D-Link: We Don’t Support Linux Users
January 27th, 2009 by ComputerBob
I left my DSL modem turned off all day yesterday (nearly 12 hours), to make sure that its connection to Verizon would expire before I connected my new D-Link DSL-2540B ADSL2/2+ Modem with 4-Port Ethernet Router to my DSL line.
Right on schedule, my new DSL modem/router arrived last night by UPS.
It has an auto-setting feature that D-Link says will automatically sense and configure itself to any ISPs settings.
It didn’t.
Instead, the auto-setting feature tried several different options and then gave up, unable to sense or configure itself to my Verizon DSL (with DHCP, not PPPoE) connection.
Yes, it “synced” itself to Verizon, and even reported my correct upload and download speeds to me.
But its “Internet” light never came on, which means that it never really connected to Verizon.
In other words, my PC had no problem communicating with the DSL-2540B, and the DSL-2540B could see that I had a Verizon DSL connection, but the DSL-2540B couldn’t connect to my Verizon DSL connection.
So, I logged into the DSL-2540B through my web browser and manually configured its settings. D-Link doesn’t publish any suggested settings, so I used the Verizon DSL (with DHCP) configuration settings that have been widely published by users in reviews of the D-Link DSL-2540B at Amazon.com, dslreports.com and several other sites. Those settings were nearly exactly the same as the ones that I had used in my single-computer DSL modem for the past several years.
But the DSL-2540B failed to obtain an IP address or a default gateway from Verizon with those settings. In fact, the DSL-2540B failed to obtain an IP address or a default gateway from Verizon, no matter how I configured it.
That exact same problem seems to occur in a significant number of complaints that I found all over the Internet. It seems that Verizon users either have no problem at all getting the DSL-2540B to work, or they experience exactly the same problems that it gave me, and it refuses to work, no matter what settings they try to use. I can’t be sure, but it looks like the Verizon users who have PPPoE accounts are the ones who don’t have problems, while the ones who have DHCP accounts are the ones who sometimes have problems.
After more than 3 hours of frustration, I decided to call the D-Link 24-hour helpline. Since it was after 11:00 PM EST, I figured that it would be easy to get through to them. I was wrong. I had to wait in their call queue for almost 30 minutes, listening to the same short instrumental song over and over and over and over and over, without any messages telling me how long I would have to wait, until I was finally connected to a human being.
After I explained the problem in great detail, the first-tier person told me that he can’t help me unless I’m using Windows Vista or Windows XP. I slowly and politely explained to him — my wife was amazed at my patience — that all I need are the correct DSL modem settings to put into the DSL-2540B, to make it connect to Verizon DSL — and that the problem has abolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that I’m using Linux. I described how I was looking right at the D-Link’s administration screens in my browser as I spoke to him, and all I needed were the correct settings to input into those administration screens. I asked him if D-Link has a list of the correct settings to make the DSL-2540B connect to various DSL providers around the country. He told me that they do. But he refused to tell me the correct settings for Verizon because “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t support Linux.” When I suggested that he ignore the fact that I’m using Linux and just pretend like I’m using Windows, he said, “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t pretend.” To add insult to injury, he then insisted that the D-Link DSL-2540B is a DSL modem, but NOT a router.
So I calmly and patiently read the side of the package to him, “ADSL2/2+ Modem with 4-Port Ethernet Router.” Without acknowledging that he had made an inexcusable error, he again reminded me that D-Link doesn’t support Linux users. Again, I tried to explain to him that the problem is in the configuration of the modem/router itself and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I’m using Linux. Again, he told me that D-Link doesn’t support Linux users.
So I asked to speak to a tier-two support person. After a few more minutes on hold, a woman came on the phone. She admitted that the DSL-2540B is a modem/router, but she parroted the same responses as the tier-one support person: D-Link does not support Linux users.
Again, I slowly and calmly explained to her that my computer doesn’t have any problem communicating with the modem/router. In fact, once the modem/router is configured correctly through my web browser, I will be able to reboot Linux and it will automatically find the modem/router without me having to change any settings at all in Linux. The problem is that the modem/router refuses to communicate with Verizon because the modem/router itself is configured incorrectly, and that problem has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I’m using Linux instead of Windows.
That’s when she told me that she’s been doing tech support for many years, so she knows that there’s nothing that they can do to help me because I’m using Linux instead of Windows.
I calmly and politely explained to her — again, my wife was amazed — that she may have read her step-by-step script to customers thousands of times, but she obviously doesn’t understand what she is reading, or she would realize that I don’t need her to understand or support Linux at all — all I need is for her to tell me the correct configuration settings to put into the DSL-2540B modem/router itself and the problem would be solved. I asked her to please just give me those settings as though I were a Windows user.
She told me that she can’t do that because D-Link doesn’t support Linux users.
So I asked to speak to her supervisor. She told me that there wasn’t anyone there who could speak to me.
Summary: I bought a brand new D-Link DSL-2540B DSL Modem/Router. Even though D-Link claimed that it would automatically sense and set itself to my ISP’s settings, it did not. I called D-Link and explained the problem to them. They told me that they have the configuration information that is required to make their modem/router work with my ISP.
But they refused to tell me that information.
Because D-Link doesn’t support Linux users.
So I refuse to support D-Link.
As soon as I have time, I will be returning the D-Link DSL-2540B for a full refund.
Permalink:
http://www.computerbob.com/wp/d-link-we-dont-support-linux-users.php
Tags:
Consumer Info, Hardware, Internet, Linux, Personal, Review, Tech Support, Windows
January 28th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I think you mean a DSL-2540B not a DSL-5240B … awful when we need to type instead of cut/paste
January 28th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
You are absolutely right! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I guess it takes a Bob to catch a Bob.
What makes it even more embarassing for me is that I DID carefully copy/paste that model number throughout the entire article to make sure that I didn’t type it incorrectly — but I had already typed it incorrectly the very first time, so I copied and pasted that incorrect model number over and over without noticing that it was wrong.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
For what it’s worth, I got exactly the same response from Linksys when my WRT54G router had issues several months ago. The same thing had happened once before, and that time they walked me through a firmware update and a series of configuration settings–all of which used the browser interface to the router and was therefore OS agnostic. I told them I was using XP, though I was really using Linux. They never figured it out.
The next time it happened, I honestly told them that I was running Linux, and the conversation went pretty much as yours did. Sadly, I had forgotten the exact settings from before, and they vehemently refused to give them to me once I said “Linux.” So I replaced the Linksys router with a Netgear router after seeing a post on Netgear’s official help forum when an Ubuntu user asked for help and one of the forum admins walked him through his problem. Not to mention that Netgear uses GPL’s software in their router and obeys the GPL by making the code publicly available (there’s a little card with a website for the code in the packaging), unlike Linksys. (That’s ok. Last I heard Linksys’s parent company, Cisco, will be facing some legal hot water about that in the near future)
I haven’t had any trouble with the Netgear product, though I did go back later and flash the Linksys router with custom firmware, which appears to have both revived it and improved its performance. I guess that voids the warranty or something, but it’s not like their support was worth anything to begin with. So now I have a backup router. And Linksys will never see another penny from me or any organization that I am ever responsible for. Nor will D-Link, now.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Thanks for that valuable information, Jack! It’s great that we can share both our good and bad experiences with each other, to make it easier on all of us — and harder on the companies that don’t care about us.
December 21st, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Call back and this time YOU pretend you are a windows user. Sorry that they suck man, but you don’t really need to volunteer that your using linux.. just say “Oh.. I have a windows machine right here, one second… okay we’re good.”