I desperately needed a way to extend the coverage of my home wireless network. I had added a computer to my existing wireless network in my garage/basement, and I could receive NO signal from my wireless router. I was beginning to believe that my options were to run a couple hundred feet of cable or else move the computer somewhere I didn’t want it just to get a signal.
I came across many reviews for the G710 while looking for a wireless extender. I ignored the reviews panning it because they were so negative, but I did pay close attention to the positive ones because they seemed to have been written by people like me with some degree of technical skill.
I decided to buy a refurbished G710 on eBay, and I found one for about $30. Then I downloaded everything I could from dLink’s website, read dLink’s installation guide and user manual, and reread all the installation hints from the positive reviews. Finally I went to work.
Initially, I had no problems connecting with the G710 through a spare laptop after changing my laptop‘s static IP address to the same range as the G710. (Note: my wireless network, which is composed exclusively of AirLink products, uses DHCP assigned addresses in the range 192.168.1.xxx whereas dLink uses 192.168.0.xxx.)
I was able to access the G710’s setup page and run the wizards, and everything seemed to go along just great until I rebooted everything. The wireless extender wouldn’t talk to anything!
After thinking about what I’d done I realized that after setting up the G710, I hadn’t gone back and changed the range of its static IP address to correspond with the range of addresses used by my network.
Once I correctly addressed the G710 and rebooted, I positioned the G710 as close to my basement/garage computer as I could--which meant they would be communicating through a concrete floor, a concrete wall, and one sheetrock wall. When I powered up a wireless enabled laptop, I discovered that the signal level in my garage/basement went from 0% to 100%. Astounding!
Total time invested: 2 hours
Total money invested: $30
I don’t consider myself a geek, but I have been working with computers for several years. My advice is to call an experienced friend if you have any doubts about your level of expertise in setting up computer hardware. If you do decide to do the work yourself, proceed very slowly, recheck your work as you go, and keep thinking about what each of the piece of the puzzle needs.
The dLink G710 saved me a bundle of time, trouble, and money running wire inside and outside of my house. I just wish I’d tried this a year ago.
