D-Link DWL-810

The DWL-810 will be ready and waiting to bring your console online, without having to drape out yet another cable just waiting to send you flying across your living room.

Console gamers of the world rejoice! Finally, those of us who prefer to game from the couch rather than the study are going to get one of the features that has made the PC popular as a gaming machine -- online gaming. Well, at least for the rest of the world that is. . .we’re still waiting to see if and when Australia’s PS2, GameCube and Xbox multiplayer services are going to be launched. But when they do, the DWL-810 will be ready and waiting to bring your console online, without having to drape out yet another cable just waiting to send you flying across your living room.

Using the 802.11b protocol, this Ethernet-to-Wireless bridge plugs into the Ethernet port on the network adaptor of the PS2 or GameCube, or directly into the back of your Xbox. In fact, you can use this on any device that has an Ethernet port, such as a printer, but D-Link seems to be pushing it most as a wireless solution for the next gen consoles.
 
For the asking price of $270, you get a small cube of approximately 90mm x 80mm x 40mm, so it’s not as if this thing is going to be hogging any floor space. If you purchase a couple of these boxes, you’ll be able to system link a couple of Xboxes without the need for a system link cable, but you’ll be paying a high price for the privilege of wireless, at $540 for two.

Unfortunately the price of this box does not include the Wireless Access Point you’ll need to share your Net connection when you want to bring your console online. So unless you’re already running a wireless LAN at home, you’ll need to add another $300, at least, for an access point, making this a very expensive proposition just to get rid of a single cable.
 
Setting up this device is quite simple, especially when compared to some of the earlier Ethernet-to-Wireless bridges. If you need to tweak your IP and subnet settings for your console, you’ll have to first attach the DWL-810 to your PC, and the device will then remember your settings.

While this device is nice and small, easy to set up, and banishes the old RJ45 cables to the bottom of your trash can, it’s ridiculously expensive for what it does. In fact, it’s so expensive that all but the richest of gamers will have to pass up the opportunity to game -- Wireless style.