| Linksys WAP54G Wireless-G Access Point |
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Model: WAP54G
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 154
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Supports data rates up to 54 Mbps--up to 5 times faster than 802.11b
Backwards compatible with existing IEEE 802.11b devices at 11 Mbps
Supports 64- and 128-bit WEP encryption
Wireless MAC address filtering
Router not included, so you cannot connect multiple users to the Internet |
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| Description: |
| LINKSYS WAP54G - Wireless-G is the emerging 54 Mbps wireless networking standard that's almost five times faster than the widely deployed Wireless-B ( 802.11b ) products found in homes, businesses and public wireless hotspots around the country. The best part is, since they share the same 2.4GHz radio band, Wireless-G devices talk to existing 11 Mbps Wireless-B equipment. |
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| User Reviews (154 total): |
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 of Total 8 Pages
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works great, zippy, but software can't do Windows Vista, October 22, 2007
By Walter E. Gillett
This product is advertised as Vista-compatible. Apparently that means only that Vista machines can talk 802.11 to it. But the configuration app that comes with the access point won't install on Vista. Vista has been out for a long time so that is really disappointing. Fortunately I have an XP machine and had no trouble setting this up via XP, works great & I appreciate all the different forms of security that it supports since WEP is really weak.
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I have 5 of them, October 20, 2007
By lwndw123 (Connecticut, USA)
I have 5 of them, some working as bridge, some as access points. No smallest problem during over a year of use. Setup is trivial.
Most likely, this equipment, as simple as it is, is too complicated for some guys giving it one star. I am giving 5 stars, only beacuse more is technically not possible.
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Absolute Junk, October 17, 2007
By Eric
I bought a Linksys wireless router and two of these WAPs to use as repeaters. Both WAPs are totally unusable. It is impossible to access the administrator control panel. The router works just dandy, so it's not my network. Avoid this WAP.
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I use these to send a signal 4 miles to my other house., October 2, 2007
By Field Medic (United States)
I have two of these. They are connected to a 24dbi directional antenna and are placed 4 miles apart. They work at full "g" capacity.
You have to turn off diversity and pick which antenna you want to use but that is easy to do.
The signal goes to my brother in laws house and is uploaded to my web site.
Now I can be anywhere in the world and check my vacation home IP cameras to make sure everything is fine. I also have motion activated IP cameras that take pictures of anyone/anything in the area to catch any intruders.
I have lots of video of coyotes and antelope walking past the cameras.
Linksys is a great product. They are all integrated and I love the service after sale support if needed.
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Bad pricing segment, September 15, 2007
By tuffcomlc (USA)
ok AP if you just want a transparent access point on your home network or SOHO. Because it is transparent I don't think the price was right, it should be $20 bucks or less. I would highly recommend purchasing the router/firewall AP version which is better value for the money.
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Good if looking for wireless G, September 14, 2007
By D. Wadlington (Shippensburg, PA)
I live in an old (circa 1855) stone house. This WAP is in one corner of the house and is used for a computer in a far corner of the house. Works pretty well over that distance as well as being able to handle multiple connections. If starting a new network I suggest moving up to N standard.
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Used as an Access Client need Two of these., September 10, 2007
By G. Powell (Seattle, WA USA)
I wanted to connect a wired computer to my wireless network, so I bought one of these, and a WRT54G router (which I needed anyway) which claims to act like a Access Point (it does but..), spent several hours attempting to configure it. Then used the on line linksys help (via the web) and then was told that in Access Client mode, this device will only connect to another WAP54G device. So bought the second one, configured the first to be an access Point, and the second one to be an access client. (pretty quickly as I'm now very familiar with the web based interface) And it works!
First, it's a bit unnerving because have to configure each of the two devices one at a time using a computer attached to your router. Be sure to set the IP address to different numbers. And you have to use WEP encription, no other option appears to work. And once you have both with seperate IP addresses you can configure everything but setting the AP CLient mode. Do that last with just the client mode box attached to your router.
Then to test it, first disconnect the AP Client from the router, then be sure that the other Access Point is connected and reachable (bring up the web page), then disconnect your computer from the router, and plug it into the AP Client box. It should work.
A couple of notes, the AP Client works with the WRT54G router/Access Point IFF you turn all the encryption off. (This is why I spent so much time before calling in the online help. I kept thinking I had it set up correctly, then turning up the security levels and having it fail....) Of course I do not recommend this mode at all. Which makes me wonder why you can't make a WRT54G do the right thing, but you can't. And there is a diagram on the linksys website which shows the correct configuration. It just took me several looks to understand exactly what it saying. (that the WRT54G in access point mode is not equivalent to a WAP54G).
Second, skip the stupid installation CD, go to the linksys site and find out the default IP address, and configure it using that.
Third, look up the suggestions for increasing the security for your wireless network, and configure your boxs appropriately once you have it working on your test machine. (turn off SSID broadcast, disable configuration management from wireless devices, change the password etc.)
Be sure to use a different channel than your other wireless router. (I still wanted to connect a different computer wirelessly to the WRT54G) And use the search for networks scan to see what channels the neighbors are using and pick a different one from them too if possible.
On the speed issue, I've got a pretty small house so I regularly get the full 54Mps of data transfer. It's pretty nice. You need to pay attention to all the other comments about getting the antennas aligned to point from each of the two access points to each other for best reception. Not hard, but worth doing.
And if all this becomes too confusing, use the Web based help from Linksys, the person I had was very helpful. (Be sure that your drivers are the most up-to-date as that will be the first thing they will ask you to do.)
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a disaster, September 1, 2007
By Hans Bombeck (Philadelphia, PA)
I purchased this Access Point to augment the range of my WRT54G router which, installed next to my PC on the third floor, would not reach a wireless laptop on my second floor or beyond. Following the CD's instruction I promptly got stuck, lost my server connection, and spent 4 hours talking to a service representative of Linksys before I was told I had a "defective" unit because the power light on the Access Point showed "red". A return and replacement shipment was arranged at the cost of $30 to me. The replacement proved that it too had a red power light which, I now know, is perfectly correct! Again following the CD's instructions I lost its remaining portion after wanting to change the channel. Another lengthy phone conversation finally taught me that there is no need to connect the Access Point with the router - as the instructions tell - and that the Access Point could be placed elsewhere in the house. A very complicated two hours of guidance, and very complicated settings guidance, eventually lead me to place the Access Point on the second floor and I can now connect my wireless laptop on all floors. What a nightmare! And what lousy instructions! I'd not buy another Linksys product. Getting things done is just too much of a headache!
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Great for the money......, August 23, 2007
By TRP (Albany, NY)
I have 3 of these, 2 are used for a bridge and the other is used as an AP. The bridge is between 2 buildings with some trees in between and about 500' apart. My connection is setup with WEP and I have a reliable connection that runs about 15 mbps. After installing a pair of HGA7T's (7db ant.) my rates now run at 24 mbps. The AP has 4 clients and has been great. The flexibility and performance of this unit is great for the money. For use in homes and small offices, I would highly recommend this unit.
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WAP54G - Quick & easy, July 30, 2007
By Torjy (Florida)
I have a wired home network but then the wife purchased a laptop pre-equipped with a wireless network adapter that I needed to accommodate. I didn't want to convert to a total wireless environment so a wireless access point was the way to go. After much research, I purchased this unit based upon the recommendations of other users and my own experience with Linksys products. Setup for the WAP54G took about 15 minutes total. The setup instructions were clearly written and illustrated. It has performed flawlessly and I can see no difference in speed with our wired connections. It's not the cheapest unit out there but I would highly recommend this unit to anyone needing a wireless access point.
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Very,very,very POOR instructions--good performance, July 26, 2007
By Loren Ivener (Arkansas)
Instructions were not complete; TECH support was useless; has to pay for a GEEK to install; works fine after I paid $120+ to install the device.
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Works Great !, April 25, 2007
By Abester (USA)
I use the WAP54G Wireless-G Access Point attached to the bedroom Windows XP PC to connect to my 802.11b/g wireless network. The installation CD was an OK starting point but I had to use the web administration interface to configure the Access Point the way I wanted (disabling SSID broadcast and using MAC address filtering). You simply point your web browser to the Access Point's IP address. It's also worth noting that initial setup requires that you physically attach the CAT5 cable from the Access Point to your network (via a switch or the switch built into your wireless router). Once configured, you can then attach the Access Point to the PC (or other device) that you want on your wireless network.
It took me a while to get everything just right. I found that initial setup was easiest by temporarily "unsecuring" my wireless router and the WAP54G Access Point (disabling MAC filtering, turning ON SSID broadcast, no encryption, etc.). Once communication was established, I then started locking things down.
I have internet access via my cable TV provider at around 4 to 6 Mb/s. I have a Linksys WRT54GS Wireless Router in the kitchen located on the main floor between the basement and the upstairs bedrooms. My old laptop PC accesses this router from anywhere in the house using 802.11b while the PC in the bedroom connects via 802.11g using the WAP54G Access Point.
I'm not sure what my wireless data rates are but as expected, big file downloads from the internet using the bedroom PC via 802.11g are significantly faster than the 802.11b downloads on the laptop. For browsing web pages the speed difference isn't as noticeable.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the setup.
A couple notes worth mentioning. Save yourself some grief and put everything on a few battery backed Uniterruptable Power Supplies (UPS's) to avoid having to reset devices during AC power glitches. The lights in my house flickered several times today due to heavy wet snow. I had to run down to the basement and power cycle my ethernet switch a few times today as it was the only network device not on a UPS. The brief AC power glitches put the ethernet switch in some unknown state and killed my network each time the lights flickered. I had it plugged into the wrong AC outlet on my UPS so I moved it to a battery backed outlet and life is good. No more running down to the basement to fix the ethernet switch when there's an AC power glitch.
I have three UPS's throughout the house. A small $40 350VA UPS attached to the Wireless-G broadband router, a 500VA UPS on the bedroom PC and Wireless-G Access Point, and a 1000VA UPS on the basement PC, cable modem, and ethernet switch. I did this not so much for "uptime" and being able to work during power outages but rather to avoid corrupting Windows and possibly damaging a disk drive. It also helps to keep my network devices alive during those brief AC glitches.
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Old & out of date, March 27, 2007
By Dennis J. Nolan (Naples, Florida United States)
This router was not the latest version. It would not work with XP.
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Best Consumer Router, March 16, 2007
By Ved (san jose, ca USA)
I've had NetGear router and periodically, my laptop would not be able to establish wireless connection with the router. At this point, I'd have no option but reboot the router. The problem would also appear if the laptop had prior connection with the office WIFI.
These problems have gone away after replacing the NetGear router with the Linksys. Network latency appears to have improved also.
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Linksys wireless access point 5 stars, March 8, 2007
By Timothy Clow
Got this access point yesterday. Very easy to use, plug it in, boot up the laptop and instantly had access. The install CD used to lock it down from being a public unsecured wireless network was step by step and didn't require hardly any user input for settings other than picking a password.
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Linksys WAP54G, February 16, 2007
By IlliniRam
I have now purchased 3 of the WAP54G's (2 for the office and 1 for home). The second one I purchased for the office and the one for home I had set up in less than 5 minutes. The signal is strong as at home I have the access point in the basement and broadcast it to my daughter's room upstairs. At the office the access is upstairs and the wireless laptops are used downstairs and we get a great signal. I highly recommend this access point.
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Simple and effective, February 6, 2007
By Mr. Opinion (USA)
Don't know why others have had problems. Could just be different levels of technical experience and placement in a high resistance area. I have two of these, and set them up in 1 minute. They work great. Very reliable signal and I have no problem with signal strength throughout the house.
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Does what it should!, February 1, 2007
By Dr Mike (New Orleans, LA United States)
Very good product. No complaints. It is hooked up to my DSL router and delivers a powerful signal to my desktop and 2 laptops. Making the connection using a variety of devices including a dlink pcmcia card was trivial and took under 5 minutes to get the security key typed in and going. The signal is so strong I can pick it up anywhere inside and even from outdoors on my 2 acre lot (the walls of the house are brick), so be sure you have security settings turned on. I find the powerful signal to be an advantage because I can work outdoors on the patio or at a picnic table.
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Certainly wasn't magical ... but it does work, January 30, 2007
By LS (NJ)
I upgraded from an old 802.11b wap11 which I bought about 6 years ago. Considering this is NEW technology, it didn't do much more than my 6 year old wap11. I thought the upgrade from b to g was going to be mind blowing. The only thing that was mind blowing was my waste of time to determine why there wasn't as much gain as I thought there would be. The connection says FULL, 54m ... however it doesn't SEEM faster. (perception versus reality).
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Access Point reset to default settings with out any reason!!!!, January 3, 2007
By Cesar Morera Madrigal
This product seems good but it have a big problem, I bought two access poitns of this model for creating bridge.
they works fine, but after of 2 weeks suddenly the communications cut, when I review the access point configuration it was in the default configuration, the system self reset to the deafult settings, this is a common problem in this brand, this is a really big problem
Bad product!!!!
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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 of Total 8 Pages
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