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and I think I know how to tweak a stubborn system and how to set up a network WIFI but this DWL-2100AP has humbled me.After many hours and my first two attempts to set up this D-Link DWL-2100AP as an "universal repeater" I reached out for salvation and called my first tech-geek (hey an actual house visit). Did I say said functional. I have worked with computers since 1986 (hey, does anyone remember the KayPro). NOT HERE This D-Link is extremely challenging to set up (I was going to write that it's is a "ball breaker",but the editors will immediately go on their red pen alert). I have no idea how the average users will set this up. Thus, Tom the tech and his Guru noted that they felt their time with D-Link was a success, BUT the patient died. So the guru tech arrived jumped right and with Tom the tech's pointers and my gems of insight the DWL-2100AP was functional in an hour and a half. He said, My friend will have a look and "he will have it up and running in minutes" YEA.
it was not working so that it solved my initial problem (coverage). Tom battled it out for over an hour before his head came up from staring at the screen, made eye contact and said to me "we got most of the problems fixed" Yea, right Capt Edward John Smith, that is like telling the folk on the Titanic that "we got most of the holes fixed". The average user is OK at plugging in a line, or dropping in a disk, they can even answer a few questions, that the idea, usually, in today's tech world then they get "voile" success. Right, the lights were on but no one was home. Tom the tech, as I will call him, had low socials skill and came in saying "just show me the problem and step back". But then, he blinked, pulled out his cell and called his buddy the "the guru of tech's". I still did not have the signal relayed to my new office room (Folks, I am talking about 100 feet away). End note: as they were leaving out the door both techs said "take it back".
Although my first 2100AP worked as advertised, it only worked for 12.5 months and died. D-Link did replace it without a hassle. However, the replacement has died after only 20 months of use. I find this woefully short lived for something with no moving parts that has always been in an environment in which other electronics (namely my pentium 3 computer have been functioning for almost 9 years.
I purchased this product to extend my present wireless network. In the end I used the unit in the "access point" mode. I found that (after numerous calls to dLink support) that it would not work in the "repeater" mode unless it received at least a 50 percent input power. It therefore was not what I needed to "extend" my network to my shop. That required installing cat-5 cable from my router to the DWL-2100AP. Works great in that configuration.
The DWL2100AP worked OK as an access point, but does not work as a repeater. I bought a Hawkings repeater, and had it working in 15 minutes. Other reviewers suggest that it works only with other D-Link products, because of proprietary protocols. All I know is I wasted a lot of time trying to get it to work as a repeater, and was unsuccessful. If you need an access point, you can find a cheaper one. If you need a repeater, buy something else.
Purchased 2 DWL-2100AP's to use as a bridge between 2 buildings with an unobstructed distance of about 750ft. Someone needs to come out with some equipment that is of better quality at a reasonable price. No problems with streaming video, etc.The instructions for the 2100AP are a little sketchy, and D-link seems to interchange some technical terms that mean the same thing (adds color and confusion to their writing).
Plugged in an old Linksys WAP54g to the far end of the bridge and created a greatly expanded network. It seems like there is no middle of the road wireless equipment. I was expecting the usual 2-day setup headache to integrate these into the network, but to my surprise the 2100AP worked perfectly once the initial configuration was completed.
However, I did not find the instructions any worse than the several Linksys or Netgear Wireless Routers that I have installed over the past couple of years.If we get a couple of years out of these, for the price, I'll be happy. Total setup time took less than 1 hour. I have not measured data transfer, but it seems very good.
Either it is really cheap of dubious quality or really expensive.
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