D-Link DWL-G730AP AirPlus G High Speed 2.4GHz 802.11g Wireless Pocket Router/AP
by D-Link
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of D-Link DWL-G730AP AirPlus G High Speed 2.4GHz 802.11g Wireless Pocket Router/AP
Customer Review: Handy gadget works as advertised
Summary: 5 Stars
For several years I have been looking for an affordable, reasonably sized device just like the D-Link DWL-G730AP Wireless Pocket Router. My need is probably not unique and my guess is that more road warriors would want this device if they knew it existed. It came to my attention while reading a computer magazine article review during an international flight. For those reading this and with little time to peruse continued ramblings, it works very well and exceeds my needs.
I tote a corporate laptop blessed with almost all the software I want. Like most other smart organizations it is locked down to prevent its user (me) from inadvertently or intentionally making configuration changes or installing software. Hence, TCP/IP configurations are blocked and installing wireless devices can't be performed. What I can do is connect to any copper Ethernet network providing a dynamic IP address and through the magic of VPN make a secure, remote connection with the corporate LAN. To maintain my appearance as a smart on-top-of-things employee, this ability has been essential. That is how the Wireless Pocket Router has truly freed me from locating difficult to find wired connectivity. As far as my laptop is concerned, the Wireless Pocket Router in client mode appears as a wired connection. No software to install and my IT department is none the wiser. I can sit at the airport or Starbucks and instantly login to work or play as desired.
During my patient watch of available devices to perform this task, the most prevalent were those intended to make game systems wireless. They required a 115v power hook-up and costs exceeded $100. The whole idea of wireless was to get away from wires I thought. D-Link Wireless Pocket Router is truly wireless because the device can operate from the laptop's USB port 5V. Now I'm looking for a way to attach the device to my laptop shell when in use rather than draped across my lap. If D-Link made a way to "dock" the DWL-G730AP with a laptop that would be so nice. Amazon's price was well below $75 which is reasonable for any one mode (AP,client,repeater) but it does all three.
The instruction manual was laid out well. Since I don't have ready access to a computer in order to change the IP addresses for matching subnets, as is required to configure the DWL-G730AP, I used a boot CD with a Linux distro. It doesn't matter which distro as they all should provide an OS when the locked down OS is too restrictive. Use of the DWL-G730AP has been in client mode only to date. When time permits I'll try its other modes.
Customer Review: Perfect device if you know how to use it!! Technical support is a nightmare.
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this router a while back thinking that I would use it during my business trips. Now I am using it everyday. :) This router is compact and has everything you need. It comes with a nice pouch that houses a power adapter, an ethernet cable, a USB power cable, and the router/AP/client. I am not going to go through the functionality of this device because you can read it from this device's advertised specification. I am just going to comment on its usability and my general experience using this device.
1. Setup - I would say it is rather difficult to setup this device. As lazy as I am, I skipped the manual and went straight to configuration. As a network engineer myself, I thought it would take me only a few minutes to setup this little thing. I was wrong. I later found out the router had to be in AP mode before I could access its configuration page. Once I got there, it took no time to configure the rest. Remember, turn on DHCP and let it serve IP addresses. By default, the device's IP is 192.168.0.30/24, and you have to configure your NIC to have a static IP in that subnet before your PC can communicate with it.
2. Usage - I have nothing to complain. It has everything a normal person needs.
3. Tech support - This is the area where I can complain about, and it is exactly why I took one star off this wonderful device. My experience with D-link tech support cannot be worse. Not only they were not able to help, but I happened to talk to a drunk tech-support person when I called in one night for help. Maybe if I paid more attention to the router's configuration earlier, I could have avoided calling D-Link's tech-support. But there is still no excuse. I talked to several Indian engineers and they were no help. It was difficult to understand their english and it could have taken less time to communicate if they didn't have an accent. Maybe I am just too picky. :( The drunk engineer made it worse. The problem I had was poor download performance. The default DTIM configuration for this router is 3, which allowed the laptop's NIC to stay too long in power-save mode. You can change it to 1 so that the router doesn't buffer the data destined to clients for too long and you will have perfect connectivity. D-Link's tech support people knew nothing about this!!!! :(
The product is "almost" perfect; post-sale support is far from perfect!!!
Update: This router tends to overheat easily when used in a non-air-conditioned environment. When it overheats, it resets. Now I just want to give it 2 stars.
Customer Review: Great travel product, works as advertised!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I travel frequently, and often times I am in a hotel room with a Ethernet cable that is about 3 ft long. I prefer to use my laptop on the couch, or in bed, and was extremely irritated by the short cables I encountered. For a while, my solution was to carry a 10 ft. Ethernet cable around, and then I ended up in a suite, where the access point was about 20 feet away.. :-)
So, after looking around and reading the reviews, I purchased this device and it has worked like a charm.
First off, it's tiny, about half the size of a pack of cards. Easy to carry - slips into a pocket in your laptop case, or your equipment pouch.
Second, it can be powered either through a wall adapter that works on both 120v and 220v - an important consideration if you travel overseas, as well as a USB cable. Very convenient. I have used it in a number of locations with different voltages (Europe, Japan, India, Ireland, etc.) and all I need is a multi plug adapter, like this All-in-One Travel Power Plug Adapter for US, UK, EU, AU, (which I always have a couple of - not perfect but works OK in 95% of the mish-mash that is the international electrical system)
Third - it can be configured to handle a direct connection (from your cable/DSL provider) as a modem/router or work off an existing router. I have used it in both modes - all you need to do is to slide a switch on the bottom of the unit and a little set up using the supplied or any available Ethernet cable. It also can be used to connect to an existing wireless network and create a wireless sub-net, bit I have not had to use this so far..
Fourth - configuration is a breeze - took all of 2 minutes once I understood what I needed to do. Just like a regular wireless router, I quickly gave this device a name, enabled encryption (WEP or WPA) and was able to connect. I then set up MAC address filtering and further secured my new network.
Fifth - in spite of its small size and lack of a visible antenna, the range is really good. I was able to work all around a 3 bed apartment with no issues. However, on one occasion I was across 2 really thick brick walls, and I lost connectivity.
There are plenty of other standard features that I don't expect to really need...
All in all, this is a great product that does exactly what it is expected to do, with minimum effort on the user's part..
Customer Review: Using the DLink DWL-G730AP as a client
Summary: 4 Stars
The router works as I hoped, but it took a long time to figure out why I couldn't get to the web based configuration screen after I changed the configuration the first time. The incomplete instructions failed to mention the following important points.
To configure it the first time, you set the switch on the bottom to "client", and you can leave the IP address assignment as "Obtain an IP address automatically" (Control panel > network and internet connections > network connections > internet protocol (TCP/IP) > properties). Type in 192.168.0.30 in your web browser, login, and configure the router according to the instruction sheet. On an old computer with IE 5, the wizard interface didn't work so I just entered in the SSID, etc. into their respective tabs on the config. screen.
After the router resets itself, it works well and allows you to access the web via your primary wireless router.
But, after you configure it and the "client" router resets, you can no longer get to the configuration screen via your web browser at 192.168.0.30 until you assign a static IP address within the same address range as the client Dlink router using "Use the following IP address" (e.g., IP address: 192.168.0.99 and Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0), instead of using "Obtain an IP address automatically". Once you do that, no problem getting to the Dlink config screen (although you now have no access to your main router or web.)
To get reconnected back to your "main" router, you then you have to reselect "Obtain an IP address automatically" (or assign a static one within the same address range as your "main" wireless router). You'll again be able to connect to the web.
The tech support was useless. All they did was tell me to do a firmware update, which didn't help.
Other comments: The USB power cord is a unique idea, esp. since it means the power to the DLink will turn off when your computer is powered off. However, the cord is very short (it's way shorter than the Cat 5 cable that's included) and will limit where you can place the DLink. I also wonder how the power draw will affect the USB adapter and the rest of the computer since the DLink gets fairly warm.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that if you use MAC address filtering on your main router, you have to enter the MAC address of the NIC card on your PC, rather than the MAC address of the Dlink, since that's what your router will see.
Customer Review: Small unit, does the job
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought and setup the AirPlus. I have set it up in my office space as an access point, connected to an ethernet cable that is a connected to a router (Airport Base Station) a few rooms down the hall. That router is wireless, but unfortunately the walls in the building I am in have enough metal in them (the lath in the plaster walls) that the wifi signal does not reach my office space. I also travel quite a bit in my work, so the access point mode is the one that I would expect to be using the AirPlus for.
The setup is a little tricky and you have to read the instructions to know that you must change the network setting in your computer (I was using MacBook Pro in the OS X mode). Basically, you have to switch to manual mode and enter the IP address that is between 192.168.0.0 and 192.168.0.254, except 192.168.0.30 (so, for example, 192.168.0.31 would work just fine), and make sure the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. This may sound daunting, but some patience and careful reading of the screen elements should allow you to navigate this part. (I have the barest knowledge of these items myself.) Once you have done that, just follow the sequence described in the manual, which is clear enough--the screen shots are a great visual guide to the steps. One of the steps is a screen to name the new wifi network that the AirPlus will create.
At the end of the sequence, you may find as I did that lo and behold, the computer indicates that there is a strong signal reception (yay!) but no connection (boo!). I found the solution by deleting the new AirPlus network on my computer and then re-signing on to it. The error message basically says that yes the AirPlus is working, but the connection to your computer is not--and this may be due to the manual tweaking of the IP address that you made. By deleting the network and re-signing on to it, everything is reset automatically, and everything should work.
Some other notes: As I mentioned, I am using a MacBook Pro. In the OS X mode, the access point works flawlessly. In the Boot Camp Windows 7 mode, it also works without any problems. I also tried with my iPad and BlackBerry, and those signed on to the network from the AirPlus at the first try.
I didn't try setting it up as a router (I also already have one for my home wifi hot spot) nor as a client, so I can't comment on the configuration of those two modes.