Been away and now I'm back, and I'll be rating with enthusiasm!
Been away and now I'm back, and I'll be rating with enthusiasm!
Member since:22.01.2008
Reviews:87
Members who trust:16
I bought one of these when I got fed up with the Belkin wireless we had in my husband's laptop. We gave up trying to use it wirelessly, plugged hi laptop into the modem and moved the PC, using it with this external wireless adapter The Belkin was half the price (laptop wireless adapter) but only had an excellent signal in the same room as the router. Grr. It didn't pick up any signal at all downstairs (the wireless router was upstairs in the spare bedroom).
So I shelled out almost £50 for this, in the hope it would improve things, and we moved things around. Fortunately it did.
D-link are a reliable manufacturer of wireless products and I've bought several things from them. Our router was D-link, which might affect the quality of the improvement - perhaps it helps to have both router and adapter from the same company. It worked in the USB port of the PC, was reasonably quick to set up and install and it could be encrypted in both WEP and WPA. It guided through everything so I think quite an un-techy person could have done it.
It left a nice bit of software on the computer showing you which networks were there and which ones you'd connected to recently and it automatically connected after the first time; it shows you the signal strength. Like the one I already had installed on my laptop - isn't it a microsoft one?, but my desktop didn't have it.
We had a slightly larger than average house I suppose, and crucially had installed the cable modem in the far corner. Not so smart - but when we got this we could use the lap top in the same room as the router and move the desktop PC downstairs, though the signal did get weaker in the dining room, which was the room furthest away from the spare bedroom where the router was. THe thing comes with a cradle thingy so you can angel it to get a better reception, which is pretty useful, especially given it's for a PC desktop - you can hardly move the whole desk!
In terms of function, it honestly didn't seem to slow up the performance of the desktop noticeably. We use it with a 802.11g router.
For those who like stats, it has:
* Draft 802.11n wireless LAN specification, backward compatible with 802.11b/g devices * 2.4GHz frequency band * Fast USB 2.0 connection to notebook/desktop computer * Up to 300Mbps raw data transfer rate * Strong WPA/WPA2 data encryption security * Supports Windows VISTA/2000/XP Operating Systems * Two integrated internal antennae * D-Link Wireless Manager for easy access to frequently accessed networks * Plug and play installation in local language
(taken from their blurb)
In summary, I'm happy with it - it let us do what we wanted to do in the house, was easy to install and use, and is pretty powerful. Given what we needed, it was worth paying the extra price for, as we needed it to keep a strong signal downstairs and round a corner from the router. If you only want to make a short connection you could buy a lower spec product for around £25, I think.
I don't have any quibbles with it.
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The DWA-140 RangeBooster N USB adapter is a draft 80211n client device that delivers ... more
unrivaled wireless performance for the PCUsers can easily upgrade to the next generation of wireless technology by adding this RangeBooster N adapter to access network...
Postage & Packaging: £4.39 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
New OEM Overview Technical Description: D-Link RangeBooster N USB Adapter - DWA-140 ... more
(Networks Network Accessories) Enhance your Internet experience with a faster wireless connection and enjoy smooth digital phone calls, gaming, downloading and video s...
The DWA-140 RangeBooster N USB adapter is a draft 80211n client device that delivers ... more
unrivaled wireless performance for the PCUsers can easily upgrade to the next generation of wireless technology by adding this RangeBooster N adapter to access network...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Wireless N technology is good for speed and data throughput... Disadvantages: ...but if the adapter keeps dropping out (like this one does) then it is useless
Advantages: Wireless N technology is good for speed and data throughput... Disadvantages: ...but if the adapter keeps dropping out (like this one does) then it is useless
Feb 5th, 2008
very helpful by (90%):
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