D-Link debuts SharePort-packing DIR-825 dual-band router

It's pretty tough for a wireless router to stand out from the pack these days, but D-Link's new DIR-825 models looks to at least make an admirable stab at it, with it not only boasting dual-band capabilities to pump out 2.4GHz and 5Ghz signals simultaneously, but some fancy USB sharing as well. That latter bit comes in the form of D-Link's trademark SharePort technology, which will let you plug in any USB printer or storage device and access 'em from any computer on the network. The router is also supposedly "optimized for HD video streaming" and, according to D-Link, it'll also out-perform most other Draft N routers in general and save the planet in the process. Sold? You can snag one now for $200 even. Those that already have an 802.11n D-Link router (namely, the DIR-628, DIR-655, DIR-855, or DGL-4500) may want to think twice, however, as they can now add SharePort support to their existing router with nothing more than a firmware update, which is already available on D-Link's website.

[Via Crave]

[nxp3 @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:53PM]

Wow, that is pretty awesome, I can now plug in a printer after a firmware update and turn off my PC for shareing printer. Oh wait, I leave my pc on at all times anyway. Still a good deal. And this dlink might be a little pricy for some, but it's worth it. My previous 3 netgear choked one after the other but this one is holding out real well and pretty fast wireless access also. It comes with lots of option to optimize speed.

[Kevin @ Oct 31st 2008 12:46PM]

ASUS router has the same function more than 2 year ago. Please check ASUS WL-520gU, WL-500gPremium V2 and WL-500W from superG standard to N. In addition, ASUS routers can load DD-WRT

[Nathan @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:54PM]

This will solve so many of my network problems. The shareport is something I have been hoping for so I don't need a NAS device. If I can use an external hard drive and share all of my media right on the router that helps so many security issues and streaming issues. I've had a dir-655 since they came out and though I was happy with it, the shareport blows away all competition.

[Steve D. @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:56PM]

Just updated my DIR-655. In addition to the sharing USB devices function, you can also use your USB cell data card on the USB port too! AWESOME.

[brandon @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:58PM]

Just updated my 655, it supports 3G usb modems too!!! Only downside is usb storage is managed through a downloaded utility on the computer instead of just a shared network drive :( oh well..... 3G router bitches!!!!!

[Dennis @ Oct 15th 2008 9:10AM]

Brandon , how did you get the 3G to work on the DIR-655. I called Dlink tech support and they said it not setup too do that. But I told them you now can pick it. I have a 3G Serria USB card and Sprint sevice. please give me some pointers. thank you Dennis

[Zuke @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:59PM]

Good news and good article! When I started reading, I actually said "bastard!" out loud when I read about the improvements to the 825 (having just bought an 855 a month ago). Glad to hear the 855 will get a firmware update to be on par to make the rear USB port more useful!! Hooray! This router is the best I've ever used, and the signal strength is amazing. Admittedly, the antennas are a bit out of control and not as sexy as the new Linksys wireless routers, but the function over style is solid.

[sonicwind @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:09PM]

Save the planet? I was wondering if there is a planet disposal bin around somewhere. I'm done with this one.

[Matt @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:16PM]

Unfortunately I only have the 625 and the firmware isnt available for me. I am thinking about getting this and pawning off my old wireless router on my family!! ;-)

[Fernando @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:21AM]

Yeah you know 108mbps half duplex N like the D-Link is just so slow and 1gbps wired is just slugging along it can barely keep up with my HD streaming. That would be true if I was running a cable company out of my house. Get a clue before uttering senseless shit.

[Bradford @ May 1st 2009 4:05PM]

He wants the shareport you dumbass piece of shit.

[Fernando @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:40PM]

Yawn. Airport Extreme that I have had for over a year now does all this.

[Thom gleek @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:56PM]

except your airport router is very slow, by comparison...

[Mike G @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:51AM]

And how is the Airport Slower? Both have 802.11 N!!!! Looks like we have another moron that has no idea what he is talking about!

[mufdvr3669 @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:11AM]

Just cause something is draft-N doesn't mean it is as fast as another draft-N device. Maybe he has used an Apple Airport in the past and it was slow to him.

[MM @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:45PM]

I'm getting one and I sure hope it works better than the Linksys 600N dual band router, which was a piece of garbage and now sitting in my basement. It had slower throughput than my old Linksys WRT54GS.

[YpoCaramel @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:05PM]

Finally, a dual-band n router with both printer server and NAS abilities. About time.

Background: The WRT600/610 had dual band and NAS; the Airport Extreme had print server and NAS.

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:07PM]

Does this use samba, or some proprietary protocol?

[samsonsu @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:54PM]

sounds proprietary, according to brando's comment "Only downside is usb storage is managed through a downloaded utility on the computer instead of just a shared network drive"

it's like netgear sc101 -- requires a special software on a pc and you can only share the storage to other computers thru this pc, not directly from the nas.

i might be wrong. but so far that's what i got from the info.

[Andreas W @ Oct 3rd 2008 2:50PM]

Might be good in some way, but until D-link gets a new CEO i'm not touching their stuff. I just don't trust Mr. Wonder Wang

[Wasabi @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:54PM]

Excellent, I've got the 4500 and I said roughly the same thing as Zuke as I was reading the article until I reached the uplifting conclusion. :) The documentation basically says you can update your firmware via the USB port if you wanted to but I'd been hoping they would do something like this with it the moment I saw the port on the back of it and now a month after I buy it, here it is. Great article, thanks for the info!

[Zuke @ Oct 3rd 2008 1:58AM]

Too funny! We must've both bought them at Costco around the same time...? Talk about a bargain!

[samsonsu @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:57PM]

can you be more specific why AEBS is slow?

with gigabit wired ports and 802.11n it works quite well. i can get 8mbytes/s file-copying between wireless computers.

[Thom gleek @ Oct 6th 2008 7:58AM]

macs get clogged up with the smugness, do you see?

[Some Kid @ Oct 2nd 2008 5:10PM]

dont low rank me for this, but this sounds at least somewhat like an Airport extreme with antennae (minus the HD vid streaming)
BTW im going by specs, i do not have an airport router personally

[David S @ Oct 2nd 2008 5:49PM]

No upnp support. Apple uses NAT-PMP instead.
No web interface. Which means it can't be configued from a Linux machine.
No guest mode, which protects wired computers and non-guest connected wireless machines from guest computers.
Dumbed down interface. The interface to set application rules and virtual servers doesn't match everyone else in the industry.

Does it have QOS support or Wi-Fi Protected Setup or logging?

Comparing my D-Link router to online reviews of the AEBS, the AEBS seems to lack many advanced firewall features, such as the ones mention above and custom routing tables.

[MIC4311 @ Oct 6th 2008 12:30AM]

Would have been great if it would just network the drives and not use some stupid app. Anyone know wtf the button on the site is for yet? I got the dir-655. When you press it, it lights up. But nothing seems to happen.

[Jash Sayani @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:24AM]

I prefer Belkin routers..... Just got the N1 Vision for $200 !

[mels @ May 3rd 2009 5:46PM]

Pubestache FTW!

[jorgemsousa @ May 13th 2009 3:46AM]

$200!!!! I hope you called the police because you just got robbed.

[Jash Sayani @ May 13th 2009 9:00AM]

@jourgemsousa: Well, that's the price worldwide. N1 Vision is a good router.... But I agree that it is a bit expensive.

[Bobby @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:02AM]

SharePort crashes every computer i load it on with a blue screen. Win xp sp2, sp3, and vista ultimate sp1 64-bit all do the same thing and require a system restore to get functioning again.

[Claus Valca @ Oct 27th 2008 2:08PM]

I also ran into the “installing SharePort” crashed my systems issue. (both v .94 and 1.0 releases)

The DIR-655 went in great, firmware update went fine. Router/wireless ripping fast.

Went to install the SharePort software and it crashed my XP SP3 and Vista Home Premium SP1 systems horribly bad. Was able to get them going via system restore, but wasn’t pretty for a while.

I’m suspecting a conflict with AVG Free 8 which is a common piece of software on all my systems.

Can anyone else possibly confirm a SharePort/AVG Free 8 driver conflict who may have crashed their systems during/after installing SharePort?

–Cheers

[rcorrino @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:50PM]

The utility needed to mount this on your computer only works with Windows. No Mac love. I could live with the one-computer-at-a-time limitation but no Macintosh support? Why not just give the USB port an IP address and be done with it?

Oh and I had to manually restore all my router (DIR-655) settings as it did not recognize the backup settings I made before the firmware upgrade.

Love the guest mode though........

[Renegade0721 @ Oct 3rd 2008 7:24PM]

It seems D-Link have the best Dual band routers so far.

[Renegade0721 @ Oct 3rd 2008 7:29PM]

D-Link have the best Dual band routers so far.

[tizza @ Oct 6th 2008 1:41AM]

Installed it on my DIR-655. Only problem seems to be that each user on the network "holds" the connection to the printer and other users need to "request" that user to disconnect. I have raised a tech support issue with D-Link on this. Should have a means to "grab" the port when required. I've checked the pdf manual for it and there's no mention of configuration settings for this...

[Hieu @ Oct 18th 2008 3:22AM]

Hi,
I just installed the latest firmware and also the Shareport software. No problem with seeing my Antec USB enclosure but my upload/download speed is only about 3MB/s ... why so slow???

thx

[Claus Valca @ Nov 5th 2008 11:08AM]

For anyone who cares,

Turns out it wasn't the A/V program after all.

It was the "Net Limiter 2 Monitor" program that was critically conflicting with the SharePort application (at this time).

It also was a common application on all of my systems. I did some additional testing in a Virtual PC session and was able to replicate the behavior I was seeing on my live systems (BSOD during SharePort install).

I uninstalled Net Limiter Monitor from my XP Home (SP3) and Vista Home Premium (SP1) systems. Then I reinstalled SharePort after creating System Restore points (just to be safe).

Installation went fine this time and no BSOD or conflicts were observed. The SharePort application quickly found the Seagate USB flash storage device I had connected up and I was able to "mount/connect" to it and read/write files from all systems.

To be clear...only one system can be connected to the device at one time as far as I can tell. Other than that it now works great.

Another user with the same issue independently confirmed this "fix" on his systems as well over at another blog thread.

I did send an email to the Net Limiter support team about the issue, but no response yet.

Not sure if it will occur with all their programs (paid/free) or just with Net Limiter 2 Monitor.

Hopefully this might apply as a solution to others seeing a BSOD when they try to install SharePort.

Cheers!

--Claus V.

[POKEYSID @ Nov 19th 2008 10:29AM]

I am getting the BSOD also. Have tried both versions without sucess. I found that if I turn the router off I am able to start back up fine. Then uninstall the program and plug the router back in, but haven't been able to determine the cause. Error is IRQ not less than or equal to..... Running Vista Ultimate 64 bit. Also found that as long as the USB setting is not Network USB the system doesn't crash.

[Cliff Steer @ Dec 1st 2008 10:03PM]

I tried installing the Shareport Network USB Utility on another two PCs with very little software installed and got identical BSOD results - one is a media center Asus eee-PC and the other is a desktop with Vista Business -other than windows, they run Trend Micro and that is the only common application. I shut Trend-Micro down on one to see if that was the problem and still got the same BSOD for my trouble - I think that D-LInk's Shareport software is very problematic - if anyone is running it without problems, I'd like to hear what software configurations actually work

[Wirelessuser @ Dec 10th 2008 8:46PM]

I have a similar confiuration and also run Trend Micro AV. The system BSOD'ed during the install of the Shareport utility and then each time I logged-in after boot up. There seems to be a problem with the software. There is no reason why the system should crash so badly after install.

[Dave @ Dec 16th 2008 10:09PM]

I also have recieved the BSOD on 2 different computers both with XP sp2. One a dell with intel and a HP with AMD. I call D-link tech support 6 days straight with an average call lasting 90 min and going up all their levels. They kept denying they had any problems with conflicts. I was getting that same IRQ message as POKEYSID. They tried to tell me the RAM was bad on my machines. Upon searching Google I found that other people where having the same problems. On the fifth day they finally admitted there might be a few conflicts. I had Trend Micro 06 and Spy sweeper for MSN on both computers. I had turned both of these off on the install of the utility, and actually the install itself went fine, it isn't until the DIR-655 is powered on that the crash occurs. I uninstalled Trend Micro 2006 and reinstalled the SharePort utility and it woked fine in my HP. TURNING OFF THE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE WAS NOT ENOUGH. I then tried to reinstall Trend Micro and it crashed. So I called back D-Link and told them I figured it out. They didn't seem to care. I asked them want Antivirus software works with the utility and they said they didn't know? They said their test computers don't have any antivirus software on them. I said people in the REAL WORLD use anti virus software. I would like to get some new antivirus software but I do not want to buy something that will confict with the shareport. Can anyone help me out? For the people who are using the shareport can they tell me what Antivirus software they are running?
Thanks,
Dave S

[James @ Dec 29th 2008 7:42PM]

I have this setup with a DIR-655 firmware 1.2.1 and Shareport on Vista Ultimate 32bit. I didn't get any BSOD when setting up. THe only issue I had/have is what port(s) SharePort uses. I've tried to narrow it down but it seems to use some port(s) to connect then other to run. From what I can see it uses port 20005 once running, but if I limit my firewall to just that port it doesn't work. I can only get to work opening port 1000 - 65535 or I can't get it to operate. Open on TCP/UDP Both Incommin and Outgoing. I set for internal network only to get some additional security I have Microsoft OneCare Anti-Virus/Firewall. I haven't been able to find any info about port(s) used by the Shareport program.

If you have to disconnect and reconnect manually to use on multiple computers I don't see much value in it really. minimal at best. I haven't tried it yet. I hope that is not the case. I'm trying with a external USB HD.

[Rainier @ May 1st 2009 6:12PM]

Bah! Whenever I read "SharePort", I keep reading it as "SharePoint".

[cbedo @ May 8th 2009 5:42PM]

if anyone can help me recover from this BSOD, I would be greatful. I was on the phone with D-link forever and they said they had never had this problem before. 3 hours later (most on hold), I've still received no help. I hung up on them I was so frustrated.

[DGray @ Jul 11th 2009 6:18PM]

Just purchased a DIR-655, and configuration went smoothly. Like several other readers, got the BSOD upon running the SharePort utility installation. Have attempted to run three times, always receiving the BSOD. I'm not sure what to do next, as it sounds like the D-Link support group isn't helpful to anyone and I can't get on the phone for 90 minutes at a time. I was thinking about getting the Belkin USB Networking Hub to bypass all these issues. I purchased the DLink for the reputation of the router itself, and the USB piece would have been a nice stop-gap, but at the end of the day, single-user sharing of only one USB device isn't ideal. I'm reading the Belkin USB user's manual and it seems that as long as you're running DHCP there's no need to set up the hub...just plug in the ethernet cable from the hub to your router and you're in business.

[Lionel @ Oct 3rd 2009 2:30PM]

STOP DREAMING : the shareport of DIR 855 and the printer HP 7960 (from 2004 but able the balance color by its own) DON'T WORK.