SMC Draft 11N Wireless Access Point Ethernet Client Us Power

List Price: $110.99 Discount Price: $91.39

Features:

• 300Mbps WLAN 32-bit Wireless Access Point
• IEEE 802.11 N standard, Backward compatibility to existing 802.11 B,G
• Advanced security through 64/128-bit WEP encryption, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
• Typical output of 14dBm
• PIN support

Customer Reviews:

Nice ... though WPA not working with Actiontec MI424-WR [Posted on 2007-12-28]
I tried using this SMCWEB-N as a client with a Verizon FIOS Actiontec MI424-WR Wireless router. This setup does not work using WPA or WPA2 security. Using WEP works.

What I observe is that the SMCWEB-N seems to connect, but then after 3 seconds drops the connection and tries another channel. It keeps coming back to the channel that the Actiontec is using (I tried various channels 1, 3, 6, 8, and 11) but always fails after 3 seconds.

The SMC tech support is decent -- from India, but capable, friendly, and available 24 hours/day. After spending over three hours with them, they claim that this SMCWEB-N model simply does not necessarily work with other 802.11g using WPA or WPA2. I have a hunch that the SMC technician who told me this was confusing my problem with the current lack of inter-operability standards on the 802.11n band, which is pre-draft and only works reliably between equipment from the same vendor. The 802.11g is a mature standard that should work reliably across vendors.

Searching online, I see others having problems with that Actiontec MI424-WR and WPA or WPA2 over 802.11g (it doesn't have 802.11n) not working with other vendors equipment, though those reports of problems are confusing (as most network problem reports are) so I can't be sure.

Other than the WPA/WPA2 not working with my Actiontec MI424-WR, the SMCWEB-N seems to be a fine piece of equipment. So I think I'll get a second SMCWEB-N and use a pair of these SMC's to cover the wireless link I need, and cease trying to use the wireless port on the Actiontec.

The signal strength indicator on the SMCWEB-N, which is expressed as a percentage 1 to 100%, is nice. It can reliably detect the small drop in signal from having the two wireless antennas in direct line of sight versus having an interior wall or two in the way, when the two are just 5 meters apart.

The rating for this review should either be five stars (if it's the Actiontec that is to blame for the WPA not working) or two stars (if it's this SMCWEB-N that is to blame.) I simply have no reliable way of knowing which one is to blame, but the weight of the evidence casts more doubt on the Actiontec, so SMCWEB-N gets the benefit of the doubt, at four stars.

One nitpick, but otherwise works well [Posted on 2008-09-09]
Pros: Works very well as both an access point and a client. The auto channel selection helps a lot in a neighborhood with several wireless networks.

Con: Bad design decision (yes, I've asked them) with regard to MAC filtering... generally accepted use is to restrict wireless device access, but SMC uses it to filter ALL packets, from both wired and wireless networks.

The one problem I've found with this device would be more of a problem if MAC filtering were actually effective for WLAN security these days. Aside from that, though, it's good at what it does.

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