Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge with 5-port Switch WET54GS5

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Put away those silly game adaptors you're trying to get to work as a bridge for multiple ethernet devices. This is the genuine article. I first attached it to my laptop with an ethernet cable. Ran the CD configurator. I set the IP address to one that I wanted. Uploaded the latest firmware that I had already had downloded from the net. Entered the web interface and finished seting up a few minor things including the site survey.
Then I put the bridge in place to serve a ethernet enabled Tivo and ReplayTV. I was able to immediately able to access both the Tivo and ReplayTV. I setup WPA-PSK and it has been operating 5x5 ever since. One of the thngs I like about this bridge is that it supports QoS which is important for streaming media and VoIP. The bridge seems to be fairly simple to get setup and running, but has multiple menus which control things which are way over my head. One tip is that the default user name and password is admin and not just the password as implied in the manual. Now I just gotta figure out what I'm gonna stick in the other 3 ports.

Update 7/13/05 WPA gave up the ghost after 3 days. I had to reboot it a few times to get it to work after disabling WPA.

I got the Linksys wireless bridge working very quickly and with no real issues was able to establish a link with WPA-level encryption.

A day later, the unit started dropping connections left and right. I spent a few phone calls and chat sessions talking to Linksys tech support and then happened upon the solution all by myself.

AMBIENT HEAT FROM OTHER DEVICES KILLS THESE THINGS! If you're experiencing issues with this device, first make sure you've got the latest firmware. Then, check the temperature of the case. I found that setting it on top of my TiVo was enough to cause it to go haywire in a little over an hour. I took it off and placed it on the entertainment center shelf and, voila! no problems. Steady connection.

There was a glaring problem with this unit and WPA security until they released firmware version 4.9.1 recently. It has been running stable in my home network for 2 months now. The AP its connected to is a D-Link DGL4300 with an antenna booster (they are separated by a floor and 30 feet). I have our email and web server connected to the bridge and it works great. Until the 200mbit HomePlug devices come out, this is the best solution this side of CAT-5 cable runs.

I use this compact Wireless G bridge to connect my ReplayTV and two laptops in my home office to a Linksys Wireless G router (WRT54GS) in the living room. Installation was easy and it works beautifully, even when streaming video between my two ReplayTV units.

The Bridge itself is quite small: about 5" wide, 4" deep, and 1" tall--about half the size of my wireless router. The case is metal, not plastic, and seems built to last.

If you just need to add wireless connectivity to a single component, a wireless G adapter would be cheaper. But to network several co-located components (and leave USB and PC-card slots free), this Ethernet bridge offers a great alternative.

The product data page for this product states that it supports PSK-TKIP. Using WPA-PSK/TKIP security, the unit would not keep a connection for more than about 10 minutes (with Linksys or non Linksys wireless access points). I returned the first unit and the second unit. When I got a third unit, I decided to call Linksys.

I was told that they were "aware of the problem" and they were "working on it". They are also "sorry for the inconvenience". I have waited several months and one firmware upgrade and Linksys has still not fixed this product feature. It is now three months past the last firmware upgrade and I have not heard anything from Linksys.

I would rate the product 0 stars out of 5, but Amazon does not allow less than 1 star. The product still works as a 5-port hub, giving it a rating of 1 star (a rather generous rating for a wireless bridge that does not work as advertized), but the Linksys lack-of-response should, in my opinion, deduct close to 1 point, for a total of 0 stars.

The product does work with no security, and with WEP security (that is so insecure with a modest amount of traffic that this is akin to having no security), but I cannot confirm if the WPA-RADIUS security mode works as I do not have a RADIUS server configured yet on my network.

Stay away from this product!!!!!

I have purchased additional products from Linksys, WGA54G Game Adapter, and dLink, DGL-3420 Game Adapter, in order to connect my PS2 to the internet. I was unable to get either adapter to work and had almost totally given up trying to when I found this product on Amazon's website, so I figured I would give it one more try. Well, after two hours of setting up this product I was finally able to have my PS2 access the internet. The reason for the length of time in the set-up is partly because of previous bad experiences and Linksys's lack of good documentation related to the Infrastructure setting vs. Ad-Hoc setting. On all my previous Linksys products I have had to choose my channel setting as well as whether I was running a B, G, or mixed network, however you are unable to choose these settings within Infrastructure mode. Nowhere is this mentioned in the documentation or on the their website. Basically, you need to ignore how your home wireless network is set up and just choose Infrastructure mode for access to your router. The lack of a chosen channel doesn't seem to affect connectivity, which after initially updating the firmware (based on other customers reviews) and updating the bridge settings, should only take a max of an hour as the web utility is very easy to use. Overall I am extremely happy with this product. I have not had any issues with a dropped connection as previous users have mentioned and I also have four remaining ethernet ports for future network expansion. For anyone wanting to connect a device with an ethernet port to their wireless network, I would highly recommend this product.

I run WPA security and this has been the only product that offers a removable antenna, buit-in switch, and WPA security - and works. I admit I had the same connection loss trouble that others have experienced. This is due to the on-board firmware being a year out of date (shipped with 04/2004). Once I upgraded to the 03/2005 firmware the unit worked flawlessly.

This thing is great with WEP but flaps when you enable WPA with a pre-shared secret. I purchased this in the hope of connecting my Tivo to my WLAN since it doesn't support WPA at all! It was an expensive mistake. Everytime I want to update Tivo, I have to power cycle the device. It works for a bit then drops and reconnects. I have used it with a D-Link and with a Checkpoint Safe@Office with the same results. If you use WPA, don't buy it.

Before configuring, you should read this important piece of advice first:

After you've finished configuring the bridge, disconnect the ethernet cable and verify you can still connect to its admin web page wirelessly. Do this before going on to anything else, and until then DO NOT refresh your router's administration page that displays all of your connected devices!!!

OK, that's it. Sounds like a minor detail but depending on your setup, not doing that could cause alot of stress and wasted time. After I set mine up (but before disconnecting the cable), I made the mistake of refreshing my router's admin page to see it now in the list of connected devices. But for whatever reason (this could be the fault of my router, an older Microsoft wireless-B base station that otherwise has always worked perfectly), I suddenly got inundated with Windows system error popups telling me there was an IP address conflict. But every time I closed one, another one immediately popped up. I also lost my internet connectivity and couldn't even connect to my router or ethernet bridge admin pages. As if that's not bad enough (I still didn't know the cause yet so I thought I might be screwed), the wireless LED on the router was flashing like crazy, like it was stuck in an ON position (it's never flashed like that before). I'm guessing the reason was because the bridge had both its wired ethernet connection and its wireless-G connection active simultaneously, and even though the bridge only has one MAC address, the router got confused. Who knows...but once I disconnected the cable from the bridge, everything worked fine.

One other note: after you set it up, remember its IP address (whether you specify a static IP or let your router assign a dynamic one), because you'll need it to connect to the bridge's administration web page. However, if you forget it, or for whatever reason you can't connect to it, just re-run the setup program from the installation CD, and it will find the bridge on your network and let you re-configure it. Very simple. Unless it's a problem with the wireless connection, in which case you may need to re-connect the ethernet cable to it until it's working (but again, remember to disconnect the cable once you finish the setup program).

I read about other people having problems getting it to work wirelessly, but I didn't. I have 128-bit WEP, along with MAC address filtering and no SSID broadcasting, but it was recognized right away.

I bought this bridge along with 2 Netgear FA120 USB ethernet (wired) adapters to use with my 2 Tivos. It works great, both Tivos immediately recognized the new wired connections. I had problems before with occasional dropped connections with the wireless adapters (especially when trying to play music through the Tivos), but now they work flawlessly. The music hasn't interrupted at all (used to interrupt at least once every song). I still don't have a wireless-G router so it may be even better then. I don't think Tivo supports 802.11g wireless adapters yet, so using a bridge like this is the best way to get wireless-G speed and never have to worry about wireless USB adapter compatibility again (which can be a pain...sometimes certain version numbers of a USB wireless adapter won't work, even if the model number is shown as "valid" on the Tivo website).

Aside from the problem of having the wired and wireless connections active at the same time, the setup and configuration went very smoothly. I really like this bridge and think it's worth 5 stars.

On the released firmware, if using WPA security, it doesn't hold a connection. Backing off to WEP security seems to help this.