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D-Link AirPlus Enhanced 2.4GHz Wireless Access Point Review

01:06 - Saturday 12 October 2002 by THG Reporting Team

1. Introduction
2. Basic Features
3. Setup & Administration

D-Link AirPlus Enhanced 2.4GHz Wireless Access Point

D-Link AirPlus Enhanced 2.4GHz Wireless Access Point
Summary	TI-based 802.11b access point with' 22Mbps' mode when used with other AirPlus products.Has bridging and wireless repeating features & can act as an Ethernet client adapter. No WEP enabled throughput penalty, best case speed only about 7Mbps.
Update	10/11/2002 Wireless Repeating function added in 2.20 firmware. See the related NTK.
Pros	• Web browser administration with lots of features • Multiple bridging modes • Good performance with no WEP enabled throughput degradation • Can use other antennas • 2.20 firmware addes wireless Repeating!
Cons	• You won't get 22Mbps

Got a problem? See our Troubleshooting section.

The D-Link AirPlus product line represents a major move by D-Link away from Intersil and toward Texas Instruments (TI) as a wireless chip technology supplier. It also represents a vote for TI's Packet Binary Convolutional Coding (PBCC) modulation method, and the enhanced performance it allegedly brings to 2.4GHz wireless networking.

Since D-Link's product packaging prominently displays claims of "Up to 20% faster" and "Up to 22Mbps with AirPlus Products", I had to see if they had found a way around my Rule of Wireless Networking #1. Although I wasn't surprised by the results of my performance testing, there's still plenty to like about what D-Link's done in their AirPlus family...