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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed long-time user of D-Link wireless products, September 30, 2005
Usually you should discount reviews complaining about problems with a computer add-on: they say more about the reviewer and their systems, perhaps, then they do about the product you are trying to evaluate. I think, though, that some aspects of my experience might be generalizable, maybe even applicable to your situation.
I have been a satisfied user of D-Link wireless products for over three years now. I upgraded to the 802.11g products (WAP and PCI cards) a year ago to a run a network of up to five computers, usually three Win XP or Win 2000 workstations and two notebooks. As I look around my office, though, I see boxes full of failed or problematic routers, WAPs, and cards. It seems, although I have only just realized the extent of it, that these D-Link products all fail with remarkable regularity. In the past, I have just routinely replaced them: that's how much I have liked their ease of use and their performance.
Well, that's over with my latest purchase: the DWL-G520 adapter (my second). It taught me two disturbing things about D-Link wireless. First, the adapter can really screw up your system. This one's driver (regardless of the update version) consumes 90+ percent of a very high-powered CPU. (Windows XP Home, all the latest updates, etc.) It has brought an essential machine to its knees by hugely slowing down everything it does. Disabling the adapter (which solves the problem, at the price of disconnecting me from the world) brings on the fabled Blue Screen of Death. The second disturbing thing is that D-Link support simply has not responded to e-mail messages, period. Their Web site lies when it promises 36 hour response. I can cope--I have a strong background in computing and can devise temporary workarounds--but I shudder to think how uncomfortable this behavior would make most people feel.
Those are the proverbial three strikes: consistently short times to failure, occurrence of really bad driver behavior, and hopelessly bad support. My relationship with D-Link is over; I will have to try some other vendor's offering. If you don't mind the risk of having a similar experience, and think you can cope with absolutely no support, then by all means consider this product. I hope and trust, though, that you (and I) can do better with a different vendor.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Light-Years Better Than Linksys, March 31, 2004
By A Customer
This card is just super!I spent some frustrating hours with two -- count 'em, TWO -- Linksys Wireless-G PCI cards, trying to get them to talk to another Linksys product, a Linksys Wireless-G Router. No luck. The second one was a replacement for the first, and the insert that came with it said it had passed Linksys quality control. Maybe, but neither one played nice with my Win2000 machine. Finally, I gave up on the Linksys PCI card, and probably shouldn't have tried it at all, given the mediocre reviews it received here on Amazon. That's when I sat down and diligently read the reviews for D-Link and figured I had nothing to lose by trying one more PCI card (one that's received rave reviews, BTW). The D-Link card and driver installed without fuss in the Win2000 machine. It's two rooms away from the router and the wireless signal passes through a bathroom, with the attendant metal pipes and wires, etc., and still gets a 86-90% signal. It's set up to communicate with the router using a WPA-Pre-Shared-Key (WPA-PSK), the router does not broadcast an SSID, and the router only accepts wireless communications from this single wireless client. Browsing the Internet is as fast as, if not faster than, the original wired connection. Now I can get that ugly cat-5 cable off the door-jambs and baseboards. I'm sold. Don't fool around with the Linksys PCI card. If it works, count yourself lucky, but D-Link seems to have the wireless communication network stuff figured out. Strange, my Linksys Wireless-G Router (WRT54G) is running flawlessly, handling the traffic for both a wired and a wireless connection. But don't waste time on a Linksys PCI card. Get a D-Link card.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wireless isn't easy, no matter whose card you buy, November 22, 2004
OK. This card would get a 5 star rating, but for the fact that no card/wireless system deserves it. First, every company designs their own products only to work with their own company's proprietary devices -- This, in spite of their all using the same IEEE 802.11 configuration standards. VERY annoying. But, OK, every company wants you to buy EVERYTHING just in their brand. Secondly, to set up a wireless network takes more than just plug and play skill -- There are basics that the consumer just has to know when setting up, and then INEVITABLY troubleshooting when the network goes down. (All networks go down from time to time, no matter who supplies the hardware). So, then, what about D-Link? The signal is strong, travels well through insulated, and sound-proofed walls, communicates very well with the 624 router and affords extremely fast data transfer rates. I am VERY happy with D-Link; it has lived up to its other consumer reviews, as found in PC Magazine, and other sources. Just read carefully BEFORE installing, just as you will have to do before installing ANY wireless network system.
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