| | |  | Networking | Home » » » » Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter | | | | | | | Description: | | Linksys WGA54G Wirelss-G Game Adapter. Gives any wired-Ethernet-equipped game console wireless connection capabilities. The Game Adapter can be used in two different ways. If you have an existing home wireless network with a Cable/DSL Internet connection the Game Adapter lets your PlayStation 2 Xbox or GameCube attach to the network so you can get into online games without running wires to the game room. Or use a pair of Game Adapters to form a "cable-less cable" between two game consoles for head-to-head gaming--in the same room or all the way across the house. | | | Features: | |
• Lag-free head-to-head or Internet gaming at up to 54 Mbps, without stringing wires
• Converts wired-Ethernet-ready game consoles to Wireless-G (draft 802.11g) network connectivity
• Works without drivers on PlayStation2, Xbox, and GameCube
• Also connects to Wireless-B (802.11b) networks at 11 Mbps
• One year limited warranty
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 3.94 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.3 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.42 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.44 pounds | | Package Length:
| 11.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 9.6 inches | | Package Height:
| 2.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.9 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 191 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 191 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
143 of 157 found the following review helpful:
Hardware works, software stinksAug 28, 2004
By Rarkm
"rarkm"
This took me about 2 hours to set up, after about 20 attempts. The hardware works fine, but both the setup utility and the operating manual are poor and only handle connecting to simple networks. I have a non-standard (read: I didn't let Microsoft set up my network automatically) network and a Linksys Wireless G router, with 128 bit WEP (encryption) as well as MAC filtering set on. (My neighbor across the street also has a wireless network, which I didn't know until I started fooling around with this one.)
In essence, if you use a router gateway to the net (which you absolutely should for its inherent hardware firewall capabilities) and you use wireless encryption (which you absolutely should to make it difficult for a techie neighbor from eavesdropping in on your network) you must set this device up manually. Not only that, but you have to set up your game machine network settings manually as well.
First, routers usually also act as DHCP servers (meaning that they'll automatically give an IP address to anything logging onto the network). That means that unless you give the device a static IP address you're never sure which address your game machine will have when it boots up. The same thing is true of the WGA54G. Unless you specify a proper static IP address and netmask, it won't connect. So you have to give both the game machine and the WGA54G (different) static addresses within the range of your local network and which don't conflict with any existing devices.
Secondly, if you do MAC filtering, you need to realize that the WGA54G has TWO ethernet adapters: the wired one (which you stick the cable plug into) and the wireless one (that connects to the antenna). The MAC address of the WIRELESS device must be included in the filter settings of your router, or it'll be blocked. Linksys doesn't make it clear how to find that address (it gives you the wired MAC address on the label), but the wireless MAC device is one of the two MACs you've got to include in your
router's filter list. (Hint: it's one digit higher than the wired MAC address -- just add 1 to the last two hex digits). The other MAC address needed is of the IP adapter contained in your game device (or attachment). That you have to obtain from your game network setup screens. I'm not completely sure why the WGA54G's wired adapter address isn't needed, my guess is that since it doesn't make any packet requests of the wireless router (interacts only with the game machine) it's not "seen" by the router.
You'll have to all of this by logging into the WGA54G's built in HTTP (web) server interface and your router's interface, not with the setup software on the disk.
Finally (on the Xbox, anyway), you've got to specify another static IP address for the game adaptor AND specify the router address as the DNS server (remember it allocates IP addresses for connected devices and stands between you and the internet, translating your network requests to the outside world.
If this sounds like Greek to you, well you're in good company. But this device is not inexpensive and is promoted as being easy to use.
It may be that Linksys can't tailor its software to every situation, but they can certainly write better documentation to help novices cope with the issues raised by slightly more complicated local networks. I also think that its odd that a wi-fi "G" device doesn't support the newer and more secure WPA encryption standards (which Linksys certainly includes in its wireless routers). That means that you will have to run your whole network on WEP encryption if you have this device set up, because WPA devices can't coexist with WEP encryption. WEP can be hacked, and WPA basically, cannot (unless you're a lot spookier than the average wardriver).
Yeah, it runs kind of hot, and yeah its LED lights are kind of strange, but who cares about that? The problem with this device is that it seems to have been shipped too early and because it's a game device is not being seriously supported or updated by Linksys in the same way that they'd support a "serious" device.
Like I said, the hardware seems to work fine (haven't experienced any of the dropped signals others report here), it's the software and documentation that's lacking.
Is there a better alternative? I don't know, I don't have the money and time to find out and I got this puppy running, so I'm movin' on to other things. I do know that Linksys is a decent manufacturer and can do better.
19 of 19 found the following review helpful:
IF you can get it configed, works great!!!Apr 05, 2006
By Red Rhino
Ok, several other people have left reviews here on troubles configuring this device and I ran into the same. After hours and hours of searching the web, I found a tip here and a tip there and eventually got it configured. Hopefully this will help someone who is having some trouble configuring this device.
First I have the WGA54G v2, however, I believe these should help anyone who has v1 or the AG devices.
1) Plug the adapter into your CPUs ethernet port with the RJ45 cable that comes with it and the other end into the game adapter.
2) Since the game adapter will default to 192.168.1.250, you will need to configure your ethernet port to work with the above address. I set mine to 192.168.1.249.
3) Plug in the power for your game adapter and give it about 30 seconds to boot up and configure itself. Open your browser and go to 192.168.1.250 (may want to run the setup on the CD first), but some people may be able to go directly to the game adapter without running the setup CD.
4) Once you are logged on the game adapter, be sure to set up your WEP settings, if you want to use it. Sorry WPA or WPA2 security doesn't work, so you have to configure your whole network to use WEP.
5) On the advanced page you need to be sure you are using a Mixed Mode even if all your devices are 'G band', also don't forget to set the router to mixed too. Cloning should be disabled and don't forget to set the gateway.
6) After changing the settings on the game adapter and you can test your device by pinging 192.168.1.250 on your network. If you get a response your are set, if not, you should start over and make sure you set up everything correctly.
7) Once you have the game adapter working, unplug it from your computer and plug it into the game console. You will need to set your game console to use a static IP as well. Configure your game console to use a static ip as well. (at least I had too, I used 192.168.1.251)
Linksys tech support is hopeless, don't even waste your time calling them. IMPORTANT: if your wireless light doesn't stay on, don't worry about it. Mine doesn't and it works fine, I spent hours trying to get it to turn on when it was working all the time. As long as you can ping it you are fine.
I hope these directions helps save someone the hours I spent figuring this out, and I really, really, really wish Linksys would do better with their documentation.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Great Product Once It's Working...Mar 18, 2005
By Jared Dove
"Rico"
I didn't read all of the reviews so some of this information is probably repeated. Although some people have not had any problems, I feel I should walk through a good method for setting up this device with most security features, i.e. WEP, disabled SSID broadcast, and MAC filtering. I also use DHCP, so I will talk about this as well.
1) Log in to the web utility and perform all of the following manually (don't use the setup disk). If you are unable to log in to the web utility, this may be due to an issue which Linksys has conveniently left out of it's technical documentation. On some computers, you must set your IP address and Default Gateway for your wired adapter. IP: 192.168.1.100 and Default Gateway: 192.168.1.250 Now log in to the utility as suggested by Linksys
2) As far as entering all of the necessary information, I recommend disabling the SSID and MAC filter (on your router) first. Go ahead and enter the WEP key and SSID into the WGA54G's web utility. Save the information and then proceed to the advanced tab. If your router uses DHCP, click on the appropriate button, then save the settings. (You probably won't be able to access the WGA54G after this using your PC). Follow the correct device startup sequuecne discussed below and you are almost good to go.
3) Now you can worry about the MAC filter and SSID broadcast. Changing either option does not require you to re-access the WGA54G. Change the appropriate settings on your router and you should be good to go.
Note: Don't worry if the Wireless-G LED isn't lit. This does not mean anything. The device could be working perfectly and you wouldn't even know it because the LED is rarely solid. Nice of Linksys to mention that, huh?
Note2: Make sure you follow the correct startup order of devices. Router on, WGA54G on, XBox on.
Note3: I found patience to be the most important thing. If you are like me, you require instant network gratification. I am using this device to play Halo with some friends on a LAN at home. When the XBox starts looking for a multiplayer game, give it time!!!!! Give it up to 30 seconds (the first time) to connect to the router and find the game. After the first time, it should find games right away.
Fianl Note: The router I used was the Linksys WRT54GS, although the use of a different router with the same capabilities should not affect (ideally) the above process.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Works great after a long battle with setupDec 21, 2004
By tsong001
"tsong001"
First off, for those that had the blessing of getting this beast up and running in 15 min or less, congrats and glad that you didn't have to go through the misery of Linksys tech support. But this does not mean that those who couldn't get it working on first shot had failed to read and follow instructions that came with the box. In fact, the document contained false information (i.e. the wireless G light should stay on when working properly... garbage!).
I spent over 4 hours trying to setup the adaptor on my XBOX, and after 2 calls to the tech support (got dropped after an hour on the phone with the first guy whom I probably spent 30 minutes just trying to understand what he is saying and the second guy eventually shifted the blame to Microsoft... how convenient?). Thankfully, I was able to got it to work after piecing together all the information I had gathered.
Below is a brief descripttion of what I did to finally get it working. I have broadband through Comcast Cable so hopefully this will help most of you comcast folks out there. Remember, patience is the key.
First of all, you need to upgrade the adapter to firmware 1.10 and if you use a Linksys wireless router, upgrade to the latest firmware. Both can be downloaded from Linksys web site.
Don't bother with the CD. use the browser configuration program. But you can't do this with a laptop, so connect the adaptor to a desktop. It may take a minute or 2 for the desktop to recognize the adaptor, so give it about 1 minute or so before typing in the IP address(192.168.1.250 by default) of the adaptor in the "address" field of the browser window.
The adaptor WILL work with WEP, but there is a bug with the setup program. Note that if you enter a passphrase, you should get 4 different keys generated but it returns 4 identical keys. You can work around this by cutting and pasting from the router setup window.
Follow through with the setup, the setup page will keep refreshing itself and eventually the status should show "Connected". At this point you should be able to ping the adaptor (with the hardwire still attached to the desktop) and you should even be able to get Internet connection for your desktop through the gaming adaptor.
Now bring the adaptor to your XBOX, power up the adaptor and connect it to the XBOX with the XBOX powered off. Turn on XBOX and go to setting -> network.
Forget autodetecting the IP Address, it didn't work for me at all. Go into IP Address, and manually assign an IP address to your XBOX, I used 192.168.1.107, the subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 and the gateway should be the ip address of your router (192.168.1.1 if you have Linksys router). Now go to the Advanced -> Wireless option and XBOX should at least be able to find your wireless game adaptor. Initially it may ask you for some additional information to further configure the wireless adaptor (i.e. if the wireless finds multipled network available, it will ask you which one to connect to). Go back to the Network Setup menu and select "Connect", you should be able to at least get through the first 3 items. Initially, it may drop you a few times, make sure you don't get in the way between the adaptor and your router.
If you can't get through the last item and the error says something about set the MTU value on your router to at least 1356, you need to make sure that your cable modem can do so. I had this problem when I was using the cable modem from Comcast, but it went away after I replaced it with my own cable modem from Linksys (which I had to mail back to them when the modem stopped working after one month of usage... grrr) You do want to make sure that the cable modem you are using is compatible with XBOX Live!, you can find this list (which in my opinion should be updated more frequently by Microsoft") on "www.xbox.com/connect".
So you can see, it was a long and painful process for me to finally get this monster to work, and when it does work... it's a keeper :) I have no doubt that Linksys makes quality products. But with my own experience, they have failed to pay adequate amount of attention to their support service, and this is a huge blow to the overall rating I would give them. I don't have a problem for them to outsource their entire support department to the moon, but the quality of their service should not be sloppy. Support rep should not be telling the customer that "you must submit a RMA request over our web site" when the defective item is a cable modem... or "comforting" a customer by saying that you can always get around by using a VERY long ethernet cable to connect your XBOX to the router!?
Ok, that last paragraph is just me venting. But my hope is that the tips I have provided here will help most of you to get this baby up and running as painless as possible. Happy gaming!
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Not 100 percent Xbox 360 compatibleApr 11, 2006
By Mike E. Straw
I bought this because I have a house full of Linksys equipment and I figured this would make installation and setup a breeze. My wireless router is the WRT54GX2, with 4 wired ports to go with the wireless. The setup and install of the game adapter was no problem, even with WPA encryption.
To make a long story short(er), both my Xbox and Xbox 360 worked great with Xbox Live ... and then I could not get Xbox live on the Xbox 360 to work with Xbox games. Xbox live kept insisting that I needed an update, yet the update would always hang. After 3 calls to Microsoft (and about 4 hours of tech support) a support supervisor told me that this adapter is NOT on the compatible list, but is also not on the incompatible list. (Notice how the product description does not mention Xbox 360.) Anyway, once I moved the TV and Xbox 360 across the basement and was able to use a wired Ethernet connection, the update completed and I was back on to Xbox Live with Halo 2.
For me, this game adapter was not 100% compatible with the Xbox 360 and Xbox live. I could play on line fine, but updates and free downloads did not work. I'm now deciding whether to run a 70 foot Ethernet line to my Xbox 360 or go with the Microsoft wireless game adapter.
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