Some of you will be scratching your heads now. Why don't you just buy a regular Wi-Fi product instead of paying for the DWL-810 bridge? Internet appliances, online picture frames, set-top boxes, PVRs, and gaming consoles can get online with wires. The DWL-810 can help them get online wirelessly even if they weren't built for that in the first place. That's the magic of the wireless Ethernet bridge.

What you'll need to make this magic work is quite simple. You'll need a wireless router or access point supporting 802.11b or Wi-Fi. As long as you have one of those talking to the net already, it's really simple to slip the DWL-810 in. With Wi-Fi growing in abundance at the workplace, in homes and in public areas, this is only going to get more prevalent.

The first step is with configuring the bridge itself. Because an Xbox or PS2 won't store any Wi-Fi configuration, the bridge comes with a web server that you need to log into (much like today's routers). This involved plugging the bridge directly into a PC for me and unfortunately, the bridge has a fixed IP address in the beginning. So if you're on anything but a 192.168.0.xxx network, you'll have to change your own IP to get access. The quickstart guide goes through everything you need to get to the web server.

After you're done that, you only have to put as much information as your security setup demands. If you have a paranoid setup, there will be more work here. By default, the bridge clones MAC addresses, meaning it will show up on your wireless network as whatever device you connect it to. If you use MAC filtering, you'll have to include the MAC address of your device and not the bridge. Of course, if you have a lax setup, you can skip this step and the whole paragraph altogether.

There's this myth about how online games tend to run slower through a wireless connection. If you have so much interference that you have trouble maintaining a link, that's true for sure. Some people have reported 2.4Ghz phones being the culprit but I have a pair of those already and they didn't really affect performance at all. In general, Wi-Fi equipment can eke out 3Mbit/s in a sustained manner and that's most likely three times more than your typical DSL or Cable service can muster. I've mentioned games so much because the D-Link obviously had consoles in mind when they were designing the product. The Xbox is the placeholder art in the manual and I'm happy to report that Xbox Live, a service that prides itself in its broadband and speed capabilities, wasn't slower (or faster) using the DWL-810.

The advantages are not in performance but rather with convenience. A short Ethernet cable is run from my device to the DWL-810. The bridge then puts my device online. With an Xbox, Gamecube or PS2, I can forget about cluttering my already cluttered A/V home theater setup with more wires. If I want to drag the console back to a study or basement, I can do that without thinking about wiring the new location. The bridge simply tags along and I'll know I'll have online access as long as I'm in range of the access point or router.

If you have trouble dishing out your Wi-Fi settings to your friends at LAN parties, you can also use the DWL-810 as a glorified Wi-Fi adapter for the PC. Simply save your configuration to the bridge, plug it into any Ethernet toting PC (which I hope will be all of them by now) and they're ready to start fragging from the bathroom. Because the bridge is not dependent on any drivers or operating systems, it can run with Internet appliances (I have a dated 3Com Audrey), as well as PVRs like SonicBlue's ReplayTV or MP3 jukeboxes like TurtleBeach's Audiotron.

The DWL-810 can also be paired up with other bridge units in ad-hoc mode so you don't even need a centralized router or access point to get online. Given the street prices for those products, however, it's likely cheaper than adding a few more DWL-810s. For the price, though, the DWL-810 bridge introduces tremendous convenience and it has longevity as well. It is little more than what you would have paid for a USB, PC or PCI Wi-Fi piece a year ago. Because Ethernet is so standardized, you can conceivably convert any future equipment from your Internet fridge to your internet picture frame to wireless. Wi-Fi or 802.11b is not going anywhere either. Unlike its cousin, the 802.11a standard, the future 802.11g standard will be backwards compatible with the oldest cousin. Today's wireless in Starbucks and airports are most likely supplied with 802.11b too. So yes, you could even conceivably get to an airport and play Xbox Live there (provided you have electricity of course).

When you think about it in this manner, this is the fundamental building block of turning your home into a wired home; ironically, with no need for wires. Back when the net was supposed to permeate into every consumer product, it should have been built on products like these. D-Link is finally touching upon the true definition of technology: to make lives easier for people. It's a shame this wasn't included with the online console kits because this simply isn't a "nice to have" product. It's a must have product if you're putting a console online.

Ratings:
[24/25] Performance
[23/25] Ease of Use
[18/20] Flexibility
[13/15] Value
[10/10] Novelty
[05/05] Longevity