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WP11A+ Access Point and the WA-HGA-5+ Antenna
Ernest Lilley 05/26/03

WP11A+ Enhanced Wireless Access Point with MC-Card Connector with Enhanced 11Mbps Data Transfer Rate, SNMP, LAN-to-LAN Bridging, Wireless/Ethernet, Transparent Bridging, Wireless Pseudo VLAN, Tagged VLAN, and a Build-in MC-Card Connector.

Model: Compex WP11A+  / WA-HGA-5+ Antenna
Product Website / Spec/PR / Availability: Amazon
MSRP: $90.99 Amazon Price$91.99

The WP11A+ Access point is pretty straightforward: it's basically an flexible access point that handles several different modes of operation, including bridging between LANs. Operating at 2.54 Ghz, it uses the original 802.11b protocol,

What it isn't, lest you get the wrong impression, is a router. If you want to hook up a mixture of computers and gateways up through it, you're going to need an additional router. Of course, if you've got a mixture of computers and gateways you've probably already got at least one router.

The antenna is the unit's best feature, since you can use it to extend the reach of the signal considerably. My SOHO office is on the upper front corner of an old brick house, and typically I have trouble reaching the opposite end of the house...the rear rec room on the first floor. After plugging the antenna into the PC Card embedded in the unit, I was able to pull in substantially better connectivity, Though nothing beats placing it in a line of sight with the receiver.

Setup of the unit via the uConfig program on the included CD was fairly straightforward, though I had little to do as it was already configured for DHCP and access server duty. I actually found that having the router and the access point separate worked better for me that having it all in one place since it allowed me to place the WP11A and antenna by the building's central stairwell by running a network cable to the far side of my office. As a result, the building's barriers were suddenly no problem. My signal still won't reach outside, which is fine under normal circumstances, but whenever I want to I can just move the access point near a window and fix that. When I tested the unit (with antenna) from a second story window I found that I had "good" signal for about .3 miles...after which I ran out of street.

So, if you've already got a SOHO network and want to add wireless, either the WP11A+ alone or with the antenna should do the job for you.