Customer Reviews

D-Link DWL-2000AP AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless Access Point

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My experience with the DWL-2000AP has been very disappointing, not necessarily because it's a bad product, but because of the way it's being marketed and supported.

I have two separate networks in my house - one on each end. Network A consists of the D-Link DI-624 Wireless Router which is wired to a DSL modem and a computer. The other network, Network B, consists of two computers and a network print server wired together via a 10/100 switch.

I bought the DWL-2000AP based on the fact that one of its operating modes is that of a wireless client. (Wireless client mode allows a wired computer [or more via a switch] to communicate with another access point wirelessly ... at least that is my understanding.) The wireless client mode should allow me to connect Network B to Network A so that computers on Network B have access to the Internet. Furthermore, D-Link's product description web page clearly indicates that the DWL-2000AP works with the DI-624 wireless router.

After enabling the wireless client mode and configuring it to communicate with my DI-624 router, the two devices connected and I had full Internet access for all of my computers. This worked flawlessly...until activity between the DI-624 and the DWL-2000AP ceased for more than five minutes. Thinking that I had configured something incorrectly, I checked my settings, and restarted the DWL-2000AP via its built-in web pages. Viola... it worked! Again, I browsed the Internet, and paused to read. And again, with no activity between the DWL-2000AP and the DI-624, the connection dropped.

I investigated this issue for the better part of a Sunday afternoon, testing various configurations, but to no avail. I then emailed D-Link technical support and got a response within two hours indicating that I should call the support hotline due to the complexity of my issue.

I called. After 25 min on hold (the call is toll-free), a support specialist answered, logged my issue, and walked me through a series of checks, but was unable to correct the problem.

Lastly, the support specialist indicated that the wireless client mode was only supported from one DWL-2000AP to another. This, however, did not make any sense to me since the DWL-2000AP supports point-to-point, and point-to-multi-point bridging with another DWL-2000AP. Why add a proprietary wireless client mode if you already have a proprietary wireless bridging mode? Realizing that the issue was beyond his remedy, I thanked him for his help and hung up.

Obviously, based on how the device behaved for me, the DWL-2000AP was quite capable of communicating with the DI-624 router without issue. I temporarily resolved my disconnecting issue with a home-brewed Windows app that sent out a ping to the router every 4 minutes. This kept the connection alive so that communication was maintained. Since I was able to resolve the disconnecting problem, I believed that D-Link had a firmware bug and that the issue would probably be corrected in a future firmware update. (I guess I'm too optimistic.)

A few days later, I was checking D-Link's support site for updates, and noticed that a firmware update for the DWL-2000AP had been posted. When I updated the firmware, the WAP and the router ceased communicating with each other altogether. Again I phoned D-Link tech support.

I explained to the support specialist what my issue was, how I was able to temporarily resolve it, and asked when would D-Link have a correction. The support specialist vehemently indicated that the DWL-2000AP would only function with another DWL-2000AP in wireless client mode, and that there were no plans for supporting any other device with the DWL-2000AP in that mode.

At that point I realized that my complaint was moot, and that, although D-Link was sitting on a gold mine if they supported what I asked, they did not care.

After I hung up the phone, I promptly RMA'd the wireless D-Link products I bought and returned them.

I researched my issue further and found that Netgear easily supported my networking needs.

It's sad to know that a networking company has the hardware capable of supporting your needs, but is not interested in doing so. I'll think twice before buying D-Link wireless products again no matter how nice the price might be.

This AP has some good quality features. Filtering, WEP, soon WPA, and more. I have this plugged into my 4 port router and now I can access the Internet with my laptop and DWL-G650 (wireless adapter for laptop). These two products give me great range (throughout the house, and even outside), good security, and a reliable wireless connection. This is all I need for a small price.

I had two of these to extend my network across the house without running wires. They are set in bridge mode, and connect and work perfectly with each other. Everything about these were simple and worked when I first tried it.

I recently bought a DI-624 Wireless Router and ended up selling my DWL-2000APs and buying a DWL-G810 to connect to my switch in the back room. The G810 was made for that reason, to bridge a wireless network to a wired one. The DWL-2000AP was made for bridging, or as a stand alone AP. it also has the functionality to be a client, but only with other 2000APs. Makes sense.

If you want to connect a switch with multiple wired devices on it, to a wireless network get a DWL-G810 from D-Link.

As had been plainly mentioned before in an earlier review (which I misinterpreted when buying it), there is a caveat to this product, as confirmed by this unedited quote from D-Link's own Tech Support website:

"Note: The only Access Point the DWL-2000AP can be a Wireless Client to is another DWL-2000AP. "

This means that it CANNOT be configured as a Wireless Client with your existing Wireless Router, even if your router is D-Link's own! It can only be used in this mode if, for example, you have directly connected a DWL-2000AP into your existing router to serve as your network's Wireless Access Point.

Then, and ONLY then, you can buy a 2nd DWL-2000AP and use it as a Wireless Client. This fact is not advertised in the device's technical data page here, nor was it even specified on the box it came in (thus my 2-star rating, mostly for false advertising). So beware this glaring shortcoming.

If you're looking for a simple, flexible, single wireless-G client to jack your Ethernet card-equipped device into, try a Linksys WGA54G. It is advertised as a game console adapter, but it actually works great as a basic wireless client for ANY Ethernet device, not just game consoles. I have one working quite well in this role elsewhere in my home using WEP, and will now be buying more of them.

I bought this AP to be a wireless client for my PS2. Read the fine print, it will only act as a wireless client if you have another dwl-2000ap on your network. I tried and failed to get it to work with a di-624 wireless router. It doesnt make sense to me why they would even advertise this feature if it wont even work with their own products. DLink stated they were working on a firmware upgrade to make it compatible but no word on that yet. I'm going to look at the Linksys wet54g next, hopefully I will have better luck.

I purchased a d-link DWL2000AP right after christmas. I had problems connecting to Comcast but was able to resolve them.
I ended up being impressed with the customer support, it required patience (and a phone with a fully charged battery) but I got
a solution in the end and D-link really seems to care that your problem gets fixed.

I would suggest that most users should purchase a router instead
of an access point like the 2000 - it allows you to run a mixed cable/wireless system without worrying about compatibility between an existing router or hub and the dlink.

Here's my experience

I run a cable modem -> primitive hub -> dlink. I was able to connect and set up the dlink and see a strong wireless signal but was unable to get a dhcp address from my ISP (Comcast). My wired computers had no problems doing this negotiation and my old linksys access point didn't either.

I called tech support - it takes > 20 minutes to reach someone. The first rank tech support people were pretty stumped.
The second rank people take another 20 minutes to reach but were quite helpful. They suggested taking the hub out of the system,
this worked and I was able to connect and get a dhcp address. However my wired computers were then cut off as I had removed the hub and had bought the DWL-2000 access point - which only has one output port - rather than the router. I do not believe that this is a failure in the d-link, just a consequence of it having a fixed IP address which Comcast doesn't like.

Interestingly - once I had gotten a dhcp address from my ISP, I was able to reconnect the hub and still use the wireless. My bet is that the hub only interferes with the initial assignment of the dhcp address. So after about 2 hours with tech support, I have a system that works just fine.

Overall, except for this incompatibility between the dlink/hub and comcast for my somewhat unusual situation, I like the dlink a lot. It was easy to configure and had very powerful diagnostics.

I ended up being very impressed with the support. The phone waits were pretty long (it was right after the holidays) and the level 1 technicians knew less about the product than I did by the end of the transaction but the level2 technicians were very good.
I received followup emails - they were not going to close out the service request until I was satisfied. That really impressed me. It's what I've come to expect from my company's excellent internal help desk but I've never seen it from a computer vendor let alone one that sold me something for less than $100 bucks.

Quite disappointed with this product:

- Sometimes doesn't work, and restarting it through the configuration page doesn't help. Needs to be restarted by powering it off and back on.

- Terribly buggy javascript in the web configuration pages. The AP cannot be configured with a standards compliant browser like Mozilla, and requires the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer (and even MSIE complains about lots of javascript errors). That also means you need to have a Windows computer to be able to configure the AP.

- When filtering Mac addresses, doesn't give you the Mac address of a new computer in the drop-down list, so you could easily add it to the allowed clients. You have to disable filtering, restart the AP, connect to it from the new client, add the MAC address from the drop-down list, and finally re-enable MAC filtering. The alternative to this ridiculously convoluted procedure is to add the new MAC address by hand.

- SNMP doesn't seem to work. It can be configured with IP addresses for SNMP traps, but seems to never send anything there.

I tested access with a lot of different wireless PC Cards, PCMCIA, etc, from D-Link, Intel, Dell, LinkSys. including D-Link DWL-G650. The maximum effective throughput I was able to achieve was 1 Mbps. I am using the latest firmware from D-Link (the one they say corrects all the problems). It does not depend on configuration (I tested all possible combinations). It is compatible with any hardware, but with a very poor performance of 1Mbps. So little for a product that promises so much.

I plugged this into my router and installed the D-Link DWL-G650 and I was connected to the AP upon start up. Very easy. Then from there I configured the AP to my specifications (128-bit WEP encryption, non-default SSID, and a new admin login) then I was set and secure. I get good speeds, no lag for gaming, and good range. let's just say I can be in the bathroom and online now. :)

Right out of the box, plug it in and it's dead. SECOND TIME with Dlink products.

So after 4 days and as many emails for support went un answered I decided to call. ARGH!

After 45 minutes on hold with RMA dept I was told I need to talk to tech support first, (I don't know about you but I'm not sure why I need tech support to tell me how to plug something in) another transfer, another 45 minutes to be told it needs to go back to the shipper, in this case J&R Music World. And not one person that I spoke to was even remotely friendly. They all had the attitude that I was bothering them or something. I also have had problems with the DWL-AB520 PCI card adapter. I have 3 of them on three different machines but one is quirky. To which Dlinks response is it must be the machine and there's nothing more they can do. It's not, it's the card. I work in IT and I'm positive that it's a defective card. But I'm stuck with it.

Even when their products work the transfer speeds come no where close to their claims, cut the speeds by 1/4 and you have more realistic speeds. I have setup multiple tests in the best environments possible.

Bottom line, I'm moving on to Linksys or Netgear. I have tried to stay with Dlink only because if you build a network with the same companies products you should have less troubles....right? Wrong.

Be very, very cautious and think twice before buying Dlink products.