by Josh Walrath

The Products

            The DI-614+ is the base station/router/access point for this particular wireless network.  This is a four port switch with integrated firewall/router functionality for broadband.  It also features DHCP serving, so connecting other computers to the network is a snap (the average user will not have to deal with assigning IP’s and doing basic home networking).  The firewall portion is very robust, and if you have knowledge on how to set up a firewall, it is easy to do things like set up DMZ’s, port forwarding, port blocking, ping blocking, etc.  The integrated 4 port switch is also of standard D-Link quality, and it is as fast as any 10/100 switch out there.

D-Link's design is quite pleasing to the eye, and in certain situations their products can be stackable.

            The access point portion of it is also quite configurable.  It can handle WEP encryption from 64 bit, 128 bit, and 256 bit.  No encryption is also an option, but I would highly recommend using at least the lowest level of encryption.  64 bit encryption is more than adequate for home use, while those using these wireless products for businesses should probably use 128 bit (or even 256 bit).  If the user wanted to be totally secure, then turning off the wireless and just using a wired network is the ultimate in security.  Unless of course the hackers break down the user’s door and plug into their network.

The back of the unit is a no-nonsense affair with the 4 port switch, the WAN port, the hard reset button, and the power connection.

            The 614+ can handle fairly large networks, and can address up to 254 clients.  This product is tailored for smaller networks though (between 2 and 50 computers), as it does not have the performance to handle the routing of so many computers.

The DI-614+ stacks very nicely with the DGS-1008D (8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch- to be reviewed soon!), but unfortunately some of the newer wireless access points are now smaller and don't stack quite as nicely.

            The DWL-650+ is a PCMCIA card that is of standard size.  The external antenna is contained in a large bubble at the end of the card.  This is not the most expensive card out there, but it does its job.  It comes bundled with drivers and a wireless application that can handle the configuration of the card under Win 98/ Win 2000/WinXP.  Only Windows XP has built in wireless configuration support.

Nothing terribly exciting about this PC Card's looks.  Functional and unobtrusive.

            The range of this card is not terribly impressive, and that is a fairly big downside.  The laptop used for testing has a built-in Broadcom wireless chip, and even 20 meters away with several intervening walls, it still showed a “Very Good” signal.  The DWL-650+ at the same position only had a “Poor” signal.  The effects of this will be shown in the benchmark section of the article.  The main advantage of this card is that it does provide the native 22 Mbps support that promises to speed up your wireless network.

The DWL-800AP+ is very small and inconspicuous.  Perfect for hiding it wherever the user needs a repeater.

            And finally the DWL-900AP+ is the final key to the networking setup.  This product not only serves as an access point, but it also acts as a repeater for the network.  As long as the AirPlus series of products are in use, it will provide 22 Mbps performance, even when being used as a repeater.  This little product solves many of the range problems that the wireless card had when taken more than 10 meters away from the base unit.

Since it acts only as an Access Point, it only has one network connection.

            If the user has two of the 900AP+’s, then they could set up their own bridged network.  These AP’s are very flexible, and even though they do not offer the firewall functionality of the 614+, they are very solid and powerful little parts.

Next: The Speed Tests