Customer Reviews

D-Link DWL-2100AP SNMP AES 802.11g 108Mbps Wireless Access Point

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Let me just say I use these where I work for our entire corporate network. They come with a 3 year warranty last I checked and are good quality for the most part. I see quite a few complains listed here but my thoughts are as follows:

I have purchased about 40 of these access points and have only had to RMA 5 of them because I use them in "client access mode." For some reason they seem to just quit functioning correctly after a while. Most of you will use "access point mode" so nothing to worry about. I have had most in access point mode and they've been running 2.5 years + non stop with no issues.

Also, go to D-Links website and download the latest firmware revision of 2.10 if the router doesn't already have it. You can configure the access point via a web browser or you can download D-Link's Airplus Extreme AP Manager off their site too. For ease of use stick with the web browser since it doesn't require the software although for simple configuration the AP Manager is preferred especially if your doing more than one.

Lastly, these access point used in client mode can (for those not familiar) be used as an "external" wireless card. What's the benefit to this? Instead of having a performance killing PCI card these are better and more stable in my professional opinion. We had issues with D-Link and Orinico PCI cards locking computers up. Some conflicts with certain Southbridge motherboard chipsets. Long story...

Also, I do use these in Point to Point and repeater modes and as long as your running the latest firmware revision you should have no problems. Hope this review helps at least one person.

I picked the DWL-2100AP because the documentation read that this unit supports 5 different operating modes. The mode I was interested in was the Point-to-Multipoint bridging mode. I've heard this type of configuration can be very tricky and I was a bit skeptical about getting it to work. Much to my surprise, the first test I ran went very well:

This type of setup requires multiple AP's - one to act as a base, and the others to pick up the signal from remote locations.
First, I setup 2 AP's and configured them each for the bridging mode (the base set to PtMP Bridge - the remote set to PtP Bridge)
Then I set the D-Link on my roof (with the aid of the DWL-P100 - Power over Ethernet Adaptor) and drove to a friend's house about a ¼ mile away. I pulled out a laptop running Netstumbler (www.netstumbler.com) to see if I could pick up the signal. If conditions were absolutely perfect, I picked up on occasional `blip' - not nearly enough to maintain a connection. Then I hooked up a second DWL-2100AP (preset to the same SSID) to bridge the connection. The initial results were awesome. As soon as the remote access point powered on, it bridged the connection to my base station. Netstumbler only picked up the remote AP (since I was right next to it) but I confirmed that the bridge was working by hitting Amazon.com. All this was done using the standard out-of-the-box antennas. I was truly impressed.
I was inspired to try this project by Jeff Duntemann's book, "Jeff Duntemnn's Wi-Fi Guide, Second Edition" (ISBN: 1932111883). Eventually, I will put the AP's in a weather-proof housing and add external antennas.

The only downside I can think of is the fact that D-Link does not have very good documentation - in the box or on the web. I've come to learn that many Wi-Fi vendors lack in this area, so D-Link is no worse than any others. The ease with which I set up the Bridge was astounding. D-Link does a great job of making their equipment easy to use!

This Wireless Access Point provides great additional coverage in my home. We already have a DI-624 to cover half the house, but I wanted something to cover our expansive back yard as well. So I run a Ethernet cable to the sliding glass door downstairs and have this wireless access point setup on the table next to the door. Now I can roam the backyard with my laptop and have an optimal connection to the Internet.

Setup was simple, basically follow the instructions and it works. Wireless Access points aren't hard to to setup anyway, but this was about as easy as it can get. My entire network is 108Mbps enabled.

Be careful. This AP in repeater mode does not support WPA only WEP. Dlink support can't get their stories straight. Before purchase, an email inquiry regarding WPA support in repeater mode was answered in the affirmative. Upon receiving and installing the unit in repeater mode, WPA options were greyed out. A subsequent email to Dlink met with a referal to phone support. A phone tech gave me a convoluted explaination why the repeater should work, but soon it became clear to himself that the explaination made little sense so he checked with another person. Finally, he simply said "It doesn't support WPA in repeater mode, return it to your point of purchase"

I couldn't be more pleased with this wireless access point. I set it all up in a matter of minutes, secured it with WEP in seconds and rebooted with zero problems. Connected with my DWL-G650 from D-Link and even my friends came over and tested it with thier built in wireless laptops and everything worked fine. Of course only when I told them the WEP passkey. :)

I set this up to be fairly static in the fact that it sits on my desk and doesn't need to move, but I have been known to take it to a friends house, plug it into his network and change a couple settings to allow everyone to use it. very portable in that aspect.

I have tried several different units (entry level) for bridging and these units were the only ones that allowed me to setup a bridge with WPA2. Lots of options for various types of setups and very stable. The stock ant. provided a good connection, but since these will only be bridging 2 networks, I also grabbed a set of DWL-M60AT Directional Indoor Antenna's to limit my broadcast area and boost my signal strength. I bought a few extra units to use as Access Points and they have good coverage & stability. They are a few bucks more more than some other units on the market, but you get what you pay for!

We purchased two of these AP's to use for a point to point bridge, using 24 db gain antennas over about a quarter mile hop. We mounted the AP's in weathertight 8"x8"x4" boxes along with dLink POE's, all outdoors on a mast just behind the antennas. This eliminated the need to extend the Antenna's wires inside. It also eliminated considerable loss we would have encountered in running longer antenna wires.

The units have worked flawlessly since install. Our daytime high temperatures were 100 degrees max, winter low temperatures have been -20 degrees. We are operating at the minimal power setting for the AP-2100 without suffering throughput, put there is no way of verifying this.

If I could have one more feature, it would be some sort of signal strength indicator, along with some way of testing for data throughput.

Nevertheless, I would recommend a similar installation to anyone needing to bridge two LAN's together. We have just purchased a third DWL-2100 as a backup because we've gotten quite hooked on the system and would now be distressed if it should go out (due to lightning, etc.) So the the third unit is a backup, still sealed in its origional box.

I read a review of this product, authored by someone who apparently didn't know some things about it. Which is fair, since the information D-Link typically makes available to end users is basically geared toward people who know little, or nothing about networking technology. I guess they don't want to confuse anybody with too much information?

Although, not yet available via the HTTP UI, a Site Survey can be displayed through a command via a telnet connection (i.e. C:\>telnet 192.168.0.50). Complete with RSSI (Signal strength), SSID and MAC addresses. The command is: 'find bbs'. Once you've connected via telnet, do a '?', for a complete list of commands.

There are a number of commands (again, via telnet) that can be very useful, which aren't available via the WEB interface.

I've used these as Repeaters, Point-to-Point bridges, Point-to-MultiPoint bridges, and AP's. They work just fine!

I have a d-link router (DI-624) that I use for my wireless network. I wanted to install this access point on the network, attach a switch, and provide network access for a home-theater pc and an Xbox 360.

modem <-> router ... accesspoint <-> switch <-> pc & xbox

The access point can operate in five different modes. After some trial and error, I finally figured out that it was the "AP Client" mode that I needed from the wireless setup options to gain access to my existing wireless network.

After plugging in the switch and attaching the PC and Xbox to the switch, it was soon obvious that only the PC had connectivity. After much hair pulling, I finally found a post on dslreports.com by one lizi555 that explained a fix. Apparently the latest firmware (beyond 2.10) does not allow for more than one device (MAC address) to connect to the network via the switch.

To fix, telnet to the 2100AP's IP address 192.168.0.50 and enter the following commands -> set matstate 1 then -> reboot

This should set a flag for a variable to the following "MultiEthClient (Yes)!" You can check by establishing another telnet session and entering -> get matstate which will list several variables/values including the one above.

It took some doing, but now everything is flowing sweetly. I hope this helps anyone else that runs in to this problem.

I switched to this unit from the LinkSys models. It's feature set is great. The configuration software is good, however drivers shipped on the CD did not include the proper drivers for WinXP to utilize "Super G" mode. Had to call for support and download a new set of drivers. Other than that, it is a great unit. Definitely recommend it.