| ||||||||||||||||||||||
MALL.ShopperFavorites.com
Best Prices
Shopper Favorites Web Search |
Electronics : NETGEAR WPN802 RangeMax Wireless Access Point |
- Works as a WAP, but does not work as a wireless repeaterI'll provide detail below, but to summarize my review, this product works fine as a standalone wireless access point but did not work at all for me as a wireless repeater, even when using 2 of these devices with one as the primary and the second as the repeater.
Here is the problem I was trying to solve with this product...after re-locating my office and Verizon Fios Actiontec wireless router into the basement of my home, I found that the Actiontec was not strong enough to provide reliable wireless service to the front half of the first and second floors of my home. Having read the great reviews of the WPN802 as a wireless access point with very strong range, I purchased one and connected it to my router to act as its own access point (I did not attempt to use it as a repeater for the Actiontec as I have read mixed results of using other devices with the Actiontec, and also learned that the WPN802 is only supposed to act as a repeater for another WPN802). I found that the WPN802 only had marginally better range than my Actiontec, and so this wasn't a solution to my problem; given that both my Actiontec and the WPN802 were in my basement, I assumed that the foundation of the house must be interfering with the signal and so the answer was likely to place a wireless repeater somewhere above the basement. With this in mind, and ignoring other warnings in reviews that the repeater mode had issues, I purchased a second WPN802 as it seems they are only supposed to act as repeaters for another WPN802. I placed the second WPN802 on the first floor of my home and configured it as a repeater for the WPN802 in the basement; the signal from the second WPN802 was very strong, however it was impossible to connect to this second WPN802...you see, in order to configure the repeater mode both WPN802s must use the same SSID, and without fail my laptop always connected to the first WPN802 with the weaker signal. I tried this on 3 different Dell Inspiron laptops using both Dell's wireless utility and the Windows network connections utility...this is pretty common equipment. I spent 5 hours on the phone with Netgear's technical support in the Philipines trying to get the repeater mode to work; I must compliment them for their thorough and knowledgeable nature as well as responsiveness - we tried pretty much everything in terms of assigning static IP addresses, different channels, access control, etc. but nothing worked. This was not easy as we had to continually do a hard reset on the 802s, and as has been mentioned in previous reviews you need to be directly attached to the 802 to re-configure it. Their support would undoubtedly still be trying to solve the problem with me, but I ultimately chose to take a hardwired approach to solve the problem, running a CAT5e into my attic that was attached to the Actiontec in the basement and a WPN802 in the attic. The WPN802 in the attic is exhibiting great range and covering those areas not being serviced properly by the Actiontec.
Due to the obvious repeater functionality flaws, I cannot rate this product higher than a 3, and I rate it at that high a level only because it does work well as a standalone wireless access point and because I was impressed by the professional nature of Netgear's support. If all I wanted was an access point however I could have gotten something cheaper, and now I have 2 of these (which thankfully I do have uses for).
Rating:
- Wireless Access PointThis product worked as advertised, but it didn't solve the problem we got it for, which was interference from wireless surveillance cameras. Even with this access point in the same room, I couldn't get an iPod Touch to reliably use Wi-Fi connectivity if the surveillance cameras were active. The final solution was to get cameras that operate on 5.8 Mhz. You can find those by searching on Amazon. This access point however did work fine, and was easy to set up.
Rating:
- Netgear WPN802The Netgear WPN802 access point performed well once installed. I'm a novice at the networking stuff and had a bit of trouble accessing the 802 once it was deployed because of dynamic IP address. However, once I learned how to access my router I found the allocated IP address of the 802 and I was able to adjust its settings. This issue could have been covered in the really skimpy User docs.
Rating:
- Powerful transmitter!This product is meant to be used with a router, it plugs into a router. It is basically a long range antenna, and is a real flame thrower. It can be used with your existing wireless router to vastly extend it's range, or to make a non wireless router a wireless router. Do NOT expect to plug a dsl or cable modem into this device and have it work as a router. You MUST have a router. With this device, you can give your whole residential neighborhood wi-fi access if you mount it high enough.
Rating:
- Wireless access point at its best.This product is great. No antennas and I still get great signal strength. Its compact and perfect. Don't mind the price either.
MALL.ShopperFavorites.com
|