802.11G Enet Bridge Adptr Poe

List Price: $161.69 Discount Price: Too low to display

Features:

• Product Type - Bridge
• Warranty - 3 Years Limited
• Buttons -- Reset
• Cabling Type -- UTP CAT 5

Customer Reviews:

Good overall with some feature issues [Posted on 2008-02-13]
The first two reviews on this product sum up the features and setup well. Definitely noteworthy information.

Spent a ton of time on configuration and ultimately got it to work in a way that will work for me. Of course, to do so, I had to buy some additional hardware due to lack of good WEP support for wireless-B (802.11/b). I also spent a lot of time with support (in India) trying to resolve the firmware shortcomings. Support finally gave up and declared the device as defective. When I got my replacement, it worked (or didn't work) the same. I basically had to upgrade any network devices that were older since I had to change (upgrade/update) my security to WPA. It's an all-or-nothing switch for most wireless routers.

You will be most successful with this product if you're using all Linksys hardware(wireless router) with this bridge. Using WPA security will also save you a lot of time, since WEP does not work as documented. In most cases when using WEP, the bridge will not appear to save the configuration. In some cases it will actually work although it does not appear to be saved. In other cases, it does not.

It may be that using mixed manufacturers' devices was causing me the issues. Nonetheless, some pretty common, old and established standards were being used -- WEP(64/128), 802.11/b, 802.11/g. Even the WPA configuration was a little odd. For example, on my router I had to use WPA-PSK setting while on this bridge (WET200), I had to use WPA2-TKIP. Of all the combinations of security, this is the only one that would work (and I'm not so sure it should have).

Just keep in mind that if you have more than two or three devices, you're probably going to spend a weekend getting this to work right ...and that's coming from someone who does this for a living. Still, I would recommend it because it fills a space where there aren't too many other cost-effective alternatives.

One last note - I did have a small hope/expectation that the bridge would extend the wireless range of the router, but that was an error on my part. Something to note that you would need an additional range extender if that's a feature you might be expecting.

Can't make it work, no support [Posted on 2008-02-17]
The descriptions of this product sound quite wonderful. It's the only one I could find that seemed to meet my needs. I followed the installation instructions exactly, and at the end, the product would get hung up in rebooting -- it would reboot forever, and only unfreeze when I held down the hardware reset button for 10 seconds. I searched for help on the Linksys site, and found none. Their live chat service doesn't support it. There was no troubleshooting information about it. The community forums were empty. They advertise a network troubleshooting product you can download, but it doesn't support the WET200. And no number to call that I could tease out of their site. So I'm stuck. I'd much rather make it work than return it, but Linksys isn't making it easy. It's true my other equipment isn't all Linksys (as they recommend), but it's all less than a year old, so a product of this kind shouldn't have a problem. I would feel less frustrated if they appeared to make an effort to support the product, but apparently even going through the motions was too tough for them. I'm delighted the other reviewers had success and I wish them well, I only wish the same experience for myself.802.11G Enet Bridge Adptr Poe

Very Easy set up [Posted on 2008-06-13]
After I set my Computer Ip to the correct subnet the configuration was very quick and easy. Almost to easy, I was connected to my main network with no problems in less than 10 miniuts.

Linksys WET200 Ethernet Bridge  [Posted on 2008-06-19]
Overall, once I finally understood how to get this working wirelessly it operates well, with little trickery in the settings. Operator Manual is a bit vague on how to make the WET200 communicate wirelessly with my Linksys wireless router - you have to make sure that the Default Gateway/Primay DNS/Secondary DNS of router is set up in the bridge set up.

Biggest issue was that could not seem to run MAC Address Access filter and WPA2-Personal encryption at the same time. Spent a number of hours on the help line with Linksys Technical help (who were quite helpful to get the communications going and working with me to try and get both security measures running) but could never get both security settings running at the same time. They admitted by the end that they had problems during development before it was released getting both to run simultaneously - maybe some future firm ware updates for both will fix it.

Works wonderfully [Posted on 2008-08-09]
After reading the other reviews of this product, I was a bit wary of spending $115 on something that may or may not work. Others were having problems with this bridge and it concerned me. I've used Linksys router for years without any problems--so I took the chance.

I purchased this bridge along with a Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Router for the purpose of setting the two up for my daughter to use at her house. Once I configured the router (I use very few of the default values - but it still took about 20 minutes) it was a breeze to set up the bridge. I followed the Quick Installation guide. Four pages, 5 minutes and I was up and running. I was amazed at how quickly I had this thing running. She uses it for her laptop, her Tivo and her Vonage internet phone adapter.

One caveat: not because I had to, but I did check the Linksys website and saw that there was a firmware update available. So I downloaded and applied it.

If you can read, and follow, directions--you won't be disappointed with this bridge.

When we got the router and bridge to my daughter's house, we plugged everything in and she was up and running in minutes. The total amount of time invested in configuring the router and bridge was less than 25 minutes. And that includes reading the documentation!

Lastly, I was so impressed with this bridge, that I bought a second one for my son. Again, same thing. 5 minutes of setting up the bridge (already had the router set up) and he was up and running. He has two desktop PCs plugged into the bridge as well as his Tivo. He's a big "gamer" and he has been very pleased with the speed of the bridge. He's had the bridge for about 2 weeks and I haven't once heard him scream about "lagging"!

I'm thrilled with the bridges. The kids are happy with them too.

Buy one - if you get into trouble setting it up, email me.

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