Ditto - nice unit.

This week (Oct. 23-Oct. 29) in the Chicago area, Office Max is selling the D-LINK WIRELESS POCKET ROUTER DWI-G730AP for $39.99 and there is a D-link rebate for $20, making the total after rebate a very reasonable $19.99.

I travel with one of these and have had no problems with it, although I have only used it for creating a wireless connection in a hotel room offering internet access only through an ethernet jack.

The Airport Express charges my ipod all the time. I plug the Dock->USB cable and it works. It won't play music while it's charging, though, because it goes into disk mode.

Also, for anyone who cares, the APE uses WDS. There's instructions all over the internet for using it as a repeater with Linksys routers. The difficulty is that WDS isn't really part of the WiFi standard, so claiming compatibilty is problematic.

I'm on the D-link 730 as we speak. I had a problem with it at first when using WPA... it would reboot spontaneously. For some reason changing the key I used solved the problem. Other than that it works flawlessly and has great range, especially for it's size and lack of an external antenna. Compared to the portable Netgear I tried previously and hated, this thing works each and every time without problem.

this deal
 

this deal is now nationwide, so get it now. 20$ for a travel router, and this one runs off USB, so you don't have to take the power adaptor, is a nice price!

use some paper clips for padding, to get free shipping.

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...OID=1611314076

This is available online at OfficeMax.com, but you have to pay $49.99 and wait for a $30 mail-in rebate. Same $19.99 total at the end. This week only. Purchase by 10/29/05, postmark rebate by 12/12/05.

Thanks for the heads up. For that net price, I might just go for one of these.

PS I'm not sure that running off USB feature is that useful. Doesn't it defeat the purpose if you have to keep it tethered to your laptop? ;) Hopefully the brick is fairly lightweight.

So does this mean you can connect to a hotel WiFi connection, and then share it with others? I ask, because I often travel with fiance, who also has laptop, and we don't both want to pay for a connection.

fduvall

yes, exactly. The wireless ROUTER will make a single connection with the local area network, then you are simply using the ROUTERS DHCP pool to deliver address to the wireless users.

nmenaker - Thanks for the clarification.

Are you still thinking that the SMC unit is the best out there?

FDuvall

still like it
 

I still like it, but bought one of these too.

Two APE at home for wireless iTunes and travel with an APE for the hotel room or conf room so we can all use internet. Don't brodcast the SSID so they have to know what they are loggininto as WEP slows you down. If I know i need to extend the range beyond the APE I will take the APE from home to add range or locations. AND the APE only has one NAT so you don't have to worry about them finding out how many users you have on your network.

Which one? Did not see a URL.

-fduvall

anyone know what the deal is with the new Linksys unit?

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

The APE is awesome. ^ ^ ^

Going off Wi-Fi and multi-user Routers for a moment, I'd just like to mention one little piece of equipment I take along with me when I know a standard phone line will be my only internet option (no Wi-Fi, ethernet, Verizon BroadbandAccess, etc). It's the Zoom 4300 Bluetooth Modem:

http://www.zoom.com/products/bluetooth_overview.html

It's really tiny, about the size of a credit card with a small swivel antenna. Plugs into the phone's data jack and gives you a wireless Bluetooth connection with your laptop. Dial your usual ISP access numbers and bingo...you're online wirelessly (albeit at phone type speeds).

Class 1 Bluetooth with up to a 300ft range. I even sat two floors down from my hotel room by the hotel's swimming pool and had no difficulty dialing up and surfing the net wirelessly, "sorta" like Wi-Fi. ;)

Granted it's getting hard to find places that don't have high speed these days, but when it's not available it's a nice way to still cut those wires outta the loop.

(The original Apple AirPorts used to have dial-up via Wi-Fi as an option on them, as some of you may remember. This is like that only via Bluetooth. And unlike that old AirPort model, this Bluetooth modem is not compatible with Macs.)