D-Link card as Wi-Fi link

[Don Peterson]

I have a D-Link Air Plus DWL-650+ wireless remote adapter (PCMCIA) for my Dell laptop. I bought it for use on my home wireless system. Can this card be used in hot spots at campgrounds?

Thanks,
Don

 

[Ned]

Don,

I see no reason why not.

 

[Tom]

It sure can Don. Here's the blurb on the DWL 650+ on D-Link's web page:

... all D-Link wireless adapters can be used for peer-to-peer networking (ad-hoc mode) with other 802.11b/g wirelessly enabled computers for direct file sharing, or as a wireless client (infrastructure mode) to connect to wireless access points or wireless routers.

 

[BernieD]

I have a D-Link Air Plus DWL-650+ wireless remote adapter (PCMCIA) for my Dell laptop. I bought it for use on my home wireless system. Can this card be used in hot spots at campgrounds?

Thanks,
Don

I've used that card on my laptop without built-in wi-fi.

 

[Terry A. Brewer]

Don

Yes it can, but I would suggest you use a USB unit as it has a better antenna & can be moved around in order to get a better/stronger signal.

Terry
At Sierra Vista, AZ

 

[blueblood]

I have a D-Link Air Plus DWL-650+ wireless remote adapter (PCMCIA) for my Dell laptop. I bought it for use on my home wireless system. Can this card be used in hot spots at campgrounds?

Thanks,
Don

The answer is yes but ---- .  I have tried using this card ( plus others successfully) on my Dell laptop and ran into a problem. It blue screened me after connecting every time. In searching the web looking for a solution I discovered others in both US and UK have experienced the same problem. D-Link recognized the problem on the forum I was using and promised some response but never came back in over six months I followed the issue. I suppose it is Dell model dependent - most of us are using I-7000 and I-7500's.

 

[Don Peterson]

Thanks, folks. I have until June to resolve the issue. There are some hot spots around home here, where I can at least check out the card that I have. I will also look into the I-7000 & I-7500. Frankly, the card that I have at times is marginal even here at home when I am no more that about thirty feet away from the router. I am assuming (hoping?) that these remote locations use some kind of boosted signal for people to use at greater distances.

 

[blueblood]

Thanks, folks. I have until June to resolve the issue. There are some hot spots around home here, where I can at least check out the card that I have. I will also look into the I-7000 & I-7500. Frankly, the card that I have at times is marginal even here at home when I am no more that about thirty feet away from the router. I am assuming (hoping?) that these remote locations use some kind of boosted signal for people to use at greater distances.

They don't really provided much more power than your router at most places. The average distance should be about 150 ft. Cards come in power ranges from 30mw to 200 mw. The D-Link is a 30 mw card as I recall and not a very good one at that i.e.there are quality differences even when same power output is advertised and this results in varying QoS. The higher power cards work much better than lower as can be expected but the trade off is you are sending your information farther out for the bad guys to be able to pickup as well. I have a high quality 30 mw card that I use successfully across the US even though I have some of the 100 and 200 cards as well