Comments on: D-Link DWL-G710 Wireless Range Extender Review

By: Shafiq

Shafiq — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:30:07 +0000

To improve my very low wirless signal coming from Access Point DWL-2100AP, I haved purchase D-LINK Range Extender G710. I have configured the G710 by scanning i.e. the SSID and Channels are same as on Access Point i.e. DWL-2100AP. At Range Extender G710 I have given a unique IP in the same pool as of the Access Ponint. for example Access Point is 192.168.10.10 and Range Extender is 192.168.10.20. For Encryption I am using WEP on both devices using same key.

The Range Extender changes the signale status from ‘very low’ to ‘Excellent’ and shows the right SSID but the connection to the other machine connected to Access Point which otherwise was working on very low signal, does not work. No data is received after Range Extender powering up and changeing signal status to ‘Excellent’. On removing the Range Extnder and refreshign the connection, the power signal strength goes to ‘very low’ but connection to remote machine becomes available. I have to use extender because at times there is no signal at all.

IP on Access Point and Range Extender are from same sub-net but unquie. SSID, WEP Key, and Channel are same on both wirelss devices. IP on the remote machine connected with AP and the wirelss laptop have IP from same sub-net but unique they are not fromt he group of wireless devices. No DHCP or Gateway is not configurred on any of the machines.

Help on this shall be appreciated.

Regards

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:40:06 +0000

It sounds like you would need a wireless card for you desktop if you want to be able to configure the DWL-G710 and be on the Internet at the same time. I’m not certain if this is the case because I can’t remember the exact details of the DWL-G710 anymore (its been a few years since I played with it).

If I recall correctly, the DWL-G710 doesn’t have the ability to provide Internet connectivity to devices wired to it, its only supports wireless. So, if that is the case your computer must be wired to a different source (i.e., you’re router) to get Internet connectivity or have a wireless card to receive connectivity while unplugged from the router to configure the DWL-G710. Hope this helps.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:35:28 +0000

I’ve got a situation that I have not seen mentioned in any post, either here or at Amazon. My desktop computer is connected directly to my router via a LAN cable. If I unplug that cable from my computer so that I can connect to the cable from the DWL-G710 in order to configure it, I no longer have an Internet connection. Am I missing something that’s obvious, or do I have to get a wireless card for my desktop?

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:29:49 +0000

Steven, thanks for the useful information. You are correct that it is likely to see different SSIDs but you would want a bit of overlap between access points to maintain coverage.

In my opinion, you’d be better off running the CAT cables and dropping another AP rather than dealing with a repeater because it may look like the ‘easy’ way out but it can be a pain to deal with.

Thanks again!!

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 29 May 2008 04:20:37 +0000

To answer a few questions from above, if you happen to walk into an area that is overlapping with both the original AP and the repeater you will very likely see your SSID duplicated as your PC is hearing 2 heartbeats from 2 different MAC addresses and is normal. As for a PC wanting to maintain a connection to a weaker AP/RPTR when roaming, that will be a driver setting, telling the LAN card to remain locked as long as possible. The modification to that (Windows) would be to right click on the adapter in Dev. Manager and select the Advanced tab, you should see something that looks like “Roaming” and have settings that deal with aggressive or conservative.
I actually don’t own one of these (yet), and am considering options to stretch my wifi out to my pool area, and after reading this posts, it may just be worth running CAT cables through the attic, and deploying additional AP (I have done this procedure before), and not be looking for the ‘easy’ way out. The extra work will quickly pay off if the alternative is possible compatibility issues not to mention I will not run into any bandwidth loss.
Just some additional info for the site.

By: Anders2

Anders2 — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:47:26 +0000

Trying to get my 2100AP signal extended by the G710. After doing all the configuration I get a fixed WLAN light on the G710, and no improved signal. The G710 had no problem finding the correct signal and to connect. The only configuration question I have is about the Gateway. I have put the IP adress of the 2100AP here (192.168.0.50). Is that correct? Am running without encryption until I can get this to work. Any suggestions would be welcome. Kind regards Anders

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:10:09 +0000

Glad you got it working Anders. That’s a good point to make about the channels. I guess I should have pointed that out in my post. Thanks for writing about it.

By: Anders

Anders — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:16:48 +0000

I managed to get my DWL-G710 to work too but I have just WEP encryption. It took me 3 hours to get it to work because I didn’t know that the channel it must be on, must be the same as the first wireless device you want to extand the wireless signal from. But now I know that.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:45:39 +0000

Glad to hear you got it set up letango though I wish it was working better for you…maybe you should just stretch a wire across the street

By: letango

letango — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:55:38 +0000

thanks matt, for not forgetting me.

I finally did manage to set it up, but is seems the extender does not receive signal better than my laptop (on my side of the street) and does not emit a stronger signal than the neighbour’s modem (on his side). hence, i should hang the thing in the middle of the street on a wire for it to work.

though luck.

I learned to live with low signal. not ideal, but better than losing sleep over a box.