D-Link DWL-G120 Wireless USB Adapter, 802.11g, 54Mbps Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased 2 D-Link DWL-G120 802.11g adapters from Amazon through Office Depot to use on two Tivo DVR's. I wanted the extra speed of these adapters, which were the only 802.11g adapters recommended by Tivo. I bought them specifically to make use of the Tivo To Go features that allows you to watch a show on one Tivo that was recorded on another one via the network and to transfer recordings from a Tivo to my PC. Neither feature worked with these adapters. If you read the Tivo website carefully, you will see they recommend D-Link DWL-G120 version B2. The Amazon website did not indicate what version was being sold. I was shipped the B1 version and they keep losing the connection whenever I try to transfer recordings from one Tivo to the other or to my PC. A Tivo person on their community forum verified that a different chipset is on the B2 and that the B1 causes hangups and freezes like what I experienced.
By the way, I don't think the 802.11g makes the transfers any faster than 802.11b. Even when the transfers were working before freezing, the speed was about the same or slower than real time. I've read technical reviews on other adapters and they all say the same thing. Of course, Tivo doesn't mention this in all their hype about Tivo to Go.
I emailed Office Depot to see if I could get a refund or exchange them for the proper version. So far, no reply from Office Depot. To be fair, the first adapter was defective, but Office Depot shipped me a replacement within 3 business days after I phoned them, not that it mattered as it turned out. I'll give them a great review as a merchant if they take back the two I still have.
My advice, pay the extra cost and buy adapters direct from Tivo. Then you only have one vendor to deal with if problems develop. If I ever get the B2 version and they work well, I'll post a new review, but for now I'm giving these adapters the lowest rating possible - 1 star.

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D-Link's AirPlus XtremeG DWL-G120 Wireless USB Adapter makes wireless networking easier to use with its USB 2.0 connection. Using the 802.11g standard, the DWL-G120 offers transfer rates of up to 54Mbps.The DWL-G120 also works with 802.11b standard wireless devices and when used with other D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G products delivers throughput speeds capable of handling heavy data payloads including MPEG video streaming. Like all D-Link wireless adapters, the DWL-G120 can be used in ad-hoc mode to connect directly with other 802.11g or 802.11b wirelessly-enabled computers for peer-to-peer file sharing or in infrastructure mode to connect with a wireless access point or router for access to the Internet in your office or home network.

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TiVo AG0100 Wireless G USB Network Adapter for TiVo Series 2 and Series 3 DVRs Review

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(More customer reviews)First, thank you to the previous reviewers: I had several questions regarding this product such as "does it support Wireless Encryption?" and the previous reviews really helped...by the way yes, it supports WEP.
What you will need if you want to use this:
1) Wireless Internet Access (Wireless Router and Connection to Internet) within range of your DVR
2) Series 2 DVR (with USB plug)
3) A computer for some of the advanced features
Once you have these two things then using this product is amazingly simple to set up for about 80% of "Lucky People."
1) Plug it In
2) Follow the Instructions
3) Enter your WEP key (alphanumeric or hexadecimal --- alphanumeric is much easier)
4) I had to restart my DVR
5) If you're connecting a computer and using TivoToGo, you have to install the software on your computer...which also has to be connected to the network for your TIVO to see it and for your computer to see your TIVO and you'll need your Media Access Key.
Benefits I received from this product:
1) I don't have to use a phone line to get updates (no dialing)
2) TIVO updates come much faster over Broadband (Faster updates)
3) I bought TIVO to Go Plus --extra $$ from TIVO for the license key that you use with the computer software and I can listen to my iPod music through my Bose in my living room
4) I have my picture library shared....baby pictures are nice on the television....but caution, the quality of the pictures will only be as good as your TV....ie HDTV is still not as good as a good laptop screen and if you don't have HDTV, they'll only look as good as your TVs best resolution. Its still very cool to show baby pictures on the big TV.
5) I have a huge Attached Hard Drive array on my computer...its really a Server...so I offload movies I plan to keep and they're always there when I want to watch them so the 180hour DVR size limit kindof doesn't apply.
Issues / Challenges:
1) You have to know a little bit about computers if you want to get some of the more complex benefits such as share pictures, music, download movies.....ie you have to know about firewalls, how to install software, IP addresses and things like that.
2) If you have wireless access already set up and just want to use it to connect to the internet and get program updates instead of using your phone line, its pretty easy but you'll have to a) have DHCP turned on or b) assign it a static IP......for those of you who think I just typed in Greek, chances are that you have DHCP but if you happen not to, you could bump into problems.
3) If you want to listen to your IPod, share pictures, download to your computer, please make sure to read the software/hardware requirements for your computer.
Overall, these are my thoughts on the average person installing this easily:
A) 80% of the people who buy this should have Zero problems installing this product because you have a standard network configuration, know your way around networks, or are just lucky.
B) 20% of the people who buy this who don't have a standard Wireless network configuration AND don't have some knowledge of networking....you could become frustrated at trying to connect this product ESPECIALLY if you want to use some of the advanced functionality.
My Luck:
1) Start to finish it took me 5 minutes to install this to get its updates through the wireless network.
2) It took me about 30 minutes to install all the other software and get everything configured to share music, pictures and enable TivoToGo on my computer.


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Connect your TiVo Series2 DVR to your wireless home network with this TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter, and enjoy TiVoToGo, multi-room viewing transfers, music and photos served up to your television, and easy online scheduling of recordings. If used with a broadband connection, it also eliminates the need for a phone line. With the TiVoToGo feature, you'll be able to transfer programs from your TiVo box to a Windows-based desktop or laptop PC. It works with 802.11g and 802.11b wireless networks.
What's in the Box USB network adapter, USB cable

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