D-Link for Wireless Networks

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This page will compare the strengths and weaknesses of the access points that we have used on the network, and is intended as a reference gueide for community wireless network friendly access points.

It will be easy to sumarise our thoughts on purchasing D-link equipment for wireless network use. DON'T.

D-link equipment just doesn't cut it for use with wireless community networks. We have tried to use it and failed for so many reasons, not the least being D-link's failing in our two key areas of analysis - radio performance, and firmware.

In radio performance D-link equipment is not well suited to operations that are not very cloce to their access points. Their transmit power is low, their receivers insensitive, and they have no external antenna connectors, requiring some soldering skills to fit fly leads.

As far as software goes, D-link excel in underdeveloping and poor documentation. Of their units that we tried, we found that they simply did not meet the manufacturers specification because the Graphical User Interface (GUI) - that is the web page that you make the settings from, did not allow full access to the functionality of the unit to access it's finer functions like bridge mode in the case of the DWL-7100 AP which is the deluxe model in their range.

Whilst working to solve the problems we had with D-link, we did what we could to use their documentation to solve our problems. We found that they don't tell you anything about how to use their equipment in their documentation. To illustrate this I would like to draw the example of "Radio Wave". Radio wave is a selectable option in the radio setup of all D-link access points. The D-link web page, and the manual that is supplied with D-link equipment say the following of radio wave "Radio Wave: Select ON or OFF. How fucking helpful. This typifies the rest of D-link's documentation. The D-link web page also does not update firmware for it's Australian customers - the DWL-7100AP is up to firmware revision 2.0 in the USA, whilst Australia is at 1.0, and the bad news is that D-link's Australian customers are unable to use the American update in their equipment as it just won't install. We advised D-link Australia about this four months ago and nothing has been done.

If you hate calling call centres that you know aren't capable of answering your query, then don't call D-link's call centre for help.

D-link are one of the most accessable name brand wireless products that consumers consider when buying wireless equipment. The reality of life with D-link wireless equipment is that if you are only after a very average product with mediocre performance, then you will be all right with a D-link, but if you want to cover a whole house with wireless, rather than just one room, you will need something else, and there are plenty of other products out there that bang for buck leave any D-link product behind.