Wireless network access point < £20

gavinp

Hi

Scan are selling the US Robotics 22mbps access point for under £20:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=44513

This is an older 802.11b+ product (802.11g is the later faster standard) but for wirelessly sharing an ADSL or cable connection, it is plenty fast enough.

US Robotics offer their own 56mbps upgrade or it is also possible to use the latest D-Link firmware for 22Mbps with WPA-PSK (better encryption) or to boost the output power (if legal in your area):

http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/Wap11Ver22Hack

Thanks

Gavin

casca

This is a great find, thanks Gavin. I just bought a few for friends and family

LionKing

Can i use this with my wi-fi iPAQ?

gavinp

It should work with an Ipaq - you need to check the manual to verify it uses 802.11b.

Thanks

Gavin

casca

Gavin, can you describe what you did to upgrade the power and firmware? The site you give has a few different descriptions and it would be useful to know which one you used that worked.

Thanks

loafer_2

Shame about scan's delivery charges. :-[

LionKing

Considering the delivery charge is this still a good deal? Does the product have security features or would you need to buy additional software.

Trying to understand why it is so cheap compared to the other wireless points? What features does it lack

bridiej

Thanks for this, just ordered mine!! ;D

gavinp

Casca,

The US Robotics firmware in the device when shipped is supposed to be very sensitive and can pick up weak signals from wireless cards so I would recommend you stick with this one as it will work best in most domestic situations unless you are SURE you need one of the following features:

1. More transmission power

Use the D-Link 2.61 PowerHack firmware for DWL900AP+ "Revision B". This gives 128bit WEP and increased power when transmitting (but apparently reduced reception sensitivity compared to the USR firmware which is probably more important).

2. WPA-PSK encryption

Use the D-Link 2.62b1 firmware. For the WPA-PSK passphrase, use hexadecimal strings (minimum of 40 hex characters) and experiment with DHCP as there are mixed reports of it working (I use fixed IP addresses for wireless PCs).

How to upgrade to D-Link firmware

1. Download the ALLOEM to DWL900AP+.zip file from this site: http://www.packetattack.com/linksyshack/

2. Install the D-Link Management 2.2 utility (temporarily)

3. Using the US Robotics access point web interface, upgrade the firmware using the USR-to-DWL900AP+ file.

4. Launch the D-Link Management utility which will find the access point and say the firmware is damaged and would you like to upgrade ? Choose YES.

5. The IP address may change to 192.168.0.50 -  and the unit will now be running as a D-Link. Connect to the unit using a web browser with the username "admin", password blank or "admin" - and upgrade the firmware again to the version required.

The PowerHack firmware (and WPA firmware) can be downloaded from this page:

http://home.earthlink.net/~mlampie/PowerHackDWL-900+.html

Thanks

Gavin

gavinp

Lionking,

The unit is cheap as it uses 802.11b+ (22bps) rather than the more recent 802.11g (54Mbps). A new standard will also soon be announced called 802.11n which will be even faster.

Having said that, 802.11b is still by far the most common standard and will give "real world" 5 Mbps network speeds. This is ten times faster than common 0.5Mbps (512K) ADSL connections and will work fine sharing any broadband connection upto and including 2Mbps.

The access point needs to be plugged into a router if you want to use it with more than one PC.

I have used identical access points for 12 months plus in three separate locations (my house, my parents and my brothers house) with the WPA-PSK firmware and once setup, they just work - no dramas, no crashing, 100% uptime.

I bought two of the US Robotics versions as spares as at £20 each, the price is a steal - they were £50+ each a year ago.

Thanks

Gavin

kinster_2

the majority of technology was cheaper a year ago ::)