Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter
by Linksys
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Our Price: $89.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter
Customer Review: Got Tivo connected to 802.11g, but adapter setup is a pain
Summary: 3 Stars
I mainly got this adapter to allow me to hook up my Tivo to my network without running cables between rooms and without having to put any 802.11b devices on my G-only network. Since Tivo does not directly support any 802.11g adapters, natively, I had to use this (rather pricy) workaround solution.
My Tivo is connected to a Linksys USB200M USB network adapter which is connected (via cable) to the Linksys WGA54G, which in turn connects to my Linksys WRT54G wireless-G router. I was debating between the Linksys WET54G and this one, and finally decided on this one because it was slightly less expensive. In this setup, the Tivo will think it's on a standard wired setup, but the adapter will bridge it to your wireless network.
Now, on to the adapter...
Setting up the WGA54G has to be one of my most miserable experiences with Linksys I've ever had and seriously made me reconsider the faith I have put in them in the past.
It took me nearly 2 hours of cursing until I finally got it working on my network properly. Most of the time was spent watching the blinking lights for an appropriate response to my network and wondering if I had a defective unit.
My biggest pieces of advice if you are performing the setup is:
1) WAIT BETWEEN SETUP CHANGES!!!
Every time you make a change and hit submit via the web interface, the unit POWER-CYCLES and takes almost half a minute to come back up. Before I figured this out, I would apply a change via the web interface and then wonder why the webpage would not come back up again.
2) Wireless-G indicator light will NOT be steadily lit!!!
As someone else here has pointed out, the user documentation claims the "Wireless-G" light (bottom indicator light) will be "steadily lit". THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE! It only blinks when there is traffic going across the adapter but will remain UNLIT OTHERWISE. For a while, I thought my adapter was broken because this light wasn't lit.
However, aside from the power-cycles, I had numerous other problems during setup. Signal strength should not have been a factor for me during setup, because the router and the adapter were right next to each other. General issues I had during the setup process:
- PC could no longer detect the adapter
- Adapter would intermittently see my wireless network, but be unable to connect to it, even with all encryption turned off
- When attempting to enable WEP encryption, the adapter would suddenly no longer find my network
I've found that disabling WEP on the adapter and setting it to Mixed Mode would let me get onto the network quicker, although I wouldn't recommend it. The adapter WILL work with WEP and I eventually did get it to work, but the reason for it finally working is a random mystery to me. I wish I had some better steps for others, but I don't. Among my many resets and power-cycles while trying to configure, the adapter would intermittently manage to detect my network with WEP enabled. At this point, I would unplug the adapter, connect it to my Tivo, test it out, and it worked during one of these attempts. Why it worked some times and not others, I have on clue.
PROS:
1) Eventually worked as described and allowed me to bridge my Tivo onto a 802.11g network in G-mode using WEP encryption. Had no problems once it found my network.
CONS:
1) PAINFUL painful setup
Dig out some 4-leafed clovers and your lucky rabbit foot for some extra luck
2) no WPA
3) unit runs HOT!
This thing gets really hot after only a small period of use, so keep that in mind.
Overall, I'm content with the final outcome and haven't had any issues with it, once it started to work. However, I am extremely disappointed in the trouble I had to go through to get it working and the fact that I still don't know what caused all those problems during the setup process.
***UPDATE***
Since I wrote this review, Tivo has released their own Wireless-G adapter which works like a charm, so this work-around is no longer necessary for Tivo users,
As a general aside, during the time that I did use this bridge, it had the habit of dropping my network, which was pretty annoying, so I found myself resetting the bridge on a regular basis by unplugging the power and plugging it back in.
Also, be careful when upgrading the firmware. In the hopes of fixing the above network problem, I tried upgrading the firmware, which ended up bricking the bridge. but to be honest, I don't miss it. At this point, I just went ahead and purchased the Tivo adapter, which suited my purposes better.
Perhaps it works better for gaming purposes.
Customer Review: Hardware works, software stinks
Summary: 3 Stars
This took me about 2 hours to set up, after about 20 attempts. The hardware works fine, but both the setup utility and the operating manual are poor and only handle connecting to simple networks. I have a non-standard (read: I didn't let Microsoft set up my network automatically) network and a Linksys Wireless G router, with 128 bit WEP (encryption) as well as MAC filtering set on. (My neighbor across the street also has a wireless network, which I didn't know until I started fooling around with this one.)
In essence, if you use a router gateway to the net (which you absolutely should for its inherent hardware firewall capabilities) and you use wireless encryption (which you absolutely should to make it difficult for a techie neighbor from eavesdropping in on your network) you must set this device up manually. Not only that, but you have to set up your game machine network settings manually as well.
First, routers usually also act as DHCP servers (meaning that they'll automatically give an IP address to anything logging onto the network). That means that unless you give the device a static IP address you're never sure which address your game machine will have when it boots up. The same thing is true of the WGA54G. Unless you specify a proper static IP address and netmask, it won't connect. So you have to give both the game machine and the WGA54G (different) static addresses within the range of your local network and which don't conflict with any existing devices.
Secondly, if you do MAC filtering, you need to realize that the WGA54G has TWO ethernet adapters: the wired one (which you stick the cable plug into) and the wireless one (that connects to the antenna). The MAC address of the WIRELESS device must be included in the filter settings of your router, or it'll be blocked. Linksys doesn't make it clear how to find that address (it gives you the wired MAC address on the label), but the wireless MAC device is one of the two MACs you've got to include in your
router's filter list. (Hint: it's one digit higher than the wired MAC address -- just add 1 to the last two hex digits). The other MAC address needed is of the IP adapter contained in your game device (or attachment). That you have to obtain from your game network setup screens. I'm not completely sure why the WGA54G's wired adapter address isn't needed, my guess is that since it doesn't make any packet requests of the wireless router (interacts only with the game machine) it's not "seen" by the router.
You'll have to all of this by logging into the WGA54G's built in HTTP (web) server interface and your router's interface, not with the setup software on the disk.
Finally (on the Xbox, anyway), you've got to specify another static IP address for the game adaptor AND specify the router address as the DNS server (remember it allocates IP addresses for connected devices and stands between you and the internet, translating your network requests to the outside world.
If this sounds like Greek to you, well you're in good company. But this device is not inexpensive and is promoted as being easy to use.
It may be that Linksys can't tailor its software to every situation, but they can certainly write better documentation to help novices cope with the issues raised by slightly more complicated local networks. I also think that its odd that a wi-fi "G" device doesn't support the newer and more secure WPA encryption standards (which Linksys certainly includes in its wireless routers). That means that you will have to run your whole network on WEP encryption if you have this device set up, because WPA devices can't coexist with WEP encryption. WEP can be hacked, and WPA basically, cannot (unless you're a lot spookier than the average wardriver).
Yeah, it runs kind of hot, and yeah its LED lights are kind of strange, but who cares about that? The problem with this device is that it seems to have been shipped too early and because it's a game device is not being seriously supported or updated by Linksys in the same way that they'd support a "serious" device.
Like I said, the hardware seems to work fine (haven't experienced any of the dropped signals others report here), it's the software and documentation that's lacking.
Is there a better alternative? I don't know, I don't have the money and time to find out and I got this puppy running, so I'm movin' on to other things. I do know that Linksys is a decent manufacturer and can do better.
Customer Review: Linksys should have done better...
Summary: 2 Stars
Wow! I purchased this item before reading the posts. I have used Linksys wireless routers and access points without any problems. I never imagined having any problems with products by Linksys.
The first unit I purchased would not connect. It would have my network listed, but, it would not connect. After about 2 hours on the phone with Linksys tech support I was told to upgrade the firmware. I was given a web link and was left to perform the firmware upgrade on my own. Needless to say, the firmware upgrade changed nothing. The game adapter would still not connect to my network. By the way, this is with my network wide open: SSID broadcast on, no security, no firewall, nothing...wide open.
I then called tech support again. Round 2. This time after about 1 hour, I was told that the device must be defective and to return it; which I did. I exchanged the unit for another one, thinking that I must have just been unlucky with the first one. WRONG. The second unit went a little further. This time the web interface would say that it was connected, however, the unit would not talk to the network. Yep, you guessed it, Round 3 with tech support; another 2 hours. This 3rd person started all over again. All the same steps as Round 1 and Round 2. She finally told me that the wireless part of the game adapter must be defective and that I should return it for another unit. So now....what to do. She ensured me that these units don't have problems like this. After reading all the posts I would venture to say that these units are very troublesome.
Well, the glutton that I am, I exchanged it for a third unit. This time, BAM, perfect. The unit worked as advertised with no problems. I did not use the setup disk on this final unit. I actually disabled my wireless network on my laptop and connected the game adapter to the LAN port. I went directly to the web interface (192.168.1.250). I started with the network wide open. The game adapter connected and I was actually able to ping my router from the laptop and surf the web. I then turned WEP back on. After reading the posts I only setup 64 Bit. It connected and I was able to ping and surf again. Wow, the dang thing actually worked.
I then turned to the PS2. I could now finally attempt to get the PS2 online. No problems here as well. The PS2 was able to test and validate the network on the first try. We then tried Area 51 on-line. Everything works great. The unit works pretty darn good, if you can get a unit that works. My son has been playing online now with no problems.
The other posts are mostly all correct. The green wireless LED will not stay on solid. It only flashes when its sending information across the wireless network, and, even then, its hard to see. The settings are not that difficult to setup if you go directly to the web interface and bypass the setup CD. The setup CD only asks you for game play mode (unit to unit or unit to internet - which chooses adhoc or infrastructure depending on what you pick), SSID name, encryption scheme, and IP address for the game adapter. These settings are easily changed directly through the web interface.
The unit is not difficult to setup and you don't have to be a network guru to figure it out. Linksys definitely dropped the ball with this device and should be doing more to fix the problems. I, like everyone else, would also like to see better security in the game adapter. Home networks should not have to become vulnerable in order to play PS2 or XBOX games on-line. That's probably why Sony is incorporating all networking features directly into the PS3. My guess is the next version of XBOX will do the same.
My recommendation with this unit is that it is a crap shoot. It does work nicely, when it works. If you buy it knowing you might have to return it once or twice then go for it. Hopefully you won't be as unlucky as I was. You might want to purchase it at a local store if at all possible to make the return(s) go a little easier.
Customer Review: Seems to work now.. after LONG installation process
Summary: 3 Stars
I've had the thing running for just an hour so can't tell you much about reliability, but from the installation, it does seem flaky. I think part of my installation woes had to do with the flakiness so I wasn't sure if it just wasn't connecting because it didn't feel like it or because I did something wrong. Many people wrote about their installation solutions, which really helped. But I did have to piece together about 3 reviews to help so I'm posting what I did, in case it helps someone else.
BTW, I bought this to use with a network ready printer which did work eventually.
When it wouldn't connect, I did call tech support who totally sucks. The woman on the phone didn't even know what a MAC filter list is. The only thing that was useful that I learned from her is how to get to the web admin page without it being connected to the network. Plug it into your computer. In your LAN settings, give your computer a static IP [192.168.1.111] and for the gateway, use the IP of the adapter [in my case 192.168.1.48 or the default is 192.168.1.250 for the adapter if you haven't done anything with it]. Then you can point your browser to the adapter's IP and use the web admin. After 1 hour, she hung up on me when I demanded to speak to someone who knows what a MAC filter list is! When I called back, the 2nd operator hung up on me too while she was looking for my case file. Maybe I got blacklisted.
Here are the configurations I used that worked.
1) I followed the instructions and ran the setup CD. It could not find the adapter. I power cycled it and then it finally found it. At first I used auto DHCP and that messed up everything. Later I used a static IP for my network [I used 192.168.1.48], make sure the subnet mask is the same as the router [255.255.255.0], and put my router as the gateway [192.168.1.1]. I use a MAC filter list so I couldn't just plug it in and go to the adapter's web management page. But like everyone says, that page really has more options.
2) To get it through the filter, I added its MAC address that is labeled on its sticker, plus that MAC address +1, which when you get on its web admin page later, you'll see that the MAC address on the page is the one on the sticker +1. Thank you RARKM or I never would have figured it out. After this, technically it should be able to connect to the network whenever you plug it in. But it seemed really flaky and would sometimes connect and then drop, or not connect at all. It seemed to connect best if I powered it on without the ethernet connected to anything despite the instructions saying to power on after the ethernet connection.
3) When I could get to the web admin page, disabled cloning mode. I left it on mixed connection mode.
4) For the printer (or item you want to use the adapter with), I gave it a static IP different from the adapter, same subnet mask, and same router IP for the gateway. I also had to add the printer's MAC address to the router's filtering list.
5) At first whenever I connected the adapter to the printer, it would stop working. Finally I gave up. I left the adapter on, not connected to any device so it was just connected to the network by itself. The next morning, I connected it to the printer's ethernet without power cycling anything. And it worked! and has worked since then. But I honestly don't know if I'll be able to get it working again if it ever drops. And even now, even though it's obviously working because I can use the printer, I can't get to the adapter's web admin page. Flaky!
I'm giving it 3 stars because technically it works. And it's working with a printer which it never promised to do.
Customer Review: Buy it for playing online games, not for the ease of setup
Summary: 4 Stars
I should first point out that I recommend Linksys products to other people.I bought the WRT54G and WGA54G at the same time, in order to use them together. Setting up and configuring the router was easy, as I had a BEFSX41, until getting the wireless router. According to Linksys, the only difference between the two (other than the obvious wireless LAN) is that you cannot turn off the firewall in the WRT54G. (There seems to be a firewall enable/disable on the web based utility, so I'm not sure what they were trying to tell me.)
Back to the game adapter. This thing cost me at least 1.5 days of heartache. True, if you follow the quick start directions by connecting the game adapter (GA) directly to the computer, and using the setup CD, you won't have many problems (although I found that I had to assign an IP address to my PC manually, instead of using DHCP for this to work reliably). The real problem comes into play when you want to use the web based utility.
If your first thought was that you could use the web based utility wirelessly, think again. Linksys says it should work. It doesn't. After spending 65 minutes talking to a support person, he finally got so upset with me (even though I was doing my best to keep cool about it, and do everything he asked), that he had me connect it to my PS2 and connect wirelessly to an online game, he said problem solved, even though I couldn't use the web based utility wirelessly. He was unwilling to go any further.
What I did learn was what someone else already said. If you want to use the web based utility, you have to be connected with a wired connection. My best luck was connecting directly to the PC, as before, and then typing the IP address of the GA into your browser. You can then set everything up you wish. I was even connected to the internet wirelessly after everything was set up correctly, through the GA (after I switched my PC back to DHCP). Once that is done, disconnect it, and connect up your gaming console, and you should be ready to go. I would hope that Linksys will come out with a firmware upgrade that will make the interface more reliable.
The problem with connecting it wired to the router is as stated below, that you will have an IP conflict, because you have the same IP address registered as a wired IP and a wireless IP (Windoze XP kept pointing this out to me, and I finally realized why). Unless the GA disconnects from the router wirelessly, it will be a pain to set up this way.
I would still recommend this product, as it works perfectly, once set up, however, here are a few tips to remember.
1. Don't use online chat with Linksys while trying to set up this game adapter if you are using the computer you are using to chat, as the computer you are trying to set the game adapter up with. Reason: You will most likely get disconnected because you are fooling with IP addresses, and you can't reconnect to the same person.
2. Set up your router and game adapter to be "Wireless-G only" if you don't have any Wireless-B devices, because your W-G connection will be faster.