Price : Too low to display
The AP671W is an Access Point, Universal Repeater, AP Client (Wireless Bridge), Point to Point, Point to Multi-Point Bridge and WDS Bridge in one sleek device. It's designed for those who want to add wireless capability to a wired network or extend the range of wireless networks! This Wireless N 300 is equipped with a 5-port 10/100 Mbps switch and delivers fast data rate of up to 300 Mbps! Two 3 dBi antennas provide longer distance and wider coverage! Plus, you'll get superior security protection with WPA2, WPA and WEP encryption!
This review is from : AirLink 101 AP671W 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN Access Point and 5-Port Switch
Price is right but there are some quirks . I've been using this unit as an "AP Client" (wireless bridge to connect my ethernet (no-wifi) computers to my wireless LAN). I paid about $40 for this unit which is significantly less than competing products with similar capabilities. Setup with connection to my existing Wireless-N router using WPA security was very easy and the unit initially was reliable and performed very well. Like any other home network equipment it is left "on" 24/7 and it never gets hot etc. So far, so good.
After having the unit in service for several weeks without incident, my ISP had an outage with all internet connectivity failing. After my ISP restored service, I noticed that the AP671W was not providing connectivity to the rest of my now-functional wireless network. I was also unable to access the AP671W's built-in web interface to check things out. Re-powering the unit did not help and switching the radio off and on did not work either. Eventually, I had to resort to a factory reset and run the Airlink EZWizard.exe setup program to reconfigure the unit. Fortunately, that is actually a fairly simple process and does not take too long. Also fortunate that I did not have to physically connect the AP671W to my WiFi router as described in the instructions - the unit was able to find my WiFi router and re-establish a connection once I provided the correct network settings and WPA passphrase. This has now happened to me three times and is always triggered by my main WiFi losing WAN connectivity or getting reset. I now keep the AP671W EZWizard.exe program on my local hard disk so I don't have to dig out the CD next time I lose connectivity as it will inevitably be needed again.
I visited the AirLink web site looking for any available firmware updates.... there were none. This is my first Airlink product and so this did not leave me with a good impression. I suppose it's possible that I have a one-off defect in my particular unit but that seems unlikely and since it generally works and I can fix it when this issue occurs, trying to get a replacement is more trouble than it's worth (since I purchased over the internet). I'm using it primarily in my home office so fortunately I'm the only one impacted when problems arise (since I'm the only one in the house who can fix it).
So, the bottom line is that it's a pretty good unit, costing about half (or less) than products with similar capabilities. When it loses its connection the fix is pretty easy (for me at least) but could be a problem for those less technically inclined.
Finally, I should stress that I have only used this unit in "AP Client" mode (connect ethernet devices to wifi LAN). There are five other modes that the unit operates in (Access Point, Universal Repeater, Point-to-Point Bridge, Point-to-Multi-Point Bridge, and WDS Bridge) and these may or may not experience the same problem.
Price is right but there are some quirks . I've been using this unit as an "AP Client" (wireless bridge to connect my ethernet (no-wifi) computers to my wireless LAN). I paid about $40 for this unit which is significantly less than competing products with similar capabilities. Setup with connection to my existing Wireless-N router using WPA security was very easy and the unit initially was reliable and performed very well. Like any other home network equipment it is left "on" 24/7 and it never gets hot etc. So far, so good.
After having the unit in service for several weeks without incident, my ISP had an outage with all internet connectivity failing. After my ISP restored service, I noticed that the AP671W was not providing connectivity to the rest of my now-functional wireless network. I was also unable to access the AP671W's built-in web interface to check things out. Re-powering the unit did not help and switching the radio off and on did not work either. Eventually, I had to resort to a factory reset and run the Airlink EZWizard.exe setup program to reconfigure the unit. Fortunately, that is actually a fairly simple process and does not take too long. Also fortunate that I did not have to physically connect the AP671W to my WiFi router as described in the instructions - the unit was able to find my WiFi router and re-establish a connection once I provided the correct network settings and WPA passphrase. This has now happened to me three times and is always triggered by my main WiFi losing WAN connectivity or getting reset. I now keep the AP671W EZWizard.exe program on my local hard disk so I don't have to dig out the CD next time I lose connectivity as it will inevitably be needed again.
I visited the AirLink web site looking for any available firmware updates.... there were none. This is my first Airlink product and so this did not leave me with a good impression. I suppose it's possible that I have a one-off defect in my particular unit but that seems unlikely and since it generally works and I can fix it when this issue occurs, trying to get a replacement is more trouble than it's worth (since I purchased over the internet). I'm using it primarily in my home office so fortunately I'm the only one impacted when problems arise (since I'm the only one in the house who can fix it).
So, the bottom line is that it's a pretty good unit, costing about half (or less) than products with similar capabilities. When it loses its connection the fix is pretty easy (for me at least) but could be a problem for those less technically inclined.
Finally, I should stress that I have only used this unit in "AP Client" mode (connect ethernet devices to wifi LAN). There are five other modes that the unit operates in (Access Point, Universal Repeater, Point-to-Point Bridge, Point-to-Multi-Point Bridge, and WDS Bridge) and these may or may not experience the same problem.
AirLink 101 AP671W 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN Access Point and 5-Port Switch Reviews
Good router but not OS X compatible as claimed . Out-of-the-box this operates as a wireless base station BUT the settings cannot be changed using OS X. Lengthy "chat" with an AIRLINK Techie did not resolve the issue in spite of his claims one could manually interact with the device. Following his instructions I was unable to interact with the unit. It does work well as a base but I needed a repeater to extend my network.
Good router but not OS X compatible as claimed . Out-of-the-box this operates as a wireless base station BUT the settings cannot be changed using OS X. Lengthy "chat" with an AIRLINK Techie did not resolve the issue in spite of his claims one could manually interact with the device. Following his instructions I was unable to interact with the unit. It does work well as a base but I needed a repeater to extend my network.
AirLink 101 AP671W 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN Access Point and 5-Port Switch Opinions
AirLink 101 AP671W is adequate as AP client . The AirLnk 101 AP671W is an inexpensive, multifuntion wireless device. It allows you to add wireless access to a home LAN or bridge remote wires devices to an existing wireless LAN.I'm using it for the latter, and it's doing the job. It didn't turn out to be all that difficult to configure, however, the documentation is not very extensive and I had to reset the device once when I accidentally misspecified a parameter and had to start over. Some of the values I had set, like the administrative password, did not reset to the factory-supplied values, remaining as I had set them instead.In AP Client mode, it doesn't appear to be able to wsimultaneously act as a regular access point, so my WLAN's signal strength remains the same. I'm using it to be able to add my BluRay player to my home LAN, which has a wired Internet port and no wireless access. I have not tried it in other modes.Because I wanted to ask a technical question not covered by the documentation, I wisited the AirLink web site and used their contact form to write to the support staff. The support staff at AirLink responded quickly enough, but they had a difficult time answering my question, preferring to point me back to an online copy of the documentation (I already had a hard copy of it). When pressed to answer, they did not seem to understand the question well enough to answer directly. I eventually figured out the answer for myself.Over all, while the device does the job for which I purchased it and it was a good price, paying a little more for a well-known brand like D-Link, Cisco, or Netgear will probably be my choice the next time I need networking gear.
AirLink 101 AP671W is adequate as AP client . The AirLnk 101 AP671W is an inexpensive, multifuntion wireless device. It allows you to add wireless access to a home LAN or bridge remote wires devices to an existing wireless LAN.I'm using it for the latter, and it's doing the job. It didn't turn out to be all that difficult to configure, however, the documentation is not very extensive and I had to reset the device once when I accidentally misspecified a parameter and had to start over. Some of the values I had set, like the administrative password, did not reset to the factory-supplied values, remaining as I had set them instead.In AP Client mode, it doesn't appear to be able to wsimultaneously act as a regular access point, so my WLAN's signal strength remains the same. I'm using it to be able to add my BluRay player to my home LAN, which has a wired Internet port and no wireless access. I have not tried it in other modes.Because I wanted to ask a technical question not covered by the documentation, I wisited the AirLink web site and used their contact form to write to the support staff. The support staff at AirLink responded quickly enough, but they had a difficult time answering my question, preferring to point me back to an online copy of the documentation (I already had a hard copy of it). When pressed to answer, they did not seem to understand the question well enough to answer directly. I eventually figured out the answer for myself.Over all, while the device does the job for which I purchased it and it was a good price, paying a little more for a well-known brand like D-Link, Cisco, or Netgear will probably be my choice the next time I need networking gear.
Great for TV Set top box . AP671W doesn't have DHCP so setup IP address manually is a must for access point, access point client and repeater. There is no WPA for access point. The customer service is great for answering the phone.
Airlink 101 AP671W . The product was shipped in a timely manner. It's living up to all my expectations. Thanks.
Cons Review
Doesn't work as AP Client with WPA2-PSK (AES) . I purchased this product along with the Airlink AR675W to use as an AP Client. I already had a Linksys wireless router I figured I'd switch to an Airlink pair for compatibility and to get the 300mbs "n" speed. For max security I will only use WPA2-PSK (AES). The WPA2-PSK (AES) in the AR675W worked fine -- all my other wireless devices connected to it without any problems. But no matter what I tried, the AP671W in AP Client mode would not establish a WPA2-PSK (AES) connection with either my old Linksys or with the AR675W. It connected with lesser security but not with WPA2-PSK (AES). This was my first experience with Airlink & I found the online help, forums, and knowledge base to be useless. I'm returning both products and looking for something else.
NO SUPPORT FOR WIRELESS PRINT . Fast and reliable. I get high speed transfer between my pc and that of my wife. Browsing is made easy as we no longer have to share the same pc any longer.
recommended for anyone out there.Update 9th october 2011
The access point is poor and i can no longer print using my wireless canon mx870 printer. I tried it on my second wireless router Dlink dir 615 and the printer was printing. This is responsible for the downgrade from 5 stars to 2 stars. In place of this get NETGEAR WNR2000 Wireless-N Router or
NETGEAR Wireless-N Router WNR2000 - Wireless router - 4-port switch - 802.11b/g/n (draft 2.0) - desktop - refurbished
recommended for anyone out there.Update 9th october 2011
The access point is poor and i can no longer print using my wireless canon mx870 printer. I tried it on my second wireless router Dlink dir 615 and the printer was printing. This is responsible for the downgrade from 5 stars to 2 stars. In place of this get NETGEAR WNR2000 Wireless-N Router or
NETGEAR Wireless-N Router WNR2000 - Wireless router - 4-port switch - 802.11b/g/n (draft 2.0) - desktop - refurbished
Weird (unacceptable) setup/management; requires Windows contrary to mfg. claim . To configure this device from its factory state, you wire it to your existing network and power it on. Then you go to your Windows PC and ... wait, what's that? You don't run a Windows PC, and so purchased this device because on the outside of the box it says it supports "Windows, Mac, and Linux"? Well, surprise! It sure will support those systems as network clients once you have initialized it from your Windows PC. Otherwise, unless you happen to have a network setup to work coincidentally harmonious with the factory default (not super likely), it's a brick. The Windows software in question works, I surmise, as follows. Your new but not-yet-working access point is plugged into the network, and it fetches an IP address. (If your network doesn't work with DHCP like that, then I have no idea how/if it would work.) Then the application is launched (from the same subnet, of course, though the documentation doesn't make that clear), and it apparently scans the subnet looking for the device. It allows configuration via a series of screens and then the device can be accessed and used.
Even aside from that ridiculous procedure (any good access point simply allows you to connect to the IP address it picks up from your network; that is, the good devices fire up their internal web server immediately, which listens on port 80 at that IP for you to connect and configure), this device compounds its weirdness by forcing you to statically assign it an IP address for management access. Note that it *does* ask for an IP address from the DHCP server on the subnet when it's plugged in, but it does not appear to use that for anything other than its own Windows tool. Instead, you have to assign another static IP. That's a real problem, and there's just no reason for it to work that way, at least not in AP mode.
There are other, better pieces of equipment than this. It's not even particularly cheap.
Even aside from that ridiculous procedure (any good access point simply allows you to connect to the IP address it picks up from your network; that is, the good devices fire up their internal web server immediately, which listens on port 80 at that IP for you to connect and configure), this device compounds its weirdness by forcing you to statically assign it an IP address for management access. Note that it *does* ask for an IP address from the DHCP server on the subnet when it's plugged in, but it does not appear to use that for anything other than its own Windows tool. Instead, you have to assign another static IP. That's a real problem, and there's just no reason for it to work that way, at least not in AP mode.
There are other, better pieces of equipment than this. It's not even particularly cheap.
Product Image
Feature AirLink 101 AP671W 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN Access Point and 5-Port Switch
- Standards: Wireless: IEEE 802.11b/g/n, Ethernet: IEEE 802.3, 802.3u Frequency Band: 2.4 GHz
- 6-in-1 Multi-Function, Access Point, Universal Repeater, AP Client (Wireless Bridge), Point to Point, Point to Multi-Point Bridge, WDS Bridge
- Front Panel LEDs: Power, WLAN, LAN 1 - 5
- Rear Panel Features: On/Off button, Reset/Easy Setup Button, Five (5) 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 LAN ports, 12VDC power plug
- Two (2) 3 dBi antennas provide longer distance, wider coverage
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Product Details
EAN : 0658729081703UPC : 658729081703
MPN : AP671W
Brand : AirLink
Weight : 2 pounds
Height : 4 inches
Length : 11 inches
Width : 8 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Manufacturer : Airlink101
Model : AP671W
Publisher : Airlink101
SKU : ET-AP671W
Studio : Airlink101
Where To Buy
You can buy AirLink 101 AP671W 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN Access Point and 5-Port Switch on Amazon . Click here to Read More
