Linksys Instant Wireless WAP11
By Les Freed
Linksys--like archrival D-Link Systems--was one of the first companies to see the need for networking products designed for the home and small office. The company's new Instant Wireless product line offers exactly what we've come to expect from Linksys: a very functional, no-frills product at an attractive price. The Linksys Instant Wireless product line includes two access points (with and without a built-in cable/DSL router), a PC Card wireless network adaptor, and a PCI bus adaptor that lets you use the wireless PC Card in a desktop PC. We tested the Linksys WAP11 Access Point and the Linksys WPC11 Wireless Network PC Card.
The Linksys access point is housed in an attractive purple and black plastic case that is designed to stack with other Linksys components, particularly with the company's popular EtherFast cable/DSL router. The WAP11 features dual antennas that provide a larger coverage area and better protection from "dead spots" than the single antenna used by most of the small-office access points we tested. Unique to the WAP11 is a clever usb-based setup and management system that allowed us to get the WAP11 set up and working within 10 minutes of opening the box. The setup software isn't pretty, and the screens don't match the examples in the manual, but most users will only need to run the software once.
The software for the WPC11 Wireless Network PC Card includes drivers for Microsoft Windows (all versions) and a site-survey/diagnostic tool. Installation is the typical plug and play, but we encountered a small glitch when trying to connect our test laptop to the WAP11. The PC Card drivers defaulted to Ad-Hoc network mode, which is only useful in a PC-to-PC network environment; we had to manually switch the driver to Infrastructure mode to communicate with the access point. Fortunately, the Linksys client configuration tool lets users change the driver settings without rebooting the system. The client software also includes basic signal-strength and link-quality meters.
The Linksys access point scored 4.53Mbps on our throughput test, giving it the second-best throughput in the small-office category. Linksys provides free software updates via its Web site. Despite a few installation hiccups, we think this is a good system for home and small-office use.
Linksys Instant Wireless WAP11
Company:Linksys
Ph: 03 9563 9549
Price: TBA
Rating
1%
8%
