Dir 300 local network settings. Setting up a wireless connection
Most of the recent publications about wireless equipment in this section of our site were devoted to high-speed devices with gigabit network ports and dual-band access points. Of course, these devices are modern and very interesting, but their cost is quite high. For a more complete picture of the current situation in the wireless equipment segment, in this material we decided to get acquainted with one of the representatives of the entry-level class - a router D-Link DIR-300S. This model is equipped with 100 Mbps ports and has a single-band access point with a single antenna with 5 dBi gain.
The name DIR-300 has long been known to our readers and has, in a sense, become a household name for inexpensive routers with basic functionality. The first model of this family was presented in 2007, and since then almost ten modifications of this device have been released. Moreover, they differed not only appearance, but also the platform, including the SoC manufacturer. This time we will test the latest generation, which received the suffix “S” after the numbers, and the hardware revision began a new cycle with A1.
As for D-Link, this manufacturer has long been represented on the domestic market and is one of the largest players not only in the home network equipment segment, but also in the corporate segment.
Delivery set and appearance
The router comes in a familiar cardboard box. Its design is traditional for this manufacturer, so it will look familiar on a store shelf. As usual, the box contains photographs of the device, a connection diagram, some technical specifications and other information.
Despite the fact that we tested a product aimed at our market, the localization was clearly incomplete. However, this, as they say, “does not affect the speed.”
Inside the box, in additional cardboard inserts, there is a router, an external power supply (12 V 0.5 A), one network patch cord, brief instructions for getting started in Russian and a leaflet with warranty conditions. There is only one remark here - the patch cord is only 60 cm long. It is clear that this budget device, but using such a cable can be difficult even for the initial setup of the router. But the “cheerful” color is yellow.
On the manufacturer's website, the entire DIR-300 family is presented on one page, which creates some confusion. Fortunately, there is a comparison plate with photographs of the models. In the support section you can download electronic versions of descriptions and user manuals in Russian and English, as well as the first and only firmware version.
The appearance and design of the model are quite typical for the budget segment. The case is made of black plastic and has overall dimensions of 175x123x32 mm excluding cable and antenna connections. The top cover is glossy and instantly collects dust and is easily scratched even with careful use.
In its front part there are eight green indicators. Their logos on the insert are quite large, which is convenient. But the lower part of the case is matte, which is much more practical.
The shape of the router's body is interesting with beveled edges, so the model looks quite attractive. You can see ventilation grilles on the side ends and bottom.
The device rests on four legs; fortunately, this manufacturer did not skimp on rubber inserts for them. There are also two special holes for mounting the router on the wall. In this case, any orientation can be used.
On the rear panel we see a large (17 cm) non-removable antenna with two degrees of freedom, a hidden reset button, a power switch, a power supply input, one WAN port and four LAN port, as well as the WPS button.
Apart from the gloss on the top panel, there are no comments on the design of the device.
Hardware configuration
Interestingly, the router's circuit board is relatively large for such a model. The basis of the hardware platform is the Realtek RTL8196E chip. This relatively middle-aged processor is used in a dozen routers from D-Link, so there is a chance that there will be no problems with the firmware. Its operating frequency is 400 MHz, which is quite typical for this segment. Volume RAM is 32 MB, the firmware is written to an 8 MB flash memory module.
The radio unit supporting 802.11b/g/n with a maximum connection speed of 150 Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz band is made on an external Realtek RTL8188ER chip. The antenna cable is soldered to the board. A network switch with 100 Mbps ports is built into the main processor.
There are no radiators or screens in the device. PCB probably universal and is also used in other models with a pair of antennas (external or internal) and with USB port. You can also notice on it contact pad, similar to a console. However, the device has access to the operating system via telnet, so some users may be interested in alternative firmware options.
The router was tested with the only existing firmware, version 2.5.1, dated October 16 last year.
Settings and features
To configure the router, a web interface familiar from some other models from this manufacturer is used. It has several localization options, including English and Russian. Note that changing some parameters requires an explicit operation of saving the configuration, as indicated by the pop-up banner. You can also customize remote access to the interface from specified addresses, while the port number can be changed, and the HTTPS protocol can be used.
In addition to the traditional menu option, there is a special Monitoring page that displays graphic diagram the user's network, including the router, its interfaces and services, as well as clients. To be honest, it’s quite difficult to call it convenient and understandable. The design uses a lot of font variations, which makes it confusing. Although, perhaps we just don't have enough experience with this version.
From the diagram you can immediately go to many basic settings, but it is more convenient to refer to full version in the usual format.
In the “Start” group there is a page for the current status of the router, which provides information about the firmware and network connections. There are also four setup assistants: Internet connections, wireless network, port forwarding ( virtual server) and IPTV.
The “Status” group allows you to obtain extended data about the current state of the router and local network. It contains traffic statistics pages for interfaces, a table for issuing IP addresses by a DHCP server, a routing table, a list of clients with addresses and connection type, a table of active network sessions and a list of multicast group addresses.
All popular options are supported for connecting to the Internet - IPoE, PPPoE, PPTP and L2TP. In the case of working through an access server, you can configure simultaneous work with the provider’s local network. It supports changing the MAC address of the WAN port, adjusting the MTU, disabling NAT, configuring IGMP, enabling ALG for some protocols, allowing management via TR-069 and other options. If necessary, you can change the list of DNS servers, as well as add your own entries to the routing table. In addition, the router has a built-in DDNS client with support for three services, including D-Link's own.
To implement scenarios for working with IPTV, multicast technology, allocation of ports for set-top boxes and VLANs are supported.
To provide access to services on the local network, support for the UPnP protocol, DMZ technology and programming of your own port translation rules is provided. Note that you can use port ranges in rules, as well as different numbers for internal and external ports.
The settings for the local network segment are standard - selecting the router's IP address, enabling and selecting DHCP server parameters (including DHCP PD for IPv6), setting up fixed address assignments to clients.
In the settings section demon wired connection there are as many as eight pages. Basic options include selecting a network name, region, channel, mode, security (including WPA/WPA2 option with RADIUS server) and MAC address filter. IN additional options There is a limit on transmitter power (five options) and several system parameters.
The router's access point supports WPS and WMM technologies, and can also operate in client mode to connect to an existing wireless network.
On separate page a list of current wireless clients is presented, indicating their MAC addresses, connection duration, traffic statistics and RSSI.
The router allows you to check the status of wired ports and set their operating mode through the web interface.
The device has a built-in firewall in which you can configure packet filtering rules based on source and destination addresses and ports. Both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported.
Additionally, in the “Control” section you can create a filter for URLs, but this function did not work for us.
To protect clients, especially mobile devices, you can use the built-in Yandex.DNS service. Once enabled, you can assign each client one of three levels of DNS query filtering - unprotected, secure, or childish. There is also a level selection option for new clients connecting to the network.
System settings are generally standard. The user can change the administrator password, save/restore/reset the device configuration, reboot the router, update the firmware from a file or via the Internet, and set the system clock. Additionally there are such diagnostic utilities like ping and traceroute, as well as the item for enabling access to the firmware console via telnet.
The system log is presented in its original format operating system and has no filtering or search capabilities. But there is a point for exporting it to text file. The router also supports sending messages to an external syslog server, and you can select the required level for them.
Performance
In terms of platform performance, today even router models entry level are quite capable of providing routing at the level of 100 Mbit/s for any connection modes. However, a lot depends on the quality of the built-in software.
The router performance study was carried out on a special stand. The routing scenarios tested IPoE, PPPoE, PPTP and L2TP connection modes. Testing was carried out in one/two threads and in sixteen threads. The results are presented in the following graph.
In IPoE and PPPoE modes, the device shows almost maximum results, which is typical today for the vast majority of hardware platforms due to the implementation of a hardware packet processor.
Connections via PPTP and L2TP protocols are still found among domestic operators, although we see clear trends towards abandoning them. Here the DIR-300S shows speeds of 70-90 Mbit/s, which is also good for an entry-level model. Especially considering that using a budget router on 100 Mbps tariff plans is unlikely.
The second graph shows the results of testing download speed simultaneously from the provider’s local network and from the Internet in connection modes through an access server.
Despite the clear preference for the Internet channel, these results can also be considered quite suitable for this segment.
From a reliability point of view, there are no comments about the router. It successfully passed an hour-long test in L2TP mode with sixteen streams at full duplex. True, such a load should still be considered very high for the device - during the test, the web interface responded with noticeable delays.
To test the wireless radio module, we used our standard Asus PCE-AC68 adapter solely from the point of view of consistency of results. We do not think that such a combination will occur in practice. The devices were located at a distance of four meters of line of sight. For a more complete picture, we tested operating modes on one (20 MHz, HT20) and two (40 MHz, HT40) channels, when the connection speed was 72 and 150 Mbit/s, respectively. When analyzing the results, do not forget that this router has 100 Mbps wired ports.
The obtained figures are quite typical for this equipment configuration. When working with one channel, we received speeds of up to 40 Mbit/s, and on two channels approximately twice as much - 70-80 Mbit/s. So the combination of 100 Mbit/s wired ports and a 150 Mbit/s access point with one antenna in the 2.4 GHz range can be considered optimal for budget models.
To test the coverage area and connection quality when working with mobile devices, we used a pair of devices - the already middle-aged Apple iPad2 and the relatively modern Zopo ZP920 smartphone. They were tested at three points - at a distance of four meters of line of sight, at four meters through one wall and at eight meters through two walls. At the same time, more than a dozen neighboring networks were present on the air. The device connection speed was 72 Mbit/s. Let's look at the iPad first.
When you are in the same room with the router, you can count on 15-30 Mbit/s, which should be enough for watching online videos. Removing one wall has a relatively weak effect on the results, maximum speed at this point it reaches 20 Mbit/s per reception. Whereas from the tablet to the router you can only get about 13 Mbit/s, which can be significant, in particular, for AirPlay and online video messaging use cases. The third location is characterized by the presence of many neighboring networks, and here it will be difficult to use the tablet comfortably. The operating speed is literally several megabits per second. However, for viewing sites without heavy content, this option may be suitable.
The performance of working with a smartphone at the first point differs little from the previously tested adapter. Moving behind one wall almost does not reduce performance, except in the scenario of multi-threaded broadcast to a client. The third point, as for a tablet, causes a significant drop in speed.
In general, we can say that the router performed well at short distances, and for large rooms with a large number interference he is poorly adapted. Let us remind you that these indicators significantly depend on the wireless clients used in the network.
Conclusion
First of all, we note that the cost of the D-Link DIR-300S wireless router at the time of writing was approximately 1000 rubles. This is ten times lower than the price of modern top solutions.
In terms of its hardware characteristics, the device belongs to the entry-level segment - the router is equipped with 100 Mbit/s wired ports and provides a wireless connection at speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz band. Formally, these parameters will be sufficient to serve mass mobile clients, such as smartphones and tablets, as well as laptop cable connections, desktop computer, TV, media player and set-top box. At the same time, from a performance point of view, we can say that the model will be effective for all popular tariff plans with speeds up to 100 Mbit/s inclusive. The only thing that can be noted here is the relatively small coverage area of the wireless network when working with some clients in urban environments.
The device has a fairly convenient and practical, although easily soiled, body with the ability to be mounted on a wall. Based on the testing results, we did not have any comments regarding the manufacturing quality of the model.
Built-in software implements most of the capabilities demanded in this segment, including various Internet connection options, IPTV service, port broadcasting and IPv6. Separately, we note support for Yandex.DNS and built-in setup wizards. But the function of creating a guest wireless network is missing in this model.
The device may be suitable for those users who require a simple and inexpensive wireless router with basic capabilities. True, in this segment it will have to compete with models provided by telecom operators.
Resetting the router settings is done by pressing and holding the Reset button on the back panel of the router.
In order to get to the router’s web interface, you need to open your Internet browser and type http://192.168.0.1 in the address bar, Username admin, field password leave it blank (provided that the router has factory settings, and his IP has not changed).
Changing the factory password.
Default: Login admin, password admin
Courier-setters must change the password in the settings to the Serial Number indicated on the box (S/N). When reconfiguring, it is also recommended to use S/N as a password for the router and wi-fi ( serial number).
In the router interface, you need to go to the System tab, Administrator password menu.
In the field Password(New Password) enter a new password.
In the field Confirmation(Confirm Password ) repeat the new password.
Then click the button Save Settings.
After this, the router will prompt you to re-enter its settings.
Setting up Wi-Fi on the router.
In the router interface, you need to go to the tab WiFi, menu Basic settings (Basic settings).
1.SSID the name of your wireless network.
2. In the tab WiFi, select security settings.
3. In the dropdown list Network authentications (Network Authentication): select
WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK mixed-this is the most safe way protect your wireless network.
Encryption key field PSK .
You must enter any set of numbers length from 8
to 63
. They also need to be remembered so that you can specify them when connecting to the network. It is recommended to use the device serial number as a key (indicated on the box, in the form S/N########). Click on the button "Change" to apply and save the settings.
Hello, in this article we will talk about the setup and capabilities of WiFi on a router from d-link, model dir 300.
Input d-link dir 300
I described in detail about connecting and logging into the Dlink DIR 300 router in the article “ d-link connection dir 300". Now we’ll just go to the router configuration interface.
Let's open any browser and write 192.168.0.1 in the address bar (this is ). Then enter the Username - admin, Password - admin.
It will open before you home page. Let's go straight from there to advanced settings.
Enabling/Disabling WiFi on dir300
First, let's check if WiFi is turned on on your router. To do this, we need to find the “WiFi” column. There will be a switch in the upper right corner, moving it from the green position to the red, we will turn off WiFi, if it is in the green position - this means that WiFi is on.
You can also enable or disable WiFi on 300 by going to “ General settings" If we check the box next to “Enable wireless connection,” Wi-Fi will turn on; if we uncheck the box, we’ll turn it off.
Setting the Wireless Network Name
Now let's move on to the most interesting part, the immediate settingWiFi on the d-link dir 300 router. Let's set the name of our network; this is the name that will be displayed in the list of available connections. Go to “Basic Settings” and enter a name in the “SSID” field. Then click on the “Change” button.
Let's set or change the password on the D-link Dir 300 WiFi router.
Now let's protect our WiFi network by setting a password. To do this, we will follow the “Security Settings” link, which is located in the WiFi column on the advanced settings page. Here we are interested in the “Network Authentication” fields, select WAP2-PSK from the list. And in the “PSK encryption key” field we will set a password. The password must contain at least 8 characters and consist of Latin letters, numbers can also be used.
How to find out who is connected to my WiFi
The D-link Dir 300 router allows you to track connected users, allowing you to check how many devices are connected to your WiFi. To view the list of connected devices, go to the “Advanced settings” page. And in the “WiFi” column, click on the double arrow to the right.
A continuation of the list of the WiFi column will appear; in it, select the “WPS Station List” item.
Now you will see a page with a list of those connected via a wireless connection to your router.
Also, you can disconnect the connection from any of the devices. To do this, you need to check the box next to the “poppy” address and click on the “disconnect” button.
Blocking devices by MAC address.
Another one of useful functions in the Dlink router - blocking devices by a unique address (MAC address). To block devices you need to follow the “MAC filter” link in the WiFi column.
The “Filter Mode” page will open in front of you, with one field “MAC Filter Restriction Mode”. There are three selection options in this field, let's look at them individually:
- Disabled – is the default and means that filtering by poppy address is not performed.
- Allow – this setting means that only those devices that you add to the list will have access to the router via Wi-Fi.
- Deny – devices that will be added to the list will not have access to the router.
After selecting the mode, you need to click on the “Change” button.
Most convenient way compiling a list means selecting them from a list of already connected devices. In the “Known IP/MAC addresses:” field, select the device you want to block.
If the device is not yet connected to the router, then you can add it manually. Click on the “Add” button and enter the MAC address of the device in the field that appears.
Once the list is completed, click on the “Save” button.
To remove a device’s MAC address from the list, you need to check the box next to it and click on the “Save” button.
Saving router configuration data
When setting up the Dlink Dir 300 router, you will notice that after each action a red circle with a number inside appears in the upper right corner. This means that the router is asking you to save your settings changes. This is necessary so that if the router is disconnected from the power supply, all the settings that you have made will be saved.
Hover your mouse over the flashing light and click on the “Save” link. It is not necessary to perform this operation after every change of settings. You can do this at the very end, when you are about to exit the router setup interface.
Video: Detailed instructions for setting up Wi Fi
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I hope you chose a good router and bought it! Now let's move on to the most important step - setting it up directly. When creating home wireless Internet, we need one time configure the router. And as we already know, these devices are produced by different companies (D-LINK, ASUS, TP-LINK, etc.). Naturally, the setup process may differ slightly.
In this lesson I will show you how to set up a D-Link DIR-300 router, because I have exactly this model. If you have a different router (or different firmware), then you will need to either look for similar buttons, or instructions made exactly for your router.
So, let's see how to configure the D-Link DIR-300!
1. Connection
First we need to connect the router. Plug your router's power supply into the socket, and the Internet provider cable into the first connector. You should also have a blue cable with the same connectors on both sides. So, insert one end into the router and the other into the computer.
Let's look at the picture! You should get something like this:
The cables inserted into the router look like this:
Now go to Start - Control Panel - Network and Internet - Network and Sharing Center - Change adapter settings and make sure that you have Local Area Network connected. If not, then turn it on.
2. Go to the Web Interface
Before you configure the D-Link DIR-300 router, you need to go into them. There is no need to install programs separately. Just use the Web Interface and go to the router address.
Pay attention to the back of the router. There should be an address made up of numbers, then a login and password.
In my case it's 192.168.0.1 , and the login and password are admin. Most routers also have these settings.