D-Link AirPlusXtremeG DWL-G810 Wi-Fi Bridge

All things in the computer world tend to get faster, smaller, more powerful or a mixture of all three, and Wi-Fi is no exception.

While the main standard for this kind of networking has been stuck at the same speed level for a couple of years, manufacturers are getting impatient and are coming up with all sorts of ways to boost the speeds of their Wi-Fi connections.

D-Link's answer goes by the unwieldy name of AirPlusXtremeG and it claims to be able to double your Wi-Fi speed to 108Mbit/s from the 54Mbit/s offered by the best current connection, 802.11g.

The DWL-G810 is a wireless bridge that can be plugged into the network port of any networkable device - a PC, printer or games console - and instantly give it fast Wi-Fi capabilities. In theory.

The unit is small and not unpleasant to look at. The 'easy' set-up wizard, however, failed to get our test unit operational and the device's settings interface was so complex that in the end we gave in and put a call in to D-Link's technical support.

The good news is that the DWL-G810 will work with existing 'b' and 'g' networks. But to get the super-fast speeds, you'll need to make sure your other Wi-Fi kit all uses the same D-Link AirPlusXtremeG technology.

That's because the standard version of Wi-Fi only supports connections up to 54Mbit/s and the faster modes offered by various manufacturers are not compatible with each other.

Even with a complete set-up using D-Link equipment, our tests showed XtremeG operation to be a lot less stable than standard 802.11g mode, perhaps proving that, unless you really feel the need for speed, it's worth waiting for the next officially ratified wireless standard to come along.