| 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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Easy to use and very robust, December 27, 2004
By tekiegreg (Pomona, California USA)
I went from zero to fully secured (WPA protected) robust Wi-Fi network in 10 minutes flat! It was harder to set up the Wi-Fi access on the Windows XP side of things than it was for this Linksys router. Connection speeds are awesome, though there is some interference from my cordless phone (I drop from 54MBps to 3MBps when phone is in use typically), however I'll fix that with a new phone sooner or later. Kudos to Linksys on another easy to use networking component!
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Bad opinion turned good..., December 15, 2004
By chosen 1 (CA USA)
8/10/2006: After some early and initial troubles with issues that seemed to be stemming from this router, after many more months of use, i have changed my mind about this router. It has actually provided solid quality during the past months. I don't know why it's not giving me the old problems it did...maybe it was too close to another electrical device or maybe I had some settings set incorrectly.
2005-2006: I get disconnected at least 3 or 4 times a day using these linksys wireless routers. Do your research and buy something like netgear or dlink. At first, i thought it was just one bad apple. However, I currently own 3 linksys routers and dozens of wireless pc and laptop cards, and all of them are giving me problems.
Stay away from these linksys routers. At best, each time i get disconnected i have to restart my pc and the router and wait 10 minutes to get back online again. if you're doing something important, forget it!
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no confusion, December 5, 2004
By jennifer (USA)
this product is great. i can connect all over my house and sometimes i get the option to connect onto one of my neighbors. when i wasn't paying atteniton my computer automatically connected me to my neighbors and i got bad service, but otherwise my mac and all the other types of computers in my house connect great.
just make sure you do not buy the wireless "B" one. my brother originally bought the wireless "B" and i had problems. my boyfriend had it and i couldn't connect in his room very well.
my friend put security on her G so that people can't use hers in her apartment, so i think all of the bases are covered. oh yeah just remember the password. she had the hardest time remembering her password and that was a pain in the @$$.
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easy setup, good performance, November 26, 2004
By David Levy (Fort Washington, PA USA)
Setup was easy. I did not install the included setup software, but rather accessed the WAP54G console via the http address using IE6.
The console was easy to understand. All security features are set to "off" out of the box. You must manaully go in and change setting to provide any level of security.
They provide excellent directions on how to tighten up security
(http://www.linksys.com/splash/wirelessnotes.asp).
I am connecting this to my Linksys 4 port dsl/cable router.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with this product.
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Do not buy this product, November 13, 2004
By Yoav Frandzel
Performance is spotty. Sometimes the broadcast is ok. Other times it fades in and out making work with it impossible. Sometimes unplugging and re-plugging will solve the problem, other times it won't.
Stay away from it.
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Great for small networks... very small. And unimportant., November 5, 2004
By Arron L. Washington
Don't buy this if you just want to use it as a repeator - it doesn't support WPA, and given that WEP security will only last 3-4 hours (if you're lucky) its not a very secure device to use to try and extend your wireless network.
If all you need is a small access point to make your home network wireless (and don't plan on extending that wireless coverage), go for it.
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A Wireless Repeater That Works. Documentation the Doesn't, October 18, 2004
By edelbeb (Silver Spring, Maryland United States)
In response to Mr. Frandzel's later posted comments, I'll add that the SSID for the WAP54g should differ from that of the router. Otherwise, in some circumstances, one or more wireless adapters can switch from the WAP54g's signal over to the router's signal, and then perhaps eventually visa versa. That type of switching may lock up the WAP54g. At the very least, that arrangement complicates troubleshooting. Now, back to my original review:
I purchased the WAP54g to work as a repeater in my network. I have one pc wired to my wrt54g in my basement and another pc in the far corner of a bedroom 2 flights up, as well as a wga54g in same room as the wireless pc. Although the signal strength had generally read from about 18% to about 40%, I suspected that the signal was fluctuating much more, since the signal would drop out for several seconds at a time. Also, the signal would become unreliable in the summer, perhaps due to high humidity. The wre54g that I had purchased had been a nightmare to setup, and caused my wga54g to lock up. I decided I was better off without it.
Anyway, with the 2.07 firmware the wap54g, and the wap54g positioned on the first floor (between the bedroom and basement) I'm getting a consistent signal strength of 46-60%, with no dropouts.
This being a Linksys product, there are bound to be gotchas. One gotcha is the lack of wpa support. Another gotcha is the lack of written documentation for the repeater function (not even written on the box). The repeater function is also poorly documented in the online setup help included with the wap54g. That help section tells you that if your wrt54g uses MAC filtering, you should type in the LAN MAC ID for the router in the appropriate box of the wap54g's web utility. That won't work. Instead, as the Linksys internet site states, you should type in the Wireless MAC ID for your wrt54g. Finally, the repeater function only works in comibination with select wireless Linksys products, such as the wrt54g.
BTW, one reviewer complained of being unable to find antenna to fit the wap54g's "non-standard mounts." That person apparently never visited Radio Shack, which has 5.5 dBi antenna (catalog #278-844) that fit the wap54g just fine. I'm using them now.
The same reviewer complained that the wap54g was so old that it complied only with the draft 802.11g draft standard. The 802.11g standard was finalized in mid 2003, which was some time after several other 802.11g products had been on the market.
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Great access point with updated functions, September 28, 2004
By Jon Piot (Dallas, Texas)
This access point is fast and performs well in a wide area. Additionally Linksys just updated the firmware so the device can now act as a repeater on the same network (e.g., doesn't have to be connected via ethernet cable)to expand a network.
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Easy Conversion to Wireless from Wired Network, September 5, 2004
By Mitchell Small (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA)
I have a SOHO that uses a wired 10/100 switched network. Already part of this network is a Linksys single port Cable / DSL Router. When it came time to make the jump to wireless, the WAP54G seemed the logical choice, as I would not have to reconfigure anything on my existing network. For the record, I selected the WUSB54G and WPC54G adapters for two different purposes. Look for reviews on those items posted separately.
I had no trouble installing my original piece of Linksys gear. Now, since Cisco acquired Linksys, this effortless installation is even easier. The software installed seamlessly and I was able to modify the default settings, to match my network and increase security, occurred without any problem. A nice touch is the included patch cord to perform the initial setup. If you have a single port Cable / DSL Router already on your wired network, simply plug the other end of the patch cable into any open port on your switch or hub and the WAP54G will establish communication.
One small item left out of the manual was how to access the Web based administration interface. For first time installers, this may be critical. You need to open you web browser by entering the IP address for the Access Point. Once there, you can access the proper screens to assign a static IP address, strongly advised, and set any key options.
If you are not familiar with WEP Keys, these are electronic codes that keep your network private. While not as fool proof as wired security, they do go a long way to keeping strangers from using your network. If you create a key, keep a hard copy somewhere secure but handy. Like any password, treat them as a guarded secret. If you enable WEP Keys on the access point, any network adapters must be supplied with the key before a connection can be established.
Once the Access Point is configured, place it a good location and your done. Now you only need to add a wireless network adapter to any PC and your good to go. One nice feature is this model is also compatible with the 802.11b spec and will handle the slower traffic of this spec. With the 802.11g adapters, the network will send traffic at the full 54 Mb/sec for that spec.
Bottom line: nice price, nice performance and painless installation.
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Linksys - Worst Customer Service Ever!, August 16, 2004
By N. E. Hale (Minneapolis, MN USA)
Beware of the incompetent customer service for Linksys. After easily setting up a wired/wireless network I called for help making it secure. 4 hours and 4 phone calls later my internet service didn't work, my network didn't work, my router didn't work, and Linksys said it was a faulty system (it had worked before I called for help). I had to call Earthlink to fix the internet connection and then bought a Motorola. They had it fixed and secure in 15 minutes. I told a friend this story and she said she had a friend with a similar Linksys customer service nightmare. Beware! Also, I never received a rebate from an earlier item I bought in '02, even after calling about it.
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Warning: Some issues on compability., July 28, 2004
By Ronald (San Francisco, CA United States)
WAP54G is maybe the oldest 802.11g out there. It's been
out before the 802.11g was finalized!!! (802.11g draft).
This access point have some compability problem with
many brand of Wireless Adapter, such as random disconnection,
poor range, and even cannot connect problems.
Plus the antenna connector on Linksys is RP-TNC which is
non-standard compared the more famous RP-SMA. It's hard
to find an external antenna that has the RP-TNC connector.
I have no idea why Linksys do not follow the market standard.
**Linksys is what people (end-users) know for Wireless LAN
eventhough there are some great products with the same price
and a lot more to offer (Proxim, Zyxel, Buffalo, etc).
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Decent product marred by bad documentation, July 23, 2004
By ge110888 (Tucson, AZ USA)
The unit performs well with my Mac iBook, even WPA security works as advertised and without connection drops. The range is reasonable, I'll be trying out a better antenna soon.
Note: WPA security does not work when the unit is configured for wireless repeating. This is an issue with the WPA standard, it does not allow for that.
The documentation is as good as worthless for setting these things up. The troubleshooting section is actually a glossary, and is useless for getting things to work. Linksys can learn a lot from Apple in this respect, their configuration utility just works, and the documentation is actually useful. Apple's gear is about three times the price of Linksys', however.
If you're a gearhead you can get this thing to work (hint: the default IP address is 192.168.1.245/24, empty userid password 'admin'). Otherwise keep looking.
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Works Great, but more detailed instructions needed, July 12, 2004
By cheowho (Washington State)
Good Product, More detailed instructions needed.
This was my first WAP setup, needless to say I was a little disappointed in the instructions. It only showed how to use it right out of the box and nothing on how to use secure the network using MAC address and or WEP.
If I wanted to use the product out of the box, takes about 5 minutes to setup, but I wanted to secure it, took about an hour.
Still happy with the product though.
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Definitely worth buying if you like speed!, July 4, 2004
By unknown
Fantastic - this worked right out of the box with very little setup time required. It is backwards compatible so we are able to use it with every wireless card in our home (even the older ones). But the wireless-G cards scream with speed compared to the older cards. Definitely worth buying.
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LOUSY Tech Support, June 12, 2004
By unknown
I called the "No-Help" line after running into a minor issue with the WAP54G that I was setting up as a repeater. The individual who "assisted" me was worse than anything I could do alone. After I got off the phone, over 2 hours later, my laptop could not even connect to the wireless network at home. This individual would not pay attention to anything I said, instead seeming to read off a script. When I asked to speak with a supervisor, he said he was the floor supervisor.IF you buy this product, search the help section on their website for articles. Because if you have to call their "no-help" line you are in for trouble. Work on it yourself or find a store that will come out and set it up for you instead. Linksys tech support = worthless!!! The lack of adequate tech support is the main reason for the poor rating.
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Like all Linksys products.., May 19, 2004
By AlexP (Jacksonville, Fl United States)
No, I am not a Linksys employee and yes I have lost money in Cisco stock. But like all Linksys products the setup works like its supposed to and the units work flawlessly.I downrated this unit because of the difficulty of using it as a bridge. The box insinuated that you could bridge with it. When I tried to make it bridge it didn't work and tech support told me that bridging is not supported. I did find a work-around. E-mail me if you want the secret. Otherwise this is an excellent as usual product from Linksys at a great price.
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Wooks Good - Bad Instructions, April 24, 2004
By unknown
I feel the state of consumer level wireless is one step above gadget level - after a lot of screwing around, it works but I would still prefer to be able to run cable and have a wired connection.That said - I decided to play around with wireless mostly out of curiosity, and since I already had a router and firewall, I decided to just get a WAP instead. I've used Cisco's own WAP's at work, and since they own Linksys now, I decided to give this model a try. Quick review is it works fine for me running my newly wireless home network consisting of 2 computers, a stand-alone 80hr Tivo, and two Xboxes, and a Linksys Wireless Network Camera. It wasn't as simple as taking it out of the box and getting it up and running, mostly thanks to the lousy documentation included with - basically a quick-start guide and a PDF file both of which didn't explain much of anything. But after downloading the latest firmware from the Linksys website, and doing a lot of online research, I did get everything up and running acceptably. Don't forget to turn on one of the methods of encryption - I noticed a lot of my neighbors unknowingly running totally open.
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Good range and OK speed - one caveat, April 21, 2004
By darkstar-7 (Seattle Area)
I recently spent 4 hours troubleshooting a new installation of this WAP which I purchased to increase signal strength and range. (It was a WAP54G). After much troubleshooting where the Xbox network adaptor (MN-740) would drop the network connection as soon as I attached the XBOX itself to the network adaptor, I realized that the reason this was happening was the MAC address filtering. In order to have the network adaptor actually join itself to the network, you need to add BOTH the MAC for the adaptor itself AND the MAC for the XBOX into the MAC address filtering ALLOW table for the Linksys access point.I believe that this may solve other issues that people are having with attaching multiple devices to through wireless to these WAPs. I was very surprised that this information was not documented. It should be stated in the user's manual that if you are using MAC filtering, that you need to add all MAC addresses of all units that are bridged into the WAP into the ALLOW table of the MAC filter. Right now I'm working fine with MAC filtering enabled and 128bit WEP turned ON as well. FYI - with these Linksys units throughput goes from 54mbps to 18 when 128bit WEP is turned ON. Must be due to the cheap CPUs in these units. The speed drop when WEP is enabled plus the lack of MAC filter documentation keeps this from being a five star review.
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It makes it happen, April 5, 2004
By anotherlawyer (Weston FL)
I recently moved to a new office building with a prewired T-1. Connecting the existing network together was not difficult and the wireless range is astounding. There is nothing like having coffee at Starbucks and using the office network connection and not adding to starbucks bottom line for anything other than overpriced coffee.
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WAP54G - misrepresented, March 1, 2004
By astrapoint (Durham, NC United States)
Beware of Linksys and the WAP54G. They advertise that the WAP54G supports WPA security, but it only supports WPA in certain modes. Also, my experience is that Linksys technical support is substandard. I urge caution. There are other, better vendors out there.
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