09/18/01 By: Jack Kolesar

 

Introduction

We have taken a look at a couple of Compex products including the PS2208A switch and the UE202A USB NIC. Today, we are reviewing two great products from Compex that taste great together, the Waveport WP11 and WLU11. This wireless network solution offers free roaming while connected to your wired network. Here is a list of the specifications as given by the manufacturer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The WP11 is a wireless access point. It works as a bridge between your wireless and wired network. The WP11 has a 10/100 port on the back of the unit. While the port is labeled as 10-BaseT, it does connect at 100Mbps. The device is only capable of 7.5mbps effective throughput though. So, a 100-Base connection isn't really going to help. You will also notice that the Access Point is quite small and has a sleek design. It is powered by a 5V power adapter and has a reset button for configuration problems. The antennas are directional and can be adjusted if you were to wall-mount the unit with the mounting holes on the back of the device. The top of the unit has three LEDs for Power, Activity, and Link indicators. The WP11 is capable of handling 32 clients. Though, with that many Wireless LAN cards, the network would be quite slow.

 

 

 

The WLU11 is the wireless LAN adapter. It can be used in conjunction with an access point or can communicate with another 802.11b device using the "SoftBridge" software that comes with the unit. The device is about the size of a floppy disk and has a folding antenna. Again, it has a stylish design. Powered directly off of the USB port, it requires no additional power. This is quite handy for it's use as a laptop peripheral. As long as your laptop has a USB port, you are in business. The extended antenna also gives better reception than a PCMCIA wireless card. Either of which can be used with the Wireless Access Point. All of these devices use the IEEE 802.11b wireless networking standard.

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