Configuring the WiFi router D-Link dir300 ("gray" interface). Configuring the WiFi router D-Link dir300 ("gray" interface) Configuring a PPPoE connection

We met with the router D-Link DIR-300S, which can be called the simplest hardware configuration today: 100 Mbps wired ports and a 150 Mbps single-band wireless access point. At the same time, the router was able to effectively implement the main task of a home router to provide Internet access to several clients. The wireless part also proved to be on the good side.

The next step is devices with a pair of antennas and a wireless connection speed of 300 Mbps. Often you can meet wishes for the consistency of the speeds of the wired and wireless segments, but this situation is similar to the well-known story about the crow and the cheese, since there cannot be a perfect match. So, depending on the clients, both inexpensive combinations of 100+150 and 100+300 can be considered quite acceptable.

In this article, we will get acquainted with another inexpensive D-Link model - the DIR-615S router, which just corresponds to the second formula. In addition to the usual set of tests, using its example, we will try to find the difference between these options and evaluate its relevance. Note that the "615s" have also been on the market for a long time and, according to some estimates, there are several dozen modifications. The last version presented at the end of last year will be tested.

Delivery set and appearance

The device can be easily found on the store shelf thanks to the traditional box design for this manufacturer. It has a photo of the router, a description of the ports and control buttons, brief specifications and Additional Information about the manufacturer and model.

Comparison with the packaging from DIR-300S shows that the company did not waste time on unique descriptions, but simply used the same text with minimal or even no edits. For budget model this, of course, is not significant.

The delivery set, which is typical for most modern models, has not changed either: router, power supply (12 V 0.5 A), patch cord yellow color, a brief instruction in Russian, a leaflet with warranty conditions. Remark also remains - length network cable is about 60 cm, which is very small for most uses of the model.

On the model page in the catalog of the manufacturer's website, you can once again "rejoice" at the variety of options with this article - the table shows a comparison of five modifications. We respect the company's efforts to provide information to consumers, but it is rather difficult to imagine that someone will look for differences in one and a half hundred rows of a table. It becomes even more interesting if you look at the FTP site with files for download, where there are twelve directories with revisions in the firmware folder.

The case of the device differs little from the previously considered younger brother. Overall dimensions have not changed: 175 × 123 × 32 mm, excluding antennas. There are two of them in this device, and the length of the moving part is also about 17 centimeters.

The top cover of the router is made of black glossy plastic, diligently collects dust and minor scratches. In its front part there is an insert for LEDs. Their number and purpose have not changed: power, Wi-Fi, WPS, Internet, and four for LAN ports.

The second half of the body is made of matte plastic of the same color. At the ends and bottom we see ventilation grilles. The router stands steadily on a horizontal surface thanks to four rubber feet. Wall mounting is also provided, while the shape of the screw holes allows for any orientation.

Fixed antennas are located on the rear panel and have two degrees of freedom. For this model, the antenna gain of 5 dBi is also indicated, which should have a positive effect on the quality of the coverage. Between them is a standard kit: input and power switch, WAN port and four LAN ports, WPS button. Due to the addition of a second antenna, the reset button of the router has moved to the bottom of the case.

And again, apart from the gloss, there is nothing to complain about.

Hardware configuration

In the DIR-300S review, we noted that printed circuit board designed for other configurations. However, in DIR-615S, oddly enough, another option is used. The router is based on a Realtek RTL8196D processor running at 620 MHz. Note that it has a small aluminum heat sink. A network switch for 100 Mbps ports is built into the processor. The device is equipped with 32 MB random access memory and a 4 MB flash chip.

The radio unit in this model is powered by a Realtek RTL8192ER chip, which provides a connection at a speed of 300 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band according to the 802.11n standard. Antenna cables soldered to the board. On the latter, you can see a set of contacts similar to the console port, as well as a place to install a USB 2.0 port and internal antennas. All these elements are not used in the considered model.

The router was tested with firmware version 2.5.6 dated December 29, 2015. This is the last of two versions presented in the support section of the manufacturer's website.

Customization and features

The web interface and firmware capabilities of the device are practically the same as those discussed in a recent DIR-300S article, so we will not dwell on them in detail and describe them in an abbreviated version.

The router has a localized settings interface. Access to it is traditionally protected by a password, and the router insistently suggests changing the factory version to something more complex. It is possible to work via HTTPS, as well as remote access to the device by specifying allowed IP addresses.

The appearance is quite standard - a menu tree on the left side of the window and the main pages with parameters in the center. There is quick access to common operations such as reboot, factory reset, Wi-Fi settings, and a built-in search engine. Only a separate page "Monitoring" is somewhat knocked out of the overall design, on which a graphical diagram of the home network is presented.

There are several items with information about the device, connections, network interfaces, sessions and clients, as well as built-in assistants for setting the basic parameters of the router.

To connect to the Internet, the main options in demand on our market are supported - IPoE, PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP, including the "dual access" mode. Implemented work with IPTV (including VLAN) and IPv6, there is a built-in DDNS client and several ALGs for popular protocols.

The router supports DMZ technology, UPnP protocol for automatic service port forwarding and manual creation of port translation rules.

The set of parameters of the built-in access point is quite standard. You can change the name wireless network, configure security (including WPA/WPA2 with an external RADIUS server), set a client MAC address filter, use WPS technology, and change a few advanced settings, including transmitter power. The firmware has a network scanner that will help you select the optimal channel number. The possibility of organizing a guest network, as well as setting up a work schedule in this router is not provided. Note the presence of the wireless client mode, as well as the option to disable the wireless module.

The built-in DHCP server is traditionally used to configure clients on the local network segment.

Perhaps the most interesting and useful of the protection functions is support for the Yandex.DNS service. At the same time, you can for each of the clients local network independently select one of three protection levels. There is also a firewall with custom IPv4/IPv6 blocking rules and a URL filter.

Kit system functions does not stand out for anything unusual, with the exception, perhaps, of allowing access to the router console via the telnet protocol and a couple of diagnostic utilities.

Given the formally more powerful computing resources of the processor, one could find fault with the lack of features such as a VPN server. However, in the budget segment, this is rarely of interest to anyone.

Performance

Compared to the DIR-300S, the model discussed in this article has a faster processor and a radio unit. But even with these changes, the device continues to belong to the budget segment, as can be seen from the cost.

The first graph shows the results of testing the routing speed in various Internet connection modes. Testing was carried out in one / two streams and in sixteen streams.

If for the younger model it was possible to write a couple of comments on the speed of work, then the DIR-615S perfectly coped with this test. The model without any compromises will be able to provide work on tariff plans up to 100 Mbps inclusive in all connection modes.

There are no complaints about the implementation of the "dual access" function while downloading data from the provider's local network and the Internet.

There are no comments on the stability of the device. The router successfully withstood an hour-long L2TP stress test with sixteen streams in full duplex.

The router's wireless controller operates only in the 2.4 GHz band and provides 802.11b/g/n client connections at speeds up to 300 Mbps. We conducted the main testing with a client on which the Asus PCE-AC68 adapter was installed. The distance between the devices was about four meters. During testing, several neighborhood networks were present on the air. For comparison, we have added the results of DIR-300S in a similar configuration to the graph.

Depending on the scenario, the advantage of DIR-615S ranges from 5% to 70%. Recall that 100 Mbps wired ports of routers can also be a limitation here. In general, the model under consideration makes it possible to provide good conditions up to 90 Mbps for receiving or transmitting data, which corresponds to its technical capabilities.

To check the coverage area of ​​the wireless access point of the router, we used the Zopo ZP920 smartphone. It was tested at three different points in the apartment - four meters line of sight, four meters through one wall, and eight meters through two walls.

For the segment under consideration, the results were quite good. Network access speed with mobile device in most scenarios, noticeably higher than the DIR-300S. Some remarks are caused only by the performance when transferring from a smartphone to a router in one stream. So we can say that the presence of two antennas has a positive effect on the coverage area of ​​the wireless network of the router due to the use of MIMO technology in this configuration. Moreover, the effect is noticeable even on clients with one antenna.

In this article, we decided to additionally check two scenarios for a more accurate comparison of the DIR-300S and DIR-615S models in terms of working with wireless clients.

The following graph shows the results of testing the operation of Wi-Fi routers with two clients connected simultaneously with Asus PCE-AC68 adapters. Accordingly, the number of threads in each case is twice as large as in the first test of this group.

Here we see a noticeable advantage of the "dual-antenna" DIR-615S in almost all scenarios. True, one must understand that on simpler adapters with a connection speed of 150 Mbps, the effect may be less pronounced. In addition, testing is carried out at maximum load, which in real life does not occur very often.

The second additional test was carried out with the same clients, but the exchange of information was already carried out directly between them. The computers had similar, but not absolutely identical, configurations, so some “skew” in the transmit and receive speeds in this case is not significant for assessing the router.

This test also shows a significant advantage for the 300Mbps wireless controller model, exceeding 80% in some scenarios.

Testing has shown that the presence of two antennas in the router allows it not only to show a higher speed of wireless clients, but also to improve the network coverage area.

Conclusion

At the time of writing, the D-Link DIR-615S is being offered at around 20% more than the DIR-300S.

In our opinion, the advantages shown in the tests are well worth the difference. In particular, this model provides Internet connection in all modes at speeds up to 100 Mbps inclusive. At the same time, the wireless controller of the router allows you to get good speed the work of clients both in the scenario of access to a local wired network and the Internet, and for exchanging information with each other.

The model has a classic case design, in the pluses of which you can write down the possibility of mounting on the wall. We had no comments on the quality of workmanship, except for the glossy top cover.

built-in software has a fairly convenient localized web interface and a standard set of the most popular functions and features, and also supports the Yandex.DNS service.

The router is well suited for undemanding users who need to provide Internet access on popular tariff plans for several computers and mobile devices.

In order to get into the web interface of the router, you need to open your Internet browser and type 192. 168.0.1 in the address bar, Username - admin, Password – admin(provided that the router has factory settings and its IP has not changed).

If you have a router interface on English language, click the flag at the top and select Russian.

At the end of each setting, do not forget to go to the top in System and press Save.

Change factory password

1. In field Enter New Password - Enter a new password.
2. In field Repeat the entered password - repeat new password.
3. Then press the button Apply.

After that, the router will prompt you to re-enter its settings.

Internet connection setup

We go to " Net» ⇒« WAN". If you already have connections created here, we recommend deleting them. To do this, tick them and click the " Delete".

After that click on the button Add.

Setting up a PPPoE connection

1. In field Connection type: select PPPoE
2. In field Interface choose Internet
3. Allow WAN Direction- must be checked
4. Username: Your login from the contract
5. Password: Your contract password
6. Password confirmation: repeat password
7. Service name - you can leave it blank.
8. Authentication algorithm: Auto
9. keep alive . Spacing and Dips- you can leave the existing values.
10. MTU
11. In field Miscellaneous NAT and Firewall.
12. If the provider provides Internet TV service, check the box Enable IGMP.
13. Click Apply.

Setting up an L2TP connection

1. In field Connection type: select L2TP + Dynamic IP
2. In field Interface choose Internet
3. In the Name field, enter a name for the connection. You can leave the current value
4. Allow WAN Direction: must be checked
5. : must be checked
6. In field IP make sure the checkboxes are checked NAT, Enable IGMP and Firewall
7. Username: Your login from the contract
8. Password: Your contract password
9. Password confirmation: repeat password
10. VPN server address:
11. Authentication algorithm: Auto
12. keep alive- check the box for permanent connection
13. MTU- change the value to 1450 or less
14. In field Miscellaneous make sure the checkboxes are checked NAT and Firewall.
15. Click " Save».

Setting up PPtP (VPN) when automatically obtaining a local IP address (DHCP)

1. In field Connection Type: select PPTP+ Dynamic IP
2. In field Interface choose Internet
3. In the Name field, enter a name for the connection. You can leave the current value
4. Allow WAN Direction: must be checked
5. Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically: must be checked
6. In field IP make sure the checkboxes are checked NAT, Enable IGMP and Firewall
7. Username: Your login from the contract
8. Password: Your contract password
9. Password confirmation: repeat password
10. VPN server address: write down the address of the provider's VPN server
11. Authentication algorithm: Auto
12. keep alive- check the box for permanent connection
13. MTU- change the value to 1450 or less
14. In field Miscellaneous make sure the checkboxes are checked NAT and Firewall.
15. Click " Save».

Setting up Wi-Fi on the router

1. Go to the tab WiFi, select the item " basic settings» and set the desired wireless access point name SSID. The remaining parameters are left as is (see picture). After that, press " Apply».

2. WiFi, select the item " Security Settings". Select Authorization type(recommended WPA2/PSK) and then to the PSK Encryption Key enter any password of at least 8 characters - this will help protect your wireless network from unauthorized access. Save your changes. WPA encryption - AES. After that click Apply.

That's all: now you can try to use the Internet via a wireless Wi-Fi connection from a laptop, tablet or any other equipment.

Setting up IPTV

Option 1. Select a port for the set-top box without specifying the VLAN ID

Thus configured digital television Beeline, Dom.Ru, TTK and some branches of Rostelecom. This method is the simplest. Select a section from the menu Start - IPTV Setup Wizard. In the window that opens, click on the port to which the set-top box will be connected - it will be marked in green. As a rule, the 4th LAN port is used for this. Click on the button " Save". Now you can connect the set-top box to the 4th LAN port.

Option 2. With an explicit identifier virtual network VLAN ID

This method is used when multicast traffic is delivered to a subscriber device in a separate virtual network and is divided directly at the terminal equipment. According to this principle, the service is organized in many branches of Rostelecom, Tattelecom. In this case, to configure the port, you need to go to the section Additionally - VLAN. Here we click on the group LAN” and wait until its parameters open.

Once in the group settings, select the port in which the set-top box will be turned on and uncheck it (in our example, we unchecked 3 LAN ports). We click on the button Save and we go back to the section VLAN.

Now you need to click on the button Add". This will create a new group.

1. In the "Name" field, write the name of the group - IPTV, for example.
2. Check the "Allow" checkbox.
3. In the "Type" list, select "Transparent".
4. In the Vlan ID field, you must specify the identifier of the virtual network. My house uses 1601. Keep in mind that the identifiers are used differently on each optical ring and you can only find out which one is used on your home switch in the provider's technical support.
5. We put a daw "Multicast".
6. The rest is left by default.
7. Note only the moment that in the "Untagged ports" list, the port that you removed from the "LAN" group should be checked.

Port Forwarding/Forwarding

We go to Firewall - Virtual servers. We press the button Add.

1. Name- enter any name.
2. Interface- choose the interface that is responsible for connecting to the Internet. In our case, this is the pppoe interface.
3. Protocol- choose the protocol you need.
4. External port start\end, Internal port start\end - enter the range of ports you want to open.
5. Internal IP- IP address of the device to which requests will be sent
6. Click Apply.

Checking the Internet Connection Status

Go to Status - Network statistics. In the plate, the Internet connection you created should be green and all columns in this row should be filled.

Saving/restoring router settings

1. Choose to save the current configuration. To save the current settings of the router, the settings file will be saved to the specified location on the hard drive.

2. To restore settings from a file, you must click and select Loading a previously saved configuration to the device, specify the path to the file with settings, then click the button.

3. To reset the settings to factory settings, press Factory settings.

1. Plug the router's power adapter into a power outlet.
2. Connect the provider's cable to the WAN port of the router.
3. In the LAN port, connect the patch cord (blue) to your computer's network card.
4. Change TCP/IP protocol settings network card your computer to "Obtain settings automatically" (DHCP):

• TCP / IP protocol settings in Windows XP: "Start" - "Control Panel" - " Network connections» - «Local Area Connection» - «Properties» - «Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)».
• TCP / IP protocol settings in Windows 7: Left-click on the icon (computer with cable) - Select "Network and Sharing Center" below - click "Change adapter settings" on the left - Local Area Connection - Properties - Internet Protocol TCP /IP v4.

The D-Link DIR-300 NRU Wi-Fi router assigns IP addresses from the 192.168.0.1/24 range, after a while your computer should receive the required address itself. If the IP is not assigned, most likely the reason for this is the firewall. You can set the IP parameters on the computer manually:

• IP- 192.168.0.101
• Subnet mask - 255.255.255.0
• Default gateway - 192.168.0.1
• DNS - 192.168.0.1

How to connect to a Wi-Fi router D-Link DIR-300 NRU / D-Link DIR-320

We go to the web interface of your router.

Open any browser on the computer ( Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla) and in the address bar write the following address: http://192.168.0.1 (this IP is used by all D-Link routers). A window will appear asking you to enter your username and password. The default User Name is admin, Password is an empty field. After entering the login-password pair, you will be taken to the main menu of the router. Before you start setting up the router, update the firmware, which will increase the stability of the router, and making sure from your own experience, will save you from disconnections.

Updating the firmware of the router

First, check the current firmware version in the web interface: item Maintenance-Firmware update

Here you can also update the firmware in the section Firmware upgrade. You can download the firmware of your router from the manufacturer's FTP server (find your router model and open the Firmware folder).

After download current version firmware, go to the section Firmware upgrade, press the button "Review…" and open the path to the firmware file by marking it, then click Upload(download).

Attention! Do not turn off the power of the Wi-Fi router while updating the firmware.

After completing the firmware update process, log in to the web interface again.

Setting up the Internet on the DIR-300 NRU / D-Link DIR-320 router

Returning to the web interface, go to Setup - Internet Setup, and then to the section manual setting - Manual Internet Connection Setup In chapter Manual Internet Connection Options, to assign Internet connection parameters manually.

Setting up a wi-fi router. PPPoE connection

In the window Internet Connection Type select My Internet Connection is: Dynamic IP (DHCP). Field host name you can enter the name of the provider.

MAC address. If your Internet provider has bound the MAC address to the IP address of the computer, then you can duplicate the MAC address of your computer to the router using the " Clone MAC Address"(the router will automatically assign the MAC address of your computer's network card).

Primary DNS Address and Secondary DNS Address— values ​​of the main and alternative are entered DNS servers(you can find them out by calling the provider or look in your contract with the provider). Leave the MTU field unchanged.

AT Access Point Mode you can put the D-Link router into Access Point mode. Features: LAN ports of the router are disabled, respectively, the router does not create a local network. Check the box Enable Access Point Mode if only one computer should be connected to the internet, now click Save Settings to save the settings.

Setting up a wi-fi router. PPTP connection.

Let's go to point Setup – Internet Setup – Manual Internet Connection Setup

In the Internet Connection Type My Internet Connection is: field, select Russia PPTP (Dual Access). In Dual Access mode (dual access), the local resources of the provider's network are available to the router with an active Internet connection (when the local gateway and the provider's VPN server are on different subnets).

Dynamic IP (dynamic IP address) or Static IP (static IP address)– connection mode selection: DHCP (Dynamic IP) or manually assigning an IP address (Static IP) (this parameter depends on the ISP's access features).

IP address- network address (in the contract with the provider or you need to find out from his technical support). It is necessary to fill in if you use the mode - Static IP.

Subnet Mask, is set by the provider (in the provider's contract). It is necessary to fill in if you use the mode - Static IP.

Gateway– the main gateway (in the provider agreement). It is necessary to fill in if you use the mode - Static IP.

DNS– address of the DNS server (domain name system server) (in the provider agreement). It is necessary to fill in if you use the mode - Static IP.

MAC Address. If your Internet provider has bound the MAC address to the IP address of the computer, then you can duplicate the MAC address of your computer to the router using the button Clone MAC Address(the router will automatically assign the MAC address of your computer's network card).

Server IP/Name– address of the provider's PPTP VPN server (in the provider's contract).

PPTP Account– login to connect to the VPN server. (in the provider agreement)

MPPE– activation of encryption of data transmitted over VPN (usually not used)

PPTP Password– password for connecting to the provider's VPN server (in the provider's agreement)

PPTP Confirm Password- confirm the password in this field

Maximum Idle Time– idle time before disconnecting the connection in case of no traffic towards the VPN (in minutes)

MTU – maximum size transmitted data packet (leave the default). If the router is unstable, the value can be lowered to 1200-1300.

Connect mode select– select the connection mode: Always is recommended (always), you can set Connect-on demand (connection on demand).

Now click Save Settings to save the settings.

Setting up a Wi-Fi connection on a D-Link DIR-300 (320) router

Go to web interface Setup-Wireless Setup and click the button at the bottom Manual Wireless Connection Setup".

Let's move on to the settings:

Enable Wireless- on off. Wi-Fi router module. Button " NewSchedule" allows you to set its operating time.

Wireless network name– come up with any name for the wireless network that will be displayed when scanning on client computers.

Enable Auto Channel Selection– activation automatic selection wireless communication channel

Wireless Channel– channel selection wireless communication manually. It is recommended to use channel 1 or 12 to minimize the chance of interference with neighbor networks. In case of connection problems, change the setting.

Transmission Rate– Wi-Fi data transfer rate. Recommended Best (automatic)

WMM enable– activation of QoS (quality of service) support for wireless communication.

Enable Hidden Wireless– hide your network from being searched on client devices (connection is possible manually by setting a name in addition to the password).

Wireless security mode the choice of the type of encryption in your Wi-Fi network is regulated. Highly Recommended WPA/WPA2 encryption ( Enable WPA/WPA2 Wireless Security (enchanced)).

Cipher Type— WPA encryption algorithm type. Recommended Auto (TKIP/AES), this algorithm is compatible with most devices. You can put AES, but if you connect to the network and the Internet does not work, return Auto (TKIP/AES).

PSK/EAP- WPA encryption mode:

• personal mode (for personal use)
• infrastructure (for organizations, a Radius server is required). Recommended mode for home PSK.

Network Key— set the Wi-Fi network encryption key (at least 8 characters long). The larger the variety of characters in the password and the length of the password, the less likely the network is to be hacked.

All set, just click Save settings.

Advanced wi-fi router settings

Access to additional settings can be obtained in the web interface item Advanced - Advanced Wireless.

Basic advanced settings option:

Transmit Power- radius of action WiFi module router (for example: limit the range of your apartment or room).

Attention! In an 802.11n wireless network, older standard devices such as 802.11g reduce the overall wireless network speed to the lowest standard. (similar to 802.11b).

Congratulations! Now turn on your computer wifi adapter. Your network should appear in the list of available ones, you just have to enter the password.

Recently one of my friends brought me a router new router D-link and asked for a review on it.

Thus, in my hands was one of the latest routers manufactured by D-Link - a dual-band router DIR-815 / AC.

On the D-link website, it is positioned as “new”, although it seemed to me that it looks more like a “little brother” Dir-825 / AC / G1

Let's see, "with what it is eaten."

Device description:

This router is a fairly cheap dual-band 802.11ac D-link router (AC1200)

Its cost is for this moment about 2500r.

The router is based on the Realtec RTL8197DL chip.

Wi-fi is based on Realtec RTL8192ER, RTL8812AR chips.

The device has 64 MB of DDR2 RAM and 8 MB of Flash memory.

The router has “on board” dual-band wifi hotspot access (2.5GHz and 5GHz) standard 802.11ac, 4 fixed antennas with circular directivity and gain 5dbi, 100 Mbps WAN port, 4 LAN ports 100 Mbps and D-link “AIR” web-interface, adapted for the Russian user .

In addition, the router has 1 USB port 2.0, which seriously adds functionality to it (via USB, you can use 3G and LTE modems, USB drives and external drives via USB, and also use the router as a print server).

True, the situation with printers is standard: only printing through a network port is supported.

In my opinion, if you do not have "gigabit Internet connections" (that is, your Internet connection speed does not exceed 100Mbps), such a router seems to be an interesting choice for an average apartment.

Gigabit wan and lan ports at least a little (and sometimes much) increase the cost of the device and many users sometimes simply “nothing”.

Appearance and equipment

So, let's start our inspection with the appearance and configuration.

The device is sold in a box made in the standard range of D-Link.

The completeness of the router consists of:

Router DIR-815/AC;

Power adapter 12V 1A;

Ethernet cable;

Quick Setup Guides (QIG);

Warranty card;

The router has a black flat plastic case with a characteristic glossy "stripe" across and a relatively small weight (360 g).

By appearance due to 4 antennas, it looks a bit like a “hedgehog”.

Overall dimensions of the device: 202x132x28.

On the back side are:

LAN and WAN connectors,

power switch,

w-fi on/off button,

WPS Button,

Reset button

USB 2.0 port.

The design of the router also provides wall mounts (located at the bottom of the case).

Software part of the device

The device comes with factory firmware 2.5.0, which is “equipped” with the “Air” web interface (in blue and white).

There is no need to “flash” the device (unfortunately, I have not yet found newer firmware than the factory one).

The WEB interface is “located” at the ip address 192.168.0.1.

I open it and see an offer to immediately change the factory password for administrative access to the device.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to set a “default password” admin.

The password must be changed to another, and, attention, go under it (new password) again. Also, if you type the password incorrectly several times in a row, the router is blocked for several minutes. Here is such a feature. Be careful!

So we changed the password and logged in.

Our gaze immediately appears all the "summary" information on the device.

Internet connection status, ip addresses of device ports, names (SSID) of wireless networks of both ranges and other statistics.

The interface also has an interesting function for reviewing the general state of the router (in the menu it is called monitoring)

The next four menu items in the “Start” section are devoted to 4 setup wizards (wireless network, virtual, server, ip-television and Click'n'Connect application wizards). We will not dwell on them in detail, they are all intuitive .

Let's go through the menu sections and the supported functions of the router.

We will not list all of them, we will focus only on the most basic (required for configuration) and the most interesting (from my point of view).

The main menu sections of the device Web-interface:

In the “Network- LAN” you can configure the local address of the router and the parameters of the internal DHCP servers.

Moreover, both for the IPV4 protocol and for the IPV6 protocol.

Section “network - WAN”.

This section is perhaps the most important for the user, since it is in this section that you can configure and view the status of “Internet connection”.

The device provides many connection types: IPoE (dynamic IP), static IP, PPTP, L2TP, 802.1X connections.

It is possible to change fine WAN settings (MAC address cloning, MTU adjustment, etc.).

What type of connection to choose for setting up is “dictated” by your Internet provider. It is advisable to find out the type of connection and WAN settings when connecting to the Internet or concluding an agreement.

In the factory settings, a typical connection for many providers has already been created with receiving parameters from the provider's DHCP server (aka IPoE or dynamic IP).

Otherwise (if your connection type is different from IPoE), you can select “Configure WAN manually” in the router menu or use your provider's standard instructions for setting up a connection.

I tested the operation of this router in various WAN port modes (in PPTP and L2TP connections with the provider, as well as standard IPoE).

I did not find any drop in speed at the “Internet speed” of 100 Mbps on PPTP and L2TP for several days.

Wifi section.

Wi-fi settings are divided into “basic”, “security settings” and “advanced settings”.

Since the DIR-815/AC is a dual-band device, the number of settings sections is doubled (each of the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands has its own “basic”, “advanced” and “security settings”).

In the “basic” settings, the name is indicated wifi networks(SSID), channel (frequency), wifi standard and the maximum number of clients (devices) connected to wi-fi.

Try to choose “802.11ac” or “802.11n/ac mixed” or both for better Wi-Fi quality (unless you have older Wi-Fi devices more than 3-5 years old) .

Otherwise, select the compatibility mode 802.11b/g/n for 2.4GHz and 802.11a/n for 5GHz.

The “security settings” indicate the type of wi-fi traffic encryption (algorithm and its settings), the wi-fi encryption key.

In the “additional” wi-fi settings, for example, settings such as adjusting the power of the wi-fi transmitter (from 0 to 100% in steps of 25%), the width of the wifi frequency channel, turning on and off the formation of the "antenna beam" (beamforming) and much more.

Also, in this section, you can disable the transmission of multicast traffic (usually used in IPTV) to the wi-fi part of the device (for one or both ranges).

Section “Wi-fi – list of Wi-fi clients”

This section of the menu allows you to see the MAC addresses of wirelessly connected clients, indicating their actual connection speed, signal strength, as well as the amount of information transmitted and received by each client.

Section –“3G/LTE Modem”

A list of compatible USB modems can be found on the D-link website here

With a connection configured on a USB 3G modem, automatic WAN redundancy is also supported (switching to a 3G modem when the main wired channel is “physically” disconnected).

This function is configured in the menu item "Network - WAN Redundancy"

Section “System”

In chapter system settings there are menu sections for changing the administrator password, working with the configuration, rebooting, updating the firmware (from a file or via the Internet), setting the system time and uploading the “log” from the device (including to a connected USB drive).

There are ping and trace utilities (tracert), as well as the ability to enable access to telnet and set a port number for it.

Wi-fi Section - Intelligent Client Distribution

This menu item is relatively new and quite interesting.

The parameters of this section are described in detail in the document on the manufacturer's website,

I will limit myself to describing the essence of this function.

The smart distribution function is necessary if you have more than one wi-fi device (router or access point) in your home or office and need to provide seamless wi-fi between them.

This function will be in demand for large or “elongated” rooms that cannot be “covered” with one w-fi device.

In a standard situation with two wi-fi devices, clients connected via wi-fi themselves evaluate the signal level and decide for themselves when to switch to another device (access point or router).

This reduces the speed characteristics of wi-fi clients of such an access point (or router), so sometimes it is necessary to support a low-speed client in an area of ​​\u200b\u200buncertain signal reception (despite the fact that in the coverage area of ​​\u200b\u200bother point he would receive better reception conditions.)

It also harms the wi-fi client itself. He can get a short connection break, or a strong slowdown in wi-fi due to his desire to “cling to one of the access points for too long.”

The smart distribution feature saves wi-fi clients from having to keep track of their “switching” on their own. This is done for him by wi-fi access points (or routers).

Section - “USB drive”.

This section is very interesting for the average user, as it allows you to turn the router with a USB flash drive inserted into it or external USB HDD drive in FTP server, torrent downloader, file server or playback server for modern smart-TV (DLNA).

If you need to work simultaneously with several USB devices a - you can use a USB hub. However, please note that in this case it is worth taking care of the necessary nutrition for each of them.

However, you should not use more than two USB devices (probably, there is a software limitation in the firmware, since I could not use more than two devices in practice).

The router supports file NTFS systems, FAT32 and EXT2/3.

USB drives can have multiple partitions.

“USB storage/Info”.

In this section, you can view the status and file structure of connected USB drives. However, actions for working with data in this menu item cannot be performed.

Also through this section of the menu you can make a safe disabling usb devices.

“USB storage/Samba”.

This menu item allows the router to act as a file server on SMB protocol(Samba).

In the settings you can change the network name, working group and server descriptions, as well as enable login mode without an account.

“USB storage/FTP”.

This menu item allows the router to work as a file server via the FTP protocol.

At the same time, logins and passwords of FTP users (and if anonymous access is disabled, also via samba) are set in the menu section “ System - USB Users". Users are common for both protocols (FTP and Samba).

“USB storage/DLNA”.

This menu item allows you to enable and configure the built-in DLNA server, which is necessary for broadcasting multimedia files to modern smart-TV TVs.

For example, on my smart TV from LG, the DLNA client is available through the smartshare menu item (on TVs from other manufacturers, of course, it is called differently).

The built-in DNLA server allows you to specify several directories for files with a choice of their category (music, video, photo or all at once).

The router supports many modern file types (jpeg, mp3, wma, flac, m4a, avi, ts, mkv, mp4, mpg, wmv).

Section “Transmission/Transmission Settings”

Perhaps the most useful section for a modern router user.

Who will refuse the client of p2p networks (torrent- "rocking chairs")?

Transmission is the internal built-in torrent client.

In the settings of this menu item, you can choose:

The name of the folder where the torrent files and content will be downloaded;

Port of the transmission management web interface (yes, yes, it has its own separate web interface, which is located on a separate web page);

The maximum number of open ("download") files;

The maximum number of peers.

It should also be noted that formally there are no restrictions on the speed of “downloading”. However, in reality, I was not able to get the speed when loading when using USB media with NTFS file system 0.9-1 MB/s.

Most likely, this is due to the software limitation of the hardware resources of the router serving the transmission client.

After all, the router is primarily designed to perform its main functions - providing Internet access, and "download" should "in the background".

Therefore, I advise you not to rely too much on “fast downloading of torrents”, but to try to set such download tasks “for the night”.

The Transmission web interface (the link to it is on the main client settings page) is quite concise, but it allows you to get an idea of ​​the “download” progress and its approximate time, as well as the list of peers and their ip addresses, and so on.

Section - “Additional

Section - “Additional - Miscellaneous”. In this section, you can enable forwarding various types connections through a router (the so-called Application Layers Gateway (ALG)) as well as RTSP and SIP protocols (used in voice telephony and streaming video).

The same menu item contains the inclusion of the UDP-to-HTTP proxy service ( UDPXY) required for broadcasting IPTV streams to devices that do not support multicast (Multicast).

The service proxies data streams and sends them to each recipient separately (unicast) as opposed to one stream to all (multicast).

Because the this service resource-intensive (it is required to send one copy of the stream to each proxy subscriber), then the router honestly warns that when UDPXY is enabled, IGMP-proxy will be disabled (that is, “multicast” receiving data through the router).

Therefore, if you need both “classic multicast” broadcasting of IPTV and UDP-to-HTTP proxies at the same time, then use the settings of the menu item to “multicast” receive data streams Advanced /VLAN“directly” (configure the bridge port for multicast).

Section - “Advanced / VLAN”. This section can duplicate the “IPTV” master and, in fact, allows you to implement several services in the router by allocating one or more ports to a separate connection that does not fall under the general “address translation” (NAT).

This allows, for example, to do direct connection provider from your IPTV set-top box(or several set-top boxes), as if you had just a “switch” in front of the router.

Section - “Advanced / Port Settings”

This menu item allows the user: firstly, to visually see which lan and wan ports are used, and secondly, “set” their settings if necessary (speed, flow control, etc.).

Section - “Advanced / Band Management”

This menu item allows you to set speed limits for each of the LAN ports of the router (accurate to 1 Mbps).

Unfortunately, fine tuning there is no speed per stream (in combination with QoS), you can only set a speed limit for the entire port at once.

However, even in this form, this function can be useful in terms of limiting "too active" home users (for example, a child) who download everything.

Statistics for each of the LAN ports can be viewed in the menu item "Status - port statistics"

Section - “Advanced / Routing” and “Advanced / IPv6 Routing”

Allows you to "register" routes to separate networks and subnets for IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.

These settings are sometimes necessary in order to use internal resources and provider portals (without sending traffic to the Internet).

Section - “Advanced /IPsec”.

This protocol (IPSEC) allows you to establish transparent encrypted VPN connections between two points (if more, then in pairs).

For example, you have two shops, or two offices. This feature allows you to connect your networks (and your routers) over the Internet into a common local area network.

Use this function or not is a personal matter for everyone.

Other:

Among other things, the router supports Yandex DNS, Dyndns, URL filtering, firewall rules (Firewall) and other additional features that have been repeatedly discussed in other reviews, and which it makes no sense to dwell on.

Pros:

Rich functionality (sometimes almost as good as the “flagships of the lines”);

Stable operation in any type of WAN connections (without any speed drops);

Good reliable reception Wi-fi signal reception;

Affordable price.

Minuses:

They are rather from the nit-picking section:

Lack of QoS for setting port speeds;

Inability to influence the priority of the Tranmission process (for example, by increasing its speed "for the night");

Lack of schedules (required to enable and disable some useful) features.

Conclusions:

The router made a very good impression on me.

The broad capabilities of the router, advanced settings, as well as a low price make it possible to recommend it as a “workhorse” - a home multifunctional router.