Review of the DWL-G730AP Pocket Router Posted

[Jon Westfall]

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/tip...t-Router-AP.htm

"There's a reason we chose the name MobileTechReview— we provide key product information and relate experiences of value to road warriors. Staying connected provides perhaps the largest challenge for today's road warriors. At one time, the challenge consisted of finding hotels that provided data ports for modem connections. Later, this changed to finding RJ-45 Ethernet ports for high-speed Internet connections. Today's wireless world cries out for free 802.11b service in business hotels."



The last hotel I stayed at (A holiday inn) had WiFi for free, however if I was staying anywhere for more than a day or two and they didn't have WiFI, I'd grab one of these suckers for sure. For $99 it's fairly reasonable as well. What do you road warriors out there think of it?

[Jon Westfall]

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/tip...t-Router-AP.htm

"There's a reason we chose the name MobileTechReview— we provide key product information and relate experiences of value to road warriors. Staying connected provides perhaps the largest challenge for today's road warriors. At one time, the challenge consisted of finding hotels that provided data ports for modem connections. Later, this changed to finding RJ-45 Ethernet ports for high-speed Internet connections. Today's wireless world cries out for free 802.11b service in business hotels."



The last hotel I stayed at (A holiday inn) had WiFi for free, however if I was staying anywhere for more than a day or two and they didn't have WiFI, I'd grab one of these suckers for sure. For $99 it's fairly reasonable as well. What do you road warriors out there think of it?

[dazz]

I love it! I think it's a great idea!

For me, I would drag this between my office and a number of places I do work. It would be great to have just in the bag of goodies you carry around, just in case you find somewhere you can plug it in and use it.

Nice!

[petevick]

I bought one earlier this week and it seems great so far.
Only drawback, as mentioned in the review, is being unable to save config changes from the PPC

Pete

[christak]

$38 after rebate... Very tempting...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...P=OTC-d3alt1me

8)

[beq]

If only it also sports a built-in modem (for locations that have neither wireless nor Ethernet connection), it would be perfect.

As it is I think I'll stick to my WiFlyer which is always in my bag. In fact I'd bought three of them for friends/family (kinda expensive though at $150)...

[Deemo]

That little puppy rocks.
Most of my stuff is Linksys but they didn't have anything at the time that matched the portability of that unit.

I even use it for a temp solution to deadspots in my house.

[emmfan]

I got one for a business trip where the hotel had broadband wired connections in the rooms, but not wireless. And since my ipaq doesn't support a wired connection, I got this pocket router which worked great.

[brianchris]

Although I'm not a frequent traveler, I've found that most hotels that have broadband offer wired only (in the rooms....lobbies are different). Anyway, becuase of this, I purchased Netgear's unit ( http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGR101.php ) last spring. While it works, I actually don't yet understand some of its functions yet. For example, I'm still very confused by its physical 4 or 5 modes switch. One is too configure it, one is for one user only, one is for two people no encryption, one is for seven peeople with encryption......or something like that....its really confusing. If someone else here owns the Netgear as well AND understands what the mode switch does, please post or PM me....I'd owe you.

ANYWAY, while the D-Link looks good too, however if I was buying one today, not doubt it would be the Linksys ( http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper ). Why? Integrated power plug (one less cable to lug around) AND a LAN ethernet jack as well as a WAN ethernet jack. Price is competitive.

[Gerard]

Really, it can't save changes made from a PPC? I use a D-Link router/AP at home, the 604+, and due tot a lack of a connectable PC (awful old thing doesn't connect to much of anything any more, and I'm just not wanting to buy a new PC I'll hardly ever use) I have to configure it from my PPC. Pocket IE won't touch D-Link's Java-based pages, but NetFront has no trouble at all. I've done firmware upgrades on the router using NetFront, and while a bit of a knuckle-biter, they worked.

[frankenbike]

I've got an Asus W330g WiFi AP. Similar in size to the D-Link.

Having a pocket AP is great for travelling. Even if you have a laptop with a wired ethernet cable, the ethernet hookup in the wall or phone is never conveniently located. With pocket APs, you can sit on your bed with your PPC or laptop and do what you want. Which would probably be web surfing while watching TV.

I don't know about the D-Link, but with the Asus I could use my PPC and my wife could use her laptop at the same time.

Anyway, even if you travel infrequently, pocket APs are a good investment. I've only used mine maybe 3 times in the last 9 months or so, but without it I would have gone nuts.

I do have to say, though, that sometimes hotel login procedures will lock PPCs out of their systems completely, because their login web pages stupidly use Java or Flash. I suppose NetFront might solve that problem, but since I don't have it, I had to go through a huge hassle to log in at one hotel. (IMO, no general purpose website should ever use anything but HTML pages for anything).