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D-Link DWL-120 USB to 802.11b adapter review |
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D-Link DWL-120 USB to 802.11b adapter review |
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 D-Link DWL-120 |
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DWL-120 USB to 802.11b Network Adapter
link
D-Link link
Score: 3 out of 3
Review Type: Hands On
Reviewer: Chris Kaminski
Date: May 1, 2001
 The DWL-120 is 802.11b wireless Ethernet adapter that
connects to a USB port on your computer. Since it does not have an external power
supply, it must be hooked up to a USB port on your computer or a ‘powered’ USB hub.
It has a built in antenna that can be angled for better reception and a couple of
LED’s that let you know its plugged in and working.
The software for the DWL-120 was a breeze to install. It even let me know when I
had the unit plugged into a non-powered USB hub and advised me about its power requirements.
The software installed EXACTLY as documented in the handy quick install sheet provided
with the adapter. Since the device is USB, there were no worries about IRQ
conflicts or finding an open slot in the computer.
The software and drivers for the access point behaved very well. Under Windows 2000
it had no problem having its connection enabled
 and disabled
repeatedly. When enabled, it even brought the configuration manager that displays
the signal strength back to life. The adapters configuration screen is very clear
and fairly intuitive. It also recovered from sending the computer inst
sleep mode, something some wireless adapters have a problem with.
Encryption
The DWL-120 supports 40 bit encryption. Realistically this is probably good enough,
but remember to pay attention to encryption key lengths when mixing products from
different vendors. The DWL-120 supports 40 bit but and many other vendors support
64 and 128 bit.
The USB Connector
 The
USB cable does not seem to seat very well into the DWL-120. The cable looks like
it should go in more, but it does not. This makes for a less than firm connection
– I would suggest taping the cable to the DWL-120 to make sure it does not fall
out. We ran into no problems during testing, but I would like to see D-Link improve
on the cable fitting.
Is USB speed an issue?
USB’s runs at 12 Mbps and 802.11b runs at a maximum of 11Mbps but often runs slower.
This means USB is plenty fast for wireless Ethernet networks.
Alternative OS’
No Mac or Linux drivers were available when this was written. Check the D-link driver
site for details.
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