Cisco-Linksys WAP54G Wireless-G Access Point by Linksys
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Digital camera reviews of Cisco-Linksys WAP54G Wireless-G Access Point
Digital camera Review: Accessing the WAP54G from a Mac
Summary: 4 Stars
I have an ethernet home-network connecting the Internet to my office and my wife's. I wanted to add a wireless access point to my office so we could use a WiFi radio in the kitchen. I was ready to return the WAP54G to Amazon when I read only Windows requirements on the box. Moreover, the "Setup Wizard CD" inside the box is completely useless to any Macintosh person, and Lynksys provides no written information about how to communicate with the WAP54G from a Mac.
Fortunately the WAP54G support page "http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/support/WAP54G" came to my rescue. I was able to set up my WAP54G easily using their "Accessing the Access Point's Web-Based Setup Page Using Mac" instructions. And my new Squeezebox Boom radio sounds great in the kitchen.
Linksys WAP54G Wireless-G Access Point
Digital camera Review: After a few days of headache configuring it, the thing works like a charm
Summary: 4 Stars
Setting up the Linksys was a threefold pain, but after wrestling with the configuration I'm consistently getting 54Mb throughout my house. I flip the thing on and forget about it.
The three obstacles in setting up the WAP54G were:
1) The auto-setup program on the included CD continually blew up. My online chat with tech support led nowhere, the chat session dropping about 20 minutes in.
2) My private subnet doesn't include the factory default IP for the Linksys (or most other network devices), so I had to temporarily switch over my PC and router IPs and subnets to connect to the WAP54G's config web server. Note this isn't the fault of Linksys, but food for thought if you have to do a manual configuration from an "unconventional" private subnet.
3) The documentation doesn't give a lot of guidance on setting up WPA2 security for a Windows client. After a great deal of web sleuthing I discovered from Microsoft's site that my XP Pro SP2 notebook required a download to support WPA2.
Digital camera Review: Almost everything it's cracked up to be!
Summary: 4 Stars
This great product from Linksys works very well, is fast, and extraordinarily convenient. The software was easily installed and hook-up a breeze. I attached this unit to a Linksys wired router.
The only draw-back for me is that my router is equipped with a VoIP phone line. I wanted to stack the units together to save space, which according to the instructions is a viable option. However, with the equipment in this configuration I had a problem with the Access Point interfering with the VoIP and dropping my phone line to the point where I had to use a software "reset" to gain use of my phone again. I moved the Access Point from the top of the router to a place slightly above and to the side and the problem dissappeared. Not a bad problem, just not convenient for the space saving idea. C'est la vie.
In all other ways this unit is perfect for use with my laptop! I'd buy it all over again.
Digital camera Review: Amazon.com - WAP54G
Summary: 5 Stars
Product arrived quickly and in new condition. Competitive pricing.
I would purchase from this seller in the future.
Digital camera Review: An honest and thorough look at the WAP54G
Summary: 3 Stars
Short version - great unit, but the logging leaves much to be desired, and the latest firmware seems to have a few minor glitches. If you want to know the details, read on... Bought a WAP54G recently. Performance is decent. Range is good. Anyone who claims that they don't see a speed difference between a wired and wireless connection probably isn't looking close enough - a 100Mbps full-duplex ethernet has much faster throughput than a wireless connection. Try comparing an FTP of a file that's a couple of hundred megs and you'll see what I mean...
The issues I have with this unit are what I believe to be firmware bugs, and their tech support claims they can duplicate them but hasn't done anything in the way of fixing them in the last month that they've known about them. I was told that a future firmware release "might" address these things, but no indication as to when or if at all.
I feel that security is critical, especially on a wireless device that any passer-by can potentially connect to if in range, and the logging on this unit falls short of my expectations.
Powering up the WAP54G while the logging utility is capturing yields two log entries stating that the syslogd and system have been started. Attaching to the network using a laptop equipped with a WPC54G yields an additional message stating there was a "Wireless PC connected" with the date and time - "Somebody" is connected, but who? (MAC address would be nice, but none given). As far as the logs are concerned, I've never seen any additional messages generated. Short of resetting the WAP54G, I've never seen another log entry gererated depsite the activity on my network. The logs entries captured by their loging utility are always four hours ahead of the correct date and time, and that ought to be addressed as well. Disconnecting and reconnecting (rebooting the laptop) does not generate any additional log entries. For MAC address filtering, you can specifically permit or prevent up to twenty MAC addresses. If you make your entries on that screen, and then refresh the page (either by logging off and then back on, or by resetting the WAP), the addresses remain, but the indication of whether you're permitting or preventing those addresses disappears. This might be cosmetic, but I'd still like to know what my devices are doing... Using XP Pro and setting up WEP took some trial and error - not as intuitive as I'd like.
If speed and convenience are what you're looking for, this unit will probably fit the bill. If you're interested in security and knowing what this device is actually doing at any given time, the logs are sure to keep you in the dark. If/when they release a firmware upgrade that addresses this issue, I think they will have a five star product.