New generations of D-Link Amplify wireless routers are designed mostly to support multimedia networking, for your entertainment center in home. Linksys with its new E series also does the same thing, focusing new generations of wireless routers for entertainment network such as the Linksys E4200 N750 router.
One of the D-Link Amplify routers is D-Link DIR-657 HD media router 1000 which is designed with HD Fuel technology to optimize HD media streaming and off course for gaming too. D-Link DIR-855 is also designed for HD media router which has been around for years, but it is less popular than DIR-655. What are the differences between Dir-657 Vs Dir-855? To understand the differences between the two routers, the table below shows main features comparison for easy reading.
Wireless technology
Firstly, the main difference between the two routers is the wireless technology used. DIR-855 is a simultaneous dual band router to support both bands (2.4GHz & 5GHz) concurrently, but DIR-657 works in single 2.4GHz band. Off course you cannot connect your wireless devices which work in 5GHz to the router.
Ports
Both routers are equipped with built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports, four-port gigabit switch and one gigabit WAN port for connecting to either cable or DSL modem. Surfboard DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems such as SB6120 cable modem or SBV6220 VoIP cable modem include one gigabit port you can connect to the router (WAN port) for optimum throughput.
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USB 2.0 port is equipped in each of the router with Shareport technology to allow you host either USB external disk storage or a USB printer to be accessible across the network. DIR-855 can be upgraded to firmware version 1.12 to support Shareport. If you photography is one of your hobbies, then you would thank to DIR-657 which is equipped with SD card slot you can insert your camera memory to read your images or even video streaming to the HDTV or any DLNA compliant devices seamlessly.
Both routers do not support guest network to let you create separate network for your guests accessing the internet. New generation of Netgear routers such as Wndr3700 N600 or Wndr4000 N750 support guest network each band but they include USB port that cannot be used to host a printer except for storage only with DLNA certified. But new Netgear WNDR3800 premium edition and WNDR4500 N900 routers (with two USB ports) support printer hosting.
| DIR-855 Xtreme N Duo Media Router | DIR-657 HD Media Router 1000 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wireless technology | simultaneous dual band with 3x detachable external antennas | N300 with Internal antenna | ||||
| Ethernet ports |
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| USB Port | 1xUSB port with Shareport technology | 1xUSB port with Shareport technology; plus SD Card slot for DLNA share;
UPnP and Media server support |
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| Green technology | Yes for hardware version A1 and A2 | Yes
Power saving by link status Power saving by cable length Power saving by wireless LAN scheduling |
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| QoS | Intelligent QoS Prioritization Technology
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HD Fuel QoS to prioritize high-bandwidth applications
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| IPv6 ready | No | Yes |
Networking Diagram
Setting up the router is easy; you need to connect the WAN port of the router to the Ethernet port of the modem-only device such as D-Link cable modem or any Surfboard cable modems. You can add D-Link DAP-1513 Media Bridge which includes four Ethernet ports to connect HDTV, XBOX, Blu-Ray and more. Your iPad or any tablet computers can connect easily to your D-Link wireless network.
For any of your router that need wider coverage, normally you add a wireless range extender. D-Link introduces DAP-1525 Wifi booster with smartbeam technology.
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