Product Description

Move up to the Power of N! The versatile Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band can make a wired Ethernet-enabled device a part of your wireless network. It's optimized for streaming video to reduce glitches. It's ideal for wirelessly sharing music, photos, movies, and other files around the home. Since the Bridge is based on dual-band Wireless-N, it works with any device supporting Wi-Fi standards, and is compatible with Wireless-G, -A, and -B. Connect digital video recorders, set-top boxes or computers to your Wireless-N network. Convert your wired-Ethernet printer, scanner, camera, storage device, notebook, or desktop for wireless connectivity. The Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge works on any platform and under any operating system. Since there are no drivers to load, setup is a snap - configure the network settings through your PC's web browser, then plug it into your device and go. To protect your data and privacy, all wireless transmissions can be encrypted with industrial-strength Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security. Wi-Fi Protected Setup helps make secure connections pushbutton simple. Easy-to-use setup wizard Equipped with one 10/100 auto-crossover (MDI/MDI-X) port Unit Dimensions 5.71 x 4.17 x 2.05 (145 x 106 x 52 mm); Unit Weight 5.61 oz (159 g) Power 12V, 1A Package Contents - Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band; Setup Software and User Guide on CD-ROM; Quick Installation Guide; Network Cable; Power Adapter Minimum Requirements - Device with Ethernet port; Wireless Access Point or Router (802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, or draft 802.11n compliant); Internet Explorer 6, or Firefox 2 or higher for browser-based configuration; PC with CD-ROM drive (for Setup Wizard only); Setup Wizard requires Windows XP, Vista, or Vista 64-bit edition with latest updates; Maximum performance derived from IEEE Standard 802.11 specifications. Actual performance can vary, including lower wireless network

Product Details

• Brand: Linksys
• Model: WET610N
• Platform: Windows
• Format: CD
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 10.00" h x 11.00" w x 3.00" l, .54 pounds
• CPU: PowerPC G4 2.1 GHz
• Memory: 2000MB SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 1GB
• Processors: 1

Features

• Convert any wired-Ethernet device to speedy Wireless-N Connectivity
• Optimized for video, so videos look smooth with less frame drops
• Compatible with any device that supports Wi-Fi standards and also with any operating system
• Easy setup and powerful security features, including WPA2 and Wi-Fi Protected Setup
• Measures 5.71 x 4.17 x 2.05 inches and weighs 5.61 ounces; 1-year limited warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description The Linksys by Cisco WET610N Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band can turn any of your wired Ethernet-enabled devices to wireless in a snap. Optimized for streaming video, the WET610N enables you to have ultra-fast Wireless-N transfer capability with less glitches and frame loss for superior video transfers. It's also ideal for wirelessly sharing music, photos, movies, and other files around your home via any Ethernet-enabled device, such as a printer, scanner, digital camera, notebook, or desktop computer.

Ultra-Fast Wireless-N Transfer Speeds
The WET610N Bridge takes advantage of the latest in wireless technology – Wireless-N – which is the fastest and most reliable wireless standard available. Wireless-N offers the fastest transfer speeds possible, and since the WET610N is a dual-band device, it's compatible with any device that supports Wi-Fi standards. The versatility of the Bridge means that you can use it with any Wireless-G, -A, -B, and -N device.

Optimized for Smooth Streaming Video
While most Wi-Fi devices produce sluggish video with many dropped frames, the WET610N is optimized for video transfers, so you get smooth video with almost zero dropped frames. So sharing video from your desktop computer to your laptop wirelessly with the WET610N Bridge, for example, will be faster and produce more accurate results than ever before!

Simple Setup and Works on any Operating System
The WET610N Bridge requires no advanced technical knowledge or drivers to install – it's as easy as plugging it in to any Ethernet-enabled device, and the easy setup wizard walks you through the setup process and has you ready to go within minutes! And it doesn't matter what type of platform and operating system you're running, the WET610N will work on Windows, Macintosh, or Linux operating systems. Simply configure your network settings through your PC's web browser, plug in your Ethernet-enabled device to your Bridge, and you have instant wireless connectivity.

Advanced Security Keeps the Wireless Network Safe
The WET610N protects data and privacy by encrypting all wireless transmissions with industrial-strength Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). Linksys equipped the WET610N Bridge with the latest in WPA security called WPA2, which provides rock-solid protection from hackers, malware, and other Internet attacks. It also features Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 and up to 128-Bit encryption for even more protection from wireless threats.

Minimum System Requirements
Device with Ethernet port; wireless access point or router (802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, or draft 802.11n compliant); Internet Explorer 6, or Firefox 2 or higher for browser-based configuration; PC with CD-ROM drive (for Setup Wizard only); Setup Wizard requires Windows XP, Vista, or Vista 64-bit edition with latest updates

Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux, the Linksys WET610N Bridge with Dual-Band measures 5.71 x 4.17 x 2.05 inches and weighs 5.61 ounces. It is backed by a 1-year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band, Setup Software and User Guide on CD-ROM, Quick Installation Guide, network cable, and power adapter.

Customer Reviews

Excellent for Converting Wired To Wireless
I bought the WET610N for my Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-Ray Player. My options were either wired, which I didn't want to do, or buy a proprietary dongle from Samsung. I chose the option that Samsung did not mention - I bought the WET610N! The unit was easy to setup, and the instructions were clear. I've never been fond of using Linksys CD's to setup this kind of equipment, but I have to say it was painless and quick compared to some others I've seen. The value of this unit is simply that it will work with ANYTHING that wants a "wired" network connection. So, it doesn't matter if it's a video game system, a DVR type device, or as in this case a blu-ray DVD Player. For this reason, the unit is a great value and will be in use for a long time, even when the current equipment I am using it with now is long gone.

not a bad device. I like it.
I purchased this because I didn't like how the USB wireless adapter I was previously using had to load it's software before I would get a connection. This would cause some of the programs that I load on Windows startup to give an error message about not having an internet connection unless they loaded after the USB adapter software. I decided to get a bridge because once it gets connected, your computer accesses the internet as if it were plugged in to the wired ethernet. I'm using this with the Linkysys WRN610N dual band router.

Setup on this device was easy. I simply did a quick google search to find out it's default IP address and then opened my web browser and connected. I entered my network information and then rebooted the adapter. I then moved it to where I was going to place it and hooked it up and checked the wireless network list in the configuration page to make sure I was getting an ok signal. thats all I had to do and now it works great.

It's signal strength is okay, but I think it should probably be better. My laptop certainly gets a much better signal from the router when placed in the exact same location. given the size of the antennas in the laptop compared to this small device I'm not surprised. One thing I should note is that you can connect to either a 5Ghz network or a 2.4Ghz network, but it cannot be configured to use one band and then fall back to the other if the signal gets weak. this would be a nice feature to have.

The LED's on the front tell you what you need to know and aren't too bright or annoying like my old adapter was with a super bright blue flashing LED.

I gave this four stars because the built in web interface does not have any help page that explains the options like my WRN610 router does. The included electronic manual also does not have very good explanations either. Also I think the signal strength could be better. However, it works like it should, gets decent speeds, and wasn't difficult for me to set up so I do recommend it.

Quick setup - up in 10 minutes
Update 10/2/09:

New firmware update available from Linksys 8/31/09 (I went from 1.0.01 to 1.0.03 today). After applying new firmware, the reported signal strength increased significantly. So did the consistency and reliability of pings (previously would vary between 2ms and 410 ms as well as skip an occasional ping - now consistently below 5 ms!). I would recommend this product, but be sure to be running firmware 1.0.0.03. This update may address some (but not all) of the issues that previous reviewers experienced.

Original review:

Quick shipment from Amazon. As much as I dread Setup wizards, I used the wizard supplied on the CD-ROM, which I ran from my laptop, which is connected wirelessly via the wireless router. Connected bridge to router with the supplied straight-through Ethernet cable. The wizard quickly detected available wireless networks (I selected mine - not my neighbors'). Asked me for passphrase (it knew I use WPA2 encryption) for router (Linksys WRT54G), waited a bit, then wizard told me to disconnect bridge from router and then connect the bridge to my remote device (in my case - a home-theater-in-a-box) (HTIB) with an wired ethernet connection. A bit later, wizard announced setup finished. Instantly able to watch streaming Netflix and listen to Pandora on the HTIB.

Prior to running wizard, I added the MAC address of the bridge (it's on the underside of the unit) to the allowed list of "PCs") on my router's list of allowed MAC addresses. Second, I ensured that I had a sufficient range of DHCP addresses dispensed by the DHCP server on my router (total of 3 - one for the laptop, one for the wireless printer, and now added a third for this bridge). Third, I had my router passphrase readily available to supply to the wizard.

I think that since I was well prepared, the setup was flawless and quick. I totally understand why wizards are used - they're for novices to easily set up their stuff. In this case, I think it took the wizard less time to set up the device than it would have if I were to have chosen to set up the bridge manually (which is an undocumented option). A novice would have a struggle with a manual setup, I'm sure.

Signal strength on the bridge indicates to be a bit weak for business use, but for home use, it's working great for my sole application. One could certainly add more devices on the bridge side by connecting the bridge to a switch to provide additional Ethernet ports. Of course, the bridge will pass DHCP info to any device connected to any such switch. And of course, no address needed for a(n) (unmanaged) switch.

The only thing I'm uncertain about is this product's longevity. I did have an early Linksys WRT54G totally fail on me, but I'm hoping that having placed my current one on a UPS, this won't happen again. I have confidence in current Linksys products.

I hope Amazon buyers find this review helpful.

I recommend this product.