Customer Reviews

D-Link AirPlus DWL-650+ Wireless 22 Mbps PC Card

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I've been running the D-Link AirPlus DI-614+ with a D-Link DWL-650+ wirless card for about 6 months.
The good:
Easy install (READ the instructions FIRST!)
Good connection quality and decent speed.
Worked great for sharing my cable modem for Internet access, file sharing across computers, printer sharing.
The utility that comes with the DWL-650+ card allows you to setup separate profiles for different wireless networks, a great convenience if you want to switch easily between home, work and Starbucks!

The bad:
The DWL 650+ PCMCIA failed after a few weeks.
Tech support was really bad, blamed everything but the card. After about a dozen e-mails & phone calls I finally got a tech to admit the card wasn't working since the indicator wouldn't even light up.
Replacement card required securing with my credit card and signing / faxing a 'cross shipment agreement' so they could ship immediately while my old card was being returned. Well they got my old card in a couple days but didn't ship the replacement for several weeks!
After finally getting the defective card resolved (2 months!!) everything worked again fun until ..
It wouldn't support my company's VPN connection through the wireless. (Wired connection does work though!) They're documentation says it supports PPTP VPN Pass through but after several more calls to their tech support, a bunch of configuration changes, the last tech finally said I 'had to understand that VPN requires too many packets for a wireless connection'. So why do my coworker's Linksys systems work fine then?!

Bottom Line:
It's fine for setting up a home network and sharing a broadband internet connection. But be wary if you need to do anything more sophisticated, especially if you ususally need support. Me? I'm buying a Linksys and selling the DLink stuff!

I am going to say this again.
The 22Mbps does make a difference. I checked my throughput with NetIQ's Qcheck on my laptop (XP) with this DWL-650+ through a DI-614+ to my wired (10/100Mbps) PC (XP) and I get an average of 7.5 to 8Mbps. When I take that very same laptop to my work or a friends house that has just the standard 11Mbps Access Point and do the same setup (2 XP machines) I only get about 3.5 to 4Mbps max. The tests I've run show that XP seems to be a little better for speeds, I am not sure exactly why though.

This card, even though it can handle 22Mbps, can and does perform just fine in an 11Mbps 802.11b environment. D-Link just has a chipset that can modulate 802.11b signals more efficiently and thus gets the higher speeds than everyone else.

The range on this card is good and I've seen different results in different environments, obviously. I've been places where I have to be literally like within 50 feet from the Access point to receive a signal at all. I've been other places where I can roam as far as about 250+ feet indoor, and even further outdoors. I am not sure of all the equipment that was used in these situations, but I can only tell you my experiences and what I know.

To make a long story short I recommend this card and especially if you have or will get other D-Link equipment. Heck, even if you think you will come in contact with another 22Mbps D-Link product out there in wireless land I'd get it because even if it only one time you will see how much faster your speeds will be.

I bought this so I can finally have true freedom from wires with my laptop. I work a lot on the Internet and being plugged into my local LAN with a bright blue Ethernet cable isn't what I call freedom. I bought a D-Link Router (easy install as well) and once this card was installed it was able to see the router with the default settings. I was very pleased not having to configure this card further just to get myself connected to the Internet.

I notice no big downfall in speed on the Internet as compared to my previously wired setup. The signal strength is good through out my home and even some places outside. I can actually sit out on my porch and do my work on the Internet.

I am very pleased with every wireless networking device I bought from D-Link (3 products) and I would definitely recommend them to others.

The speed and range of this 22 Mbps PC card is very good once you get it up and running. Surprisingly, the WEP encryption does not slow it down noticably. Unfortunately, it does not install cleanly in Windows XP home edition. It's no wonder this product is not XP certified by Microsoft. A good deal of the information in the exceptionally skimpy installation booklet was written for earlier Windows versions and many of the known quirks of the XP installation are simply ignored in the instructions. D-Link is well aware of these problems, but has chosen not to update the installation software, prefering instead to have the customer search their website to download patches for the XP install. There is also an incompatability issue with an older BIOS in Toshiba and some Dell laptops. A link to a patch for that is also available on the support site. There are a lot of FAQ's on the website that are helpful, but the customer should not have to work this hard to address XP issues in a product that advertises that it is XP compatable.

First off someone was saying that you couldn't just set the SSID of this card to "default" and connect to any AP without changing the SSID of the card. Well actually there is a way to do it. Just type in "any" in the SSID field and it will connect to any AP that doesn't have WEP running, unless you know the WEP key.

There are many reasons why I like this card better than others, but here are the main ones.

First off it works in the 22Mbps (PBCC encoding) at 4x speeds which enables actual throughput to operate at about 10-11Mbps average when connected to a D-Link AP with 4x enabled. Even with normal 11Mbps APs you get a slight bump in speed, around 1Mbps or so more.

Second it has great range.
You can roam with your laptop pretty far away without losing your signal. I have about a 1700 sq. ft. home and everywhere in my home is accessable and lots of space outside is accessable. I can stand in the street, even in my neighbors yard and get a solid 1Mbps link. Which is still good enough to browse the web at good speeds.

Third thing is that when coupled with a D-Link Air Plus AP you can have up to 256-bit WEP encryption which is more secure than 128-bit WEP. You can still downgrade to 128-bit WEP when needed, but the added security is a great thing.

Fourth is the configuration utility that has a "site survey" feature that allows you to "scan" the area you are in for any Access Points that are transmitting signals. Thus allowing you to pick the one you want to connect to and try to conenct to it. The site survey lets you see the SSID, if it has WEP enabled, and the signal strength of each AP in the area.

These are just some of my favorite things.
They are also the things that make my friends jealous that opted for the built in wireless in their newer laptops or bought other brands.

The only thing I wish this card had was an external antenna connector so I can get even more range. Although I heard that if you open the casing on some of these there is a tiny connector, but I don't want to void my warranty. :)

D-Link makes a really nice product. I just completed my fifth soho network install. Each client is very pleased with their network's performance. I've installed the PC Card and PCI card NICs and have been very satisfied with the results.

I used a Netgear wireless router and PC Card NIC for my first install. It was a disaster. I was surprised how poorly the products operated. The range was terrible, the software not up to par. I tried D-Link because I am unhappy with the Linksys products I currently use (In my own home network). Terrible support, flimsy products.

Try the D-Link products. I've installed them on Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP. All operating systems worked well after installs. Overall, a great product. REMEMBER to activate encryption and change important default settings, like the SSID. You would be surprised how many unprotected wireless networks are around, especially in a commercial area.

I bought this 650+ with a D Link AirPlus 614+, also supports 22 Mbps. When I tried to transmit some files under 22 Mbps mode, speed was almost same as 11 Mbps mode. I think the firmware and drivers are not optimized well enough. The DWL-650+ has cardbus interface and it's really 20% faster than other 802.11b products which has pcmcia interface as they insist. This router has good web based interface and good quality.

My husband and I weren't coexisting well on our shared desk - so I opted for the dining table. Problem? Hated the CAT5 cabling running all over the house. Solution? When paired with the AirPlus 614+ router and wireless access point, this AirPlus 650W card freed me from the wires, and gave virtually the same fast cable internet connection I had with wires. Easy to install and to configure. The bonus is I learned that my hotels also have wireless connections in the lobby and bar area, I can "work" in a relaxed environment on the road with this card too! (Needs Texas Instruments chip in the router to get this fast access - check the specs at the D-Link web site.)

This is a fantastic little card. I use it daily at home with a D-Link 614+ router and achieve the 22Mbps. It has fantastic range. There is no where in my 1600 square foot home that I can't get a signal, I can even surf the web in the front yard! The beauty of this card is the ease of setup, especially with a D-Link router. However, I have also used this card flawlessly and seamlessly with a Linksys router.

There are only two minor problems I can see. One is that it doesn't automatically jump to a default SSID. You have to manually connect to it. Therefore, if you're at home and connect to an SSID of "home" and then you bring it to work, you have to tell it to connect to the SSID "work", or else it will always try to find "home". If you could enter a default SSID of "default" and have it jump to any available open SSID, that would make this card flawless. However, it takes about 5 seconds to open the config utility and tell it to connect to the available network, so not a big deal. It's just annoying for those of us that have to deal with very technologically challenged users calling us all of the time asking why it doesn't work.

The second issue I have with this card is the rare occassion that you are in a situation where you have an office with several routers. It will hang on for dear life to a router that it's connected to, even if you're closer to another router. So, if you connect to a router, move downstairs and have a signal strength of 11%, even if you're standing right next to another router with 100% signal strength, it won't disconnect from the original router until it totally loses the connection. Of course, once again, you can manually tell it to switch to the other router. This is such a rare problem that you really only have in a office setting, so it doesn't affect my 5 star rating whatsoever.

I've used it at home with a workgroup, at work with a domain, and at the mall for free Internet browsing. All flawless. Windows XP Pro treats it like a champ. I highly recommend it to all of my clients and have purchased 4 of these myself! As a bonus, it's cheaper than many of the 11mbps cards! A+

All I had to do was install the drivers and then reboot with the card in the slot. I was very happy with the installation on my Dell laptop (XP with SP1). I think most hardware works best when you have SP1 installed on XP.

The speeds I am getting are in the 6-7Mbps range when coupled with my DI-614+ thanks to the TI chipset and the PBCC encoding. There are of course places where I get about 2-3 Mbps speeds, but that is what you deal with when you have wireless.

I haven't had to call into tech support and get help, but from what I hear they are good at night, but not during the day. Don't know why that is but it is.

I have also successfully connected to my friends wireless network at his house and he has a different brand Access Point. Basically all I had to do was change the SSID and WEP, it takes about 2 minutes to do.

Overall I am very happy with my purchase, err ... business decision.