I had the pleasure to add another wireless access point at one of our sites that already have 3 access point not too long ago, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy the setup was. There is no software to install, and no need to physically connect the AP directly to a PC to configure it, and once up and running, the Linksys WAP55AG dual band access point never needs any intervention, as there were 3 others before I was asked to go there to add another one to expand their wireless coverage.

In the Box
Linksys WAP55AG dual band access point
AC adaptor
3-foot Ethernet patch cable
Quick Guide
Setup CD
Registration Card

Setup
Setup was uneventful, except when I was a bit hard-headed, hoping to bypass installing the CD software that came with the WAP55AG. I hooked the Ethernet port from the AP directly to a PC and was hoping to find the default IP and password to log in and configure it directly in the quick guide or manual (what manual?), but found no such information except for the default password.

What I found out was that the software on the CD is a small applet that connects to any of the Linksys WAP55AG APs wirelessly and configures it! There was no installation process for the software at all! It just runs off the CD. You can, if you wish, just copy the applet's folder off the CD on your hard drive for convenience. The entire CD is only 15MB, which includes the Adobe Acrobat reader and the User Guide in PDF format.

So the installation rundown is plug up the Linksys WAP55AG to an outlet, then to your router, switch, or hub (your existing wired network), stick the setup CD in a PC that already have its wireless 802.11b, 11g, or 11a set up properly, and run the Linksys setup routine.

The setup procedures goes in discrete steps, which makes it easy for everyone to go thru (like a wizard), but you can't deviate from
it if you want to go directly to, say, changing the encryption key.

When you first start the program, it asks if you want to do a scan for available APs. You click next, and it will come up with a list of APs in a couple of minutes.

Even though I would count that as a step, Linksys do not. So now we are entering Linksys's Step Aerobics.

STEP 1) Congratulations! One or more Wireless Access Points have been found!

If Linksys found many other WAP55AG APs, it lists them on the left. The status info of the selected AP is given in the middle of the interface. The status lists these info about the APs for both the A and G bands:

MAC address
SSID
Channel
WEP (enabled or disabled)

On the right side of the applet, it asks if you want to change the selected AP. If you click no, the program exits. Click yes, and it will ask for the AP's password (default password is "admin") and shows you AP's IP address you are connecting to.

Once you log in...

A Band
2) IP Settings
You can now set your own IP address and subnet mask for the AP (no need to change if you have a DHCP server, or DHCP configured on you router), as well as your AP's unique name (default is "Linksys WAP55AG") which can let you better identify a particular AP in a multiple AP environment like ours.

3) Basic Settings
Click next to set your SSID and Channel for the 5GHz A band.

The SSID is the same kind of SSID you would find on a wireless router, which identifies (and names) your wireless network realm, which is important when there neighboring signals in the air that aren't your own. Even if you own multiple wireless routers and access points, each one of them should have a unique name (such as "nad-kitch", "nad-livingrm", or "nad-bedrm") so they won't conflict, and you won't get confused as to which AP or router you are grabbing signals from.

The channel setting is much like the channels on a cordless phone. If you are having troubles connecting, maintaining a connection, or slow throughput speeds, you may have noise interfering with you wireless bliss. You can play around and try different channels until you find one that gives you the best results.

4) Security
Click next to set up your AP's WEP encryption. You have your options to set it up for 64 bit (10 chars), 128 bit (26 chars),
or 152 bit (32 chars) in hex (0-9, A-F). You can also disable encryption - not recommended unless you are setting it up for the first time to connect for configuration or troubleshooting. You set your paraphrase here, which has to be in hexadecimal. That just means you can only use the characters 0-9 and A-F. This is what the encryption is based off, so your wireless devices that connect to the AP must have the same paraphrase as well and the encryption strength.

G Band
5) Basic Settings
Click next to set up the G network mode's (Mixed Mode or G-Only), SSID, and Channel.

Use Mixed Mode if you have 802.11b devices you want to have access to the AP. This slows down the G devices a bit, but not enough to make it worth buying a dedicated B band AP.

If you have nothing but G devices, or you DO have a dedicated B band AP just for B devices, you can use G-Only mode for faster access to your G band devices. No B band devices will be able to connect to this AP in this mode.

6) Security
Click next to set your WEP encryption for the G side of the AP. Again, your options are 64 bit (10 chars), 128 bit (26 chars), or disabled. Like with the A band, your pass phrase must be in hex (0-9, A-F). You will set your paraphrase here.

7) Security (part 2?)
Click next, and you will get a warning that reminds you that all workstations that connect to the AP should use the same WEP paraphrase, or they won't connect. Duh!

Click next, and you get a "Confirm Your Network Settings". It lists your old settings and your new settings so you can see the overall changes you made. It lists:

IP Address of the AP
Network Mode (Mixed or G-Only for G band)
SSID (for both bands)
Channel (for both bands)
WEP encryption strength (for both bands)

It also asks if you want to save the settings. Click yes to save, or no to exit without saving. The program exists either way, and you're done!

Performance
Being that they were desktops I was trying to expand our existing wireless coverage to, I really can't move them around with Netstumbler monitoring the available signals. The problem is that there are so many APs already out there, I can't tell which one is which.

There are three desktops that were getting weak signals, which is why I was installing this AP. The weak signal is coming from the AP name "HWG2" or "HWA2" (for the same AP, but two different bands). But which AP is HWA2!!??

If I had to go out on a limb to guess, I'd say (an educated guess) would be around 65 feet with walls and cubicals (realistically) for what Windows would consider "good" (4 bars), since I am guessing that the wireless router that I connected my AP to is the HWx2. This is about goes along with what most of my wireless experience dictates (even at home, my equipment would go no further than 100 feet before my siginal is too weak to use, and my hacked Linksys wireless router can go as far as 100 feet with still a "good" signal.

As for speedy performance, I did eventually get to remotely access a computer in that network to test out some file transfers (disconnecting once I started the transfer so I won't affect the bandwidth tests). The A band gets away with 48 Mbps (even though connected at 54 Mpbs), while the G band is a scant 25 Mbps (in mixed mode). We try to use the A band at our facility whenever possible, but the G band is a nice fall back, as the G covers much more of an area than the A (which is one of A's disadvantage). This is were having dual bands can help - large area, more choices.

Link me Up!
As you can see, the applet steps you through to wireless bliss, and doesn't even install itself on your hard drive, reducing program clutter and wasted hard drive space. Installation is fast and easy, as the Linksys dual band PCI card we also are using as standard equipment at this site detects the new AP wireless signal and asks you for the paraphrase (you did remember to write it down, right?)

When it comes to networking of any kind, the word "uneventful" is a compliment!


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 129.99
Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac

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