Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys WET610N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter

5 star:		(139)
4 star:		(70)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(68)

 

 

I bought the WET610N for my Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-Ray Player. My options were either wired, which I didn't want to do, or buy a proprietary dongle from Samsung. I chose the option that Samsung did not mention - I bought the WET610N! The unit was easy to setup, and the instructions were clear. I've never been fond of using Linksys CD's to setup this kind of equipment, but I have to say it was painless and quick compared to some others I've seen. The value of this unit is simply that it will work with ANYTHING that wants a "wired" network connection. So, it doesn't matter if it's a video game system, a DVR type device, or as in this case a blu-ray DVD Player. For this reason, the unit is a great value and will be in use for a long time, even when the current equipment I am using it with now is long gone.

Update 10/31/10:

This product has worked *flawlessly* for a year straight! Highly recommended without reservation!

Update 10/2/09:

New firmware update available from Linksys 8/31/09 (I went from 1.0.01 to 1.0.03 today). After applying new firmware, the reported signal strength increased significantly. So did the consistency and reliability of pings (previously would vary between 2ms and 410 ms as well as skip an occasional ping - now consistently below 5 ms!). I would recommend this product, but be sure to be running firmware 1.0.0.03. This update may address some (but not all) of the issues that previous reviewers experienced.

Original review:

Quick shipment from Amazon. As much as I dread Setup wizards, I used the wizard supplied on the CD-ROM, which I ran from my laptop, which is connected wirelessly via the wireless router. Connected bridge to router with the supplied straight-through Ethernet cable. The wizard quickly detected available wireless networks (I selected mine - not my neighbors'). Asked me for passphrase (it knew I use WPA2 encryption) for router (Linksys WRT54G), waited a bit, then wizard told me to disconnect bridge from router and then connect the bridge to my remote device (in my case - a home-theater-in-a-box) (HTIB) with an wired ethernet connection. A bit later, wizard announced setup finished. Instantly able to watch streaming Netflix and listen to Pandora on the HTIB.

Prior to running wizard, I added the MAC address of the bridge (it's on the underside of the unit) to the allowed list of "PCs") on my router's list of allowed MAC addresses. Second, I ensured that I had a sufficient range of DHCP addresses dispensed by the DHCP server on my router (total of 3 - one for the laptop, one for the wireless printer, and now added a third for this bridge). Third, I had my router passphrase readily available to supply to the wizard.

I think that since I was well prepared, the setup was flawless and quick. I totally understand why wizards are used - they're for novices to easily set up their stuff. In this case, I think it took the wizard less time to set up the device than it would have if I were to have chosen to set up the bridge manually (which is an undocumented option). A novice would have a struggle with a manual setup, I'm sure.

Signal strength on the bridge indicates to be a bit weak for business use, but for home use, it's working great for my sole application. One could certainly add more devices on the bridge side by connecting the bridge to a switch to provide additional Ethernet ports. Of course, the bridge will pass DHCP info to any device connected to any such switch. And of course, no address needed for a(n) (unmanaged) switch.

The only thing I'm uncertain about is this product's longevity. I did have an early Linksys WRT54G totally fail on me, but I'm hoping that having placed my current one on a UPS, this won't happen again. I have confidence in current Linksys products.

I hope Amazon buyers find this review helpful.

I recommend this product.

After I got the unit set up, it works fine for my purposes - connecting my blu-ray player to my wireless home network. The distance is short, less than 30 feet, and just in the next room. The connection will not carry a lot of video smoothly, but it works OK.

But if you are not able to handle a few set-up issues yourself, reconsider. It took me the second try to set up the device through their setup disk. Then it couldn't find my wireless network, which had 2 laptops on it and was running fine. I called technical support. The manufacturer CLAIMS to offer free technical support during the 1-year warranty. But when I called, the very day my unit was delivered, they wouldn't help me unless I bought extended coverage for their router I was using with it. I didn't have any problems with the router, but they wouldn't tell me how to connect my brand new ethernet bridge to the router because the router warranty had expired. Real ripoff. These things HAVE to go through a router so everyone who calls for technical support will have a router. I think this allows them to avoid giving any technical support on this unit without the customer paying. I figured it out myself eventually - without the assistance of the very unhelpful representative.

Please be advised, the WRT610N + WET610N combo do not work as advertised.

I bought a WET610N to replace my Xbox 360's wireless adapter.

I have it connected to a WRT610N (which I assumed was the best of it's kind). I am using WPA2 personal with a static IP address and QoS. The WET610n disconnects every other day and has to be completely reconfigured from ground zero. Apparently this is a known issue ([...] ) It amazes me that Cisco is unwilling or unable to fix their flagship devices to work as advertised.

The issue is apparently related to the passkey re-authentication that periodically takes place in a WPA2 environment. I have changed that r-authentication from the default 3600 seconds to the maximum 7200 seconds; this has reduced, but not eliminated the problem.

DO NOT BUY THIS COMBO UNITL CISCO FIXES THE FIRMWARE.

In addition to my connection being less stable, the wireless sigle strength is no better between these two devices than it was with my Xbox 360s wireless adapter and my old WRT54G running DD-WRT firmware. As far as I can tell, "Range +" or whatever they call it is no more than a marketing gimmick.

I purchased this device to connect my Samsung BlueRay 1600 player to my internet. I tried the Samsung Linkstik, but due to the position in my house and the inflexibility of the Linkstik, my connection kept dropping. I connected the Cisco bridge via a wireless connection to my NetGear 300n router and presto, no problems and downloaded movies began immediately from Netflix.

My only reason for the downgrade from 5 to 4 is that none of the documentation that I saw stated that it could only run one device through the bridge. I find that to be rather ridiculous for the price. At least two to four ethernet connections should have been enabled for $95. So my downgrade is related to the price for function rather than anything wrong with the device.

I purchased this because I didn't like how the USB wireless adapter I was previously using had to load it's software before I would get a connection. This would cause some of the programs that I load on Windows startup to give an error message about not having an internet connection unless they loaded after the USB adapter software. I decided to get a bridge because once it gets connected, your computer accesses the internet as if it were plugged in to the wired ethernet. I'm using this with the Linkysys WRN610N dual band router.

Setup on this device was easy. I simply did a quick google search to find out it's default IP address and then opened my web browser and connected. I entered my network information and then rebooted the adapter. I then moved it to where I was going to place it and hooked it up and checked the wireless network list in the configuration page to make sure I was getting an ok signal. thats all I had to do and now it works great.

It's signal strength is okay, but I think it should probably be better. My laptop certainly gets a much better signal from the router when placed in the exact same location. given the size of the antennas in the laptop compared to this small device I'm not surprised. One thing I should note is that you can connect to either a 5Ghz network or a 2.4Ghz network, but it cannot be configured to use one band and then fall back to the other if the signal gets weak. this would be a nice feature to have.

The LED's on the front tell you what you need to know and aren't too bright or annoying like my old adapter was with a super bright blue flashing LED.

I gave this four stars because the built in web interface does not have any help page that explains the options like my WRN610 router does. The included electronic manual also does not have very good explanations either. Also I think the signal strength could be better. However, it works like it should, gets decent speeds, and wasn't difficult for me to set up so I do recommend it.

This product gets five stars for performance but one star for set up and tech support.

Pros :
Lightning fast communication (when paired with a Netgear RangeMax router)
Easily adjustible settings to optimize streaming video performance

Cons :
The setup program didn't run as advertised
The firmware upgrade crashed twice before I got it to run
No automatic firmware upgrade
Tech support that politely takes your name, records your problem, and hangs up on you.
It runs hot

Here's a more reliable set up guide :
1. Connect the product directly to your router and attach the power cord
2. While waiting for the WET610N to turn on and orient itself, navigate to the Linksys web site and download the latest firmware.
3. After 2 or 3 minutes, navigate to your router's connections page and find the IP address for the WET610N.
4. Navigate to the WET610N's control interface by plugging the IP address into your browser. It will ask for login information. Leave the username field blank and type"admin" as the password.
5. Update the firmware
6. Unplug the router and plug it back in.
7. Get back to the router's control interface by repeating steps 3 and 4 above. (The IP address may have changed).
8. Adjust the wireless settings to the desired configuration. I got the best performance with dual band transmission and WPA2 security.
9. Unplug the router and set it up where you want it.

I have a BluRay player and a DirecTV HD-DVR that offer additional services if connected to the internet. Running ethernet cable lines is a pain in the ass - it's messy, time consuming and expensive and if you ever want to move your equipment then you have to modifiy your cable run. Soulution - The WET610N Wireless bridge.

I actually timed the installation to see just how long it would take from start to finish.
Clock started: I moved my laptop and its AC adapter to the room in my house where the Linksys Wireless Router is located. That took 1 1/2 minutes. I then opened the box and unfolded and read instructions. It took a total of 6 1/2 minutes to format and configure the WET610N Bridge. The installation CD does not install any programs on your computer so don't worry. It simply configures the unit. Eight minutes after starting the clock, my new WET610N was ready to be hooked up to my HD-DVR and BluRay Player.

It took me 5 minutes to move my furniture away from the wall, plug in the unit, move the dresser back and run the Network Setup option from the HD-DVR. That was it. The screen said congratulations your connected to DirecTV via the internet (or something similar.)

In all it took the same if not more time moving my furniture etc, than it did to configure the Network Bridge

If your DVR has 2 ethernet ports, plug this unit into the top port. The lower one is a pass through like having 2 connections on the back of an answering machine. Plug the lower port into any other device like a BluRay Player or game console and now both are connected to the internet.

Lastly, if you ever want to connect another device in another room to the internet you can either just remove the unit you currently own and move it from one device to another or if you prefer you can purchase and configure another WET610N Bridge and hook it up the same way as detailed above.

This review is written with the goal of helping other Linux users who may be installing this product(the same should apply to Mac). If you're like me, you have PLENTY of other things to do than to spend an hour installing hardware. Hope this helps ya...

This installation was done on RHEL 5.

As an IT professional I've been working with Cisco Products for over 15 years and I have the highest respect for their product line. That being said, the instructions that come with this product are some of THE WEAKEST I've encountered in a VERY long time. Evidently the tech writers and product manager(s) didn't consider the NON-Windows end user when they released this manual to the consumer.

*************************************************************
Cisco engineering and tech writers, please read this section:
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Any instruction manual worth a penny will have a section AT THE BEGINNING of the manual that will break down the various platforms where the product will be installed. The goal of said section is to EXPEDITE the installation of the product. A traffic cop, if you will.

The section, typically, looks something like this:

1. Windows Installation: please go to[section for Windows instructions]
2. Mac Installation: please go to[section for Mac instructions]
3. Linux Installation: please go to[section for Linux instructions]

But, since this product doesn't have a properly written manual you have to wade through a few sections BEFORE you get to the MANUAL portion of the installation, which is what's needed for Linux and Mac users.

Be forewarned: the CD will NOT have anything readable by Linux except the user manual(UserGuide.pdf). As soon as you load the disk, open UserGuide and go to the section titled:

Chapter 3:
Advanced Configuration
Section: How to Access the Web-Based Utility

Basically, you will need to do the following(some of it is copied and pasted from Biju Xavior's review):

FIRST: Kill the power to your Router so it doesn't transmit its DCHP address. You will need to access the DEFAULT IP on the Bridge(see step 7 below) and if you have your router transmitting DHCP it will NOT allow you to access your Bridge's default IP. Kill the power on your router! Trust me :-)

SECOND: reset your Bridge. This will cause the Bridge to default to IP address 169.254.1.250. Reset button is located back side of the bridge. Press and hold 30 seconds and release.

1. Change your Linux IP Address to either: 169.254.1.1 or 169.254.5.6
2. Change your Linux Subnet Mask to 255.255.0.0
3. Apply, OK
4. Connect Data Cable from computer to Bridge.
5. Connect Bridge's electrical power cord to outlet.
6. Open your Firefox browser.
7. Type on the address bar: 169.254.1.250
8. The Web-based Utility should open. Click on the wireless and change your settings. You can also Update you Firmware on the same page.
9. In EVERY page you open click Save Changes.
** Note ** The bridge will NOT find the router after setting and saving your wireless settings.
This may lead you to believe that it's not configured. But it is! Go to step 10....
10. Power up your router!

Now your Bridge is ready for use.

THAT EASY!!! And, it works GREAT! Fast and reliable.

Note: The time taken in step 8 above will depend on what security level you are implementing. I use WEP on my router so my setup was as easy as entering my KEY.

As for how many stars? Boy, the unit works flawlessly but the instructions really got me upset.

FIVE STARS for the hardware and ONE STAR for instruction manual, which should average to three stars but I will be lenient considering how well this unit works and give it FOUR STARS.

I bought the Linksys WET610N to connect my Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray player to the internet and specifically Netflix.
I tried to set up the device using the manual and CD that came with it. This was a complete waste of time because the final result was to tell me the device could not be found and I should contact my supplier. I then tried to set it up manually by accessing the web interface of the device directly. This was not fruitful; I still couldn't get it to connect to my network. Finally, in desperation I simply plugged the damn thing into my Blu-ray player and went to the set-up menu. I followed the on-screen prompts and was connected in minutes.
Now that it is working, I must say it is brilliant. But the setup??? As a certified Mac addict, this is not the first time I have been a victim of the Microsoft hegemony. Linksys is one of those companies which barely acknowledge that Mac users exist. Linksys hardware is good but Mac users are strictly on their own when it comes to set-up and support.