D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G+ DWL-200AP review

It's good to see that D-Link has at least tried to style its AP. The diminutive grey-and-silver chassis is far less obtrusive than some chunks of plastic on show. Unfortunately, not everything was so well thought out. Connection speeds were pretty slow before we upgraded the firmware, and after we'd done that the client manager software refused to work. Fortunately, access to settings via the web browser proved simple and the AP was soon up and running.

Every major feature is catered for. WPA is supported along with 64-bit and 128-bit WEP. MAC filtering is available and remote authentication by RADIUS will appeal to network administrators. It can also be set to act as a WLAN bridge with other DWL-200APs and it's the only AP with a DHCP server.

Performance was mixed but generally impressive. In the close- and medium-range tests, scores of 92 and 94 seconds were somewhat mediocre. However, 197 seconds in the 802.11b test was the fastest time we saw from a straight AP. Only the Sony and, to a lesser extent, the ZyXEL got close. A long-range time of 107 seconds was only beaten by Linksys and Sony.

This made the D-Link one of the best all-round performers. While the Sony is faster it costs nearly twice as much and offers far fewer features. The D-Link's 802.11b speed was much faster than the Linksys and Buffalo APs (and its long-range 802.11g performance is much better than the latter's). If you need a reliable performer, which doesn't skimp on 802.11b, then it's the AP to plump for.