Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys WGA11B Wireless-B Game Adapter

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

Okay, first of all I'm hot on linksys (see my other reviews). I used to do network stuff for a living - don't anymore, but I have always been impressed with Linksys (compared to Netgear, DLink and Microsoft) for the consumer market. Their stuff is by and large (prosumer) - it has some good pro features without having to be a rocket scientist to configure the thing. Now that Cisco owns them - it's even a better deal as Cisco has been putting some nice features into all of linksys's products. While the tech support guys at linksys all need an attitude adjustment (they are a surley bunch) - the products often don't require tech support... so I suppose it is a good-news, bad-news, kind of thing...

But this sucker was PLUG AND PLAY for all intensive purposes. There are a few things, however, I think people should know in order to set this up:

a) You probably want to turn off all WEP and MAC filters. You can turn them back on once you get the sucker id'ed on the network and talking... but for now, leave it off.
b) You probably want to turn ON your SSID (again, makes it easier for the thing to install out of the box.)
c) You probably want to know what your broadcast frequency is on your WAP. If you are using a linksys WAP it is found on the admin screen regarding security. You need to look for the broadcast ID channel (default is six). That is the channel you want to tune the WGA11B. However, what I really recommend that people do is avoid "ad hoc" mode entirely and set the WGA to In mode (looks kind of like 1n on the WGA display) - this is infrastructure mode. Infrastructure mode is what you want to use if you are using a broadcasting router/switch/bridge access point (like the linksys Wireless-B, G, WAP11, etc.)
d) Make sure you know what type of cable you are using to connect it. The cable that comes with the broadcast bridge unit (the WGA) is actually a CROSSOVER cable. This was a bit surprising to me (not that they are hard to make, just, you rarely ever get one from someone - you always wind up making them). You'll know you have the switch in the right position when the WAN light (the little symbol that looks like a circle with two lines in it) lights up GREEN.
e) If you are not already, I'd set up DHCP for the moment. The bridge is default configured to try and connect via DHCP. If you don't have DHCP configured, I don't know what it is going to try to do default IP static (probably 192.176.1.1 if it is like other linksys products). Save yourself the headache and do DHCP.

Okay - otherwise, this sucker is easy as pie to set up. Plug it in to your LAN adapter (I have PS2 so it is a little box on the back of the game thing - don't know about Xbox). Then plug the cord into the WGA. Turn the WGA on and set it to the channel of your WAP. It should start talking IMMEDIATELY. If not - you have done something wrong.

The CD for the PC is interesting. Like most linksys products - it looks nice and is full featured. You won't need the CD for configuring the WGA unless you plan on using WEP.

The infrastucture mode is really fast. I must say that I play online alot.... and this connection point on PS2 shows virtually no lag. I don't know what Sony did via their gaming networks - but this sucker runs QUICK. Like I said, virtually no lag.

The real bummer is that about 99% of the games out there are not multiplayer yet. The ones that are, however, are really fun to play. I play MOH:RS, Desert II, and a few others online. The games are quick paced. To really take advantage of it, however, you might want to go "full bore" and invest in a USB headphone/mic set so you can "talk to people". Also, the USB keyboard might be a nice feature too... although I don't have that...

I've seen quite a few game adapters out there (do a search on Amazon - you will see). This is the best one I've seen for the money.

One last thing - I'd forget "Wireless G" adapaters. Again, unless your connection is like a T3 line straight to the house (which 99% of most people do not have) - you're only as fast as your smallest connection - which is likely to be the ADSL/Cable router connection. Comcast is 3MB - which I NEVER get (even burst inside Comcast's net). So B is MORE than enough bandwidth. I heard some guy at Best Buy trying to talk up a Wireless-G adapter saying he would get "better performance" - and while that is true.. it's like putting brand new wheels on a car with an underpowered engine... yeah, it will look better... but it won't go faster.

See you out there...

This device works just fine with our XBox. There's no lag when playing on-line XBox-Live games. It's less than half the cost of the Microsoft "official" Xbox gaming adapter.

Incidentally, these gaming adapters and generic "wireless adapters" are exactly the same thing. They bridge a wired device into your wireless network.

This is only an 802.11b, not g, device, but that is NOT a negative. Don't spend the extra money on "g" ANYTHING. b gives you 11 Mbit/sec, and if you're really lucky these days, your DSL or cable modem internet connection will get you 2 Mbit/sec. So why pay extra money for g? Even if you are far from your wireless access point, and the speed drops to only 2 Mbit/sec, you'll never use that through the internet. Your Xbox will never come anywhere near saturating an 802.11b link. I've sniffed the packet traffic, and it doesn't even break 120Kbps at its worst.

But here are some tips for configuring this device.

1. If you don't use WEP, and have your wireless access point is set to broadcast its SSID, this thing will probably plug right in and work with no setup. I can't vouch for this, because I don't set my network up that way (and I think that anybody who doesn't use WEP encryption is a fool).

2. Assuming you do use WEP encryption, the easiest way to set this device up is to plug it directly into a PC. Yes, connect the box to your PC with an Ethernet cable. Forget the internet for a minute, just hook the two together. Make sure to set your PC to have a fixed ip in the 192.168.1.x range, set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. Then run the setup wizard on the CD that comes with this device. Enter your WEP key, enter your SSID, and your access point channel, and you're all set. These settings will be saved as "profile 1". Now, hit the button on the side of the gaming adapter until the display reads "P1".

The big knock I have against this device is that you can't just hit it with a web browser and set it up like you can with any wireless router or access point. So if you don't have a Windows PC, you are out of luck. I have all Macintoshes at home, so I had to scare up a PC just to configure this device, which is really REALLY lame.

Most people don't understand WEP, wireless channels, SSIDs, or ip addresses. So Microsoft makes a mint selling their box for $100. But if you take a little time to learn, you CAN set up this box and save a lot of money.

I was a litte doubtful on how easy this would be to use. But I had it configured and playing online with my X-box in under 5 mins. I use WEP in 128 bit, and also use MAC filtering on my access point. I simplyed hooked the unit up to my laptop and configured the WEP setting with the easy to understand config wizard. Unit supports three different profiles so you can setup the config for different networks, and simply chose which profile you want to use with a push of a button. Great feature if you move your unit in bewteen secure wireless networks.

Most people could have this ready to go in about a minute, since they don't use WEP or Mac filtering. Already have plans to get one to go with the Replay TV Box. No more cable clutter around my home. Also easy to connect multiple game consoles togther without the need of an access point. Simply chose the saem channel on each unit, and they each game console will see each other. Some concerns over wired connections, since ethernet can support 100mb and the wireless only supports 11mbs. Any game setup for on-line play should have no issues, since most high speed internet tops at 1.5mbs and below.

Great product, just wondering what took them so long to make it

I bought this for Xbox Live, and am satisfied with the results. It works on my mongrel system (a Motorola Surfboard cable modem, a DLink ethernet card hooked to my Netgear 814 wireless router). Although I have no idea what the signal strength is, I can connect with my Xbox in the living room and the router up-the-stairs and 30 feet away.

If you have a Linkysy router and don't have WEP turned on, you can probably use it out of the box. For the rest of us, setup was OK. Here's the detail.

I first configured the device via my PC (since I have WEP turned on). I set the WEP encryption option/password to match my network, and (something that I spent 2 hours troubleshooting) I also had to enable the "Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID)" setting on my Netgear router. Even though I assigned my network's SSID to the device using the software, I still had to keep that option on to make it work; I don't know if that is a Netgear/Linkys incompatibility or not. Still, it worked in the end.

Pro: Small (the size of a pack of cigarettes), setup screens via a computer are clear, does its job well. Most of all, it is almost half the price of the Linksys bridge (WET11), which is one of the few easy-to-install and reliable wireless-B options for hooking up your Xbox (Netgear's bridge gets lousy reviews and DLink also isn't as reliable as the WET11. But the WET11 bridge is so darn expensive).

Con: No signal strength indicator (even building one into the Xbox OS would be OK), no Power Off button (I have to unplug it). I would give it a higher score if it included those features.

Had little difficulty installing this device with a Microsoft MN-500 Wireless 802.11b Base Station with 128 WEP enabled
Installed it by plugging in the Linksys game adapter to my laptop via ethernet.
1. Plug in power to the Linksys Game Adapter
2. Plug in Game Adapter to laptop (or computer) via ethernet cable.
3. Toggle the Game Adapter to P1 setting.
4. Install software that came with Game Adapter and follow prompts to Auto-Detect.
5. Fill in necessary WEP key info, and you're done.
6. Power off and move adapter to the XBox (or other device).

Not too difficult. It took me awhile to figure out the proper steps as the documentation is lacking on setting up with WEP enabled. The main thing was to connect the adapter via lan cable to a computer first that will be running the auto-detect software. Hot swapping didn't work for the auto-detect either. I got past this by restarting the setup software to get the auto-detect to work.

I had heard and read all kinds of horror stories about this game adapter. Well, after going through the setup process, I can say that I have seen much worse installations. In a nutshell, if you read the manual, you will be able to successfully configure the adapter.

VERY IMPORTANT - You MUST download the latest software from Linksys. Do NOT use the software from the CD!! If you use the CD software, you will get the infamous "Connect Fail, Please try again" error message after you enter the password.

The WGA11B adapter could work right off the box, but only if your network address is in the range 192.168.1.xxx and if your router has SSID broadcast enabled and WEP encryption disabled. Of course, that is not the case of my home network, so I decided to follow the instructions on the User's Guide, step by step. Linksys' documentation is not even close to be considered stellar, but if you stick to the process described in the manual you will be able to set up the game adapter with little or no trouble. I did exactly that and the setup process was not painful at all. Yet, here are a few recommendations that might be useful to some users:

- Connect the game adapter to a laptop or PC. You will then run the setup software on this computer to perform the configuration process. Using the little cable provided with the game adapter, plug one end into the Ethernet port on the game adapter, and then plug the other end into the Ethernet port on the computer.

- Page 6, Ch. 4, Step 3 - In most cases, the crossover switch should be set to X. If the Ethernet LED does not come on when you plug the cable, try the other setting (||).

- Page 9, Ch. 5, Step 3 - If you don't have a Linksys router, leave the Keyphrase field blank.

- Page 9, Ch. 5, Step 4 - The default password is admin. If you type admin and you cannot get through, either you are using the setup software from the CD, or you may have a broken game adapter.

- Page 10, Ch. 5, Step 5 - My game adapter is configured to use DHCP to obtain its IP address. If you plan to use a static IP address, make sure you assign a valid address in your network, the appropriate subnet mask and the corresponding default gateway.

- Page 10, Ch. 5, Step 6 - If you enter your network's SSID, you can disable SSID broadcast in your router if you want. Also, if you want to use WEP encryption, enter your network's WEP key (either 64- or 128-bit) and keep WEP encryption enabled in your router. I disabled SSID broadcast and enabled WEP encryption in my router (a D-Link DI-634M), and still the Linksys game adapter works beautifully.

- Page 11 - When you click No at the end of the setup process, the configuration is saved as Profile #1 (P1) in the game adapter's memory. For normal operation, you need to make sure the LED display shows P1 -- if it doesn't, press the blue button repeatedly.

As I'm writing this, my son is playing Call of Duty: Big Red One online on his PS2, and from what I've heard from him there is no lagging and signal is strong and steady. Zero drops so far. Definitely a great buy for only $20.

I hope this helps.

The WGA11B works fantastic once you get it setup properly. However getting the adapter setup is a BIG pain. Linksys products are quality, however their support and documentation are very poor. If I didn't know so much about linksys products I never would have got this adapter working.

Background info: I have a Linksys WRT54G router. I don't run encryption, however I do run MAC address filtering. I am using this adapter on an Xbox

Here are the Problems I encountered and solutions:

Problem One, "Connect Fail, Please try again" I got the standard connect fail message while attempting to configure the adapter using the cd software.
Solution One: I downloaded the software direct from Linksys site. Although the software indicates its the same as the cd, it connected to the adapter without a problem.

Problem Two: With the adapter correctly configured to my network, the Xbox still will not connect to the network.
Solution Two: To my surprise the Xbox MAC address must be entered into the filter list in order for the Xbox to connect using the adapter.

Setup Tips:
No Encryption and No Mac Filtering
Set the adapter to ln using the blue button.
Set the adapter to X using the switch if your using the included cable

No Encryption and Using MAC Filtering
Same tips as using No Encryption and No Mac Filtering
Add the wireless adapter MAC address to the Filter List
Add the console MAC address to the filter list

Only Encryption and No MAC Filtering
Connect the adapter directly to your PC
Set the switch to whichever setting makes the LAN led light up
Run the configure software downloaded from Linksys site
Set WEP to appropriate setting either 64bit or 128bit
Either input the key phrase if you know it, or input the key manually. The key can be found by logging into your wireless router.
After configuring the adapter set it to p1, for profile one, using the blue button

Encryption and MAC Filter
Use all the tips from above.

Overall its a good adapter. Hopefully These tips will help you get your unit setup quickly with little frustration.

For those of you who were wondering, yes it does work with the Xbox 360. I used this for over a year with my old Xbox and now use it with the 360. It works great, and is a much cheaper solution to the official Xbox 360 wireless adapter with the same perfomance!

Just got one of these and am using it not for game use but as a simple wireless bridge for my wireless LAN. At ... a bargain for this purpose and everything seems to work as advertised (which is a lucky thing because the documentation is extremely basic), except for one minor bug: the MAC address on the wireless LAN side seems to change to a random value every time power is cycled. This presents a problem only if you are using the MAC filtering security feature on your access point, and if so you can see the obvious problem that will arise (took me a little while to figure this one out, not knowing about the issue in advance). Once you let the WAP sniff out the MAC address and make an entry in its table then everything works OK. I don't want to give up using the MAC filtering feature of my WAP so this is somewhat of a PITA since it requires manual re-programming of the WAP if I cycle power on the WGA11B. Luckily I don't expect to be power-cycling the unit that much so I guess I can live with it for now, but I would sure like to see this problem fixed. LinkSys tech support said that this bug may be fixed in a future firmware rev... I hope so. BTW the tech support guy was pretty good and seemed to have a good understanding of my problem. Otherwise, as I said, so far so good with this unit, no other complaints so far.

I can't say I would recommend this product. I have generally been a Linksys fan in the past, as my wireless router and all of the adapters in my computers are Linksys. So I figured I'd get another Linksys hardware item so I could play Xbox Live wirelessly. Well, it didn't quite go as planned. First, setup was a hassle as I have a WEP security code on my network, and the instructions don't tell you how to set it up in that situation. Well I looked on the internet and saw that I had to hook it up to my computer and run the setup CD to enter the WEP code. I wish I could have done that through my Xbox interface, but whatever. So after entering the code, I hooked up the adapter to my Xbox, set the adapter to "P1" (profile 1, which has the WEP code), and eventually got it to sign on to Xbox Live, though not until after I had spent around two hours talking to three reps from Linksys tech support, one of whom tried to convince me that my adapter was defective. Anyways, I finally got it to connect to Xbox Live. End of the story? Hardly.

Trying to use this device to play Live was another difficulty. The device created horrible lag, so much so that I gave up trying to use it after about 15 minutes. I was feeling pretty down about the prospect of having to run ethernet cable throughout my house. As a last-ditch effort, I exchanged this device for the wireless adapter that Microsoft makes specifically for the Xbox (MN-740). Imagine my surprise when everything worked perfectly with the new adapter! Very low lag, great connection speed, and hardly any packet loss.

Anyways, I'm certainly no fan of Microsoft in general (though I do love my Xbox), but I would not say that getting this device is worth saving the $20 or so over getting the actual Microsoft one. I hate that it has to be that way, and if you feel like taking the risk, give the Linksys one a shot. But I was not satisfied at all with it. The only reason I gave it two stars is because of the patience and helpfulness of the last customer service rep I talked to, who was at least able to help me connect to Xbox Live. Still, I would definitely stay away if possible.