Setting up the DSL 2750U

Update (Oct 10, 2013) – I no longer have access to this router, and will not be able to respond to your queries (or try them out to find a solution). Feel free to leave a comment however, and hopefully some other reader will be able to help out.

I’ve recently purchased a D-Link DSL-2750U router which includes an ADSL 2+ modem as well as WiFi N 300 capabilities. It’s brilliant for its price, and has worked pretty well thus far. I could have used the included setup CD, but that’s not how we roll! Today, I’m going to detail a few steps to get your DSL-2750U working via the web interface. Albeit a little daunting at first, the web interface is actually quite flexible once you get the hang of it. A lot of these steps are probably recyclable for other routers, more so for other D-Link products that use a similar interface.

Basic setup –

1. Connect the power adapter to an outlet, the RJ45 cable to a computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) & a LAN port, and the RJ11 cable to the WAN port and your splitter’s ADSL out port.
2. Turn on the router, open a browser window and navigate to 192.168.1.1 (default username and password are both ‘admin’)
3. Navigate to Advanced Setup > Layer2 Interface. Add a new DSL ATM interface (mine is shown below). Enter the VPI/VCI values given by your ISP. Unless you’re sure of what you’re doing, do not edit the more advanced options. They ought to work in most cases.
4. Next, navigate to Advanced Setup > WAN Service. Add a new WAN service and point it to the DSL ATM service you’ve just created. At this point, you’ll need the username and password provided by your ISP. I copied most of the values I needed for steps 3 and 4 from the preconfigured modem (given by my ISP) that I was using earlier.

Wireless setup –

1. Under Wireless > Basic, change your SSID in order to avoid confusion with other routers set to their defaults.
2. Use the fields under Wireless > Security to protect your WiFi connection from snooping neighbours. The preferred authentication method is WPA-Personal (Auto).
3. Set a reasonably long WPA-WAPI passphrase that is resistant to brute-force attacks, and set encryption mode to TKIP+AES unless you’re using legacy devices with special needs.
4. Turn off WPS unless absolutely necessary.

Additional options –

1. Navigate to Management > Settings > Backup and backup your router config once you’ve confirmed it’s working. This will help avoid any future hassles in case you break something while experimenting and don’t remember the last known good config. It’s certainly better than resetting your router and doing the entire configuration dance once again.
2. Download the latest firmware from D-Link and update your router (Management > Settings > Update). Make sure you download the ones specific to your country – your warranty may be voided otherwise.
3. Use Management > Access Control to modify your router’s passwords for various preset usernames (for example, to change it from the default admin/admin combo) so that people with access to your router will not be able to lock you out of it.

These are just basic steps but should get your network up and running, and should be doable in less than ten minutes. If you’re experiencing issues, leave a comment and I’ll try helping you out. Queries specific to fields in steps 3 and 4 of the basic setup are probably best handled by your ISP or a little Googling. Just remember to back up any known good configs and continue experimenting to learn what you can!