Buffalo Technology Wireless-G High Power Router and Access Point with High Gain Antenna WHR-HP-G54
by BUFFALO
Our Price: $108.48
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: BUFFALOAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: WHR-HP-G54
Product features:
- Built-in signal amplifier, AOSS One-touch security setup, AP and router mode, built0in SPI-firewall, WAN auto setup
- Speed and Flow Control 10/100/ Mbps, Auto Sensing, Auto MDIX
- IEEE802.3u(100 Base-TX) IEEE802.3(10 Base-T)
- Number of LAN Ports 4
- 2 Year Warranty
- Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)
- Norton Antivirus 2010 1-User [OLD VERSION]
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard [OLD VERSION]
- Nero 8 Ultra Edition [OLD VERSION]
- Roxio Creator 2010 [OLD VERSION]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Buffalo Technology Wireless-G High Power Router and Access Point with High Gain Antenna WHR-HP-G54
Customer Review: Works great, but compatibilty problems with an old SMC wireless network card and some odd AOSS behavior
Summary: 4 Stars
(Also see my review of the companion Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54 Ethernet Converter)
I am on my second Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router. The first one was apparently defective, after spending a lot of time trying to get it to work with various devices, including the Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP. AOSS didn't work. Wireless connectivity to the WLI-TX4-G54HP, a Toshiba laptop (XP Home SP2) running an SMC2835W V1 wireless network card, and a company Dell Latitude D600 laptop running an Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3A Mini PCI Adapter (an 11b mini PCI card) didn't work unless encryption was disabled. I tried WEP and WPA-TKIP, using both ASCII and HEX passphrases. I made sure that the firmware and drivers for all devices were current.
After I exchanged the router for a new one, I finally got the Buffalo router to work on the wireless side (wired side was always functional). AOSS worked and I was able to connect to the WLI-TX4-G54HP Ethernet Converter at 802.11g speed, which provides network connectivity to an HP LaserJet 4 printer (with a 10 mbps JetDirect card) and a Gateway desktop PC (with a 10/100 3Com NIC) in my basement. The Buffalo router has two PCs wired to its LAN ports. The Dell D600 connects wirelessly via WPA-TKIP at 802.11b speed (I configured the router's wireless setting for mixed 11g/11b mode). The only problem that remains is my Toshiba laptop with the SMC wireless card. It just doesn't want to connect with encryption enabled. I will probably have to buy a new wireless card to solve that problem.
I am not sure if this SMC problem is the fault of SMC, Buffalo, or both. The SMC card works fine with SMC's old SMC2804WBR V1 router using WPA-TKIP(no big surprise, I suppose). The SMC card also works fine with an old Linksys BEFW11S4 V1 router (firmware version 1.44.2z) using WEP128. The Dell D600 also works fine with the SMC router using WPA-TKIP.
So, it's a mixed bag compatibility-wise. The SMC wireless network card works fine with the SMC router and the Linksys router. The SMC card does not work with the Buffalo router. The SMC router works fine with the SMC card and the Dell/Intel card. The SMC router does not work with the Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP. The Buffalo router works with the Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP and the Dell/Intel combo. The Buffalo router does not work with the SMC card. The Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP works with the Buffalo router and the Linksys router. But it doesn't work with the SMC router.
The firmware appears to have a bug in the reporting of IP addresses assigned by the Buffalo router's DHCP server. Both the Client Monitor and Current DHCP Client Information do not display all of the clients that are connected to the router (either wirelessly, through the router's LAN ports, or through the WLI-TX4-G54HP).
There is also an odd glitch with AOSS. I was under the impression that AOSS would negotiate the highest wireless encryption level available between the Buffalo router and the Buffalo Ethernet Converter, i.e., WPA-AES. But for some reason, it negotiated WPA-TKIP. I don't care all that much and haven't bothered to change it, but I was surprised.
I re-initialized the Ethernet Converter and re-ran AOSS a couple of times but always got TKIP. Also, AOSS seemed to always come up with the exact same 63 character long ASCII passphrase. That doesn't seem so great if you have wireless clients coming and going and want to change passphrases.
In retrospect, TKIP fine since my company Dell D600 only goes up to TKIP anyway. In theory, if you re-run AOSS for a subsequent client and the client has a different (e.g., lower) wireless encryption level than what was originally set, AOSS will apply the highest encryption level that the router and new client will support. The existing AOSS clients supposedly sense the change, reconfigure themselves with the new encryption key, and reconnect to the router. Since my router is already at TKIP, hopefully existing AOSS clients won't have to do any auto sensing and reconfiguring if and when I bring home my company Dell laptop again.
Signal strength from the Buffalo router to the Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP seems good. Range is probably about 20 feet straight down through two floors (wood). I get 5 bars, which is interesting since I have the router's antenna oriented vertically. I haven't checked wireless throughput yet but my perception when surfing on the PC in the basement that is wired to the WLI-TX4-G54HP is that responsiveness is fine. I also haven't used the Dell to do a site survey to check reported signal strength and S/N ratio vs range. But I've not seen any dropouts. Connectivity between the two Buffalo boxes and between the Buffalo router and Dell laptop has remained constant for about 10 days now. No problems waking up the Dell after shutting the lid overnight.
The Buffalo router seems like a solid product, other than the problem I have with the SMC wireless network card, the client IP address reporting bug, and the AOSS behavior.
I am undecided wrt trying these third party firmware offerings such as DD-WRT or Tomato. If anyone has any data suggesting that these offerings improve compatibility with other wireless products, maybe I'll give it a shot.
More Buffalo Technology Wireless-G High Power Router and Access Point with High Gain Antenna WHR-HP-G54 reviews:
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Description of Buffalo Technology Wireless-G High Power Router and Access Point with High Gain Antenna WHR-HP-G54
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