 Not ready for Prime Time Strengths: Cheap, looks good, relatively easy to set-up, about 20 supported?? broadband cards.
Weaknesses: Doesn't seem to like the S720 Sprint Novatel Card, Doesn't have good Wi-Fi signal, very slow reboot
Summary: 2007-10-01 00:57:58 I bought the Novatel S720 from an online vendor who suggested the Kyocera KR1 router instead of the DIR450. I wanted the DRI450 since the KR1 was made by D-Link and the DIR450 was newer.
Out of the box the DIR450 doesn't support the S720, you have to update the firmware. Let me say that once the firmware is updated, the router recognizes the card and it functions pretty well, however.....there are at least three major compatibility issues, none of which was 'fixable' (nor acknowledged) by D-Link tech support. First the S720 card seems to just shutoff for no reason. This doesn't happen in my laptop, so I have to say it's the router. The card also does what I think is a 'restart' where it stops flashing the green LED and typically will then shut off the card/LED then restart after sometime. However normally this event requires a hard restart of the router to re-initiate the S720 and normal data flow. The last thing that happens is what I call the ghost card, wherein the card flashes normally as if it's sending data but no internet is available. I suspect this an IP issue. I suspect when the card drops out it releases the IP address/es given to the router. Again this is fixable with a router restart.
I added an external antenna to see how much the signal helps. It helped a good deal, but all the issues listed above still occur albeit a bit less frequently.
Many internal changes to the router settings have no effect.
I have owned four D-link routers and at least three D-link WNICs, this product is not good. The firmware needs updating to resolve these issues.
I'm buying a Linksys WRT54G3G-ST. The WRT is the router Sprint sells in a local service center. The scary thing is that the supported cards listed for that router seem to only include HSDPA devices which of course are only Cingular compatible. The S720 is not in the list. (correction: in the firmware update notes section, the WRT54 does have the S720 compatibility added in 8/06 or thereabouts)
The DIR450 does not support any of the newer USB Cards that Sprint supplies. In particular the Sprint 595U is not supported. The unit does support USB Broadband cellular devices in genera. Check the supported list carefully, and take it with a grain of salt.
WPA and WPA2 compatibility also seems very tenuous. I can get a solid connection that stays up for any length of time. Even my laptop with a D-link MIMO-G card will not connect at times.
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