Cisco-Linksys WET54G Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge
by Linksys
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WET54G Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge
Customer Review: Excellent product, lousy documentation
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this for my desktop. In my home I run WPA2. Documentation is so poor (and wrong), I almost return this bridge. Called Linksys support, the didn't have any clue. Then I found an email from Linksys support and it is now working like a champ. Linksys should add this in the documentation. My WET54G is running ver. 3.2. Here is the documentation. I modified couple of places to make it clear. Good luck.
You are trying to setup your network bridge. Please try the following steps in setting it up.
1. Connect the cable supplied with the bridge from the Network Bridge to a computer.
2. With the device on, hold down the reset button for 30 seconds. Then turn it off for 10 seconds.
3. Assign a static IP on your computer.
a. Click on Start > run > type "ncpa.cpl"
b. Right click on the Local Area Connection and select Properties.
c. Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP and click Properties.
d. Click on Use the following IP Address and assign the following values:
IP Address: 192.168.1.5
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1. 226
DNS: leave these blank
e. Click OK and Close.
4. Open the Internet Explorer and on the address bar, type in 192.168.1.226
5. Leave the username blank and type admin on the password field. You can also try typing admin on both username and password.
6. On the setup screen make sure to have the following settings:
a. Configuration Type: Static IP
b. IP Address: must be on the same range as your router's IP Address.
Example:
(i). If the Router's IP is 192.168.1.1 then, IP Address here would be 192.168.1.226.
(ii). If the Router's IP is 192.168.0.1 then IP Address here would be 192.168.0.226.
' As you can see, first three sets of decimals are similar to the router's IP Address.
c. Subnet Mask: the subnet mask that your router uses. For most routers, it is 255.255.255.0 (leave the Gateway to 0.0.0.0)
d. SSID. This the Wireless Network name of your router. It can be checked on your router, or you can also check this on your working wireless computers as it will be displayed under the available wireless networks.
e. Network Type: Infrastructure.
f. Security: this should match to the wireless security or wireless encryption of your router.
7. When the settings are all set, hit apply.
8. Set the computer back to obtain an IP address automatically and the Network Bridge should be working now.
a. Click on Start > run > type "ncpa.cpl"
b. Right click on the Local Area Connection and select Properties.
c. Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP and click Properties.
d. Click on Obtain an IP Address Automatically and Obtain DNS Automatically.
e. Click OK and Close.
Turn the WET54G off and on again. After 10 seconds, the computer hardwired to the WET54G should be online. If you connect this to your Playstation, the Playstation should be online, too.
Customer Review: Tricky to setup -- but then it works fine
Summary: 3 Stars
I had to replace my trusty old D-Link DWL-810 bridge with this Linksys WET54G when I upgraded my wireless network from 11b to 11g.
I'm an experienced computer professional and even I had some trouble getting the WET54G configured properly. By all means try running the Setup program that comes on the CDROM, but if it fails to detect the bridge then you are going to have to roll up your sleeves and set it up manually:
1. Make sure the Ethernet light is lit solid and the Wireless light is flashing. If they're not both on, then you need to recheck cable connections. Do not move to step 2 till this is fixed.
2. On the computer the bridge is connected to, open a web browser and try entering the "URL http://192.168.1.226" in the address bar. If prompted for a password enter userid "admin" / password "admin". Then the Linksys administration web page should appear. If so skip to step 6.
3. OK, the magic URL on step 2 didn't work for you, but don't panic. On the same computer open the Network Connections window. Right click on the LAN connection you normally use and click Properties. In the protocol list highlight "Internet Protocol TCP/IP" then click Properties.
4. On the General tab click "Use the following IP address" and then enter the IP address 192.168.1.101. Click OK twice to close the open dialog windows.
5. Return your attention to the Network Connections window. Is the LAN connection enabled now? If not, right click on it and choose Repair. Close the Network Connections window and return to step 2.
6. Once you're in the Linksys browser administration console, select Wireless and click Site Survey. You should recognize the SSID of your home wireless network on the list. Note the signal strength, then select it.
7. If your network has WPA2-PSK security enabled, click Security Settings and enter the shared key passphrase. If not, and your router supports WPA2, then go to the router and turn it on! Older WEP security no longer works against hackers.
8. Open a web browser on the same computer and enter the URL of a web site that you have not visited in the last month. If it comes up then your bridge is working! If you get an error then continue on to step 9.
9. Try right clicking on the LAN connection icon down in your system tray (lower right corner by the clock display) and choose Repair. Then close all browser windows, open a new browser window, and once again try the web site from step 8. If it comes up then your bridge is working! If you get an error then continue on to step 10.
10. Restart the computer. While it's rebooting, press the Reset button down on the WET54G and hold it down for about half a minute. Then try the web site from step 8. If it comes up then your bridge is working! If you still get an error then I'm osrry to say it's time to call Cisco / Linksys tech support. :-(
Customer Review: Pain in the butt lousy documenation
Summary: 3 Stars
I live in an old house with thick brick walls. My wireless router is downstairs and I have 2 PCs upstairs. Rather than getting a wireless network adaptor (3 years ago, USB network adaptors were a dream and the card type were/are very expensive) What better way to get my wireless upstairs than to use a Bridge! The results over the past 3 years have been frustrating. I know, I know, why put up with something that disconnects all the time while you're using it. The next step up the ladder was too expensive. So... I put up with it. Now, last week as I was going through the throughs of another disconnect, after reconnection (going into the Bridge's admin console and rebooting the unit and waiting 30 seconds for it to come up was my twice or 3 times a day ritual), I decided to see if there was new firmware available at Linksys/Cisco's website. Yes there was. All my problems may vanish, I thought with excitement. So I downloaded the img file for my Bridge. Good enough, before installing I took some screeen shots of my wep key entries and other configuration screens. Then I installed the new firmware. The process of installing the updated firmware was easy. What was not easy was trying to figure out how to reconnect to the thing as the firmware upgrade wipes out all the settings. The hard part was figuring out what the bloody default IP Address was/is, so I could connect to it. I scoured the index, the table of contents of the pdf guide and could find nothing. Finally, somewhere in an area of the manual that had nothing to do with setting the Bridge up, there is a mention of IP 192.168.1.226 being the default address the thing is set with. So I set it up back to back with my laptop and set it up until I could see that there was a good connection to it by going to the "Status" menu in the web interface.
Phew... nothing is easy, however, some vital information up front in the manual would be nice. Likely, I'll forget the address and in 2 years (the dinosaur that I am... if it ain't broke or you can continue to live with it, why change it?), when I decide to upgrade the firmware, I'll have to go through the same drainbamage to find the default IP Address again. More likely, though, I will have lost the will to try to figure this crap out, and just call the Geek Squad and verbally harrass them as to what's taking them so long to get thd new thing to work.
Customer Review: There are better options
Summary: 2 Stars
I pretty much tried this device for a week, before opting for a more reliable option.
This device is another wireless product that only works competently under low strain. What do I mean? Well, if you use this device in an un-encrypted network or a network that uses WEP, you should receive reasonable results. I used this to give a credit card terminal internet access, and due to this I was using WPA to secure the network. This device was extremely unreliable with WPA encryption - to the point of it being broken.
Frequent disconnects, slow transfer rates... etc. Obviously this is not acceptable for a credit card machine, because if I'm charging a card and the WET54G decides not to connect, then I have to run the card again - annoying the customer.
Anyway, as far as setup goes, this device performs like expected. It can be a little confusing to setup for those who are not particularly comfortable with networking technology (you will generally have to have the device connected via ethernet to your network, or a computer during setup, before connecting to the intended device) , but otherwise it works like advertised in that respect.
As far as alternatives...
The number one alternative would be the WRT54GL from Linksys. You might be thinking "well that's a router". And it is. But, with a custom firmware (DD-WRT) the WRT54GL can become one of the most reliable consumer level networking devices. And it has a bridging mode. So it is able to give you the same functionality of the WET54G, but also give you much more functionality if your situation ever changes.
Now a fair amount of reviews recommended a bridge from Buffalo. I'm sure it's good, but the WRT54GL offers much more features and costs about $50. Yeah a device that does a ton more costs less...
The only downside is that it is a little more than twice the size of the WET - but since it works, and works reliably, I don't care.
On a final note, Amazon was great about refunding me on this device. Since this device was broken functionality wise, the refund process was no hassle at all.
-Oh, one final thing. If I remember correctly the device was at revision 3.1, which is apparently the European model of the device. The only reason why this is relevant at all, is that when searching for firmware updates you will need to visit Linksys's European site.
Customer Review: Finally got it working, but ,,,,
Summary: 2 Stars
I really needed a wireless "G" Bridge to boost a signal where hard-wiring was not an option. I couldn't wait for Linksys to come out with a "g" signal booster. If you can wire or wait, do so. If you can't, here are some things I did to make this buggy thing work. You need to be pretty tech savvy to get the job done.I was hooking up the bridge to a wireless Linksys G access point ("wap").
To setup the bridge, I attached it to my Linksys G router. I initially got a System Error/IP Conflict message that made my network unusable. Tech support was not much help. I ended up attaching it to my network via a low-tech hub (I removed the hub later). The error went away and I could start programming.
I set the WAP, bridge, and router to the same SSID. Tech support gave inconsistent advice on this.
I put the WAP and router on different wireless channels. Tech support gave inconsistent advice on this as well.
On the WAP and every other wireless device OTHER THAN the router, I filtered out the MAC address of the bridge. This way, the bridge would only pick up the wireless signal from the router. If you have multiple access points on your network and need for the bridge to pick up the signal from an access point closer than the router, you would apply filter to the router too -- basically every wireless transmitter EXCEPT the one you want the bridge to pick up.
Once the setup was complete, I connected the bridge and the WAP (filtered, of course) to each other using the ethernet cable. I moved the bridge and its attached WAP to their final destinations and plugged them into their AC power. At this point, I abandoned the hub I used for setup. Please note, the bridge needed to be fairly close to the unfiltered transmitting device in order for it to work consistently. The attached WAP can go anywhere its cable will reach.
At this point, every thing "pinged," but not consistently. My last move was to play around with the channels of the unfiltered transmitting device until I found one that worked best.
One last pointer, this configuration required endless unplugging/repowering of the WAP and bridge. If things aren't working, be sure to try repowering before throwing in the towel
I nearly lot my mind doing this project. If my blood, sweat, and tears over this helps you then perhaps it wasn't a complete waste.