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D-Link DWL-520 Wireless 802.11b PCI Adapter

D-Link DWL-520 Wireless 802.11b PCI Adapter

List Price: $49.99
Your Price: $41.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Is not compatible with many computers
Review: The following answer on the D-Link tech support site says it all: "The DWL-520 requires a PCI 2.2 compliant motherboard (3.3v) in order to function. If your PCI slot is 2.1 compliant, or if the PCI slot is using 5v, then the card won't be detected by Windows and unfortunately will not work." And how will you know if you have a PCI 2.2 compliant board? Essentially, you won't, until you try the card or dig deep into the specs on your computer's motherboard. I have a very reputable ASUS Pentium III motherboard, that won't recognize this card. Very frustrating...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Go for the 520+
Review: The NIC seems to be fine, getting good signals; however, the 2.4Ghz frequency does intefere with our 2.4Ghz cordless phones (a lot of crackling). Try not to transfer data while you're on the phone (surfing, downloading, backup). Another option is to keep an extra corded handset connected or get a 900Mhz phone just in case so you can talk and transfer data at the same time.

As for the title of this review, I have the D-Link 900AP+ as my access point, capable of 22Mbps. I wish I had opted for the extra few dollars to get to 22Mbps DWL-520+ as backing up over the 11Mbps takes forever and cutting that time in half would be nice.

Also, using the same brand access point/router and NIC makes enabling WEP (encryption) much easier. I have had many issues in having to downgrade WEP strength when mixing brands.

If you're just sharing an Internet connection, this speed is fine, but make sure to keep your router or access point high up or you tend to lose quite a bit of range. Consider the top of a 6 foot bookshelf or some other higher open location.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Never Got it to Operate
Review: The one I bought is all packaged ready to go back to the store. It was cheaper than the Linksys, and I had used D-link NIC's before so I figured I would try it. Boy am I sorry. After 3-4 hours working on this thing I think I'm in 1986 again.

Problem 1: None of the installation procedures followed the sequence of the printed instructions. I went through a constant questioning process of "where am I now?" and "what is it trying to say?" as I tried to translate their instructions said to what I was seeing. This problem was worse as I had to go through the process in part several times.

Problem 2: There seems to be a problem with any install on a Windows XP system. Great. That's like having gasoline that works in anything but a Chevrolet. This is ultimately what my show-stopper was. Although I found the instructions on the web site and running back and forth between computers, worked my way through them, but, they don't work after you've done everything else in the instructions - you would have to do them DURING the install, meaning you would have to know that there was an XP problem in the first place. For the folks at D-Link: inability to operate with XP is useful information for a BUYING decision, not an installation.

Problem 3: Tech support. Literature gives a 24x7 number which it is not. I made four calls total and had line suddenly go dead in two of them.

Bottom line: I did have the card operating and on the network, but could not ping. I have no doubt tech support could have gotten me going within a few minutes if they were not busy doing the same for every other buyer. I would only buy this card if I were buying in quantity and had the time to figure out how to make the first one work, then could leverage that information.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good value
Review: There's a lot of bad reviews here, and I don't doubt people's experience. For me however it's worked great. No problems setting up or using. Good value for the money (...). I'm using Windows Media Center 2005.


Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Product is junk and tech support a joke.
Review: Using this wirless network card dropped my internet download speed from 2700 Kbps to 1200 Kbps.

That's with link quality of 100 and only one other computer on the network with no applications running on either computer (aside from the one browser window required for the test). Both computers had brand new DLink DWL-520 Wireless network cards operating into a new DLink DI-514 router.

Following industry standards, DLink apparently mans their first echelon phones with technical illiterates who while capable of following a scripted check list, haven't a clue what's causing your problem or how their sequence of steps might might solve it.

So, after numerous calls, multiple case IDs, and never talking to the same person twice, I decided it was best to cut my losses and give up before they reconfigured my computer to the point where it wouldn't work at all.

If you surf the web a lot or do internet gaming, stay clear of DLink products. Stick with a reputable name and save yourself the aggravation and wasted hours trying to make cheap junk like this work. The money you save isn't worth the headaches.


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