D-Link DWL-G730AP AirPlus G High Speed 2.4GHz 802.11g Wireless Pocket Router/AP
by D-Link
|
List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of D-Link DWL-G730AP AirPlus G High Speed 2.4GHz 802.11g Wireless Pocket Router/AP
Customer Review: Nearly useless for Client Mode
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this primarily for Client Mode use. It turns out it's nearly useless for that:
- The documentation offers no real help in configuring it. Turns out the trick is, after setting it to Client Mode with the hardware switch, you need to fiddle it in the web interface using the default IP address, with the machine you are configuring it from configured to have a static address in the same subnet; and then change the machine to use DNS through the DWL-G730AP to your real router. Confusing matters is that once you've configured it, you can never access it again to change the configuration. Instead, you have to reset it (paper clip in a little hole). And then power cycle it--until you've power cycled it the reset doesn't really reset it, it puts it into "upload firmware if you dare" mode. And like I say, NONE of this is described in the documentation: not the paper quick start that comes with it, nor the so-called manual that is on the CD or downloadable from their web site. D-Link gets an F for the documentation.
- But after spending hours figuring out the above it does "work" in Client Mode. In that there's connectivity, for a while. But it's horribly slow. Using a direct wireless network adapter to talk wireless to my main router, or using a cable to it, I'm getting >10Mb/sec. Using the DWL-G730AP I'm getting < 0.2Mb/sec.
- And that was after freshly power cycling the DWL-G730AP. If you leave it running for a few hours it gets slower, and slower, dropping more and more packets. After a few hours it doesn't see the network any more at all. Sounds like maybe some kind of resource leak in the firmware? Dunno.
Anyway, in my experience it's useless in Client Mode. I'm returning it.
Customer Review: Great little beastie
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought it way back and it worked near-flawlessly ever since. Its USP is the three different modes in which it works. Only things it doesn't do is work with Open/DDWRT or Tomato, doesn't work as a bridge or repeater and doesn't do 802.11n.
I had a really frustrating time during initial set-up for three reasons:
1. I was a router noob and five years ago, routers were thought to be far more esoteric than they are now.
2. Comcast was terrible at supporting routers until a couple of years ago, even actively messing up the set-up process so that they could sell their monthly "home-networking" plan & charge lease-money for a gateway.
3. D-Link support was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in terms of set-up help.
Eventually, I figured it out by tremendous amounts of online reading via Bing and some trial & error. Then it worked well, barring two things:
Either due to intermittent Comcast nastiness or underpowered hardware &/or bad DHCP software, this thing had trouble managing LAN IP conflicts when one too many devices were being used (more than 6). It also dropped WAN IP address on a weekly basis & couldn't obtain a new one from the modem. So, I would have to plug/unplug it every few days or at least on a weekly basis.
I blame Comcast because, even now, after replacing it with a Comcast issued 2.4GHz 802.11n Netgear router, I see the occasional DHCP issues and dropped external IP. Only, it's a little less frequent. I still have the D-Link, but I have no use for it as it does not work as a repeater. Maybe, I should sell it on Marketplace? Any takers? :-)
Customer Review: Works great and is a better buy than other products
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought another competing product, the 3Com pocket router, because I heard a favorable review of it on the radio. That product is about the size of a pack of cards, and includes a short ethernet cable to connect it as needed, and a power pack. A carrying case is included to take things on the road. The directions were not very clear. If you aren't a techie (that's me), there were many gaps in the directions for installation. One example was when I had to label a network as "ad hoc" or "infrastructure," and I had no idea what the heck either was. The process became so frustrating, that I looked at the installation manual of this product: the D-Link Pocket Router. I downloaded its installation manual and looked it over. All the geek terms that 3Com took for granted were shown and explained in the D-Link manual. I then set the 3Com settings using the D-Link provided information. It worked fine. But, of course, by then I was interested in the D-Link Pocket Router and ordered it. I am much happier with this product for several reasons: First, as noted there is a detailed manual with full color pictures explaining things every step of the way; second, it is much smaller than the 3Com product, about 1/2 its size; third, and very important, the D-Link pocket router can be powered with its own power source, or you can hook it up using an included usb cable to your computer. So you don't have to have the external power source to hook it up; 4th, [...], it was less than half the cost of the 3Com. Bottom line? I kept the D-Link and returned the 3Com. It performs very well, is lighter, cheaper, and more versatile.Customer Review: KISS- Keep It Simple Stupid - and they did!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this product so much! I now bring this with me everywhere I go on my travel trips.
OK so most people with updated laptops have either built in wireless, or a wireless card right? Well what happens when you are in your hotel room (that doesn't provide wireless access) and they have an ethernet port in the wall, but you want wireless? You use this clever piece of D-Link networking. When running in AP mode (flip of a switch) you can just plug it into an ehternet port on the wall and "broadcast" the info on that port. Then with your already wireless enabled laptop you can connect to this handy device and suddenly you are on the hotel's network and the Internet! Viola! You can even have coworkers with you in the room sharing the one ethernet port wirelessly.
Simple huh? Well I do have to say that this little beauty is easy to work with, works well, has good enough range (covers average hotel room), comes with a handy case, flat/easy to manage ethernet cable, and a quick install guide that was almost not even needed.
I can't tell you enough how freeing this little device had made my travel trips. I hated having to string a long 9 ft ethernet cable from my laptop to the hotel wall. And on top of that the cable would be in mid air because my laptop was on a table or the bed and the ethernet port is high on the wall next to a shelf. Picture that if you will and then picture it without the wire!
I love it. <---period
Customer Review: Great
Summary: 4 Stars
4.5 stars.
I've had this item for over a year now and it is very useful and easy to use. The size and feature set is awesome and puts larger models to shame. Seriously, it's almost as small as a pack of cards.
I was looking for a device that could be used both as a WAP or router and - unlike most - I did NOT want a device with a huge signal running 24/7. This is because I live in an apartment block in the CBD. A massive signal is overkill, especially in a building shared with quite a few university students and lots of unsecured WiFi networks out there (Are these people crazy?!?!).
With those temptations, the last thing I want is a strong signal for computer science kids and wardrivers to hook into. The signal strength on this model can be supressed as required, the security options are good, the footprint on my computer desk is tiny and the feature set is fantastic.
It would be perfect if it was WPA2.
For now I use the standard recommendations; no broadcast of SSID, MAC filtering, a small DHCP scope for the LAN, a VERY long passcode and I don't run it 24/7.
UPDATE:
With firmware ver 1.10, this device now supports WPA2+PSK. Excellent!!
Not so excellent is that after the firmware update, the device reboots and defaults to NO SECURITY AT ALL without any warning to this effect. So be quick about setting security to WPA2. :)