Customer Reviews

LG AN-WF100 Wi-Fi USB Adaptor

5 star:		(153)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

This USB Adapter is amazingly simple to install and has been operating flawlessly on my 2010 LG 42" LED HDTV (42LE5400) ever since I installed it 6 weeks ago. It simply plugs in like any other USB Adapter on the back of the TV. Please note that it is not supported by older LG HDTV models (I suggest to check the LG website for specifics).

To get it operational:
Once plugged into the USB port of the HDTV, I needed to first setup the wireless access point on the HDTV (LG's owner's manual says exactly what to do, following on-screen menu selections), then unlock my network via the router and follow the router's software instructions for adding a new network device (I run a 802.11n wireless network using Cisco's "WRT160N" router with WPA2 encryption and manage the network using Cisco's "Network Magic Pro" software). Once the router recognized the USB Adapter as a new device, simply using the remote control of the HDTV to select the correct Network SSID and enter the Network Passphrase (a.k.a. "Security Key") was all that it took to get it running (after locking the network again on the router side).

All in all, it took less than 15 min to get this working on the first try. I have been streaming Netflix videos flawlessly with this wireless connection using the LG HDTV "NETCAST" connection to Netflix.

One thing I didn't realize at the time of the purchase is that this adapter will NOT give you full internet access as one might easily assume or expect. I believe this is really a limitation of the HDTV's, not this USB Adapter, as the HDTV's don't come with full internet browser capabilities yet. It 'only' allows for wireless use of LG's select (and few) "NETCAST" features, such as Netflix, Vudu, etc. (which it does excellently). Instead, I use a wirelessly connected laptop to get on the internet and then route it from my laptop to the HDTV (by way of a regular VGA cable for the video portion and a 3.5mm-to-RCA cable for audio), but again, this is not using this LG USB Adapter.

Apart from the shipping cost of $12.95 (which I found a bit steep for an adapter that weighs almost nothing), I'm very happy with the choice and can absolutely recommend it highly. It shipped quickly and arrived in perfect condition. I would buy it again in a heartbeat!

I was told that I needed an LG dongle for my wireless "ready" TV in order for it to be completely wireless with my router. (TV is a 55 LE 5500) Love the picture. However the dongle was proprietary to LG machines and had not been even issued yet by LG - which I thought was strange and not particularly smart. However, after a couple weeks I heard that the dongle had been completed and was on the market - but only on the west coast. So I found one through Amazon.com and it arrived in about a week. It is called an LG AN-WF100 Wi-Fi USB Adapter and is the only one the 55" LG will work with. That seems a little strange to me also. Why make things so difficult? And if you do, how about letting the retail sellers know about it. I should have been told that before buying. However it has all worked out because I installed the dongle immediately, the bright blue end of it lit up and is working perfectly. So all it well except I believe that the dongle should come with the TV if it is to be truly wireless. Cost me another $80.00 too which I could have done without. I like my TV, I like my dongle, I don't like the marketing ploys to which I was subjected. Lg can do better than that.

This little gadget saved me from a few hot hours in the attic. It's well worth the $$ when you consider the costs to hardwire a CAT line (35ft wiring, closeout plates, drywall repair when you step through the ceiling on accident, etc). It works great 20ft away from the router. It's in a bookshelf with a full masonry fireplace, and 2 walls of interference. It hasn't missed a beat and plays Netflix and Vudu at HD quality.

As stated by another reviewer, setup was simple and intuitive...I didn't even crack the manual. Would buy again in a heartbeat.

SHORT VERSION: If you have an LG tv with netcast and absolutely want a wireless wifi connection, then this will work for you...but...

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USED WITH: LG 42" LED-LCD TV 120HZ (LE5400) and NETFLIX. My *ONLY* tv hookups are via Netflix wifi; this is the only thing I watch from (I stream several hours of TV a day).

PROS:
-Wireless

CONS:
-Does not fit in the tv usb slot correctly (see below)
-Weak signal connection even when in the same room as the router (less than 10 feet away)
-ODD signal errors (see below)
-ONLY works via the NETCAST app (you can NOT use it to connect other programs to your tv)
-REALLY expensive ($80!)

First, the back of the TV has a sticker that says that USB devices with plastic around them might have difficulty fitting into the TV's usb slots. A great start that the LG USB Dongle does NOT meet the minimum recommended clearance on the sticker provided by the tv..you have to mash it in real hard (I felt like I was about to break it when it finally slid into place).

Second, although it does work, I get signal errors ALOT. Oddly, 90% of my "connection" errors are during the menu navigation; once I start watching a movie it almost always works fine (although I have had more than one instance of it cutting out on me). If you just keep retrying the same action over and over, magically it will work. There is no way to "fix" this problem; my guess is that it is a weak signal although the tv does not say that (or anything helpful for that matter). Also along this line is that sometimes the streaming quality will suffer to avoid playback interruption (that is the video will get granier and lower quality because it can't stream fast enough) but this also sorts itself out pretty fast in like 10 seconds...still annoying.

Thirdly, you can ONLY use this dongle to run netcast apps. If netcast doesn't support it, then the dongle does you no good (in other words, you can't stream any program you want from your pc to it). Perhaps this functionality is not necessarily implied so I don't hold it against the dongle here.

Fourth, if you plan to use your pc in any way with your tv this is completely useless. If you plan on hooking up your tv, you can use HDMI 1.4 (newest standard supports ehternet, although computers haven't quite caught up yet...give it a few months) or just a classic cat-5 cable to wire in; since ur pc will need other wires to get to the tv anyway that one extra one doesn't matter too much.



Ultimately, I find this dongle to work if you need to save that one wire and won't be hooking up your computer to your tv anyway. However, be prepared for occasional connection issues (easily resolved but annoying) even when your tv is only feet away from your router...I'm not sure how much worse the problem might get if you move more than 10 or 15 feet away (or go through a wall)

For an $80 product, the signal strength and features are all lacking and the fact that it does not conform to LG's *OWN* specs for usb devices fitting on their tvs, I just can't recommend this.

I bought mine for $37 at black friday. At 50% off, I am still returning it. However, if you can find it around the $40 price point it may be just good enough to do its just if you aren't picky...

After purchasing my 46" LG LCD HDTV (46LD550) almost exclusively because of the connectivity to Netflix, I decided to buy this LG Wi-fi dongle to keep from having cords running all over the house. There were other dongles for sale at the big box store I got my TV from, but not from LG, and there was no guaranteed connectivity with my TV (and I like to have my brand names match). After looking for this dongle on the big box store's website, it was almost twice as much! Thank goodness for Amazon!

The dongle arrived several days early (!) and as soon as I took it out of the package, I plugged it in to one of the two USB ports on my TV. The TV picked up the signal immediately and asked me three or four simple questions (which network to connect to, my security password, etc.) and viola, I was connected and watching Netflix in HD!!

I agree with other reviews that this dongle should have been included OR just built into the TV. I also with that the "NetCast" feature on the TV had more content, but that really has nothing to do with the performance of this product.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone. For this price and the ease of use, it's worth it to make your new LG HDTV sing!

I've read a great deal of the reviews on this site, both for this dongle, and the LG TVs that use them. So that you don't go through what I did, I'm posting this review.

I purchased the LG32LD550, as well as the dongle here, at the beginning of January. LG requires that you purchase this device to use their Netcast services, which include Netflix streaming video. Sounds like a great idea. If only it worked.

The TV hangs on a mount in my bedroom, with my wireless network (Airport Extreme)in a closet about 8 feet away. The dongle, which is simple to install, just slides into the USB port on the left hand side of the TV. And that's where the easy part ends.

Despite repeated attempts, I could not get the dongle to see our wireless network with any consistency. Sometimes it would find it (registering 5 bars) but most of the time it would see nothing, or another network in my building. Even when it "saw" the network, it would drop the connection before I could get it set up. So I returned the dongle. The second dongle did no better.

So I thought it must be the TV. I called LG and they gave me a repair shop in my area. They came and went through the same procedures I did -- with the same result. They gave up and decided the motherboard of the TV needed fixing. Four weeks later, they returned with a new motherboard, confident that would fix things. It didn't. The TV refused to recognize the wireless network. The repairman suggested I contact LG about a new TV. Their customer sevice was horrendous. First, they wouldn't acknowledge that I'd called them initially to get a repair. Then, they implied that I was lying about what the repair shop said. Finally, they said they don't do replacements, and that I must keep sending it back to the repair shop until it was working properly.

After reading some of the reviews, I tried a Cisco-Linksys WET610N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter to boost the signal in the house. That didn't work either. Finally, two months after the original purchase, we tried a USB extension, bringing the dongle out and away from the TV. That fixed it. Apparently the TV itself shields the dongle from wireless signals, so the trick is to get it out and away from your TV.

Now that it works, its cool. And the TV's picture is fantastic. But it was just too hard to get from "there" to "here." LG's design was awful and their customer service was unacceptable.

I purchased this to work with my LG LDC (42 LD550). I had a WiFi system set up already, which was with a router that works on the "G" protocol, so not the quickest. However, the set up with the TV was very straightforward--simply plugged it into the TV's USB port and followed the directions in the TV manaul (and displayed on the TV). All you really need is the Key or password to access your WiFi set up and you are in! I was pleasantly surprised that everything worked as advertised. With my "G" router I was able to stream NetFlix movies to my TV wirelessly with no delays, buffering, etc. Worked like a charm from my router to my TV, which is about 25-30 ft away, through two interior walls.

My wife thinks I am a technical genius and who am I to tell her different? Best of all, the device costs almost 1/2 what it did at BB.

On initial setup with an LG 42LD550 the product would not synch with my wireless router. Customer service instructed me to reboot which did the trick. No problems since then.

I purchased an LG 32550 TV (LG 32LD550 32-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Internet Applications) and I was so excited to get home and get this installed. I ordered this expensive little adapter as required and recommended, and I am so sorry I did.

I use a D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Gigabit Wireless Router (D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Gigabit Wireless Router) that is excellent for broadcasting to every room in our house except for our master bedroom. We have an older block house, with our bedroom being farthest from the omni-directional antennas. Honestly, we have tried everything to get this TV to work in our bedroom!

So this doesn't happen to anyone else...I want you to know I tried initially just to use the LG Wireless Adapter (LG AN-WF100 Wi-Fi USB Adaptor), then I bought an extension for it (AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (9.8 Feet / 3.0 Meters)) to get it out from behind the TV and able to receive a signal better (which helped, but Netflix movies kept dropping), and then I tried installing a new antenna (Alfa 9dBi SMA OMNI-Directional High-Gain Screw-On Swivel Antenna for Linksys - WET54G, WET54GS, WMP54G, WET11, WRV54G, WMP11 PCI Card, WPS11, WRT54GC also for Netgear - FM114P, FVM318, FWG114P, MA311, ME101, ME103, WG302, WG311 and WG311T) but that never really helped. Finally I found heaven in a box with this little bridge like router device Cisco-Linksys WET610N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter. It's compatible with my Draft N protocol and it zips right through all LG's online resources, specially helping us watch movies and TV shows on Netflix without any broadcasting or synchronizing or downloading issues.

I highly recommend you DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT AND SIMPLY GET THE CISCO LINKSYS DUAL-BAND WIRELESS ADAPTER!

I am happy as a clam now!

Not having it preinstalled on my TV is a shame. It allows your TV to stream video incredibly fast. It is very easy to install, but there should have been no need to. Once placed it is well hidden and does not interfere with any wall mount or cabinet. Just another example of a company trying to milk every penny from their customers.