10/100Mbit wired connections only (some are gigabit)
4

It works great except that I have to reboot it about every 2 months.
4

loses connectivity to the Internet for no apparent reason
3

Ease of installation is illusory.
3

WPA wonkiness, difficult to know if it's setup properly
2

no advanced features such as Quality of Service or usage logging
1

wireless doesn't work right away, requires initial ethernet connection
-2

wireless N speeds require the latest wireless clients
-3

isn't compatible with dd-wrt firmware
-4

most consumers have no use for the enhanced speeds

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.Wayfarer: #d_link_dir_615 "connection is very flaky, wireless goes in and out many times a day." Both hands up! This router is a piece of junk. I have bought one myself and tried another one from the same shop and return them both almost immediately because I am tech savvy and knows what works and what does not. Two of my friends bought that and they only asked for my help after 14 days they have bought it - so they cannot return these routers and they were out of luck.

Yes, I did firmware updates on these routers, but that is not fixing the problem.

For people who try to "cure" or "fix" this router, they should save their frustration by just buy another one and return this alpha quality product if possible. Indeed. Don't spend like 6 hours on this crap, and that 6 hours will not likely to pay off. Stop fixing it and just buy another router!

I would recommend Buffalo Technology Nfiniti WZR-HP-G300NH, I installed two of the Buffalo routers and they works on both 3-stories high buildings for 8 months now.

My impression of Dlink is that they give out crappy products 70% of the time. I never have a Dlink product that works beyond the 2-year mark. That is unacceptable. And so, I will not consider buying Dlink products ever again unless all products of other brands are crap as well. Nov 18, 10

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Erik: Excellent writeup. I think that people get into trouble with a faulty router because it's so easy to think they've made a mistake in their setup rather than a manufacturer releasing crap like this. Nov 18, 10
.Wayfarer: Oops!

The model is should be Buffalo Technology Nfiniti WHR-G300N

NOT: Buffalo Technology Nfiniti WZR-HP-G300NH Nov 18, 10

Omar: #d_link_dir_615 Update (Jan 2nd): So I'm trying out a new router now, totally different brand/model (Linksys WRT400N) as I've just given up on the D-Link. Sure OpenWRT made the dir-615 into a usable router instead of a completely broken one, but it still couldn't meet my pretty high demands. My iPhone couldn't connect to the router reliably, and since I like to use my iPhone as a remote for my HTPC this completely messed things up. On top of that I'd have to do a hard reboot (unplug, plugin) the router about once a day. On top of THAT getting an N connection wasn't even reliable. So while I was able to have a steady game of SF4, the performance just wasn't that good.

I don't know if it's just the whole world of wireless routers that really really sucks, but man it's amazing how difficult it is to find something that Just Works.

OpenWRT definitely improves this router, but the hardcore hacker nature of the firmware, the incredibly bleeding edge software you need to work with, and just the overall headache of getting things working properly just isn't worth it, if that's even possible. And that's for someone like me that is somewhat technically savvy, when you have to start compiling your own firmware you know you're not dealing with regular people anymore.

So even with OpenWRT I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS ROUTER! It's not worth the headache. Unless you're going for totally wired setup or you need absolutely basic basic wireless capabilities and can't afford anything over $20, then sure this router meets the absolutely minimum needs. But considering you're paying $30-$80/month for Internet, why not spend a little more on the gateway to that Internet and make sure you're getting your money's worth. Saving an extra $30-$50 just isn't worth it when the alternatives are so much better.

Or just get a damn Linksys WRT54GL and put Tomato on it.

If you don't need N-connectivity then that is EASILY, EASILY your best bet.

DD-WRT, OpenWRT are all crap for regular users when compared with Tomato. Jan 3, 10

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Omar: #d_link_dir_615 Update (Dec 28th): This is actually two updates in one. First, the issue with the router is two-fold, it drops connections randomly (once every 5-10 minutes or so), the connections re-establish almost instantly, however the second issue occurs once in every 10 connections where the Internet dies and the router won't give the laptop an IP address.

So I downloaded and updated the firmware from 3.10NA to 3.11. This fixed the no-ip issue. However, I was still getting the dropped connections. Now, in everyday browsing this isn't such a big deal because the connection gets reestablished almost immediately so you don't really perceive it. However, when doing things that require continuous connections such as playing online games or using remote desktop... well they were TOTALLY unusable. Remote desktop would die every few minutes, and I couldn't have a single game of SF4 online.

I lost my receipt so I actually resigned myself to buying a new router and just either selling this DIR-615 for cheap, or using it as a wired router/switch if I ever needed one.

Well, long story short, I kept the router, didn't buy a new one, and I'm actually happy with its performance. How? Why? What?

Two words: Custom Firmware.
One word specifically: OpenWRT

There are 3 custom firmwares out in the wild right now: dd-wrt, tomato, and openwrt.

Well, tomato only works with a very minor set of routers.
DD-WRT supports a lot more, but doesn't officially support the DIR-615.
That leaves OpenWRT.

Even then, OpenWRT is very very VERY hackerish in that you need to be pretty darn savvy to know what the heck is going on. It's essentially the anti-Tomato when it comes to user friendliness. However, it's super flexible, which is exactly what hacker/linux geeks love. Well, fortunately somebody made some custom packages available, and it only required a bit of hex-code editing to make compatible.

A few minutes and a couple of reboots later and I was good to go. Now I don't get dropped connections and performance is great.

I'm gonna write up a step-by-step guide on how to get OpenWRT onto the DIR-615, because there are a lot of 615's out there, and they all SUCK. But with OpenWRT they become quite capable performers.

Thank God for open source. Dec 28, 09

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Omar: #d_link_dir_615 Update: I got WPA working fine, which actually went pretty easily once I sat down and did it. However, over the past couple of weeks the router has been VERY buggy. It keeps on dropping my wireless connect, saying I can't connect to the Internet, not giving my laptop an IP, etc etc. Just overall very very annoying. I should have listened to the complaints on the net, it seems that this time they were spot-on. Definitely get what you pay for, I just hope that I'm still within my refund period. VERY disappointed, and definitely do NOT recommend. Dec 21, 09

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Omar: #d_link_dir_615 Well I picked it up and set it up last night. It's obviously a pretty barebones package and does the fundamentals of what you'd expect from a regular router. For me, that's all I need really. I was hoping I'd just be able to plug things in and everything would just work, but that wasn't the case. You first have to connect the router directly to a computer through ethernet and set things up that way before Internet and wireless will work. However, once you go through that step then everything works moderately well. Though I am having trouble with WPA passwords... of course I can never seem to get them to work for some reason so I don't know if I should be blaming the router or my own stupidity. Dec 2, 09

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Omar: #d_link_dir_615 I'm picking this router up tonight so we'll see how it goes. For whatever reason there's not a very good selection of affordable N-routers, so it's pretty much this one, and the Linksys 160N. Both of them don't have resounding reviews, of course in the router world there are very few routers other than the WRT54GL that have overwhelmingly positive comments, so hopefully this one doesn't suck too badly. Will report back when I've had some hands-on time with it. Dec 1, 09

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PandaPaul: #d_link_dir_615 D-Link does not care about the suckers ...er.. I mean. customers that buy D-Link products. The dir-615 is not the first product released by D-Link that has had firmware errors. I had numerous problems with a dir-615 being installed for an elderly relative that can't be bothered with complicated unplugging and replugging or resetting nonsense everytime one wants to read an email in the kitchen. After I read the numerous complaints about the dir-615 on the internet, I decided I would install an old surplus di-524 router I had instead, and advise that the dir-615 be returned for a refund. (The Laptop only had a b/g adapter so would run ok with the di-524).
No sooner did I start to install the di-524 than I ran into a software bug in the setup wizard that would stop after requesting the time zone information. No NEXT button would ever appear. Oh Yeah! That's why my own router is not a D-Link router! Oops! I forgot! Oct 17, 09

comments (2) like

Anonymous: awesome review, I can't wait to get this router. This wireless router is easy to install. Apr 23, 11
Anonymous: Installed openwrt on this router and it performs flawlessly. Fast transfer speeds and a steal - you can pick it up for $20. You do have to compile your own firmware and fix it - but turns this router into a great piece of equipment. Fast transfer speeds - I run an olsr network and 100% uptime. Just check the openwrt website to see if your firmware version is supported. Even better - if you muck up the flashing - you can restore the firmware by holding in the reset button. I have been buying as many as I can get!!!! Feb 22, 12