DWL-7100AP

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The DWL-7100AP was our first foray in to 802.11A links. It was our DWL7100AP experience that lead us to try the Senao A/G access point, only to find out that the D-Link is the better of the two.

This article will show that we had quite a lot of difficulty with the DWL-7100AP, but it is a positive article of sorts, as the DWL-7100AP out performs the Senao equivalent by a long way.

The biggest problem that we had with the DWL-7100AP was it's absolutely PATHETIC firmware. Out of the box, the DWL-7100AP is incapable of meeting it's specification, as bridge mode just doesn't work. There is no firmware upgrade for DWL-7100's sold in Australia to fix this, however for DWL-7100's sold in the USA there is a firmware upgrade that enables a whole swag of extra features including client mode, site survey, and WDS mode. The US software can not be loaded on units that are sold in Australia. CLICK HERE to go to the D-link page with the updated software that just won't work on Australian DWL-7100's

We tried for tens of man hours to get our DWL-7100AP's to work in PTP or PTMP bridge mode, without success. In the end, we were only able to get them to work using configuration files that D-link technical support supplied to us. The Australian version of the firmware will NOT work in bridge mode. In the how to section we have included these files so that other people trying to set up DWL-7100's in bridge mode can do so. CLICK HERE for the how to.

Once we got the DWL-7100AP's set up in PTMP bridge mode, using the D-link configuration files, we then tested the link. Over a couple of months we monitored it closely and it didn't drop out even once, making it a stable and ideal solution for backhaul links. The one problem is that we were unable to get it to work at 108 MBPS once again due to the inadequacy of the firmware.

We have written to D-link requesting support on all of these issues, as well as information on whether they intend updating the firmware for for their Australian customers, and await their reply. The solutions will be posted in the news and how-to sections.

The radio performance of the DWL-7100 AP seems quite good I am pleased to say. At both A and G the transmitter seems strong. The biggest downsides to the DWL-7100 for community wireless network use, aside from the firmware debacle mentioned above, and the complete lack of documentation on D-link's website of their products, is that the antennas don't have connectors on them, and the regulated 5 V power supply isn't very POE friendly.

A definite positive for the DWL-7100AP is that the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (G & A) radios are treated by the unit as completely separate functions. This means that you can control the two independently of each other, which is a real plus.

Another plus is that D-link helped us out with our problems. Whilst their help desk was totally useless, we were able to obtain the telephone of one of their sales rep's through our industry contacts. Once we spoke to the sales rep, he helped us to get the technical assistance that solved our problem. This is pretty good, as the same level of support simply doesn't exist for Senao, - they don't even return emails.