Linksys WAP54gUK

Author's Rating:

Pros: Rugged design and great mounting hardware

Cons: none

The Bottom Line: 
I would highly recommend the Linksys WAP54gUK to anyone needing to extend their wireless accessibility beyond the router distance.

Author's Review


A while back I was helping a friend of mine setup a wireless network in his house to share the high speed cable internet connection through a wireless Linksys Router. The most difficult connection was going to be in the basement because it was too long of a distance to the router. So we had to come up with a plan on how we were going to get this final piece of the puzzle.

What we came up with was a Linksys Wireless W AP45G, the wireless AP connects to the router by using an Ethernet cable. The AP acts like a pass through or repeater to extend the range of the wireless router. Once we decided where we wanted to place the wireless AP we had to run an Ethernet cable through the floor and into a nearby closet so the AP was hidden from view.

Linksys WAP54GUK Access Point

sys wireless router, but there is a very noticeable difference when you look at the back of the AP. All you will find on the back of the AP is a single RJ-45 Ethernet port and the socket for the AC power adapter along with the two adjustable antennae’s.

A real cool feature of the Linksys WAP54G is that it comes with a wall mount that allows you to mount it out of sight and not have to have it sitting on a horizontal surface.

The Linksys WAP54G has the familiar grey and blue color scheme that you will find on most of the Linksys network equipment. You will find multiple LED indicator lights to inform you of the status of the system.  First you have Power and Diag. (testing mode) indicators to tell you that you have power and if you are running some sort of diagnostics or in normal mode. Next set of lights are for the WLAN (wireless local area network), act (activity) and Link (connectivity).

The last set of lights is for the LAN to tell you that there is connectivity through the wired portion of the AP.

The technology built into to the WAP54G -UK allows it to connect with the 502.11a/b/g wireless protocols, so you wouldn't have to replace your wireless adapter in an older wireless device.

Installation

First thing I did after laying out all of the contents of the package was install the mounting plate with a couple of screws not included. The contents included the WAP54G, AC adapter, short Ethernet cable, mount plate and CD. The hookup was really simple; I plugged the AC power adapter into connector on the back of the unit and used the short patch cord to connect it to the wall jack that was installed by the AP.

I put the CD in nearest computer and it started running the setup wizard. It walked me through the easy setup and it was ready to go in a few minutes. As soon as it was all finished we used a laptop to test out the wireless connection and it connected right away as if we were in the same room as the wireless router.

My final thoughts

I have used many different brands of wireless networking equipment over the years and much of it has been Linksys brand. I have had mixed results with Linksys over the years, but these WAP54G-UK units have been pretty reliable and very easy to setup. The solid plastic construction makes them a good fit in most environments and I would highly recommend them to anyone needing to extend the range of their wireless networking without having to replace the wireless router.