Review on 📶 D-Link DI-624M MIMO Wireless 108G Router by Matt Hamilton

, Bought this router because I've had good experiences with D-Link 802.11b routers (especially DI-614+) in the past, but this one really didn't live up to expectations. I recently moved into a new, larger apartment (probably 80ft long and 18ft wide or so, 2 bedrooms) and was looking to upgrade my router because the old one in the back of the apartment was having poor reception. So I was looking for a product that would give my existing hardware which consisted of 3 laptops with built in 802.11g and 1 desktop with a USB 802.11b card additional reach. I expected that the MIMO antenna technology, as well as the move to an 11G router, would add the extra 20-foot or so range that I needed. After installing the router, I found that the reception didn't really improve compared to my previous D-Link. Router is over 4 years old. The front of my apartment, which is fairly open, had good reception and maintained a 54Mbps connection, while the back, where there are more walls, had poor reception and slow connections (<10Mbps). In particular, a desktop computer with an 802.11b USB card could not maintain a connection closer than 30 feet away (albeit through multiple walls). When I moved the router closer to the back of the apartment, closer to my desk, the problem changed and there was poor reception all over the front. After a lot of fiddling and frustration I decided to try my friend's old Netgear MR814 802.11b router in the back of the apartment and to my surprise the whole apartment now has great reception. So I returned the router to Microcenter where I bought it (luckily they have a good return policy) and I will be using the Netgear router for now. It's a shame I couldn't provide internet access in my 2 bedroom apartment after an afternoon of playing around with a $100 router that was supposed to be at the forefront of wireless technology. I suspect D-Link's proprietary 108Mbps MIMO cards might have longer range, but they probably don't cost the $100 per computer I'd have to spend if a $15 Netgear router works great. If prices continue to drop, I might try the Belkin Pre-N or Netgear RangeMax routers to see if they perform better (so I can upgrade to a 54Mbps network). I probably won't be buying any more D-Link products after this experience and this router only gets a 2 star rating because it works well with D-Link cards. I also posted this review on CNET to save others the hassle of getting this card to improve reception.