Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Netgear WG602 54 Mbps Wireless Access Point
Iain Laskey extends his wireless network's range in this Netgear Review
| Product | WGWG602 V2 Wireless Access Point602 |
|---|---|
| Company | Netgear |
| Web | www.netgear.co.uk |
| Price | £65 |
| We like | Good features, repeater and bridging modes |
| We don't like | Minor installation problem |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
Here's the story. I have an existing wireless network. The access point is in the office in the loft. I have a laptop I wander around with (as you do) and there is a PC on the ground floor. On a good day with a strong wind, the downstairs PC gets a weak to medium connection. All too often though it is intermittent or fails completely. Web browsing is quirky and the whole experience is less than satisfactory. The bottom line is that despite being well within the theoretical range for wireless devices, there are just too many walls, floors and sundry other obstacles getting in the way.
There are several things you can do do improve the signal but most are more suited to open spaces. One option that would help in this situation is to use a pair of access points in repeater mode. After a quick look around, Netgear's WG602 looked like a likely candidate. The price is right and from V2 onwards, this particular access point includes a repeater mode.
In a nutshell, repeater mode receives and transmits simultaneously. It picks up the existing signal and retransmits it again. The idea is you put one at the point where the signal is starting to drop off so it can then send out a nice fresh signal at full strength, thus extending the range.
What's in the box
As well as the Netgear WG602 V2 itself, you get a driver CD, a short network cable and an external PSU. Installation can be done manually in which case you just plug it in to your wired LAN and point your web browser to the device's IP address and use the web based configuration tools. Alternatively, the CD based setup can be used for a more hand held approach. One minor glitch was that the documentation quoted an IP address that the device would be on but I couldn't get it working. It turned out it only used this address if another wasn't provided elsewhere and sure enough, my router had given it a different address via DHCP. Once logged in, configuration was easy.
To begin with, the first WG602 access point was set up as a standard access point. Even in this mode, I was getting a better signal throughout the house indicating it provided a much better range than the old access point I was using. Once this was up and working, it was time to configure the second access point.
Repeater Mode
The second access point was temporarily wired in to the LAN so it could be accessed for configuration purposes, again via the web interface. Set up for repeater mode was ridiculously easy and simply involved telling the two Netgear WG602's each other's MAC addresses and setting the mode to repeater instead of access point. Once this was done, the second access point was unplugged from the LAN and taken downstairs to the first floor. As its job was to simply repeat, it could be stuffed out the way on its own with the only connection being the PSU.
At this point, the theory was that data would go from the LAN to the first WG602 via a LAN cable, be transmitted wirelessly out into the ether where the second standalone WG602 would pick up the signal and repeat it onwards at full strength. The PC downstairs should then get a better signal as it was receiving from a unit only one floor away, not two.
Happily, it worked first time with the destination PC showing between 95 and 100% signal strength instead of the 30% using the old access point or the 60-75% using just one WG602.
Finishing Off
To finish off the installation, it was a simple matter to disable the SSID broadcasts and enable WEP security. The WG602 also lets you enter a list of valid MAC addresses to be allowed. Between these three the security of the wireless network should be as good as can reasonably be got.
Other Features
As well as 64bit and 128bit WEP, the WG602 supports WPA-PSK encryption. You can enter a passphrase or manually enter the required hex strings. As mentioned before, you can also enter a series of MAC addresses and restrict access to only those devices. As well as the Repeater option there are also two bridging types that can be enabled, point to point and multipoint. The Netgear unit comes with a 3 year warranty and the web site provides the usual firmware updates and FAQs should you hit any problems.
Summary
As an access point, the Netgear WG602 has much to commend it. It looks quite nice and can be stacked with similar devices in their range. It has all the usual functions you'd expect and at around £66, it is good value for money. However, should you need to extend the range of your wireless network, it really comes in to its own and provides an economic way to make a real difference to your range and quality of signal.
