D-Link Wireless AC 1200 Dual Band Adapter (DWA-182) D-Link Wireless AC 1200 Dual Band Adapter (DWA-182)

Pros: The adapter is a typical sized Wireless USB adapter. Some of these have been known to get hot and luckily this one has a few vents on the sides for cooling. Construction is very sturdy and I can see this lasting quite a while with moderate use.

The 3 ft USB extension cable is another bonus. I primarily use it to acquire a better signal through proper positioning of the adapter. The cable also feels like a good quality cable

The range of the adapter is pretty stellar. I was able to pull 4-5 bars in the attic of my house while connnected to my laptop (Router is situated in the basement. Got 3-4 bars in my garage and backyard and a solid 3 bars at my neighbors house.

Wireless N speeds were alright considering the limitations of the technology. Around 9-10 MB/s while transferring a small 700 MB SD movie using the 5 GHz band and 7-8 MB/s using the 2.4 GHz band.

Installation was relatively simple. Windows 7 on my laptop recognized the adapter and drivers were installed automatically. However with Windows 8 the drivers failed to install and use of the drivers CD was required to manually install the drivers.

It is a full backwards compatible dual band wireless USB adapter featuring 802.11 a/b/g/n and most importantly ac. The 5 GHz band really shines when you need to get a decent signal within a mess of 2.4 GHz frequencies from other devices and the data throughput is far better than the 2.4 GHz band.

Wirless S

Cons: Wireless AC speeds were kind of disappointing. I had to borrow my friends Wireless AC router to properly test this since I did not have one (ASUS RT-AC66U). I was able to pull only a mere 23 MBps on the 5GHz AC band while doing a file transfer of a 2.7 GB HD MPEG-4 video file. This is probably due to the inherent limitations of the USB which I will go over below. Speed tests were done on the main flow with the router being situated in the basement.

The sync button didn't work all the time. There were a few moments where I had to pull the adapter and then press the button to make it work.

The Blue led is hard to see sometimes.

Other Thoughts: Despite the benefits of this adapter, the main problem is the self limiting factor of USB 2.0. Even though the product boasts speeds of 867 Mbps, the theoretical maximum speed of USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps and in real life situations you can expect max speeds of less than 40-50% of the theoretical max of 480 Mbps. So essentially your speed will be cut to <200 Mbps. This adapter should have been made as a USB 3.0 adapter which instead supports theoretical max speeds of 4.8 Gbps (4,800 Mbps). With ?USB 3.0 you could theoretically support the max speed of wireless ac without a hitch. Of course making this a USB 3.0 product would raise the price point of the adapter a bit and this adapter is pretty pricey as is.

The adapter however was better than every wireless adapter I have ever own when it came to Wireless N speeds. Speeds were steady during large file transfers and the adapter never randomly failed on me like previous adapters. I would definitely use this for everyday use with my desktop due to it's reliable. I have to knock off one egg due to price and because of the self limiting speeds of the ac band with USB 2.0. But overall I am satisfied with this adapter.

Pros: USB extension 3ft cable with stand. This is nice so you don't have to worry about bumping it with it plugged in to the pc or laptop. I've seen memory sticks break that way.

This wireless connection is just as fast as my wired connection.

Backwards compatible. This device works with 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g and 802.11a

Range works really well. I can be in the garage with the network adapter, while the wireless router is on the second floor of the house.

Easy Easy Easy install. Place the CD in, click install, connect adapter, log on to the network. Did I mention the install was easy?!?

The packaging was good too. The product is well placed in the box, and looks pretty durable.

Dual frequency band means less interference.

Cons: The form factor is a little big. With the size of some other network adapters, and memory sticks, this probably could of been smaller, BUT, with the added length there would be a bigger antenna, and better performance.

USB 2.0
Not sure if this is even a con. I've seen some people say that this will not perform as fast as it should because it is not USB 3.0. I haven't noticed any performance issues because of this. Plus USB 2.0 has a greater market. I just bought a new motherboard, and it only has two USB 3.0 ports.

Other Thoughts: This is a great product, at a fair price. I would highly recommend getting one of these if you are looking for a network adapter.

For a desktop or a mostly stationary laptop, this will be fantastic. If you constantly move your laptop and you want to use this, just remember you will be doing a lot of unplugging and plugging back in. I would still buy it.

Pros: The most important thing to know about this wireless adapter is that it utilizes wireless ac technology. In order to utilize this product as it was meant to be used, it requires an wireless ac compatible wireless router. Having said that, it is still backward compatible with b/g/n standards and will work with any of those routers.

It comes with a 3ft long USB cable with attached desktop stand. The little desktop stand makes it look nice while sitting nicely on the desk rather than having it laying around. I used double sided tape to fix it at a corner of my desk so that it doesn't get in the way.

Speed wise it will get most jobs done quite easily. I am getting around 25MB/s speeds on my file transfer from the home server. It is nowhere near the potential gigabit speed promised by AC technology but it is more than enough to get normal office and home use done. Streaming videos and media is a breeze and it is more than enough to utilize high speed internet in the home.

Wireless range in quite decent. You have to remember that more than half of job for wireless range is actually done by the wireless router, so if you pair it with a good router it will serve you best. I can get very good internet speed through this adapter below a story.

It is a dual band adapter so it can utilize 2 GHz as well as 5GHz bands. If you have too many wireless traffic in your area either form your own devices or your neighbors then you can utilize the less used 5 GHz band to improve the wireless performance.

I am impressed by their 5 years limited warranty, not a lot of companies offer that kind of warranty now a days.

Cons: The wireless AC technology is relatively new and has not been adapted into the consumer market as much as its older counterparts. This adapter although is a very good product and is backward compatible to the older standards it is still limiting itself by using USB 2.0 interface. The speed of 25 MB/s is no where near the true potential of wireless AC technology. I see the USB 2.0 as the main factor limiting the data transfer speed in this device. I think D link jumped on the AC wagon just to put out a AC product without much thought to it. As another reviewer Omega21XX mentioned, although it is fast enough for all the mundane daily activities like internet/VoIP/gaming, it doesn't fulfill the occasional large file transfers to and from my home server.

Another negative factor is its size. For desktop use with the supplied USB cable/extender dock it works fine. But using it in a laptop is quite awkward. At 3 1/8 inch without including the USB plug it is not as subtle for laptop use. For now I will stick to built in WiFi for my laptop, which is decent enough.

Other Thoughts: If you are looking specifically to upgrade to AC standard then I don't think this adapter is the best choice out there. However if you are looking for any wireless adapter then it is a very good option depending on the price you might want to pay for one. This adapter doesn't deliver the 867 Mbps as mentioned in the description (they are merely mentioning the AC speed rather than the actual speed this device can perform).
I am very big on warranties, so I value the 5 years warranty D link is providing for this product. Having few products break down right after the warranty period, I feel strong seeing such a long term warranty on this product.

It is a good buy if you are looking just for a good wireless adapter but not if you are expecting AC speeds with this device.

Pros: FORM:
Sturdy plastic
Wired cradle
FUNCTION:
Great range
Dual Band performance
Works with VMware
Future WiFi compatibility
Software easy to install and works with Windows 7
Dual-Band technology prevents interference with other 2.4GHz wireless devices (cell phone, Bluetooth, etc.)

Cons: FORM:
Obtrusively large
Crowds USB ports
Adapter cap does not attach to device
Blue LED
FUNCTION:
WPS does not work, may operate with a D-Link router
Adapter will not function without software installed (big No-No for power users)
No independent driver
Does not install drivers or software on Windows Vista or XP
Has no Linux compatibility in the near future
Software does not work on Windows 8 (drivers function)
Ping was consistently 50% longer than the internal Qualcomm Atheros in my laptop

Other Thoughts: D-Link has provided an 802.11ac wireless device for the consumer ahead of many of their competitors. This has pros and cons of its own since there are not many devices that can comply with the standard. Using the WPS should provide the user with an easy and quick method of using the device, but it did not work with the Netgear R6200 I was experimenting with. Furthermore, not having independent drivers is a major con because many of us do not want to use or install devices software if it is not needed; Windows system utilities should be sufficient. In addition, with D-Link attempting to get a jump on the 802.11ac market there should have been some foresight into using USB 3.0. USB 2.0 is sufficient for general activities, but with file transfers USB 2.0 is too slow.
Performance-wise, the DWA-182 drivers work great with Windows 7 and 8 Pro 64 and their VMware counterparts. Although the software did not install correctly on Windows 8, the drivers still functioned; uninstalling the software disable the device. On a virtual Windows Vista Enterprise 64 and XP Pro 32 sp3 the drivers nor the software installed correctly or functioned. According to documentation, these Operating Systems should have worked, but maybe it has something to do with the VMware that I will test at a later date; I do not believe it has anything to do with the VMs though. Testing with speedtest.net provided the same numbers as my internal Atheros (laptop) except for a longer ping. However, the range itself was much farther. I live in a large complex with many forms of interference, but I was able to get a good signal about 250 feet away. After a week of use, I could not determine any increase in performance on my n-class router. On an ac router my file transfers of a 4.6GB .mkv file were higher at an average 27.3MB/s (limited by USB 2.0) compared to my Atheros's 21.7MB/s; it is still faster to use good 'ol Ethernet for transfers.
In regards to aesthetics, the DWA-182 adapter is large and will crowd most users USB ports that is why there is a cradle provided for the user. Furthermore, D-Link did not provide a place to attach the cap for the adapter; major design flaw that bothers me as a user. However, for the size of this device it is lightweight and feels sturdy even though plastic encases the product. I wish manufacturers would quit using blue LEDs and switch back to red. Blue might be easier to see at a distance and in lighted conditions but a red LED does not distract or bother the eyes in dimly lit areas.
I do not feel that this device would be ideal for use with a portable device because of the size and the need to carry a cradle if one wished to attach another USB device. However, for home use I would recommend it if you are running Windows 7 or 8, have or are considering purchasing an 802.11ac router, or just want wireless at home and want a good connection without bothering with an internal wireless card.

Pros: Signal range/strength is quite high in comparison to my laptop and phone. External wireless adapter with a cradle, generally easier to use and setup than a PCI/PCIe card and would highly suggest this for a desktop that needs WiFi connection.

Cons: Cradle is light-weight and has a short cable so positioning can be hard but the addition of a cradle is still preferable than having the adapter stick out of the case. USB 2.0 limits the use of this adapter to gaming, internet surfing, ect. Not going to suggest it for media/large file sharing across the network as USB 2.0 speed is unbearable.

Other Thoughts: For general use you could find something cheaper, but with it's current running price of about $60 it is an okay choice. At full price ($90~) I feel USB 2.0 is a limiting factor for what this is capable of doing. At full price I would give this 3 eggs but on sale it is a solid 4.

Pros: Simple Installation. I had it going in about 5 mins flat.
Insane Range. I still had a connection to my router from across my street.
Looks. Black with a Blue LED. Sexy looking.

Cons: Could be cheaper, as well as smaller. There are plenty of other adapters that are cheaper and more portable just itching to take its place.

Other Thoughts: Opened my box. Hooked it up. Had it running in 5 mins. Decided to run a speedtest. With it hooked up, the speeds I got are .29ms ping/9.38mbps DL/.88mbps UL. Took the laptop it was hooked up to upstairs and ran the same test - got identical speeds. Went out in backyard, same. I went across the street and stopped, realizing I actually made it to the sidewalk with a connection. I was pretty stunned. With the adapter hooked up to my laptop, I was getting more connection options from my neighbors - laptop alone without the adapter can't do that. That gave me a giggle. I can now sit outside on the hammock and browse it up. Hooked it up to my desktop computer, ran a speedtest and got very similar results as my laptop. I am able to stream/game/browse on both my laptop and desktop without connection lag or loss. Works great with my Netgear WNDR3770 v2 router. No connection drop/loss. Black with Blue LED is very good looking and sits well next to my monitor via usb-extension cable. The size could be more compact, although it is not much bigger than your standard USB flash drive. Could also be cheaper. There are more adapter options to buy for much cheaper with steady feedback. If this adapter was cheaper, D-Link would have a serious winner in its hands. All in all, a very good adapter. With a 5 year warranty, you can breathe, D-Link has your back. I'd recommend it. For those who need more range connection, I point to this adapter. Is your laptop wireless range the dumps? This adapter will solve that problem and laugh. 5/5 for my tests.

Pros: Right out of the box, the install was easy in both Windows XP, and Windows 7 thanks to the included Quick Install Guide and CD ROM. Install time less than 5 minutes. The included remote cradle/USB dock works well with my desktop tower, and has a nice long connecting cable so I could squirrel it out of the way.
One of my worries was possible interference between my built in WiFi, and the 802.11, but they seemed to work well together, and with the dual band capability, there was no signal chop or even loss of signal up to a range of 75 Meters. And this was with my router located below grade (in my basement). The adapter detected 14 wireless networks while my built-in would only detect the closest 5.
While download speed was clocked at 5.3 Mbps, the upload rate was only .63 Mbps. (rates observed when working in tandem with the built-in WiFi and a server provided rate of 6.0 Mbps).

Cons: The adapter's size, 3 3/4 in. x 1 in., does make it a bit awkward when sticking out of the side of a laptop and the dock is too light to keep from easily tipping over (solved that problem with a bit of duct tape). However, I don't think that the docking situation is a major negative.

Other Thoughts: All in all, I think the D-Link Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter, 802.11 is a keeper. Of all the computer accessories I've installed over the years, this was one of the easiest and it does what it is supposed to reliably and better than my single band internal wireless adapter.

Pros: It works and once I got past the quirks I experienced, it worked rather well.

Appearance wise, it won’t be an eye sore as it comes with a cradle so it can be tucked away as necessary. The blue light did not bother me, but for some it might. Put that cradle to use and tuck it away as needed or a little piece of electrical tape should so the job.

With 802.11AC devices becoming more available, this is a great price for an adapter. Look for driver updates down the road as the standard matures though.

5 year warranty?! That is amazing and speaks to their confidence of this product. Look at the warranties of competing products.

Cons: Even though I entered the MAC for this adapter in to the Wireless Access Card List (ACL), I had to disable it for the adapter to connect. Prior to this I had tried the front USB 2 ports on my case, then changed to the USB 3 ports on the motherboard, it only connected once I disabled the Wireless ACL. If you use Wireless ACL in your setup and this adapter refuses to connect, try disabling that first to see if it addresses the issue.

The application never launched for me on Windows 8 Pro 64-bit no matter what compatibility settings I had selected.

Speeds seemed to fluctuate at times while retaining a solid signal, so a low-ping connection was somewhat elusive. Made gaming in BF3 a little frustrating at times.

Other Thoughts: Speed tests connected via 802.11n, speedtest.net and IE10/FF20 (best speeds shown given the scenario)
13.49 Mbps down, 4.80 Mbps up – Wireless ACL turned OFF, Router on 30+ day uptime
2.49 Mbps down, 4.39 Mbps up – Wireless ACL turned ON, Router on 30+ day uptime
28.40 Mbps down, 5.76 Mbps up – Wireless ACL turned ON, Router rebooted prior to test

The PC where this is used is in the same room as the router. I would assume the location of my PC would always allow for a strong, solid signal, but that is not true with some of the other adapters or Wi-Fi enabled devices when I use them in this room. This adapter had a solid signal all the time.

My router is a NetGear WNDR3700 v2 (802.11N) with firmware 1.0.0.36. I guess the router was a little cranky and needed a reboot in order to fully utilize this adapter.

Why 5 Eggs when I did not have an 802.11AC router? Because this thing worked pretty dang good in my 802.11N setup. My BF3 experience is more about me being used to a consistently low-ping than what I had with this.

Reno wrote up an amazingly detailed review (4/24/2013 6:29:33 AM), I’d suggest you check that out.

Pros: Nice change from other adapters I have used. The D-Link AC1200 DB wireless USB adapter was able to see many many more networks in range than my previous Netgear WNA1100. I find that to be a huge pro for it. I was also able to go further away from my router than ever before without suffering huge slow down in speed. I tested this with both a desktop and laptop. And while on desktop all connections tested (wired, WNA1100, AC1200) gave me very similar results. It was not until I went with the laptop and started moving about where the Ac1200 out shined the Netgear WNA1100. Sitting on my couch 20ft from router the AC1200 showed just as strong a speed as wired, the WNA1100 dropped 2Mbps. Outside on the front step 60ft away again the AC1200 remained vigilant and kept me moving at breakneck speed. WNA100 dropped another 5Mbps. It wasnt until I went down 3 flights of stairs 250Ft away from router that I saw a ever so slight decrease in speed down 2Mbps. WNA1100 could not even see my router. Next test was done sitting in the front seat of my service truck another 150ft away and still it preformed. Another pro for this is the ease of use the push button feature is nice to have for quick easy connections.

Cons: Price and size are the main cons on this and the reason for knocking an Egg off. @60$ its at the upper end of the price spectrum for USB wireless adapters. Also this thing is huge easily twice the size of the WNA1100 I used for comparison. This could be hampering for those with laptops. As I have seen many mangled small sized adapters. Another con is running this on my Windows 8 Pro desktop the software kept telling me it was aborted but driver were still installed and to relaunch the connection manager to open the manger which would never open. Windows 7 Pro software and driver loaded with no issues. For the time of release for this product (Win 8 being out for a while now) its not a forgiving thing to not have the software work for latest operating systems. So yet another Egg to knock off.

Other Thoughts: Overall the performance aspect of the AC1200 was surprising to say the least. I love the fact that it was able to see networks my other adapter could not. I also love the fact that it seemed to enhance my range. Although I'll be the first to admit its most likely not the adapter making my range increase but the other adapters inability to see further. I will soon be reviewing the AC1200 Dual Band Cloud router cant wait to pair it with this adapter and see what new wonders the world of wireless internet range has in store for me.

So if your not bothered by how big and somewhat bulky this adapter is and want to in essence future proof your wireless abilities I'd buy this in a heartbeat. However if you need a compact device I'd look elsewhere this behemoth will definitely have to be watched to make sure it doesn't collide with its surroundings.

Manufacturer Response:

Your feedback is appreciated. We are glad to hear that the adapter performed admirally for you. We are sorry to hear that the size of the device was a concern for you. As for the Windows 8 Driver, the Windows 7 should work, but we will pass the missing driver information along to our web team for correction. Your product feedback will be taken in to consideration and passed along to our Product Management group. If you require further assitance with your unit, please visit www.dlink.com for the latest downloads and manuals.

Pros: Easy installation. Put in CD, press start, plug in key, and you are done pretty much.
Long range. I pick up networks from down the road I haven't seen before.
Options for 160MHz bandwidth, eight connections, and 866Mbits per second transfer according to the 802.11ac Standard.
Fully backwards compatible with 802.11A,B,G, and N.
It works great really. I have been using it and had no real issues with the device. The USB extended plug in is helpful.

Cons: A few minor problems. First, the signal is not 100% stable it seems. I ran an active download of some large files from a server connection. Watching the connection it often performed fine. It wouldn't always run at the top speed I have on my network (1.2 Mbps), more often running around 800kbps. This is a good speed still, but the connection varied a lot. It would sometimes drop down to 0 but just for a second, then rise again and jump around anywhere between 300kbps and 1.2 mbps. It wasn't bad enough to make service seem bad, in fact browsing was perfect. Just the speeds varied greatly.

Second, the USB 2.0 interface limits the device from reaching its full ability. While it can do 866 mbits per second, USB 2.0 can only send through 480 mbits per second. That is not counting the overhead either. Also that is with just one connection, the device should be able to do eight connections, but you will never get performance greater than one unless you are running on a lower bandwidth. This is not a huge problem, because 480 mbits is a very fast connection still.

The final issues are more minor. The key feels a little fragile because of where it is open for ventilation. Not a big deal. Also, the software for this creates a series of processes in your system that will run 24/7 and eat up some memory and cpu power even if the key is not plugged in.

Other Thoughts: The key has a few minor issues, but really it works great. It has a few flaws, but you would have to have a extremely powerful connection, or a very weak PC before they would ever really become a problem. If you have a good connection and get maybe 100,000 mbits per second, and really want to take advantage of it, getting a couple of these would make it easy. Two could take complete advantage of that speed on two different systems. It is really a great key for its performance. Despite the greatly varied speed, I noticed no real drop in performance over my PCI-E 802.11n.