BTW, I also have an SMC router that has worked flawlessly since I bought it.

The one place where newbies could have problems is in setup. I had read some other reviews that suggested changing the IP addresses of my router to use the range the AP was expecting. I did that and things worked right away. I might have been able to configure the AP to look for a different IP address but I didn't try that.

One thing to consider is that this version of the hardware can only be configured via Windows software. The newer version has a web interface that isn't tied to Microsoft products. Ultimately, the price and the really good reviews for the product led me to buy it anyway. Also, I have only really used the software once when I set the thing up.

One more general note that might explain all the reviewers power-cycling the AP - the wireless client that comes with Windows XP is somewhat buggy and junky. Some of the WEP setup in the client is non-standard. Also, it seems to not reauthenticate itself at various times. For a while, I was working around the problems by disabling and re-enabling my wireless adapter. Then my company switched to the Odyssey wireless client because of this issue. This fixed all the problems, both at home and at work.

The good:
AP has a very small footprint, mounting holes in back
Excellent range & strength; covers my duplex with excellent strength & quality
Simple to configure MAC address filter & WEP keys once you can connect to it

The bad:
I'm not entirely sure how a non-technical user would ever set this AP up. The documentation indicates that it's "plug & play", and indeed it is as long as you don't want to change _anything_. The firmware shipped with the AP would not work. The latest on the web site would not work. Finally, the 1.7.1 version (earlier version on the website) worked. In order to make it work I had to watch my DHCP server logs (the manual indicates that it ships with a static 192.168.0.254 address; in fact mine shipped with it's DHCP client on. Scanning for the AP has yet to work for me, but if I connect to it's DHCP assigned address with the default password I was finally able to get in.

Once in, configuration was a breeze, and as I said the AP has been working just fine since then.

The only problem was getting the 128-bit encryption to work. When I generated a key using a phrase, the laptop could not sync up with the WAP. When I hand-entered the bytes generated by the phrase, everything worked just fine.

I don't know whether this was a problem with the WAP of the card (I suspect the card), but I did get it to work, and it's totally solid. Five stars.

Wireless is great, no problems with range I have the unit in the basement while I am on the 1st floor and the speed is as good as my wired LAN while surfing the web.

Very happy.

....

I had to call technical support and though the wait was significant they were very helpful and able to troubleshoot my problem quickly. I usually rate a product by how well the company supports its product and they did an excellent job to that end.

The accompanying software is adequate but does not have robust help nor does it have a very intuitive interface. Again, you need to have some capability in networking to get this working well.

Just a tip for buyers, if you have static IP's, you will need to assign the access point (AP) an IP of its own, unless you are running a dhcp server. You will also need to change the IP of the computer that you are using to connect to the AP temporarily as the AP comes with a pre-set IP on it. So, you'll need to change your IP to be in the same class as the AP, then configure the AP, then change your IP back on your computer, that's the only way it will connect in order for you to configure it.

Once all the configuration was done, this AP works wonderfully with the 1800 foot range that it advertises, even through obstructions (though transfer rates drop significantly after about 25 meters). I've had several different wireless cards and none of them have a had a problem picking up the connection.

Definitely a good buy, worth the money, just be prepared to work with tech support and you'll be set.

It's a good thing that I am an experienced network tech, because getting the SMC unit to work with my existing 3com ISDN router and ethernet was not easy. To start with, my router provides DHCP services to all connected workstations. However, the SMC AP didn't seem to respond properly as a DHCP client no matter what I did. Even after I did the firmware upgrade, it made no difference. In the end, I was forced to turn off DHCP on my router, manually set up the IP table in the router, and assign hard IP addresses to every device. To initially access the SMC AP to make the necessary adjustments to it, I was forced to make up a crossover CAT 5 cable and plug the AP directly into a PC to configure it. Also, even though I upgraded the manager software that comes with the AP, it still cannot find the AP automatically on the network. I have to give the manager the IP address of the AP before it can find it. Oh, yes. Don't count on much help from SMC beyond the average front-line phone tech help dummy. After I called SMC, they were ready to tell me that the unit was defective. I had already determined that it wasn't, so I proceeded without their "help" after they couldn't explain to me why it was defective.

After finally bringing the SMC online, the actual operation was flawless and performance was beyond my expectations. There is nowhere in my house or out in my yard that I can't get a full signal according to my Orinoco card monitoring software. I live on a large farm, so I decided to actually test out the range. I found that I could actually still get a medium signal and 5mbs transfer rate at over 1000 feet as long as I could maintain clear line-of-site between the SMC AP and the Orinoco card in my laptop. I could also get a full signal and 11mbs as far away as 600 feet.

No doubt the SMC has a hot radio. I even read that there was info on the web that shows how to tweak even more power out of it. However, I don't consider the installation I had to perform to be a task for the average plug-and-play user. That is why I rated the unit a 4 out of a possible 5. If the software, DHCP client sevices, and tech support were better, I would rate this unit a 10!

The Linksys v2.2 wouldn't work reliably when WEP was enabled (neither 64 nor 128 bit). Also, I seemed to have much more trouble with signal strength. So I tried a second one assuming the first was defective, but the with the same results.

So I gave up on the Linksys WAP11 v2.2 and tried the SMC2655W (even though it's supposedly based on the same electronics) and guess what? It not only worked flawlessly with WEP enabled, but it gave a stronger signal, and is about half the size of the WAP11.

You won't believe how small it is. But I'm really pleased with its performance. I'll bet you will be too. I'm a happy consumer with this unit!

I was easily able to upgrade the firmware using the EZ Connect Wireless AP Manager software using the following steps:

1. I downloaded the latest utility software (EZ Connect Wireless AP Manager v1.7, as of this writing) and firmware revision (v1.4g7) that were available from the SMC Customer Care web site.

2. After unzipping both files (WinZip worked fine, thank you very much), I installed the Wireless AP Manager, accepting all defaults.

3. I started the Wireless AP Manager program. It automatically scanned the network and found the access point device. I connected to the device, entering the default password provided in the SMC documentation when prompted. After connecting, the Command menu items were available, including "Configure AP", "Change Password" and "Update Firmware". The current firmware version can be seen in the Command -> Configure AP dialog box.

4. I selected "Update Firmware" and selected the new firmware file (AP14g7.rom, in this case). After clicking the "Update" button, the flash ROM programming took less than 10 seconds, after which the device was automatically reset. The AP Manager program rescanned and I reconnected to the device. The Configure AP dialog box showed the new firmware version.

We regularly connect iPAQs and laptops to the network through this access point using SMC PC cards (SMC2632W). It's given us no trouble and I would gladly buy this device again. -- Scott Loban

The Access Point has a tendency to go to sleep if not used for several hours (for example overnight). It is easily woken up by power cycling (unplugging and replugging the power supply). On practicallynetworked.com the solution mentioned is to upgrade the firmware. I tried to download the new firmware from SMC, but the format of the zip files cannot be opened by WinZip. They're supposedly some ancient version of zip from the mid 90's.

The solution to this is to call SMC (1-800-SMC-4-YOU) and have them email you the firmware upgrade. The version you want is AP14g8. You will also need a crossover internet cable (...) so you can connect your computer to the access point. SMC will give you the static IP settings you need and walk you through the firmware upgrade.

I had to actually run the utility that came with the SMC card before the Vaio could talk to Road Runner. Setting up the network settings from native Win98 was not sufficient. (See next paragraph.)

My 3Com AirConnect wireless PC card from work does not seem to be able to talk to this access point. The SMC card works fine on the wireless network at work, so it's not a reciprocal problem. I suspect this may be due to the fact the 3Com driver does not support all the functions that the SMC access point uses, such as channel number. My officemate has a wireless SMC router at home with a Lucent Gold Card and reports it works. (My SMC card works with her router as well.)

Overall the access point works fine once you take care of the firmware upgrade. (This is why I gave it only 4 stars)