How many of those are also routers? I have several awesome Anker battery packs, but I'm still interested in this as it might fulfill a few travel related use cases for me. For example, WiFi to all my gadgets from Ethernet at the hotel (if it is faster/less janky than the hotel WiFi). And if there was some way to (pay and) connect one device to in-flight WiFi and share to other gadgets with this it would be nice. However I'm not positive from the scant info available now if USB tethering your phone to this would work. I guess I can always just create a hosted network on my Windows 8.1 tablet for that use case, but it would be nice to have one all encompassing travel router that made things easy.
Meh. I honestly don't know why the Wi-Fi alliance even bothered to make a spec that isn't at least 1 Gbps, to make the purchase of a new, more expensive router worth it.
I'll wait for the "2nd wave" of 802.11ac routers, the ones that are supposed to come with 1.2+ Gbps bandwith. And before you ask, yes I do have access to 1 Gbps home fiber. I just didn't get it yet because I always use Wi-Fi, and paying for 1 Gbps without actually getting 1 Gbps from my Wi-Fi would be a waste.
When sharing a hotspot, does the 510L let you log in to the hotspot once, then simply use the connection? Chromecast doesn't work in hotels where you have to click to agree to terms after connecting, and this looks promising.
So how does one know if these new routers will crap out in a few years like every other router I've owned? My last two were d-link, are other companys known to last years longer?
This review indicates that this device includes a DLNA server, but if looked at a little closer, it would have been clear that this feature is in fact useless.
I called DLink prior to purchasing the device to confirm the presence of the DLNA feature since their website says it’s coming in a future update, and got confirmation that the DLNA feature was in fact active.
Well, it's not, at least not in any usable way.
After purchasing this device, I set it up and connected a flash drive with a sampling of audio and video media. I was able to play my FLAC files in the car, and my kids were able to stream movies, all via the 510L'S DLNA server.
But, when I went back to the device, I realized that each time you either remove and reconnect the media or turn the device off and back on, it removes the index it had previously built, and begins indexing the media from scratch. The only control over the DLNA server provided in the admin interface is to name it and turn it on and off. I installed the recent firmware release hoping to see some added control over the indexing, but nothing.
This makes the DLNA server completely useless on a mobile device. It takes a long time to have access to any significant amount of media files each time after turning on the device or reconnecting the media.
It's a mobile device, but the feature requires that it be left on and connected 24/7 in order to be usable.
It's not as if it would require any serious logic to provide some re-indexing control in the interface. The index is written to the media, not built in memory, so it's still there when the device is turned back on, and it's there when the media is plugged back in. All that would be required is allowing the user to choose when the re-indexing occurs.
I tried to get DLink interested, but couldn’t get anything more than “thanks for the info” from tech support. I'm really disappointed in this company. They put out a product with a feature without putting any thought at all into it. It's a shame, really, because I really like this device. It does most things well. The interface is functional and relatively well designed. But this DLNA limitation brings it from a 5 to a 1 for me.
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13 Comments
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Ryun - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
I had forgotten that D-Link made routers that looked like that. It'd be kinda funny if you had that plus a new mac pro on your desk.connietdonohoe - Thursday, December 7, 2017 - link
I was Recently facing issues regarding Dlink Router Configuration. I couldn't Access 192.168.1.1 . Please Help 192-168-1-1l.comconnietdonohoe - Thursday, December 7, 2017 - link
I Fould this site helpful !!<a href="https://192-168-1-1l.com/">192-168-1-1l.co...
kdr9hu5 - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
1A and only 4000mAh... too little too late when there are 50Wh battery packs that deliver over 2A for next to nothing.Bob Todd - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link
How many of those are also routers? I have several awesome Anker battery packs, but I'm still interested in this as it might fulfill a few travel related use cases for me. For example, WiFi to all my gadgets from Ethernet at the hotel (if it is faster/less janky than the hotel WiFi). And if there was some way to (pay and) connect one device to in-flight WiFi and share to other gadgets with this it would be nice. However I'm not positive from the scant info available now if USB tethering your phone to this would work. I guess I can always just create a hosted network on my Windows 8.1 tablet for that use case, but it would be nice to have one all encompassing travel router that made things easy.Krysto - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
Meh. I honestly don't know why the Wi-Fi alliance even bothered to make a spec that isn't at least 1 Gbps, to make the purchase of a new, more expensive router worth it.I'll wait for the "2nd wave" of 802.11ac routers, the ones that are supposed to come with 1.2+ Gbps bandwith. And before you ask, yes I do have access to 1 Gbps home fiber. I just didn't get it yet because I always use Wi-Fi, and paying for 1 Gbps without actually getting 1 Gbps from my Wi-Fi would be a waste.
Hrel - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
Good news, 1.3-1.6Gbps routers have been out for a long time already!dylan522p - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
Now your router can look like your Workstation!quidpro - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
D-Link Routers have had that style for a while now. So really, your workstation can look like your router. (Not that it's a contest!!)edwpang - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link
I have 3 of these black cans in my home BEFORE the new Mac Pro even announced. Hopefully, Apple does not sue D-Link for "their" design.StevenSpicer - Thursday, January 16, 2014 - link
When sharing a hotspot, does the 510L let you log in to the hotspot once, then simply use the connection? Chromecast doesn't work in hotels where you have to click to agree to terms after connecting, and this looks promising.tipoo - Tuesday, January 21, 2014 - link
So how does one know if these new routers will crap out in a few years like every other router I've owned? My last two were d-link, are other companys known to last years longer?bfieldman - Saturday, October 18, 2014 - link
This review indicates that this device includes a DLNA server, but if looked at a little closer, it would have been clear that this feature is in fact useless.I called DLink prior to purchasing the device to confirm the presence of the DLNA feature since their website says it’s coming in a future update, and got confirmation that the DLNA feature was in fact active.
Well, it's not, at least not in any usable way.
After purchasing this device, I set it up and connected a flash drive with a sampling of audio and video media. I was able to play my FLAC files in the car, and my kids were able to stream movies, all via the 510L'S DLNA server.
But, when I went back to the device, I realized that each time you either remove and reconnect the media or turn the device off and back on, it removes the index it had previously built, and begins indexing the media from scratch. The only control over the DLNA server provided in the admin interface is to name it and turn it on and off. I installed the recent firmware release hoping to see some added control over the indexing, but nothing.
This makes the DLNA server completely useless on a mobile device. It takes a long time to have access to any significant amount of media files each time after turning on the device or reconnecting the media.
It's a mobile device, but the feature requires that it be left on and connected 24/7 in order to be usable.
It's not as if it would require any serious logic to provide some re-indexing control in the interface. The index is written to the media, not built in memory, so it's still there when the device is turned back on, and it's there when the media is plugged back in. All that would be required is allowing the user to choose when the re-indexing occurs.
I tried to get DLink interested, but couldn’t get anything more than “thanks for the info” from tech support. I'm really disappointed in this company. They put out a product with a feature without putting any thought at all into it. It's a shame, really, because I really like this device. It does most things well. The interface is functional and relatively well designed. But this DLNA limitation brings it from a 5 to a 1 for me.