Is this wireless networking kit the Sweet Spot?
Written: Oct 19 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice price point. Set up should have be 15 minutes.
Cons: No special instructions for connecting to satellite router (DirectWay)
The Bottom Line: If it included instructions for DW7000 I would have given the ease of use as excellent.
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| playhooky's Full Review: D-link DWL-926 Wireless Kit |
I'm no networking expert. In fact my gadget gonzo father-in-law had a wireless network running about two years before I considered one.
Of course I just got high speed internet access. Long story but here on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine we don't have a lot of options. You can get DSL if you are close enough to the substation in Bar Harbor, or cable if you happen to live on one of the main roads in town but if like me your are off the beaten path dial-up or DirectWay is about our only options.
So I bit the bullet paid the $500 to get DirectWay installed and it wasn't long before I was thinking about adding a network to add my older laptop to the Internet. I didn't want to burn buying costly cutting edge products so started to scan the weekly circulars for rebate bargins. Stuff the networking equipment manufacturers are trying to move out of inventory. At first it seemed like the only thing in this area was going to be regular old 802.11g which didn't seem bad but a lot of products touted Xtreme G or G Plus or whatever which seemed like a nice boost up from plain old vanilla G. But no deals were available for this step up at least until I stumbled on to TigerDirect and a nice $40 rebate on the D-Link Air Plus XtremeG Wireless Laptop Starter Kit.
Fishboy.com would have a wireless network in its future after all.
Well UPS arrived a few days later with the kit and I couldn't wait to get started installing. I was surprised by how small the wireless router was -- but then again what do I know. I followed the instructions, hooked up my DW7000 router to the WAN port and my kitchen desktop to the ethernet port 1 and put the wireless PC card into the laptop. The laptop connected to the setup screen on the router but the desktop did not. I then spent about 12 frustrating hours trying to get everything set up.
Now if you have a DSL or cable modem you might not have this problem. But I finally found out the key to success - with my DirectWay DW7000 router they don't recommend using a router at all to create a network!! Can you believe it? Well the work around worked. Here is the secret: You don't use the WAN port at all. Just plug the DW7000 router into a regular ethernet port and then make sure you "disable the built in DHCP server" within the D-Link router.
Luckily D-Link included this feature and everything worked. Wish some on had told me the secret before I spent so many frustrating hours setting this up.
Once it was working I haven't really haven't had any problems. Once in a while you might need to reset the router if it seems to fail to connect. Wireless distance is fine for a smaller house. Especially after moving the router out of the utility closet (with metal doors) and into a more central location i.e. the kitchen. If you have a McMansion you may want a router with more antenna.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 38.00
Driver Availability: Windows only
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Epinions.com ID:
playhooky
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Location: seal cove, me
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 3 members
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