Netgear WGE101 802.11g Wireless Ethernet Bridge (WGE101NA)
by Netgear
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Netgear WGE101 802.11g Wireless Ethernet Bridge (WGE101NA)
Customer Review: Works great with the Netgear WGT624
Summary: 5 Stars
I just picked up the WGE101 from zoomfly.com, it works great. DIdn't have a difficult time setting it up, everything went smoothly.Customer Review: Didn't work for me
Summary: 1 Stars
This product didn't work for me. It refuses to communicate with my Linksys 802.11g Access Point/Router box. According to press reports other people have seen the same problem and the Netgear firmware in the WGE101 box seems to be at fault. What's odd is a Netgear 802.11g USB adapter works fine with the Linksys access point.The Netgear bridge did work with the Netgear WGR614 access point, but I had to stop using the Netgear access point because it locked up every few days for some unknown reason.
Given my experiences with the WGE101 and WGR614 boxes, I think Netgear isn't up to speed yet on 802.11g technology.
Customer Review: Not useful for longer distance links
Summary: 1 Stars
I am quite disappointed about the product.I run a 5 mile link with two large external antennas with an old Orinoco AP-1000 and a Avaya PCMCIA client since over a year. It offers a stable performance and around 4 MBit/s on the application level (e.g. ftp) - this ist what you can expect from a 802.11b device. The link has about 10dB margin.
I tried to replace the PCMCIA client through the WGE101. After a lot of configuration trials I found out that Netgears algorithm that generates WEP keys from a passphrase is different from that of other manufacturers (Proxim/Orinoco and D-Link use compatible ones), and after filling in the right key the link worked basically. It has the same 10dB margin (tested with an attenuator), but the throughput is ridiculous - about 500 kbit/s downstream and 80 kbit/s (!!) upstream.
The signal strength of the WGE101 at the AP is even higher than that of the PCMCIA card; nevertheless the AP monitors a lot of FCS errors. Either the transmitted signal modulation quality of the WGE101 is so much inferior to the Avaya card, or there is a protocol incompatibility. The WGE101 displays RSSI of "39...56 %" (whatever this may mean in true dBm - it should be around -91...-81 dBm), always with a "green" bar, depending upon the extra attenuation.
There is nearly nothing to tune or to monitor on the WGE101, you don't see error rates or even the used data rate. No chance to e.g. lock the rate to 5.5 or 2 Mb/s. Nice for dumb users in simple cases but annoying otherwise. Though I managed to come through to the 2nd level support at Netgear they couldn't help me while being friendly.
Maybe the box works well for short indoor links. But do not use it for serious applications. Conclusion: if you buy trash you get trash...
Customer Review: Works as advertised w/ minimum fuss
Summary: 5 Stars
Basically, just worked as advertised. Connected to D-LINK 624 (802.11g) on wireless side and small 10/100 switch on the other. Full 128 bit WEP encryption is in place and works splendidly, with no noticable impact on performance.
DHCP services provided by router accross bridge to multiple PC's on wired network w/out issue.
This device is able to serve as a DHCP client as well, making network configuration pretty easy. Because of the IP range I use, I did have to set the network configuration while connected only to a single PC, then power down and attach to network. Once configuration was complete, however, fired right up and got itself and IP and was off and running.
Overall, very pleased. Good purchase for a good price.
Customer Review: Great Wireless Bridge
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm using the Netgear WGE101 to contect to a Netgear WGR614 router/switch which in turn is connected to a cable modem for internet access. It works flawslessly with 99% signal strength at 40 feet and several walls between the two devices. The security features that you can use with the combined Netgear setup is really outstanding.