Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsGot a faulty and refurbished unit 😠
Reviewed in India on 24 July 2020
I seem to have received a refurbished product. The package box was damaged and when router was turned on the first time there was already a 5GHz WiFi network setup on it. I reset it and did a fresh install but I have serious problems with it. The router will just suddenly kick out some of my devices from the network and won’t allow them to reconnect. I have set static IP for all my devices in the DHCP settings to avoid an IP clash but the problem persists. This bug is totally random! Sometimes my MacBook won’t connect or sometimes my Amazon FireStick won’t connect or sometimes my windows laptop won’t connect or sometimes my smart power strip won’t connect while the other devices will be working fine. The devices will keep connecting & disconnecting and trying the “renew DHCP lease” option on my iPhone or any device with the connection problem doesn’t help. Rebooting the client device doesn’t help either. Only rebooting the router gives a temp fix. I have to reboot the router 5-6 times a day to overcome this problem. The device is already running on latest firmware. I called D-Link support line and all they did was remotely change the wifi channel from auto to a specific channel number. The problem still persists despite me trying other channels in case there is interference from other wireless devices in my neighbourhood.
Edit- After 3 phone calls with D-Link tech support and 30-40 min long wait times just to be connected, they made me re-flash the device firmware with the same version that the modem already automatically updated to a few days ago and also did a hard reset. This seems to have done the trick for now and the device is working fine for the last 3 days. A ridiculous point made by the D-link support lady was that this device supports only a maximum of 20 clients simultaneously and that is why the router may not be allowing more devices to connect. I then researched the unit specs on DLink.com and it was specifically advertised as meant for tech enthusiasts having "...more than 20 computers, mobile devices, and IoT devices..." and made the next tech support guy realise that it was a BS claim as a reason for the router kicking off some devices randomly. I updated the 1 star to 3 stars since the device now works as advertised but the phone tech support experience was bad and the seller Appario clearly sold me a refurbished piece from the looks of the package and the existing 5GHz network programmed already on the device. I am also unable to find on Amazon any compatible mesh wifi access points compatible with this router for the mesh network advantage over the traditional router + range extender option.
Edit 2: I’m still on firmware 1.11 and the problematic connectivity issues are back. I find myself having to reboot my router twice a day and factory reset it thrice a week. I’m now just biding my time till I get a good wifi 6 router and I’ll be delighted to throw this POS out the window!
