Contents
Product Info
Product page on Netgear's web site.
With this Wireless Ethernet Bridge you can connect a PC or any other Ethernet device (or more via a Hub) to a WLAN without installing any software.
The Netgear WGE101 complies with the final 802.11g spec. You can find the latest OFFICIAL firmware at: http://kbserver.netgear.com/products_automatic/WGE101.asp
In direct comparison with same antennas over a 100 ft inter-house link it beats a Linksys WET54G (v1) easily in transfer rate and stability. WGE101: 750 kbytes/s, WET54g: 150 kbytes/s.
The newest Firmware 3.1rc1 increases the transfer to about 150% (against 3.0rc1) when using for example a Linksys WAP54g as Accesspoint!
FAQ
Question: The transmit power of this unit is nowhere to be found on Netgear's site. Anyone know this info?
Answer: Tech Support in India claims 100mW transmit power.
Question: Does anyone know the login to port 340? Answer: Yes, username = 'user' and password is left blank. (mc)
In Depth
I've spent lots of time on the phone with Netgear Customer Support and haven't been able to figure this out yet either. It's of a huge concern to me though because I'm trying to decide between using this or the new WET54G which actually seems to be pretty nice now that it complies with the final 802.11g specs and has support for WPA in v.2.
I was able to connect to various Access Points, did not connect well to Cisco AP, however. The UI is totally Windows-based and proprietary. Also, port 340 is open on the box that is not documented anywhere. Tech support had no comment on this. Opening a connection to port 340 yields a prompt for "login:"! This seems very bad, particularly given the recent Slashdot debacle about back door passwords on Netgear routers... Finally, tcp port 1024 is also open and has an undocumented purpose.
