jhacker
join:2001-12-11
Peoria, IL
 ·Comcast
 ·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
 ·AT&T Midwest
| [Equipment] Is the D-Link VWR-VR Really That Bad?
I purchased a D-Link VWR-VR Vonage adapter with wireless router on-board through Ebay. It is supposed to arrive any day now. Even without receiving the product, I already regret the purchase. I already have a VT-2442, but had to add a WAP (wireless access point) so I could use the laptop, Wii, and Nintendo DS in the house. I want to go down to just one device behind the cable router for simplicity. However, I now see a lot of bad reviews about the VWR-VR. Most of the reviews state that if power is lost to the device the settings are lost. Also, that other features like port forwarding, dynamic DNS, and UPNP don't work correctly. I guess I should have done the research BEFORE making the purchase. Does anybody on this forum actually have this device? If so, what are YOUR experiences with it? |
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jhacker
join:2001-12-11
Peoria, IL
·Comcast
·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
·AT&T Midwest
| Well, I found the answer to my own question. The answer is YES, the D-Link VWR-VR is really bad. After I had nearly finished changing the settings, I rebooted the router. ALL of the settings reverted to factory defaults. I even backed up the settings to a .bin file, but I when I tried to import them it they failed to do so.
Finally, I gave up and called Vonage. I spoke in the technogeek language, and they transferred me to level 2 with little delay. She told me that there would be no more firmware updates for this router to address the problems, and they weren't supporting it anymore. They agreed to send me the V-Portal. I guess I'll be pulling out my old router to use with the V-Portal.
Now the other problem is that they won't provision my old VT2442 in their system for at least 24 hours. So now I am without service because I refuse to reconnect the VWR-VR. Lucky we all have cell phones. |
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theninjasqua
join:2007-09-26
Oakville, ON
| I've got this piece of junk router and I hate the thing. I have the exact same problems you had with it. I have to login to it every day to turn back on my port forwarding.
I've emailed them a few times and they keep telling me that they are working on a fix for it, but obviously they are not. I guess I should just call them and ask them to send me a new unit so I can be done with this thing.
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-theninjasquad |
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jhacker
join:2001-12-11
Peoria, IL
·Comcast
·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
·AT&T Midwest
edit:
August 16th, @12:02PM
| Just an update on this thread. Well, when the order arrived it was another D-Link wireless router. Instead, they shipped me a refurbished VWR-VD as opposed to a VWR-VR. As far as I can tell, there is absolutely no difference between the two. The VD has the exact same issues with the settings not being saved upon reboot, UPNP, DDNS, etc.
After a couple of days of dealing with these problems with the new router, I called Vonage again. I was pleasantly amazed to reach someone in New Jersey that was intelligent and that I could understand perfectly. This rep also admitted that there were issues with this router, and that it definitely wasn't the best piece of equipment that they've released. He did say that they're developing another wireless router solution. He also said that I would have been better off selecting the Motorola 2542 or the Linksys model. If they were available, I would have.
At this point I have to say that I'm probably not going to worry about this Vonage problem. I think that I may cancel Vonage and take advantage of an offer from Comcast and get CDV for $20 for 12 months. After that, I'll assess my need for a home phone since both of my kids have their own cell phones. Other than this equipment issue, the only dissatisfaction I have with Vonage is all the fees they tack on to my bill. My $25 bill ends up being over $34 with all the taxes and crap fees they add on. |
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jubangy
Premium
join:2005-03-26
Erie, PA | If it's a wireless router can't you just grab yourself a regualr router, either wireless or wired and place the dlink phone adapter router behind that and use the new router for everythign else so the phone router just runs the phone? |
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jhacker
join:2001-12-11
Peoria, IL
·Comcast
·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
·AT&T Midwest
| Well, yes  It really defeats the purpose of buying this device in the first place. I purchased this because I wanted ONE device behind my modem, not two. But, to get something that actually works I realize I may have to use two devices. Right now the VWR-VD is working fine. I realize that the moment I have to reboot or the electricity goes out, I'll have to redo all the darn settings. |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI | I prefer having my phone box separate from my router, but YMMV. If I have network issues I prefer to not poke around my phone box stuff. |
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Mediocrates
join:2008-05-27
Raleigh, NC
·Vonage
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to jhacker
Redundancy is good up to a point. But while I'm sure there's a cable modem-TA-router-print server out there somewhere. I wonder how I far I could throw it when it breaks? Though to be fair once I figure out what print server will support it, the idea of dumping a fax machine, large flatbed scanner, and a printer for one middle prices All-In-1 sounds nice.
I LOVE my V-Portal. Not because of what it can do, which BTW is everything I need it to do. But because it's a dumb black box that I can forget is there, forever. It does one thing perfectly and if it did two things 98% well I would be furious. To me the single purpose V-Portal is the ultimate lightswitch. Flick it on, it works.
Buy yourself a good wireless router like a Netgear or Linksys (D-Link is crap, Belkin is crap, Actiontec is crap, 'real' Cisco is overkill, Trendnet is crap, Hawking is good but it's hard to find, Sonicwall is overkill, Watchguard is overkill). Get a V-Portal, put it behind the router, plug it in, job is done. |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
·Vonage
| Hmm, let's see, behind my cable modem I have (in separate boxes):
- Router -- Linux PC running Smoothwall Express that provides QOS, web filtering for the kiddies, ad filtering for all of us, automatically updates the family no-ip.org IP address, and a few other things. Maybe overkill but the price is right and we do leverage its capabilities pretty well.
- Wired switch to a bunch of PCs.
- Wireless router running as a switch. It divides up one of the hardwired runs coming from the first switch to two PCs and a print server, as well as provides a WPA encrypted WAP to the network for the laptops.
- File server running Windows Home Server. Sort of just another PC, I'm not loving that OS, if it dies I'll likely go back to W2K Pro.
- My old Motorola ATA from Vonage, a set and forget box that maybe needs rebooting once a year (last time it was because our phones' "message" light wouldn't stop blinking despite clearing my Vonage voice mail).
I much, much prefer not to be bound to a one box does everything network. Keeping the services compartmentalized makes fixing the things that get bugs a lot simpler with little interaction between them. |
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theninjasqua
join:2007-09-26
Oakville, ON
| reply to jhacker
I finally got around to calling them today. The guy I talked to on the phone knew instantly of the settings saving issues. They are sending me a new V-Portal free of charge and I will finally be done with this damn router. I'm still amazed that they sold this thing to customers knowing the kinds of issues that it had.
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-theninjasquad |
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