Netgear WGXB102 54Mbps Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender Kit

From the Manufacturer
Receive Wireless Internet Access from any Power Outlet in Your Home
As home networking continues to spread and evolve at rapid speed, some users find that their wireless router does not reach all corners or their home, or that they would like to have their wireless network originate from a point of their choosing, rather than be tethered to the point where the Internet enters their home. Other users would rather have a wireless network where no product is on the floor, and no cables are visible at all.

The WGXB102 allows the user to have their wireless network originate from the middle of their home, or from even the furthest extremity, with no cables visible. The kit consists of the XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet bridge and a WGX102 54 Mbps Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender. The XE102 connects to an existing wired or wireless router from any vendor, and the WGX102 can be plugged into any electrical outlet to create an area of wireless access.

Novel
Plug the XE102 into a wired or wireless router from any vendor, and then plug the WGX102 into any power outlet at your desired location to provide wireless access where desired.

Attractive
A new wall-plugged form factor allows the user to have a full wireless network without any visible Ethernet cables, and without any floor or desk space occupied. The sleek platinum casing blends well into any home décor.

Product Description:
Receive Wireless Internet Access from any Power Outlet in Your Home
As home networking continues to spread and evolve at rapid speed, some users find that their wireless router does not reach all corners of their home, or that they would like to have their wireless network originate from a point of their choosing, rather than be tethered to the point where the Internet enters their home. Other users would rather have a wireless network where no product is on the floor, and no cables are visible at all.

The WGXB102 allows the user to have their wireless network originate from the middle of their home, or from even the furthest extremity, with no cables visible. The kit consists of the XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet bridge and a WGX102 54 Mbps Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender. The XE102 connects to an existing wired or wireless router from any vendor, and the WGX102 can be plugged into any electrical outlet to create an area of wireless access.

Novel
Plug the XE102 into a wired or wireless router from any vendor, and then plug the WGX102 into any power outlet at your desired location to provide wireless access where desired.

Attractive
A new wall-plugged form factor allows the user to have a full wireless network without any visible Ethernet cables, and without any floor or desk space occupied. The sleek platinum casing blends well into any home dcor.

Key Benefits

Wall-Plugged form factor for the Wireless Range Extender
Sleek silver casing
Ability to have wireless Internet access originate from any power outlet in the home, with no visible cables

Netgear WGXB102 54Mbps Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender Kit

Average customer rating:

Works great - relatively easy set-up (for a techie).
Great once you get it working
Now you're talking! This just worked.
A wireless range extender that didn't work
Too hot to handle

Netgear WGXB102 54Mbps Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender Kit

Manufacturer: Netgear
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Routers | Netgear | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

802.11g Standard | Netgear | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

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Accessories:

Cables To Go 3FT CAT6 PATCH CABLE-550MHZ MOLDED RJ45 BLUE ( 27141 )

Product Features:

Wireless-G 54Mbps Router/AP and Powerline adapters all-in-one kit
Select between AP and Router modes through a simple user interface
Allow your wireless network to originate from any chosen point in your home.
Easily move this network around your house as your needs require, without running any unsightly Ethernet cables across your home
An excellent flexible solution for filling in wireless "dead spots"

ASIN: B0002ZH71S

Product Description

Netgear WGXB102 54Mbps Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender Kit - This kit is designed to let you easily extend the range of your wireless network to areas that do not receive the signal. First, you plug the XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Bridge into an available RJ-45 port on your router, and an available wall outlet. Then you go to an area that can not receive your 54Mbps signal, and plug the WGX102 Wireless Range Extender into any available wall outlet. That area now becomes "live", with your data traveling back and forth over your home's powerline! SSID Suppression WPA PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key) Support

Customer Reviews:

Works great - relatively easy set-up (for a techie)........2007-06-07

I bought this item to extend my wireless network in my 3 level home so that my Playstation3 could talk to one of my XP computers, which funtions as a media server. I initially had a 70% signal at the Playstation which was inadequate to maintain a good enough connection to stream music/video.

After some research, I decided to go with the Netgear Powerline system because of the apparent ease of setup, expandability, and compatibility with "any" router system. (As an aside, I was initially going to buy the D-link range extender to complement my DI-524 router. Despite the fact that they advertise that these 2 components are compatible, after digging deeper I found out that you need a specific firmware version (1.05) on the router for this pairing to work, and they could not roll my firmware back. Crazy!)

So I went ahead with the Netgear system. Hardware set-up could not be any easier. Simply 2 things to plug in the wall and 1 ethernet cable. Custom configuration of the wireless access point to match my router settings was a different matter, and the instructions are not very good. (I admit, I did not run the provided CD, which may have more detailed info). To make a long story short:

1. I initially configured something incorrectly and needed to reset the access point to factory default. There is one of those needle-buttons below the unit to do this. What they don't tell you is that this only works if the unit is plugged in. Well, duh (maybe). But anyway, after I realized that, it still took about 5 tries before the thing ACTUALLY RESET, which was frustrating.

2. For some reason, I could not get the access point configuration page while my network was on. Despite being able to connect to the access point (after configuring the SSID, etc), the config page just would not come up. When I randomly shut off my network in frustration (i.e. cut power to modem/router), it worked! At this point, I was able to make all the custom settings needed. When I started everything back up with the correct settings, it worked great!

I now have 100% signal to my Playstation even though I decided to place the access point 1 floor up (immediately above), and streaming media works awesome.

All in all, I spent about 1.5 hours fiddling around with this, but it was worth it! Hopefully this review might save someone else some time.

Great once you get it working.......2007-05-29

The quick install instructions did not work. Not only are the instructions poorly written, they just did not work. I had to use the CD ROM software to get it working. Its been working perfectly after the 40 or so minutes it took to do the initial setup.

Now you're talking! This just worked........2007-05-18

I spent hours with the LinkSys WRE54G Range Extender and it never did work. I bought this little gem and had it up and working in a few minutes.

Yes it is a wired solution so the laptop has to be plugged into the box with an Ethernet cable. However we still have wireless in the house as long as the laptop isn't too far from the wireless router. When my wife is at her desk 100' from the router, where the wireless doesn't work, she just hooks up this little guy and it works great.

A wireless range extender that didn't work.......2007-05-12

This device just didn't work. It seems to be an attempt to combine wireless networking with powerline networking so that the wireless network can extend to places far from the router. I bought it to get a better connection for a PS3. But when I set up the device, the PS3 did not receive any signal at all, and the computers near to it did not do any better than without the device. So I returned the device. A computer expert had warned me that these wireless range extenders are plagued with problems, and he seems to be right, at least based on my experience with this device.

Too hot to handle.......2007-05-08

This unit would work great to heat a small room. It did not work as a range extender. I do not recomend this big, ugly, room heater. I returned the unit.

Electronics:

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Electronics