D-Link DKT-110 Wireless G Starter Kit - wireless router

...by the ''Tech-Guys'' that the D-Link DKT-110 was the router for me. So I parted with my £49.99 and took it home.

The D-link is a basic wireless networking device. It's intended for small home use. Exactly what I was looking for. The actual router looks very nice. It's black and has a stylish silver strip running down the front of it. Inside the strip are 8 little LED lights. The lights flicker on and off indicating if the power is ...
...in) and a reset button. D-Link give you a nice little stand to to keep it in an upright position, a Blue Ethernet cable and a USB2.0 adapter. As my laptop is already wireless ready, I don't need to use the USB adapter

I made a point of telling the ''Tech Guys'' I have no experience what so ever in installing wireless networks. They assured me that the D-Link installation disc would have me up and running within 5 minutes. How wrong ... more

I had recently purchased a new laptop. As I have a p.c downstairs with the internet access, it was suggested to me to buy a wireless router and set up a wireless home network. This would give the laptop internet access too. I liked the idea of this, so off I went in search of a router. At my local PC World I was promised by the ''Tech-Guys'' that the D-Link DKT-110 was the router for me. So I parted with my £49.99 and took it home.

The D-link is a basic wireless networking device. It's intended for small home use. Exactly what I was looking for. The actual router looks very nice. It's black and has a stylish silver strip running down the front of it. Inside the strip are 8 little LED lights. The lights flicker on and off indicating if the power is on, if you're connected and which LAN port your connected to. At the back of the router there are 4 LAN ports, an Ethernet port, power in (where you plug it in) and a reset button. D-Link give you a nice little stand to to keep it in an upright position, a Blue Ethernet cable and a USB2.0 adapter. As my laptop is already wireless ready, I don't need to use the USB adapter

I made a point of telling the ''Tech Guys'' I have no experience what so ever in installing wireless networks. They assured me that the D-Link installation disc would have me up and running within 5 minutes. How wrong could they be? The installation menu looks nice and simple. You click on what you want to do ''install'' and you begin. It tells you to unplug wires from your cable modem and feed them in to the router. Then you take the blue Ethernet cable and feed that in to your computers Ethernet port. I'm not sure if that's the correct order. I'm just trying to give you the gist of things. To accompany their instructions they provide you with some very confusing diagrams. Anybody completely new to the world of p.cs might be a little puzzled by them. Anyway, confident that everything is plugged in where it should be I click on continue.

The next step you basically enter your name of the wireless network, you then get a few questions about your internet connection. I use a cable modem. There's a big sign saying something along the lines off ''Cable modem users click here'' so that's what I do. A little loading bar appears then stops. A message pops up telling me my internet connection isn't working. I try again, same story. I must have done something wrong. So, I unplug everything and hook up my modem the original way. My internet connection is working fine so I run the set up again. Same problem.

After about 5 attempts I give up and ring customer service. They tell me to reset the modem by holding down the tiny button for 15 seconds, then guide me through the steps I've already done 5 times. I still get the same problem. The person I was speaking to obviously didn't care and told me to contact my ISP.

My ISP assure me everything is fine. I'm now completely baffled so I begin to search Networking forums looking for advice. I eventually discover that you need to unplug both modem and router from the mains ''after'' you've connected the Ethernet cables. You then plug the modem in, wait 15 seconds and then turn on the router. This enables the router to connect to your modem. I do this and run the installation disc. My set up was now complete. My laptop could pick up the wireless network but it still wasn't able to connect to the internet.

Luckily for me I have a friend who is a wizard with computers. After 2 days of playing around with this thing I give him a call. He resets everything and starts again. He uses manual configuration to get things going. But why? I was assured the installation disc would do everything for me. I was assured not only by PC World but by D-Link themselves. Anyway, By entering 192.168.0.1 in to Internet explorer on my p.c he activates the manual configuration menu. Inside the menu are lots and lots of very confusing options. MAC address? SSID? Filters? How on earth is someone like me going to know how to configure all of these. After 30 minutes my friend is finished and I now have internet on my laptop.

I'm sure many people are like me and know nothing about wireless. If I had to have called out a computer expert to help me install the D-Link it would have cost me £35 upwards. It's pathetic. If you're going to be buying one of these save yourself £3 and ask the store to take out the installation disc. It's an absolute waste of time. D-Link customer support! Waste of time too.

The network now after a month is still giving me trouble. I get slow speed sometimes. I have a network password on, my neighbors or some random guy outside aren't able to connect to my network and eat my bandwidth. Every now and then my laptop can't pick up the network. I try playing around with the settings but nothing works. I have to start again with the set up. Luckily my friend wrote me out his own installation guide. Maybe D-Link should employ him to write their manuals.

I'm now looking for a new router and suggestions? As for the D-Link router, bonfire night is coming along soon. It should burn well on my nice big fire. :) 

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