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No sign of DLink's "dual band" WiFi gateway in UK yet

It's billed as "the first fully integrated 802.11a and 802.11b" access point, and it costs $500 in the US - but it may well not be the "future proof" device that DLink says: it's the D-LinkAir Pro DWL-6000AP Dual Band Wireless Access Point.

The dual band access point, in theory, allows you to upgrade your network to 50 megabits (11a) without having to throw out the old 11 megabit (11b) gear in your user notebooks.

“This breakthrough all-in-one dual band design delivers the ultimate investment protection with the promise of a superior product life cycle and lower total cost of ownership,†said Steven Joe President of D-Link. “With both 2.4 and 5GHz connectivity, it allows customers to future proof their networks, protect their existing investment and create a seamless point of integration.â€

"Other access points can cost upwards of $1500 after the purchase of additional hardware that is required in order to take advantage of dual mode capabilities, while the D-LinkAir Pro DWL-6000AP Dual Band Wireless Access Point is a fully integrated solution that includes two internal mini-PCI slots to allow both WiFi and WiFi5 adapters and connectivity," the company adds in its press announcement.

However, WLAN installers have questioned the validity of the approach, saying that the network configuration which works for WiFi (11b) is unlikely to be suitable for WiFi5 (11a).

"Dual band client cards make sense," said an installer, "because they would, in theory, make it possible to move from a WiFi to a WiFi5 area. So if you are upgrading the network, your users won't have to know which sort of access point serves which part of the office."

But he said that he expected WiFi5 transmitters to have extremely limited range compared with WiFi units. "If you put the two devices in the same box, then you'll lose the signal on 802.11a which doesn't penetrate walls easily, and hardly penetrates floors at all. You'd need to add extra 11a access points to cover the dead areas."

The company also announced that it is actually increasing the range of ordinary WiFi access points, by introducing a "robust line of seven (7) new antennas to extend range and increase signal strength for high performance 2.4GHz, IEEE 802.11b compliant networks."

The new D-Link Air 2.4GHz antennas range from an indoor omni-directional ceiling antenna, which delivers a spherical polarization within a 55 yard range at 4 decibels (dBi) of signal gain, to an extremely powerful outdoor high gain directional yagi antenna, which delivers a distance of more than three (3) Miles at 18 decibels (dBi) of signal gain.

Pricing: Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Prices(MSRP) are $39 for the D-LinkAir DWL-R60AT, $109 for the D-LinkAir ANT24-0500, $119 for the D-LinkAir ANT24-0401, $170 for the D-LinkAir ANT24-0801, $249 for the D-LinkAir ANT24-1400, $319 for the D-LinkAir ANT24-1800, and $319 for the D-LinkAir ANT24-1801.

Neither the dual standard AP nor the extended antennas are listed on D-Link's UK web site yet. There are no known plans to release dual waveband client cards at this point, but speculation suggests that this must be the next move.