DWL-500

Standards: IEEE 802.11b All major networking standards (including IP, IPX) Adapter Type: PCI Local Bus 2.2 compliant Transport Protocols: TCP/IP IPX/SPX NetBEUI NDIS3/4 Supported OS: Windows 98 Windows ME Windows 2000 Windows NT 4 or newer Data Security: 40 bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) Encryption Data Rate: Mbps/channel 11 : CCK 5.5 : CCK 2 : DQPSK 1 : DBSK Range: indoor – per cell approximately 35 to 100 meters outdoor – per cell approximately 100 to 300 meters Power Requirements: 250mA

Antenna: Internal diversity patch antenna Transmit Power: Nominal Temp Range: 14 dBm max, 11 dBm min. Extend Temp Range: 13 dBm max, 10 dBm min. Transmit Power: 2.7V to 3.0V, 13 dBm max, 10 dBm min Frequency Range: 2.400 – 2.4835 GHz, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) Network Architecture: Supports Ad-Hoc Mode (Peer-to-Peer without Access Point) Supports Infrastructure Mode (Communications to wired networks via Access Points with Roaming) Compliant with IEEE 802.11b Standards Operating Channels: 1-11 United States (FCC) 1-11 Canada (DOC) 1-14 Japan (MKK) 1-13 Europ (Except Spain and France) (ETSI) Diagnostic LED (Green): Power Activity Link Warranty: Lifetime Warranty and Free Technical Support

Part of the group of wireless networking products first introduced by D-Link back in August, 2000, which also included the DWL-350 (PCMCIA adapter) and the DWL-1000AP (access point), the DWL-500 is a wireless networking adapter for desktop PC's. Based around the DWL-350 PCMCIA adapter (for laptops), the DWL-500 uses a PCMCIA to PCI card to connect the device to a desktop PC.

DWL-120

Standards: IEEE 802.11b Adapter Type: USB 1.1 Transport Protocols: TCP/IP IPX/SPX NetBEUI Supported OS: Windows 98 Windows ME Windows 2000 Windows NT 4 or newer Data Security: 40 bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) Encryption Data Rate: Mbps/channel 11 : CCK 5.5 : CCK 2 : DQPSK 1 : DBSK Range: indoor – per cell approximately 35 to 100 meters outdoor – per cell approximately 100 to 300 meters Power Requirements: Operating Voltage: +5V

Antenna: Internal patch antenna supporting diversity Mobility: Seamless roaming across cell boundaries with handover Transmit Power: Nominal Temp. Range: 17-dBm Extended Temp. Range: 14-dBm min Transmit Power, 2.7v to 3v: 14-dBm min Frequency Range: 2.400 – 2.4835 GHz, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) Network Architecture: Supports Ad-Hoc Mode (Peer-to-Peer without Access Point) Supports Infrastructure Mode (Communications to wired networks via Access Points with Roaming) Compliant with IEEE 802.11b Standards Operating Channels: 1-11 United States (FCC) 1-11 Canada (DOC) Diagnostic LED (Green): Power Network Link Activity Warranty: One year Limited Warranty

First introduced in November, 2000, three months after the first group of wireless networking products from D-Link, the DWL-120 is the first USB wireless adapter ever. The advantages of USB are obvious, the most prominent being its ability to be easily installed on any PC, both desktops and laptops. For desktop users, the ability to be able to install a network by simply plugging in a few of these USB wireless adapters is an obvious plus. For laptop users, the USB wireless adapter gives users of multiple PCMCIA devices a huge boost, since most laptops only come with one PCMCIA slot. For users of both laptops and desktops, the advantages are even greater, since it becomes easier than ever to move around network adapters between different machines.

One thing that worries me, however, is bandwidth. Since USB 1.x only supports up to 12Mbps maximum data transfer between all devices on a single USB controller, the DWL-120's 11Mbps maximum data transfer might saturate the bandwidth of that channel and either slowing down other devices on the same controller or slowing itself down because of other devices--just something to look out for when we're testing.

On to: First Impressions