D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless

Reviews: Networking

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
D-Link
Oct. 17, 2004

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Conclusion

Wireless is here to stay. The current trends are pushing speeds faster and faster, and with more companies coming out with products the prices are also becoming affordable. The technology behind 802.11b started the wireless revolution, but 802.11g has further propelled its use. Even at 54Mbps, the 802.11g standard far surpasses that of its older counterpart. With the increase in added features, such as what D-link has added, you are now approaching hardwired speeds. It may have taken awhile, but I think it is evident the technology is coming along nicely.

As with all technology, there are bumps in the road. Although the DI-624 is a very feature-rich router, I was horribly disappointed in its initial setup wizard. It appears that the newer WPA security protocols have not been fully integrated with the installation wizard. This is of course something that can easily be fixed in a firmware upgrade. Unfortunately, unless the average home user decides to delve deeper into the wireless settings, they will miss one of the great features of this router.

Finally, you always have to look at cost. The D-Link DI-624 wireless router retails for about $85, the DWL-G520 PCI card for $59, and the DWL-G650 for $59. I would consider these reasonable, although as you shop around you can probably find them cheaper. The Extreme product line really isn't even that much more expensive than the standard wireless G product line. The only issue might be using this product with older 802.11b cards, but if your intention is to replace those with extreme g cards, then this could be the product you are looking for.

As with any review, it is my job to sift through the marketing hype and let you, the consumer, know what I think. The advertising at 108 Mbps is just that, advertising. What the 108Mbps actually refers to is the total bandwidth available for all computers on the network. The advertising may be misleading, but you can't expect to actually reach speeds of 108Mbps with any wireless setup currently on the market. With that said, I would definitely recommend an enhanced wireless G setup over a strictly "G only" setup. D-Link has shown me that you can in fact obtain good transfer speeds minus the wired mess. If you are running older hardware though and windows XP is just a pipedream, then wireless, no matter which manufacturer you choose, might not be recommended. If you are running WinXP, and are looking to purchase your first setup, or entirely upgrade your old setup, then the cost of the D-link is well worth it.

Pros

Router reboots extremely fast
Supports WPA (upgradeable to 802.11i WPA2)
Plenty of options for the power user
Good throughput for wireless
Plenty of mounting options

Cons

Don't use with 802.11b
Still in the 2.4 GHz spectrum and causes interference
Does not play well with Windows 2000
Can only get high speeds with other D-link Products
Poor setup wizard

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Network Setup
Page 4: Network Setup Cont'd...
Page 5: Adapter Setup
Page 6: Testing
Page 7: Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by Rich on October 27, 2004 - 8:19 am

I probably didn't go into too much detail about the fact that this router has a cable test feature. Although nice, it kind of got overshadowed by some of the the other items such as the wireless. I just got a chance to fully utilize this nice little addition. We had internet failure with our existing router and I figured the thing had just died, so I hooked up the dlink to test it out. Sure enough it told me the WAN cable was disconnected. Further information then told me that the Tx pair was OK but the Rx pair had a break at 28 meters. Tracking down the line found a major rip in the cable that was caused by a careless ladder, and sure enough half the wires were intact, the other half weren't so lucky. I would definitely rank that feature up their with the "don't know how good it is until you need it" catagory. Now if they could just get that setup wizard fixed,..... :wink:

2 - Posted by scott on November 11, 2004 - 12:28 pm

I have used the g520 card on XP and 98 machines with no problems connecting to a 624. However, trying to use the cards on win2k at a users has proved out to be misserable. There tech support has only suggested reloading the operating system, 3 times and no help. All in All I would say that it is not usable with win2k and that there tech support is not helpful having clocked up more than 12hrs talking to them.

3 - Posted by Guest on February 12, 2005 - 11:19 pm

I have now spent 5 days trying to get a DI-624 and DWL-G650 functioning on an XP laptop. I also bought a D-Link print server. Level 3 D-Link tech support can't solve the problems. What a mess.

4 - Posted by Rich on August 9, 2005 - 11:36 pm

I would like to post a quick update to this initial review. D-Link has new Firmware for this router which now enhances the virtual cable test feature and adds the WPA2 standard to the security setup. The setup wizard still blows (hint hint). They also removed the speedboost with static turbo to better conform to the WiFi Alliance specifications. All-in-all, I would still recommend this router. It is currently holding its own as my primary gateway. That is saying something since I have fried some gateways too.

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