D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855)

The King is dead. Long live the King. On our Labs tests, the brand-spanking-new D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (aka the DIR-855) garnered enough oohs and aahs to be named our new all-around Editors' Choice for home wireless routers. Not only is the DIR-855 feature-rich in all the right places, it's also faster than our previous dual-band king, the Linksys WRT600N. If the whopping $359.95 (list) price isn't a problem for you, this is the router to get.
Everything about this wireless bit blaster stands out, starting with its design. At first glance, except for the large LED screen embedded at an angle on the top, the Xtreme N Duo looks much like any other dual-band router: a rather plain white box with three antennas and the usual collection of small activity and speed LEDs on the front. Read the directions, however, and you'll find information on skinning the Xtreme N Duo. If you're interested, the docs tell you where to find a site hosted by D-Link in partnership with Skinit (a gel-skin maker). There you'll find a library of available stick-on decorations for much of the D-Link line, or you can design your own. There's more info in the slideshow appended that accompanies this review. Some sample skins should arrive here shortly; when they do, I'll post photos of my router/fashion statements on our new @Work blog.

On pure aesthetics of the unadorned box, I'm more inclined to favor the sleek, antenna-less look that the new Linksys routers sport. The three adjustable antennas on the back of the router certainly work fine, but they don't set it apart in the looks department. The top-mounted LED screen, on the other hand, does. It's large enough to display sophisticated menus, which require two control buttons (mounted in front of the screen) to navigate. The screen shows what's intended to be a snapshot of the router's current state and configuration. Links indicating whether the Internet line is up or down, whether wired or wireless is running, and what the status of DHCP and WPS activation is—it's all on the LED. You can access these links or navigate a few short submenus via the two front-mounted control buttons.

Some folks will love the LED. It looks cool from a geek perspective, and if you take the time to get to know the icons, it really does provide the snapshot D-Link is going for. Me? I don't hate it, but I won't be using it much, either. In my house, these routers usually wind up someplace inaccessible (think elevation) so an on-box LED just isn't that useful. I tend to create a desktop shortcut to a router's Web interface, which shows a much more complete dashboard view right after you've logged in to the management console.
Before you get to the day-to-day management utility, however, the setup instructions ask you to run through the CD-based installation wizard, which is easily the weakest facet of this product. The wizard tries to take you through every step of the process, including unboxing the router, verifying contents, plugging in all the wires, and attaching your cable or DSL modem and networked devices. So far, so good. Unfortunately, the software was buggy as all get-out, hanging when it was trying to find the router for the first time after I plugged in the wired PC running the CD.

It hung again when I got as far as attaching the DSL connection. The software refused to recognize the DSL line, but, ironically, the router saw the modem just fine, letting me access the Internet and browse eBay while waiting for the wizard to catch up. It never did. Finally I just got bored and accessed the Web management interface directly. If you're reading this while installing your own Xtreme N Duo and getting just as frustrated, open your browser, go to 192.168.0.1, then enter "Admin" as the user name and leave the password blank (assuming this is the first time you're accessing the router). D-Link needs to work on that Installation Wizard code.
The management console, on the other hand—I smile just thinking about it. Good times. It's based on the same software you may have seen in other D-Link router products. The interface is stable, and it supports some cool features unique to the Xtreme N Duo. The first time you use the management utility, for example, you'll see buttons to some wizards. Most of the world can skip the Launch Internet Connection Setup Wizard. That's because most home broadband providers use DHCP, so the Xtreme N Duo picks up its DHCP address automatically as soon as you connect the DSL line (as it did in my lab). The capability is so slick, even D-Link's wizard programmers were caught unawares, as proved by my ability to surf the Web while the Installation Wizard was stymied.

The Wireless Security Settings Wizard, on the other hand, is one I'd run. This one walks through the complete Wi-Fi setup process and requires just a few steps. You can, of course, perform the same tasks with the standard wireless management screens, but the wizard does make it easier for newbies. And it works. D-Link has configured all the parameters to default to the most common values, so if you don't understand something, you can just leave it as is and you'll probably be okay. For security, though, definitely change the router's SSID (the wireless network's name) and the admin password for the router.