Ideal for any exisiting wired or wireless network (Belkin Wireless G Universal Range Extender/Access Point)

Member Name: aaronphil

Product:	Belkin Wireless G Universal Range Extender/Access Point
Date:	23/07/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Supports any and all encrytion under the sun

Disadvantages: Auto-connect feature fails miserably

I was 'given' this by a friend after my useless Belkin G Wireless dongle decided not to connect to my home network.

First off the reason my mate didn't want it was because he reckoned that he couldn't enable encryption so he bought a new D-link extender instead.
When I got it I first updated the firmware because I thought that might have been the problem. I set the device up with ease and it works absolutely fine connecting to my Netgear router with no trouble at all. I'm not too sure if the firmware update fixed the no encryption problem or if my mate did not know a thing about networks (probably the latter).

The device comes with an adapter, antenna, Ethernet cable and setup CD. You will need to download the manual off of the internet though because the easy setup guide is not so easily setup.
To set it up properly, and to avoid using the rubbish auto-connect feature, you will have to go into the browser based interface which can be temperamental in anything except IE7/8. Once in though it's a doddle, just do a network scan, find your router, fill in the credentials and you are away.

The only real problem, which was a pain for me, is that you have to use the same encryption for the extender as you do for your router. I use mine as an extender, connecting to the router which then allows my desktop to be online via Ethernet and my laptop connects to the extender. The reason I wanted to have different encryption was so that I could connect my PDA (which only supports WEP & WPA) to the WLAN as my Netgear router is set to WPA2, alas I could not use WPA on the extender as it has to be the same as the original router.

Another handy feature is the ability to use this product as an access point, connecting it to any existing wired (or wireless for that matter) router to enable you to have wireless access to your LAN.

Overall then a perfect companion for any wireless or existing wired network and essential if you live in a big house or one built with granite where wireless signal extension is needed.

Summary: Does the job perfectly

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