Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys by Cisco WET54G Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge

If you're having difficulties read on.

PRE-REQUISITE:

You should already have in place a wireless network/router. You must be sure that your wireless network actually works i.e. you have connected to it previously and were able to surf the web etc.


AIMS:

We are going to connect your PC directly to the bridge via ethernet in an attempt to CONFIGURE THE BRIDGE to connect wirelessly to your access point. You will know you have been successful, because the PC we use to this should ultimately end up with internet connectivity. Once we have done this you can then take the wireless bridge to another device such as your xbox or printer or even, just leave it connected to your PC if that's what you want.


STEPS:

The bridge must be on obviously - let it boot up - this may take a minute or so. Now press and hold the reset button on the back until the power light starts flashing at which point you can let go!

Connect your PC/Laptop via Ethernet cable to the bridge.

Change the TCP/IP settings on your PC to match the following. (NOTE: If you want to revert back to your existing settings later, please note these down now)

AT TCP/IP preferences enter:
IP address = 192.168.1.1
Subnet mask = 255.255.255.0
Gateway or router = 192.168.1.226

Hit Apply and close the TCP/IP preferences.

Now you can use the utility that now comes on the CD with the Bridge or take the more difficult option as follows!:

At your web browser visit: http://192.168.1.226

You may be prompted for a username/password - both of which are: admin

If your wireless router dishes out dynamic IP addresses, i.e. your clients utilise DHCP to get their IP addresses, then select configuration type 'automatic configuration', else (slightly more complex) if you want to set up your own IP address, select 'static ip address' and enter the ip addressing details.

Network type should be left at 'infrastructure'

Next click on 'Site Survey', the bridge will look for all wireless networks, and when yours comes up in the list, click on its SSID (which is essentially the ID of your router) to select it. It will as you if you're sure, just click yes/ok!

IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT ANY ENCRYPTION ENABLED ON YOUR ROUTER: (very bad!)
You should be configured and ready to go. Hopefully in a few seconds you will lose connectivity to the bridge as it assumes a new IP that it gets from your wireless router, and all you need to do now is go to your TCP/IP settings and select 'Obtain IP address automatically' and 'obtain DNS server addresss automatically). If you now get a DHCP ip address (usually starting 192), you should be able to surf away and your bridge setup is now complete.

IF YOU HAVE ENCRYPTION ENABLED AT YOUR WIRELESS ROUTER:
If however, your network uses encryption (which you should) - after you have selected your wireless network by clicking on its SSID you have more work to do. If you can't see where you need to enter your key, please check for a sneaky window that pops up in the background!

((((side note IF YOU USE WEP ELSE ignore this bracketed section: Linksys make a distinction between 'passphrase', and a 'key' . What you need to realise is that a key is generated from a passphrase and that a passphrase is nothing more than just an easy way of using a memorable word to generate this key). I would ignore the whole passphrase thing - you don't need to fill out that box. )))

Select your security mode, i.e. WEP or WPA (for WPA, most home users should select WPA2 Pre-Shared Key)

With your network key to hand, enter that same key into the linksys setup screen. (If using WEP, enter that into KEY1, make sure that the 'default transmit key' is set to '1') then hit apply.

Wait a few moments, and you should notice your network connection disconnect and then reconnect, and voila, your bridge should be connected to your access point.

But now you may have lost connectivity. So you need to go back to the TCP/IP settings on your computer, and either select DHCP if earlier in this tutorial you had 'automatic configuration' selected. ELSE if you had entered a specific IP address earlier - then you will need to use those details.

After you've changed the TCP/IP on your computer to DHCP, you should get an IP address, and all is well. You should be able to surf the net. If you manually entered the IP, you should be able to surf the net!

One last note if you're having difficulties - please check your firmware against the linksys site to ensure you have the latest version. I was having problems connecting via WPA until I upgraded the firmware which fixed the problem.

I've read numerous reviews on amazon.com slagging this product off for it's slow speed. I thought I'd been sold a 'pup' when I tried it out - directly connected to my laptop. I'm happy to say that the Bridge performed as expected when I connected it on a Hub or directly connected to my XBOX. The problem appeared to be with my ethernet chip set/drivers on my laptop - (intel 8255x). It's a pity that linksys support were not clued up on this problem. I had read reports that you needed the software (available on Windows XP/98) to set up the Bridge. This is not so - I managed to set it up just by hard-setting the IP address of my ethernet card.

Bought the Linksys for use with Playstation 2 Network Gaming and am very impressed with it as i dont have to bring my ps2 in the same room as my pc to play online. have not had any disconnects from this unit either, i had a little difficulty setting up but this was not because of this product but my belkin wireless router needed configuring correctly which cause my setuo disc not to detect the wireless bridge anyway will leave details of settings needed here for belkin router and hope it will solve any others problems, (Belkin ADSL Modem with Wireless-G Router FSD7632-4) enter the setup menu in your browser (192.168.2.1) click submit (enter user/password if needed)enter LAN settings and change IP Pool starting address to 192.168.1.2 and ending to 192.168.1.117 now save settings and your setup disc should run, if not make sure your computer network adapter is set with following: ip address 192.168.1.5
subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and default gateway 192.168.1.1 then try again rember to plug network bridge directly to network adapter on pc when setting up with supplied ethernet cable to avoid any difficulties and not plugged into the modem overall the best product i have ever purchased recommended.

As strange as it may seem, this Linksys Ethernet Bridge simply would NOT work with my wireless router. My wirless router being a LINKSYS WRT54GS! It sounds absurd that a Linksys product would fail to work with another of it's own, but not even 2 hours on the (very helpful) Linksys support line could solve this problem. Extremely, extremely frustrating as I expected there to be no problems whatsoever considering my router and bridge were the same brand.

An absurd, some may think funny problem, but I failed to see the funny side of paying over £50 for a piece of technolegy not even compatible with it's own brand.

this gear rawks! i highly recommend it even if you only have the slower 11b network as the 11b version is about the same cost! Its easy to set up and works great with my wrt54g.