I had a D-Link DWG510+(I think that's it) for about a year, until one day the power went out and when my computer rebooted the card was dead. It definitely never liked power spikes, but when it was working the connection was always rock solid with a 4dBi antenna on it and the normal 2 dBi antennas on my Linksys WRT54G router. Connection rates were usually in the 24-36 Mbps range, more than I need for just surfing around or streaming the odd video/music off my computer.
I decide to go with a Linksys WMP54G to replace the DLink card, because I've been impressed with the WRT54G thus far. I also took the opportunity to get a 7 dBi antenna off of eBay just for the hell of it. Everything installed fine, and it connects at 54 Mbps almost all the time.
The problem is that it just randomly drops the connection then immediately reconnects with no problems. It seems to do this almost every hour or two without fail. It did it with the stock ~2-3 dBi antenna on it, as well as with the 7 dBi antenna on it. Put the 4 dBi antenna that was being used on my card before on the router and it boosted the signal strength, but didn't affect the drop outs. I live in an old house, and the walls are majorly thick plaster so the signal is a little weak compared to what it should be(router is only about 30-40 ft away, through 2 walls). Yet the DLink card handled it just fine with way less antenna gain - never once had it drop the connection.
I always ran the WRT54G on about 40mW of transmit power(default is 28mW), but even cranking it up to 60mW doesn't seem to affect the drop outs(I know more power doesn't mean better connection... but it shows that the signal is at least getting here).
With the Linksys utility the Noise Level is always at -93dB, and the Signal Strength usually hovers in the -68 to -71dB range, but it does fluctuate a lot when it's just sitting there(up to 5-6 dB above and below that range). To me a ~20dB signal should be pretty easy to pick up, and it shows that they link is pretty good(but it does fluctuate a lot with no disturbances in the environment). The higher gain antennas did improve the signal strength, noise floor seemed unaffected. The DLink utility had % bars for signal strength and link quality, they both were ALWAYS 98-100%, with far less antenna gain.
Apparently there aren't any updated drivers for the card, and I haven't found a way to turn down the Transmission Rate to see if that'll give the card an easier time with keeping the signal. I did turn down the router's transmission rate to 18 Mbps - no real affect on the drop outs from what I could tell.
I found a few reviews on Newegg that said this card was a bit "picky" about having a good signal, but with better antennas on both sides I figured it would not be a problem at all.
Sorry for the abundance of info(but it should answer any questions you've got!) - but I'm just unsure of what I should do with this thing. I can't stand the drop outs, and it's a major pain on DL's that are longer than a few minutes(because they tend to get interupted), so it's definitely going back to Newegg.com. Should I request a replacement WMP54G or go for something else? Any suggestions on another card?
-Jacob
I decide to go with a Linksys WMP54G to replace the DLink card, because I've been impressed with the WRT54G thus far. I also took the opportunity to get a 7 dBi antenna off of eBay just for the hell of it. Everything installed fine, and it connects at 54 Mbps almost all the time.
The problem is that it just randomly drops the connection then immediately reconnects with no problems. It seems to do this almost every hour or two without fail. It did it with the stock ~2-3 dBi antenna on it, as well as with the 7 dBi antenna on it. Put the 4 dBi antenna that was being used on my card before on the router and it boosted the signal strength, but didn't affect the drop outs. I live in an old house, and the walls are majorly thick plaster so the signal is a little weak compared to what it should be(router is only about 30-40 ft away, through 2 walls). Yet the DLink card handled it just fine with way less antenna gain - never once had it drop the connection.
I always ran the WRT54G on about 40mW of transmit power(default is 28mW), but even cranking it up to 60mW doesn't seem to affect the drop outs(I know more power doesn't mean better connection... but it shows that the signal is at least getting here).
With the Linksys utility the Noise Level is always at -93dB, and the Signal Strength usually hovers in the -68 to -71dB range, but it does fluctuate a lot when it's just sitting there(up to 5-6 dB above and below that range). To me a ~20dB signal should be pretty easy to pick up, and it shows that they link is pretty good(but it does fluctuate a lot with no disturbances in the environment). The higher gain antennas did improve the signal strength, noise floor seemed unaffected. The DLink utility had % bars for signal strength and link quality, they both were ALWAYS 98-100%, with far less antenna gain.
Apparently there aren't any updated drivers for the card, and I haven't found a way to turn down the Transmission Rate to see if that'll give the card an easier time with keeping the signal. I did turn down the router's transmission rate to 18 Mbps - no real affect on the drop outs from what I could tell.
I found a few reviews on Newegg that said this card was a bit "picky" about having a good signal, but with better antennas on both sides I figured it would not be a problem at all.
Sorry for the abundance of info(but it should answer any questions you've got!) - but I'm just unsure of what I should do with this thing. I can't stand the drop outs, and it's a major pain on DL's that are longer than a few minutes(because they tend to get interupted), so it's definitely going back to Newegg.com. Should I request a replacement WMP54G or go for something else? Any suggestions on another card?
-Jacob