Review on 📶 D-Link DWL-1000AP 11Mb Wireless LAN Access Point 802.11b: High-Performance Connectivity for Seamless Wireless Networking by Bobby Diaz

I would give 2.5 stars if I had the chance. The good news first: it was definitely easy to install (along with the DWL-650 PCMCIA card) on my existing network. I downloaded the latest drivers for the DWL-650 first - there weren't any for the DWL-1000AP. I looked at the manual for the DWL-1000AP and it said I need to set up the laptop first. So, following the instructions in the DWL-650 manual, I installed the newly downloaded drivers first. Then I plugged the PCMCIA card into my laptop (HP Omnibook 4150 running Windows 2000). Win2K recognized it correctly and installed all software drivers automatically. I rebooted my laptop and while it was booting up, I popped the DWL-1000AP into an empty slot on my network hub, plugged in the power supply and watched the LEDs do their thing, indicating it was up and running. When the laptop rebooted I found the DWL-1000AP and saw my pre-existing network shares! Total time was about 1.5 hours including a 2.86 MB download. Pretty easy, very quick to get started. I started out impressed. But now for the bad news. I wanted to test how well this works. I placed the access point on a tall bookshelf near the entrance to my home office, which is on the ground floor. I ran the setup utility to check signal strength and connection quality. I'm not sure what everyone measures, but it's a measure of how things work. In my office, a total of 8 feet apart, in a stationary position, measurements ranged from excellent to fair (100% to 46%). Jumping all over the place for no reason I could explain. But as far as I could tell, it worked fine at 11Mbps (or whatever it says). I walked 20 feet to my chair in the living room. This represents 1 internal drywall. Signal strength dropped from moderate to poor (40% - 6%) to the occasional "no connection". But it still worked fine. I went upstairs to my bedroom, which is above the office, and imagined the floor and possibly the wall between the laptop and the hotspot. Probably only about 25-30 feet, worked about the same as a family room. Then I went downstairs, just under the seat in the family room where they were working, and couldn't get anything at all. This included about 6 feet of space from the top of the bookcase, the wall, or 2 and the floor. I found a few "bad" spots just below the hotspot, but they seemed very sluggish. In summary, far from the claimed 35-100 METERS (roughly 100-300 feet)! Walls and floors get in the way. I called tech support to see if there was anything I could do. After waiting over 45 minutes (a toll call!) I was told that walls and floors (as well as microwave ovens, 2.4Ghz phones and remote control signal transmitters) reduced the distance significantly. To get to 35 meters you needed a line of sight. I believe this is misleading if not outright false advertising. In short, if you're going to use this in a room, it's fine. If you're using this to prevent network cables from running through walls and floors, it might work. Possibly if you can route your hotspot to get better line of sight. PS According to their tech support, other 802.11b PCMCIA cards may work over longer distances. Even if you live in a "thin-walled" apartment, you really should install the DWL-1000AP software and change the default SSID, encryption keys, etc. so that in case your neighbor can set up a wireless network too, your network does not see this. Feel free to email me (bqhome@mail.com) if you have any questions about my experience. I ended up sticking with this as MY goal was to be able to work in a common room while still being close to my wife. I was just hoping it would give me more distance and actually allow me to work outside in a sun lounger when it gets warmer. It's too cold in here to try now.