D-LinkDI-704P 4-port 10BaseT/100BaseTX Broadband Gateway with Print Server

I just purchased my D-Link DI-704P rounter from Amazon and I have to say I love it. Installing the hardware is very easy and setting the unit up is easy as well following the instructions provided. This also comes with a print server (which I don't use since I only have 1 PC that I want to print from) which is handy if you have multiple PC's and only one printer. The LED display on the front of the untit shows activity that happens over the WAN (outside the router), the LAN (the PC's connected to the router) as well as the 10/100 indicators for each of the four ports. With a router hub, you can connect over 200 PC's to this unit.The only negative I've found is that when I use Peer-2-Peer (P2P) software like Limewire or KaZaA, I can download but when others download from me, it doesn't take long for the PC to stop communicating with the router. I've tried many things to set my PC outside of the hardware firewall, but with limited success. While I don't like that I can't share my files with others, I do like the fact that my PC is fairly secure! And since I could download to my heart's content, I guess I can't complain.All in all, I'm very pleased with this purchase!

I purchased the DI-704P with the intent of networking 3 computers so that each could simultaneously access the Internet. After spending the better part of a day and talking with DLink's Tech support 4-5 times, I never did get it working properly. I returned it and bought a NetGear RP614. I figured the NetGear couldn't be any worse and was prepared to spend hours trying to make this one work. I removed my LinkSys (plain vanilla hub) and connected the NetGear RP614 in its place. Guess what? It worked perfectly immediately! No settings to change, no software to load, I did nothing and it worked perfectly! All 3 computers could talk to each other and access the Web simultaneously, buy the NetGear RP614, it works right out of the box, no hassles or setup.

I compared the Linksys, Netgear and D-Link products ... and bought the D-Link 704-P because it had the lowest price. Given my experience ... I would do the same again. I might tell a non-technical person to stay away from this but from what I've heard the other products that compete with this one are not that much better in terms of their documentation and ease of use. I'm a Computer Consultant, very familiar with networking, securiy, TCP/IP, etc. Overall I've been happy ... however there are some areas that need improvement, mostly around documentation.DOCUMENTATION/SUPPORT - The Quick Reference Guide (the only written documentation) needs some work. It is not very intuitive and I think difficult to understand for a non-technical person. The User Guide (on the CD or Website) goes one step further ... but still leaves me starving for more technical details. Their support web site doesn't help much more than the User Guide to answer my questions. I haven't tried to call their tech support yet as my router is working fine and I only have questions to satisfy my curiosity at this point.ROUTER/SWITCH - This works fine. I basically plugged it in to my cable modem (AOL Cable Service provided by Road Runner) and it worked fine. I didn't have to clone the MAC address although that functionality is available if needed. DSL (PPPoE) compatibility is also available. The 10/100 LED for each port, shows if you have a 10mbit or a 100mbit connection (if it's lit you have 100mbit, if it's not lit you have a 10mbit). I haven't found this documented anywhere clearly, but verified after experimenting.PRINT SERVER - My multifunction printer is not compatible .. no big deal for me. Check the compatibility list (on their website) before buying if this is important to you.SECURITY - No security system is 100% fool-proof, however that is no excuse for not having security. If you have Cablemodem/DSL and no other security, get a Router with NAT or at least some firewall software to protect your PC. The NAT feature on this router requires no configuration ... most people don't even need to understand it. It provides a good base level of security although I recommend using something like Zone Alarm (free download off web) as well. The combination of those two things should provide sufficient security for most people, assuming you have a clean system to start (i.e. no viruses or trojan horses). It would be nice if this router had some logging capability both to provide auditability (for better security) and also to aid troubleshooting those applications that require complex TCP/IP connections. What I really wanted was a Router with NAT, Stateful Inspection and Intrusion Detection .. but I couldn't justify spending another $100 for that.RELIABILITY - No problems (keep in mind this is my only experience with D-Link and I've only had the device for about 1 month).DESIGN - Nice design, aesthetically pleasing. No moving parts, just keep it away from heat and any interference.

I was thrilled when I first installed my DI-704P last summer. Internet connection sharing is a breeze, and the print server was a great feature. I soon found, however, that Windows (98, 2000 and XP) would often fail when trying to print to either of my Canon printers (BJC-2100 and S750) using the print server. I had to reconfigure Windows to print directly to the printer, which causes the program doing the printing to hang until the printing is complete. Even at this setting, the print job will often fail, requiring a re-boot of the PC. I have better luck when I cycle the power on the printer JUST before sending the print job, but that really shouldn't be necessary.The firewall has recently began to give me problems, following a firmware update to version 2.70. I use Lotus Notes and an IBM AS400 Client emulator to access my company's VPN from home. Both programs worked flawlessly through the DI-704P until recently. Now, I have to physically bypass the router by re-plugging ethernet cables to get onto the VPN. I tried to configure the DMZ (which supposedly bypasses the firewall for one computer), but found that when I set a static IP address for the computer (as required by DMZ), I was unable to access the internet. Firewall settings are VERY spartan, and some seem to be completely ineffective even after several re-boots of the firewall and all client PCs. Overall, the management software for the DI-704P is severely lacking.Technical support is limited (almost non-existant), but that's par for the course these days. Their web site offers firmware downloads and a FAQ section, which is very sparse on meaningful information.I've set up several SMC and Netgear routers for my clients, and currently plan to replace this DI-704 with an SMC "SMC7008BR Cable/DSL Router with 8 Port Switch" (Amazon has a great price!).My recommendation? Bah - skip this product and look for comparable products from SMC or Netgear.