| D-Link DWL-650 Wireless Cardbus Adapter, 802.11b, 11Mbps |
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Model: DWL-650
Brand: D-Link
Manufacturer: D-Link
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 150
Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4, Windows NT 5, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, Windows
Form factor: Plug-in module
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b
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| Features: |
Data transfer rates up to 11 Mbps
Fully compatible with 802.11b products
Plug and Play
128-bit WEP data encryption for a secure wireless network
3-year limited warranty |
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| Description: |
| The D-Link DWL-650 is an IEEE 802.11b compliant PC Card Type-II 11Mbps wireless LAN adapter. The DWL-650 will operate in 2.4 GHz Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) for wireless networks in the home or office environment. It is designed to operate in 3.3V or 5.0V DC slots. In addition, the DWL-650 uses a 64/128-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) Encryption for a secure network connection. The D-Link DWL-650 can operate in either Ad-Hoc mode (Peer-to-Peer networking without access point) or Infrastructure mode (Peer-to-Peer networking using an access point). In Infrastructure mode, the DWL-650 can be connected to a broadband residential gateway or a DSL/Cable modem for high-speed wireless Internet access on the existing network. The DWL-650 can transmit data at 11, 5.5, 2 or 1 Mbps per channel. The DWL-650 transmit rate values can be manually selected for Auto Select 1 or 2 Mbps, Fixed 1 Mbps, Fixed 11 Mbps, Fixed 2 Mbps, Fixed 5.5 Mbps and Fully Auto. The DWL-650 has full mobility and seamless roaming from cell to cell as well as across access points. |
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| User Reviews (150 total): |
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 of Total 8 Pages
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Easy setup, good range, low price, February 6, 2002
By ashleytan (Tempe, AZ United States)
I installed the card on a laptop running Windows 2000 -- no problems at all. But note that the manual is written for Windows 98/ME. Fortunately, there is a foldout card that includes the Windows 2000 setup.Setup and use is easy and quite intuitive. Product works well with the campus network I tested it on....
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No Good for windows XP, December 17, 2001
By Rob (New Jersey)
Certainly not my best purchase, recently.
The linksys was out of stock, so I bought the D-link.
I've nothing bad to say about the company in general, but buying this card for windows XP was a mistake.**Some** reference to XP should've been made in the packaging, and a more obvious link to the drivers should be made on their web site. I'm using the card now, but it took a bit of investigative work to find the new driver and install it correctly AND Win XP is now giving me an occasional error when it restarts. Also, complains when I try to return to a hardwire connection (even though I reboot in between).
Perhaps there's a reason why they've (D-link) not yet received the Microsoft XP seal of approval.
I'm sure there are better cards to be found.
Our home has 8 computers, a few of which we built from components; we're serious computer users, yet I just spent a half a day getting this new card to play nicely with XP, and I'm not sure I've succeeded.
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Windows xp supported, December 11, 2001
By unknown
I bought this because the drivers support windows xp. The linksys ones don't. So if you use XP, get this. It works well communicating with a linksys base station.
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Windows Xp problems, December 6, 2001
By thaing01 (Irvine, CA United States)
I got it to work the first time, but when I reboot with the Card inserted my computer crashes. If I reboot without the card inserted and then insert it after my computer still crashes. The only way I got it to work is to disable the driver, put in the card and then enable it. The driver download for XP has a problem. Other than this it works alright but the range is not as great as you might think.
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Incompatible with Win XP?, November 28, 2001
By Leo Dirac (Seattle, WA United States)
As of this writing, there is no Microsoft approved windows XP driver. Dlink claims that the unapproved driver will work, but in my experience it didn't. The control panel shows it connected, and it seems to send packets, but not receive them. In fact, after I installed the driver for the card, DHCP stopped working properly on my 100-base-T card's IP stack. In fact, even after uninstalling the driver, DHCP is still broken. Not sure what's going on, but I suspect this card's uncertified drivers have something to do with it.If you're running XP, I recommend before buying an 802.11 card that you check the vendor's web-site to see if their tech-support says something like "Windows will warn you that this driver might make your system unstable. But don't worry about that. Everything will work out just fine."
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Works out of the box, November 22, 2001
By unknown
Works flawlessly. Installed the drivers for Win2k - a reboot later the card worked without having to fiddle with any settings. Used it with a Linksys wireless hub which may have contributed to the ease of installation. Great value for money.
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Easy install.. but whats the point?, November 4, 2001
By MVR (Richardson, TX United States)
I will agree that the install was great.. NO issues at all.. However, if I have to sit UNDER THE access point to get reception then what was the point of wireless?? I could have just as easily "clicked" in.. I was VERY unhappy with the product.. But the uninstall was easy too.. maybe they knew something.. :)
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Easy to install but very poor range, October 22, 2001
By A. Cippico (Hampshire, England)
Three months ago I bought two DLINK wireless cards (DWL-500 and 650) for home networking. I put one in a desktop, one in a laptop, and configured them to communicate on a adhoc basis. The layout of the house is not unusual at all. I am only trying to communicate from one room to another (a total 'as the crow flies' distance of about 12 mtrs.) To start with all seemed well but it became increasingly clear that the range appeared to be poor (absolute max. 10 mtrs.). I put this down to the location of the DWL-650 in the desktop so I then bought a DWL-120 thinking that as the device was moveable I could position the antenna higher and thus get a better range. Unfortunately this did little to improve things. I was still only getting a typical useable range of 9-11 mtrs in any direction. I tried various permutations with the DWL-120 and 650 and found that only a small movement from side to side at the maximum range would cause the signal to drop. I don't know if this is typical. Disillusioned, I then bought an DWL-1000AP thinking that this would be the final solution. I reconfigured the whole system for infrastructure mode and tried again. To my dismay I found that I was still not getting any further improvement apart from the fact that I could now see what the link and signal quality was. This simply confirmed my suspicion that the range was still incredibly poor and nowhere near the stated 35-100 mtrs. I work in IT for a profession, so I'm not daft. I use Orinoco wireless cards at work and have had no problems with configuring and using these at all. I cannot believe this product is so poor that I am going to be limited to this restrictive range. I'm about to ship the whole lot back.
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Worked as advertised, October 21, 2001
By Educated Parent (Bethesda, MD United States)
I purchased this PCMCIA and the 713 access point. Both were up and running in about 10 minutes flawlessly. No problems.
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Russian roulette configuration, October 14, 2001
By unknown
After many, many hours of frustration trying to get this thing to run; found out from an online forum that it needs to reside on it's own IRQ. Won't share. This is nowhere in product documentation. Got it to work and it was great - until I upgraded computers. Can't free up an IRQ on the new machine, so have to buy a new wireless card.
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Beware, it may be incompatible, September 7, 2001
By Wawa (Buenos Aires - Argentina)
Caveat emptor, or buyer beware. This card is cardbus, that means it won't work with 16 bit PCMCIA slots found in older notebooks. If your notebook is cardbus compatible, then it works fine.
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Quick, Reliable, and Easy to Set-Up, August 31, 2001
By Charlie S. (BAM!)
I love this product because it took me about 5 minutes to set-up and recognize my DI-714. All I had to do was install the drivers, insert the card and reboot. It was up and working right out of the box.
I get great signal strength throughout my entire home (including bathroom) but I am not sure if it is because of my DI-714 or DWL-650. But either way you look at it, these are a great combination of products.
Highly Recommended.
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Recommended Buy if on a Budget, but still want Quality, August 28, 2001
By steve_l33t (MD)
I bought this because a friend of mine has a D-Link Wireless Router and I like to use his Internet Connection because I still only have a 56K. Since he already has a DI-713P I didn't have to make any configuration changes to my DWL-650 PC Card. Everything worked out of the box. I did have to change my network settings a bit, but the manual shows how all of that is done. Coupled with his DI-713P I get good signal strength anywhere in his home, even a little bit outside. Once I can afford Cable Speeds I will definately have this set-up, or whatever might replace the DWL-650 or DI-713P int he future. The sure thing is that I will buy D-Link ofr it's ease of use and reliability. I am a very pleased customer.
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This product is a big pain!, August 27, 2001
By Thomas Cook (Chicago, IL USA)
First off, if you don't follow their install instructions to the very letter, you're in for trouble. Requires lots of reboots to get it working. Second thing, the cards work well communicating to other DWL-650 cards in ADHOC mode, but will not communicate in ADHOC mode with either the Lucent Orinoco Gold card or the Cisco card. Third, could not get either of my two DWL-650 cards configured to work with the Linksys wireless router in infrastructure (AP) mode, even after verifying all configurable parameters and using the latest drivers and firmware. Finally, one of my cards heats up in the laptop and stops working -- I have to pull it out, wave it around to cool it off, then put it back in. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT -- YOU WILL REGRET IT! Even though this card uses an industry standard Prism II chipset, the design around the chipset is obviously substandard.
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Out of the Box Ease and Signal Strength is Great, August 21, 2001
By V G (Arizona)
I bought this along with the DI-713P and was a little sceptical an how it would all work,and how much effort and online reading i would have to put into this before I could get it up and running correctly.But to my suprise everything worked without any settings changes. I was walked through the simple set-up of this PC Card and it was basically clicking the next button a series of times. When I was done and rebooted the Card immediatley recognized the DI-713P. I was amazed and I think you will be too. Make sure you have the latest Firmware for both the DWL-650 and the DI-713P.
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Easy Set-up with Great Reception and Price, August 13, 2001
By William Catz (Washington)
I have a D-Link Wireless Gateway + Switch, and this DWL-650 Card Worked out of the box with default settings. My Laptop was already set to Obtain IP automatically, so after the second restart i was connected to the Internet automatically.I never thought it could be this easy. It's easier than a wired connection because it eliminates the one extra step of plugging in the wires, plus you get to roam around your home. I even get good signals from my patio outside. The Signal Strength is Great all throughout my home, and i still can't get enough of this wireless concept.
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Crashing W2000 Every Time, August 11, 2001
By Mark (Chatham, NJ USA)
I use a Toshiba Portege 7000 series with Windows 2000. This card crashes my computer (yes, W2000 not W ME) every time I install it or boot up with it. Combined with my poor experience with the D-Link D713 P wireless router and the third-party support organization (SupportConcept), I cannot recommend D-Link products.
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128 bit encryption with some effort, August 10, 2001
By memoryman1 (Portland, OR USA)
After a few hours of experimenting, I have the D-Link DWL-650 running with 128 bit encryption with a Linksys BEFW11SW Wireless Access Point. This required the latest Linksys firmware upgrade, 1.37.9b, dated 6/21/2001. Without this firmware, WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) had to be disabled between the D-Link and Linksys products. I had to re-boot my Windows 2000 machine 3 times before the D-Link driver installed completely (it seemed to go a little farther each time.) I had a scare after upgrading the Linksys firmware, it locked up, but was fine after a power cycle. The placement of the wireless access point is critical to good connectivity. Aluminum heating vents definitely block the signal. Luckily, I found a spot in my office that gets 11 Mb transmission to almost all of my 3400 square foot home, the key was to get it away from the vent system, so it has a clean line of sight to the rest of the rooms.
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Does not work, August 7, 2001
By board nuts (San Carlos, CA USA)
I bought 2 DWL-650's and the DI-713P gateway, after a pound of flesh I got the gateway up and running, I had to re-load the firmware and reset the hardware. But the cards never worked on my Windows 2000 machine. I would load the drivers and then insert the card, walk thru the wizard and my machine would then reboot and keep on crashing after every login. Tech support was awful, and could not help. I ended up borrowing a Lucent Orinoco card and was up in minutes. D-Link has poorly written, crummy drivers, stay away....I returned both DWL-650's
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Fails in most important respect - signal strength, August 1, 2001
By unknown
I agree with the reviewer who is having signal strength problems. In my house this D-Link card gets very low to non-existant signal. A computer next to it, with a Lucent Orinoco card gets full signal. I've tried moving them around and the Lucent consistently out-performs the D-Link. If you have an open plan room for your installation then no problem the D-Link works just fine, but if there are a few walls in the way, then buyer beware, not all cards are created equal.
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