Setting the access point up was not "fun and easy," as the instructions would have you think. In fact, I found the instructions to be cryptic and confusing (I'm not a rocket scientist, but I am a lawyer so it shouldn't have been that difficult). In fact, I also purchased the Lynksys PCMCIA Card. Both came with the same set-up disk, but the Card came with an older version of instructions. Together, I was able to figure out (eventually) how to get "linked."

So, where do I finally stand on this product -- Five Stars, but ONLY after you get it set-up...

BUT had I known there was this type of adapter with a router built in.....well I would have saved myself a bundle of money. (80 dollars). But the rep at Best Buy obviously had no clue what he was talking about, and I live 2 hours away from it...so the 80 bucks would be spent in gas money and time...which is not worth it.

So if you are looking for a wireless setup with a router go with the "BEFW11S4" other wise this will work fine for your needs.

To me, the most important feature of the WAP11 was that it had removable antennas. This will allow for the clean and easy connection of higher gain antennas. With I high gain antenna, one can potentially get a range of several *miles*, providing that there is a reasonable line of sight between the WAP and the client.

Unforunatley, the value of this model didn't come without a considerable amount of trouble... I had to go through 3 of these before I ended up with a properly working model.

WAP11 #1: Worked perfectly fine for about 2 days, and then I was no longer able to link up with it. Linksys' technical support was unable to find a fix, and suggested that my network card was to blame... after exchanging my origional, off brand card for a new one from a different and more reputable mfg. (which was also a bit more expensive), the problem was still not resolved, so I returned the WAP.

WAP11 #2: Had exactly the same problem as WAP #1, only it didn't work from the moment I took it out of the box. I Called Linksys yet again. The agent that I spoke to insisted that my (new) network card must be faulty. After testing my network card with a friend's non-Linksys (Dlink) WAP, and finding that it worked perfectly fine, I concluded that WAP11 #2 was also bad... I returned it.

WAP11 #3: Finally! After 4 trips to Best Buy - A WAP11 that worked! Well, it worked perfectly fine for about 2 or 3 days... after this, if I were to have my computer unconnected to the WAP11 for more than about 2 hours (i.e., everyday when I'd take my laptop to work...), I would not be able to link back up with the WAP11 without power-cycling it. I called Linksys (again). They were no help. I was told that, "since power-cycling the WAP11 seemed to fix my problem, to just power-cycle the WAP11 when I had the problem"... Nevermind that this is not how the WAP11 is supposed to function, nor that anyone should have to put up with this sort of hassle just to use their equipment as they should be able to, I hit the internet in search of help...

In the end, I found out that the SMC 2655W WAP is actually one and the same internally as the Linksys WAP11. The important difference being that SMC had a MUCH, MUCH newer firmware update avail. on their site than Linksys did. After flashing the WAP11 with the firmware obtained from SMC, I had no further problems. The WAP11 forks flawlessly now and with that, I am very satisfied with it... Even so, due to the incompitent technial support I received from Linksys, and the sheer amount of hassle associated with actually *getting* the WAP11 to work as it should, I have to give this product a 2... were it not for all that, I'd easilly give it a 5.

Direct connection:
1. From the cable modem is around 2.0Mbs (megabit per seconds)

Wireless:
2. From the same floor: 1.8Mbs
3. From the different floor: 1.5Mbs
4. Backyard: 128Kbs
Besides having the accessing to cable modem from anywhere in the house, I also can share information between computers.

For one, the device needs to be rebooted once a day, or the clients will lose the signal. I've tested this on both Windows2000 and Linux clients running two different Orinoco Gold Cards.

Second, the signal strength isn't even close to the advertized specs. I start losing signal about 30 feet away from the device, with a clear line of sight!

Third, support is non-existant. I've waited on hold for over a half hour to be disconnected.

I think the only reason they set the retail price so high is so it'll compare with Lucent/Agere and Cisco solutions price-wise. Some people believe that a high retail price constitutes a good product, and this access point will prove otherwise.

For the most part it works fine, however it need periodic power cyclings which make use exceedingly annoying.

Useful if you don't have the money to spend on other products, but you pay for the cheapness with a few quirks.

I've found it to be very reliable, and setting it up was very simple. Take my advice though - use a decent wireless card with it. I only use the Orinoco Wavelan cards (Silver and Gold) on my wireless network.

I have four machines (3 laptops and 1 desktop) connected wirelessly located throughout my house. All get great reception through multiple walls, and my AP is even located next to my home theatre system.

Bought the WAP-11, a WPC-11 PC card, and a WUSB-11 to attach a laptop and a Windows PC to my home lan. No real problems setting things up, including configuring wep encryption. Things don't always match up with the documentation and other linksys products 100%, but close enough that it isn't too tough to figure things out. For example, the wap-11 and wpc-11 let you enter the encryption key using a pass phrase, but the wusb-11 makes you type in the actual keys in hex.

I find the range to be perfectly reasonable - at least I can work all over my house. Even when the link quality and signal strength meters drop down to below 20% I get fine performance.

The install and configuration is Windows centric - this can be an issue if you are (like me) mostly linux. You need a windows box with a usb port to do initial configuration - fortunately I have one (whew). Once you have this done, you can use snmp for subsequent configuration, though even then by far the easiest approach is to use the provided windows based client software. It would be nice if the unit picked up an IP via dhcp and had a linux client for lan access - thus dispensing with the need for the usb/windows hokiness. From their site, it seems that this may be coming.

All in all, the blue gazoo has me writing this review from the comfort of my living room where I get to hang out with my wife - instead of trapped by a wire in the office. What could be better than that?

The range is great providing you orient the antennaes first to get maximum signal strength. I get well over 50% signal with the D-Link card after I have arranged the signals. This is also going thru two walls, and is diagonally opposite from each other. This is more than enough signal strength to effectively operate at the full 11Mbps rate.

I have also sucessfully configured 128 bit WEP protection, as well as MAC address authenticate feature so that only my two wireless cards are the only ones that can access the access point.

I had a little trouble getting WEP, and MAC authenticate to work at first, but you definatly need to have at least v. 1.4f.8 firmware or later, as well as the latest software.

To get WEP working the encryption keys must match exactly on both the wireless access point, and the wireless card otherwise the units will not communicate.

To get MAC authenticate to work you have to open up NotePad and make a regular .txt file of your MAC addresses that you want to enable access for in this format without using dashes. For example (00-01-12-FB-7Z-04) needs to be entered in NotePad as:

000112FB7Z04

You need to use a seperate line for each card's MAC address.

When you are finished save the .txt file and you can easily go into the configuration tool for the Wireless Access Point, and upload this .txt file of MAC address to allow access. You will not see the list of MAC addresses present after you upload it, but it does work.

I am using this access point with a Linksys BEFN2PS4 Cable/DSL, and Voice Router, and it works well with it. I also have the Linksys EFSP42 Print Server. All 3 Linksys boxes are excellent products, and integrate well with each other. They also look nice as they conveniently stack on top of each other. The Voice Router is also a great product as it allows you to make cheap phone calls over the Internet using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) using any regular telephone. These calls can also be made when your computer is totally turned off. It is totally independent from the computer.

In conclusion, the wireless acess point is a great product, and I am definatly glad I purchased it. Just make sure you do NOT use the Linksys wireless PC card with it as I have heard nothing but BAD reports of poor range. Use a D-LINK 802.11b card, or the Orinoco Gold which are both excellent cards. It will work with any card that is WI-FI compatible.