Cisco-Linksys WAP11 Wireless-B Network Access Point

I bought the WAP11 (v 2.2) plus a wireless Linksys PC card NIC and a PCI NIC: all for home use. The WAP setup is pretty straightforward with an excellent Web interface. I set it up with 128 bit WEP encryption and MAC address filtering to provide at least some basic security. I found the signal strength and range to be better than the SMC WAP I had been testing and certainly preferred the Linksys web interface to the setup utility that came with the SMC. My only cricicism of the Linksys unit is its bulk.Although possibly outside the scope of this review, it may be worth mentioning that I'm very happy with the Linksys WMP11 PCI Wireless NIC that I bought as well. It has an actual real antenna that sticks out of the back of the PC and which can be adjusted to get the optimum signal strength. The only problem I had was with the Windows XP wireless networking setup utility doing battle with the utility provided with the one that shipped with the card. I suppose I could have let the Windows-provided utility handle the card but, in the end, I unchecked the box that allowed it to manage the card. This let me use the Linksys utility to handle the setup and things were smooth from then on. Signal strength is excellent - much better than from the SMC PCI card I'd been using earlier. Whether this was a function of having the antenna, rather than SMC's back plastic PC-card type protrusion, I don't know.One more thing, Linksys makes easy work of updating drivers, utilities and firmware from its very well-organized web site. It's worth availing yourself of these updates.

First off let me me say that this access point is great. All the range problems people experience are related to using the Linksys wireless card. I am using this access point for a desktop system that is in an inconvenient location to get an ethernet cable too. So I decided to make that desktop wireless. I am also using it with a Dell Inspiron laptop with a 2nd wireless card as this access point supports up to 32 users. The two wireless cards I am using are the D-Link 650, and the Orinoco Gold Card. They are both great cards. The D-Link is used in the desktop system while I use the Orinoco Gold in my laptop.The range is great providing you orient the antennaes first to get maximum signal strength. I get well over 50% signal with the D-Link card after I have arranged the signals. This is also going thru two walls, and is diagonally opposite from each other. This is more than enough signal strength to effectively operate at the full 11Mbps rate.I have also sucessfully configured 128 bit WEP protection, as well as MAC address authenticate feature so that only my two wireless cards are the only ones that can access the access point.I had a little trouble getting WEP, and MAC authenticate to work at first, but you definatly need to have at least v. 1.4f.8 firmware or later, as well as the latest software.To get WEP working the encryption keys must match exactly on both the wireless access point, and the wireless card otherwise the units will not communicate.To get MAC authenticate to work you have to open up NotePad and make a regular .txt file of your MAC addresses that you want to enable access for in this format without using dashes. For example (00-01-12-FB-7Z-04) needs to be entered in NotePad as:000112FB7Z04You need to use a seperate line for each card's MAC address.When you are finished save the .txt file and you can easily go into the configuration tool for the Wireless Access Point, and upload this .txt file of MAC address to allow access. You will not see the list of MAC addresses present after you upload it, but it does work.I am using this access point with a Linksys BEFN2PS4 Cable/DSL, and Voice Router, and it works well with it. I also have the Linksys EFSP42 Print Server. All 3 Linksys boxes are excellent products, and integrate well with each other. They also look nice as they conveniently stack on top of each other. The Voice Router is also a great product as it allows you to make cheap phone calls over the Internet using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) using any regular telephone. These calls can also be made when your computer is totally turned off. It is totally independent from the computer.In conclusion, the wireless acess point is a great product, and I am definatly glad I purchased it. Just make sure you do NOT use the Linksys wireless PC card with it as I have heard nothing but BAD reports of poor range. Use a D-LINK 802.11b card, or the Orinoco Gold which are both excellent cards. It will work with any card that is WI-FI compatible.

I purchased the WAP11 and the WUSB11 wireless adapter and found the original setup to be very easy and reliable. I'm able to get "excellent" connection (11Mbps) from downstairs (approx. 20' from the WAP11) and find the internet and network connection to be similar to the connection speed as my hard wired system upstairs. Very nice equipment. One thing all potential buyers should know is that this product is not able to pass the required 128bit encryption data stream needed for several e-commerce sites. Online banking and credit card access are not possible. The recent firmware upgrade is supposed to allow 128bit capability, however, the installation process for this is not good. In fact, Linksys posted the new firmware on 6/22/01, then changed the file to some other utility the next day or so. The firmware upgrade faulted out after 56% several times and ultimately messed up the EPROM. After many hours of trial and error, I was finally able to get the thing working again. I am able to key the 128 bit data stream now. However, once I power down and reboot, the USB adapter is unable to connect at 128bit. This firmware needs improvement and the connection for 128bit encryption needs to be way more stable and reliable. If you don't need 128bit encryption, this is the perfect wireless solution.