Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander WRE54G
by Linksys
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander WRE54G
Customer Review: Does not currently work as advertised (on WEP)
Summary: 1 Stars
The basic point here is that it probably won't work for you if you use WEP. Of course, now a days, we should all be using WEP (as the instructions mention) so this product should really be for no one. Realistically, there are people that don't use WEP and, for those people, this will probably work fine. I'll be returning mine tomorrow.
Here's my whole story if it helps someone decide on this:
When you attempt to use the setup wizard that comes on the included CD, it seems like everything would work fine for WEP; however, when you get to the page asking about your WEP config, it has two possibilities: 64-bit and 128-bit. Trying to be as secure as possible, I use 128-bit. The problem here is that the field that allows you type in your 26 digit hexadecimal WEP key accepts only 13 digits! If you enter only 13 with 128-bit selected and hit 'next', a box pops up that says you have to enter 26 but, frustratingly, you can not. If you use 64-bit WEP, this might would work for you.
So, first I checked if there was an updated version of the wizard on the Linksys site (actually, it's very hard to find anything on this product currently on the Linksys site (nice work, guys)). I knew, though, that the product had a built-in website that you can use to configure it so I figured I'd just use that. On the internal site I was able to configure WEP consistent with my settings. This was somewhat annoying, though, because the device does not have a hard-wire ethernet port so each step of the way, you loose the connection with the device as you change the wireless settings. I also found that it seemed simply saving the settings didn't result in them taking effect. Maybe I was too impatient but I ended up saving the settings and then unplugging and replugging the device in to restart it. This all seemed to work great despite the effort but it was still not talking to my other access point. I finally noticed that the SSID of this device has to be the same as the one it's 'extending'. I can see why they'd do this to reduce the configuration needs on your wireless devices; however, this means that once the SSID is set to the same as the other wireless device, if you need to continue to configure the WRE54G, you'll have to turn off your other devices or go to a spot that you're sure is out of range of your other devices so you can be certain you're connecting to the WRE54G. Anyway, setting the SSID the same as the other device didn't seem to result in a 'link' between the WRE54G and my other access point.
So, foiled again, I called tech support. This was a bad experience. The woman I spoke to was a little hard to understand perhaps due to an accent I am not familiar enough with. Additionally, there were long pauses where I eventually realized someone was directing her on what to say. Everybody needs training so I did my best to be patient and play along. However, when we got to the part where I mentioned the model of the other Linksys access points I have, she (well they) basically told me that they were only supporting this device with 3 particular wireless-G access points. This contradicts what the box and the literature on the Internet says but I figured there was no point in arguing. They were good enough to point out that I could buy a couple WAP11's and effectively do the same thing but that's what I'm already doing and that's what I bought this product to avoid.
I have at least 8 linksys products that I can think of (not including this one as I'm going to return it)--2x WAP11, BEFW11S4, WMA11B, BEFCMU10, a hub, a PCI adapter, a PC card adapter and that's just off the top of my head. I've installed a couple of linksys products for my parents and recommended them countlessly. This is the product I've been waiting for for years--a way to extend my wireless network without using two wireless devices, a wireless repeater. It's really too bad. I'm very disappointed. Between this and my experiences with the WMA11B, I'm about done with Linksys. Tomorrow, I will buy D-Link and they'll have the opportunity to earn my business and recommendation. If someone from Linksys is reading this, I'd say, "My guess is you need to beef up your QA dept. I obviously have no clue what's wrong with you but you ought to. Get it together!"
Customer Review: Dell Laptop users - it works put it takes some work
Summary: 4 Stars
Great product, installation process stinks. Throw away the installation disk it doesn't work and thank God Linksys has free tech support that can spend the time to help you get it working. Don't hesitate to call them. -1 star for having to upgrade firmware out of box for unit and poor installation method.
For Dell laptops you may not be able to connect to the expander, you will need to do the following A or B
A) if you have a desktop computer connected to your wireless router configure the expander from the desktop not from your Dell laptop - follow instructions below skipping steps 4) and 9)
B) if you must configure it with a dell laptop then you must use Netscape Navigator do not use Internet Explorer (IE)- classic symptoms - if you try to connect with IE you will find that you will get to the login expander window but won't be able to login after entering the password or your laptop will be able to detect that the expander is there but you won't even be able to get to the login window to even connect to the expander. To connect you will need to do the following
1) down load latest firmware for the expander v1.04.17 - you will use this later.
2) upgrade you firmware on you router before starting for me (WRT54GS) the latest version is Firmware Version: v3.37.6.
3) disable WEP on your Router or AP
4) on your dell laptop go and open control panel, double click network connections, right click wireless network connection, select properties, scroll down and select Internet protocol (TCP/IP), click on properties, select use the following IP address. WRE54G comes set to a default IP address of 192.168.1.240. Since you'll need to make a direct wireless connection to the WRE54G and it doesn't have a DHCP server, you'll need to nail down your client's IP address info. So enter in the IP address box in the 192.168.1.2, next enter 255.255.255.0 for your subnet mask. The Gateway and DNS settings won't matter for now and you can leave them blank. Hit ok and ok again. Now your Dell laptop will point to expander. (reboot laptop, after it us up and running go to step 5)
5) Hold the expander auto-configuration button for 30 seconds (if everything goes well both lights on the expander will turn blue) and unplug while still holding auto-config button. Plug back in after 20-30 seconds.
6) -open NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR and type 192.168.1.240 (default IP of expander), a window will pop up. leave the user name blank and put admin as a password (this is default password).
7) you are now in - lets upgrade the firmware, select help, select firmware upgrade, enter location of file, hit upgrade.
8) now that we have upgraded firmware lets go ahead and enable WEP on the expander, select default transmit key 1, select 64 bit WEP, type in your unique pass phrase (i.e. reddog), hit generate, write down on piece of paper the alpha numeric code in transmit key 1 that was generated you will need to input this into your laptop later inorder to connect.
9) now we need go back and change laptop IP settings on your dell laptop. open control panel, double click network connections, right click wireless network connection, select properties, scroll down and select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), click on properties, select obtain an IP address automatically. hit ok and ok again. (reboot laptop)
10) Now go into your router and set use the same settings (select 64 bit WEP, transmit key 1, same unique pass phrase, generate alpha numeric code) in your Router, save settings in your router.
11) Now your dell laptop should detect the network, but inorder to connect to your WEP enabled network you will need to set the same settings on your laptop (select 64 bit WEP, transmit key 1, type in the alpha numeric code for transmit key - the one that you wrote down on that piece of paper) save settings.
and volia - you connected your Dell laptop to the expander - hope that helps a frustrated Dell laptop user like February 13, 2005 Reviewer: L. Zarker -
Customer Review: Nightmare to setup - - but, nice once it works
Summary: 3 Stars
This thing IS a nightmare to work with. The documentation is pretty to look at; but there is so much missing. Anthony and others gave some good suggestions here, but I also wanted to add what finally amounted to 3 hours of figuring out how to work with this device and what I had encountered:
- I connected my access point to a Netgear router that had DHCP enabled that could not go into the address that the repeater had required (198.168.1.240). Once I discovered this, I realised that there was no way that I could ever connect into this in its default state -- but, figuring that part out took so many tries and failed attempts at restarting and pushing reconfig buttons that I finally figured it was my router holding back the default IP number.
- Turn WEP off your Access Point while configuring. Print out your keys and configuration, etc and keep them on hand so you can turn it back on later.
- I ended up temporarily removing my router (which connects the Access Point) from the cable modem and just plugging the access point into a very cheap Intel 10mps hub that I had from years ago (maybe ur cable or DSL you can plug direct into the AP, but I could not).
- I UNPLUGGED everything. Then, hooked up the temporary router and the AP. I got into the original access point's admin screens and turned off filtering (MAC address) and the WEP security. This also validated that I could connect to the original access point.
- Now, time to add the repeater -- I pushed the reconfig on the side of the box and also did the 30-sec auto-config pull out while it was plugged in. After a minute or so, I plugged it back in and let pushed the autoconfig again.
- Now, I could get to the default IP address of the repeater. Once I was there, I set it to a hard-coded IP address that my router could handle (for instance, 192.168.0.69); I could also turn on the WEP and its settings and rename the repeater here also.
- Turned off repeater and access point.
- Restarted cable modem, full-blown router (got the cheapo original out of the picture), once that was all setup I turned on the original access point and then the repeater.
Voila! That all works now. It carrys WEP, you can setup the security, SSID, etc and filtering etc back into your original access point if you want.
I met some guy at the BBuy here in LA last night that was confused over these same things. He ended up buying one with me, and I kept thinking that someone had to be really techie to finally figure out the secret of this router rather than an average consumer.
These products are nightmares. Its almost as if the illusions of "ease of use" (in this case, the autoconfig button) create problems when things like WEP security or IP ranges cannot be accomodated -- which I feel is pretty unusual to have such for a modern or newer Internet device.
Otherwise, it works beautifully --- would have been given 5 stars if it wasnt so time consuming to do the work that Linksys should have done in designing this product correctly.
Updated: IMPORTANT ---- If you make it into the admin of the range expander, make sure that everything is on the same subnet -- so, set the IP address to something: 192.168.0.69 THEN, set the GATEWAY back into the original access point on the same subnet: 192.168.0.(your IP of your ACCESS POINT not router) Once I did this, it worked WONDERFULLY!!!!
FURTHER: You may have to change your IP on your configuring computer to the subnet 192.168.1.xxx so you can originally ping the autoconfig extender. Once you do the changes I mention above, then you can switch everything back to the settings of the subnet that you want. This might not be a device for those not very clear on these concepts -- or, if you dont run security, etc. Also, contact Linksys to get the latest firmware to update the extender -- the updated one supports security better.
Customer Review: Newest WRE54G Expander plugs into router for setup!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the latest model WRE54G expander in July 2008. The BIG difference in the newer model is that you can plug it into your router for setup - eliminating most of the headaches mentioned in the older reviews. I think that most of these reviews were of a unit that could not plug into a router and had to be setup via the "automatic" setup. The automatic setup is still not so nice if you have security turned on but there are ways to resolve that problem too.
Being able to connect to your existing router by cable makes setup a snap! Also, the instructions appear to be rewritten by a human being because they are reasonably easy to understand.
On my first setup, I basically walked my way through the setup wizard in about 5 minutes with the expander plugged into an outlet near my router and then plugged into my router with the included Ethernet cable. I unplugged the WRE54G, walked across the house and up a few flights of stairs to the far reaches of my wireless signal and plugged the expander into the wall. My laptop normally gets 0-1 bar of signal in this room. Tada! 5 bars with the WRE54G in place with security in place. I looked at the expander configuration via http://168.1.1.240 - default expander IP - and it (of course) had all the right security information in place.
Since I am a big proponent of wasting my time, I decided to reset the unit (with a pen in the small hole) and see how the automatic setup worked. I took a cue from Mr. Anthony Taylor's review and turned wireless security off on my existing router. I plugged in the WRE54G to a power outlet close to the router and pushed the auto configuration button for 5+ seconds and then watched the red light go to blue after about 30 seconds. I unplugged the expander and took it back to the other side of the house again - same result - full signal on my laptop.
That was all great except that my wireless security was still turned off. I pretty much followed Mr. Taylor's instructions for turning security on: I opened a browser window and went to http://168.1.1.240 and had the expander configuration screen. I entered the default password (admin) and went to "edit security settings" and entered my WPA key and saved that. I opened another browser window, opened my router config and turned wireless security back on (and reset my wireless connection from the laptop with security on). I unplugged the WRE54G and plugged it back (you must do this for it to re-initialize) and less than 1 minute later I was secure with 5 bars.
Overall, this piece of hardware does an excellent job of expanding the signal in my large rambling house that is hard to cover with wireless. I would order more of these to hopefully cover my entire place but it appears to have a fixed (default) IP so more than one of them would cause an IP conflict. I need to check this issue out...
Linksys has obviously made some significant improvements in the setup but I would not have purchased this unit except for some of the excellent reviews, particularly Mr. Anthony Taylor's review. I would like to think that the many negative comments by users prompted Linksys to look at how this piece of equipment was made and that our opinions resulted in improvements. Yay us!
Also - don't forget your firmware upgrade. This unit I bought in July 2008 shipped with ver 3.01.1 dated something like 2004. The latest firmware is 3.04.1 dated June 2006. You would think that Linksys could put the latest firmware in seeing that it is 2 years old. Unless my router has been on a shelf since before that! Could that be possible? Regardless, this is a product I recommend to anyone needing to boost their wireless signal around the house or office.
Customer Review: Sorry Linksys, but you're forcing me.
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm sure you've already seen a lot of reviews flame this product as being difficult to set up, doesn't work, etc etc etc. I agree with some of them, but for the wrong reasons. For that, I'm going to tell you exactly what is wrong with this product, and then you can make up your own mind whether to invest in it or not.
First, the way it works: This expander essentially emulates the set up of your wireless router. It's supposed to play nicest with WRT54G, of which I have the SpeedBooster version. Normally, you just press the auto config button on the side and the expander is supposed to grab all of those critical pieces and set itself up, ready to go right?
Well, that DOES work. Yes, it does. The problem is that such a method is ineffective in this day and age for one reason that isn't the expander's fault: Wireless hot spots are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Automatically, the poor thing is at a disadvantage, as it has no idea which hotspot to connect to. In my situation, I'm in a complex with at least 5 other hotspots around me, all secured mind you, but the expander doesn't care whether it's secured or not - if I hit the auto config, it's going to configure itself to another hotspot and not mine, even though mine is the closest in proximity.
Moral of the story: AUTO CONFIG IS USELESS IF THERE ARE OTHER VISIBLE HOTSPOTS AROUND.
Which brings me to manual setup. Apparently the expander defaults to 240 on your LAN IP range; unfortunately, getting it to connect to your LAN is so difficult that you can't even get to that point. What's worse, it doesn't like someone trying to connect directly to the Expander itself; remember, it's nothing more than an access point at its core, so it should still be broadcasting a local signal which should do a private IP; it does, then shuts down and refuses connections. That means I can't even do manual setup unless it's connected to my home network - which of course I can't do since I can't set it up to do so.
Moral of the Story: THE EXPANDER WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO CONFIGURE IT IF ITS NOT CONNECTED TO YOUR HOME NETWORK.
The instructions online and in the disc say that you should disable everything, configure it, then re-enable. That's absolutely absurd. So I should expose my hot spot to any war driver, neighbor or anything else so that this picky device can do what it's told? Just for kicks I did try it, and lo and behold, the device did pick it up and configure properly. But I should not have to put my network at risk to configure an expander. I should be able to plug up the Ethernet cable and tell it to download a saved config file from the router. That's it.
Moral of the Story: THIS DEVICE WANTS YOU TO UNSECURE YOUR NETWORK IN ORDER TO SET IT UP.
So I finally got it working, but then recently I decided to increase my overall security, so I went WPA-PSK (couldn't go with WPA2 since the PS3 doesn't seem to like it very well), set the password and encryption, and all that. Still no problems. Well, I discovered that one of my devices (I think it was the PS3 again) didn't like TKIP encryption, so I switched to AES. Not only did it not solve the problem, but the expander freaked out. Again, refused to allow me to connect to it to update the encryption key; now it won't do anything at all.
In summary: If you have:
1: NO OTHER wireless hotspots visible to your computer (unlikely);
2: NO SECURITY on your own hotspot (not recommended);
You should be able to have this thing working fine. Otherwise....ugh.