NETGEAR 5 GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge (WNHDE111) Review & Ratings

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NETGEAR 5 GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge (WNHDE111) Review

I bought one to pair with a Netgear Rangemax WNDR3700 Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router. It does a wonderful job, and the setup was simple and operation reliable.
First of all, please note that this wireless product has a single operating band at 5GHz. It will not work with 2.4GHz routers or other 2.4Ghz devices that need to connect with this unit wirelessly.
The Netgear has two different operating modes, a bridge mode and an access point mode, switchable with a hardware switch which is so much better than a software enabled switch.
The bridge/access point distinction:
Allow me to digress a little bit here. The concepts of an "access point" and a "bridge" can be confusing to many. I've seen very technical definitions of these, but not really helpful for end-users. What always confused me was they never tell you what exactly connects to what, in what manner (wireless or ethernet?), and the signal is going from which unit to which unit doing what(signal direction and function). So let me try to describe this using the simplest possible language.
-- A wireless access point connects to clients (your PCs, or other end-user devices) wirelessly but connects to the Internet through an ethernet cable. There may be a modem involved there, but that's a detail not affecting the concept. That is, it gives the clients a wireless access to the Internet, therefore called a wireless access point.
-- A wireless bridge connects to the clients directly through ethernet cables but connects to the Internet wirelessly (usually through a wireless router or an access point). The wireless bridge has wireless receiving capability of course, but it does not have wireless broadcasting capability. Therefore it does not connect to the clients wirelessly and does not have an SSID for itself to broadcast like a wireless access point or wireless router would.
However, the above definitions are traditional pure Access Point and Bridge. With the newer WDS technology, bridges start to have wireless broadcasting capability as well. In the WDS setup, multiple bridges are used together to cover a wider area. A WDS bridge would on one hand work like a traditional bridge to wirelessly receive signals from the router or an upper-level bridge, while at the same time transmits signal wirelessly to the next level bridge. Even in a WDS setup, the key point to understand is still that the bridges don't assign IP addresses to other connected devices. They are sort of passive in terms of IP addressing, and that is why you can't simply connect two active routers to do what the router and a bridge can do. But all this is just for clarification and has nothing to do with the device reviewed here.
(By the way, a router is really a network switch plus an access point. The network switch takes care of the network address assignment and management, without which your devices may be connected, but the signals would not know where to go. This part is usually clear to most people.)
I read another reviewer complaining that you need two Netgear bridges to make a real "bridge". Obviously, the reviewer intuitively defines a bridge as something that wirelessly connects (bridges) two non-wireless ends. If a wireless bridge were supposed to do that, then you indeed always need two units to complete a bridge. This is inherently true, because in any technology, to wirelessly connect two sides, you need both sides to have wireless capability. If you have a transmitter on one side, there must be a receiver on the other side, or vice versa. In the field of Wi-Fi, the routers came out first and provided wireless capability at one end. The other end is typically a wireless client such as a wireless adapter card. But sometimes you may want several PCs to share a "united wireless adapter" to connect to a wireless router. That is, the shared "united wireless adapter" wirelessly connects to the router on behalf of the several local PCs while grouping the local PCs through wired connections. This is the concept of a bridge in Wi-Fi. It is always just one side, assuming that you've got a wireless router or access point on the other side.
When and why you need a bridge?
For example, in my case, I needed a bridge. I already had a wireless router placed in a room that has direct access to the Internet through fiber optics. Several computers in the house can individually access the wireless router wirelessly, so I don't need a bridge just to access the Internet. However, these computers are grouped together in a different area. They could benefit from a bridge placed nearby. The bridge wirelessly connects to the router, while the computers in this group connect to the bridge using reliable ethernet cables.
There are several benefits of the above bridge arrangement. First, I would no longer need to worry about wireless cards installed on separate computers, etc. All computers in this group connect to the bridge using ethernet cable. As long as the wireless connection between the bridge and the router is reliable, all computers in that group enjoy reliable Internet access.
Second, the bridge allows me to place printers nearby the computers which are in a different room away from the room where the router is located. In my case, placing the printers in the router room is absolutely not an option. If I had that option, buying a router that has a built-in network printing capabilities would have solved the problem quite easily. But if I place the printers in the room where PCs are (away from where the router is placed), I face two options to choose from in order to network these printers. The first would be using a wireless printer server. The second would be using a wireless bridge plus a non-wireless print server. The second option is far superior. A simple and reliable non-wireless print server connecting to the bridge using ethernet cable turns out to be an extremely reliable solution. This may sound trivial, but in reality, if you have ever dealt with wireless print servers, you will appreciate the significance of this non-wireless ability.
The performance of NetGear WNHDE111:
With all that background, I'm glad to report that the Netgear bridge works flawlessly.
The setup was extremely simple. I did not use the CD that comes along with it. I directly accessed the control page of the bridge, and once there the setup took only a few minutes. It's just a matter of entering the SSID and the password of the router which this bridge is supposed to communicate wirelessly. In fact, the most time-consuming part was actually to find the default IP address of the bridge in order to access its control page. The bridge I bought did not come with a hardcopy manual, so I had to go to NetGear's website to find and download one to check. It turns out to be 192.168.0.241 for the bridge(or 192.168.0.240 for the access point). Why can't they just print such simple yet important information on the device itself? It would have made things so much easier.
There is an important detail that may be worth explaining. When you access the bridge the first time before it is already hooked up with the router, the operating IP address of the bridge is the above-mentioned default IP. However, once the bridge is connected to the router and joined the network, it would gain a different IP address unless it has been set to receive a static IP address from the router. You may set it to manual IP address assignment, and give it a static IP address which you can remember. Anyway, if you try to access the bridge using the above default IP address but couldn't, it may be because the bridge is already part of the network and has gained a different IP address. In this case, you have two different options to access the bridge. One option is to temporarily and manually disconnect your computer from the network, and set your computer's network properties of TCP/IPv4 to be in the same subnet with the bridge. Another option is to log into your router's control page to find what network IP address has been assigned to the bridge and use your computer to access the bridge by the new IP address. I highly recommend using a static IP address for the bridge.
My only complaint about this product is that it has only two ethernet ports. This is not enough for even a very simple application. Two PCs and a print server would require three ethernet ports, thus would need a separate multiport switch to be connected with this bridge. This is too cheap. The thing is not small at all. It's rather largish, and they could have put eight ethernet ports on this thing without any problem. Just four would make such a difference. I believe adding two extra ethernet ports would only cost less than one dollar in manufacturing.
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NETGEAR 5 GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge (WNHDE111) Overview

The NETGEAR WNHDE111 5 GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge lets you create a 5 GHz Wireless-N access point by simply connecting it to an existing router/gateway. The resulting wireless network lets you transfer data at the highest possible Wireless-N speeds, making it an ideal solution for network gaming and streaming HD videos. By utilizing patented metamaterial antenna technology, the WNHDE111 offers a speed and range far surpassing the older Wireless-G standard.
Easy Setup Simply connect the WNHDE111 to your router/gateway. Setup is easily and securely done with a simple "Push 'N Connect" feature using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), which eliminates the need to remember or input security password keys. The device automatically configures itself to access point or bridge mode depending on the type of Ethernet enabled device it connects to.
You can easily extend your wireless network by purchasing more WNHDE111 units, or start with the NETGEAR HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit.
Minimal Interference = Outstanding Performance Most wireless devices today, such as Wi-Fi devices, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, microwaves, and baby monitors, operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency, creating a lot of traffic and interference. The WNHDE111, however, operates on the 5 GHz band, which has up to 23 free channels and avoids the interference from most other devices.
The WNHDE111 complies with the latest Wireless-N draft specification for the fastest possible Wireless-N speeds. Automatic Quality of Service (QoS) ensures prioritization of voice, video and gaming traffic. It also supports wireless "ad-hoc" mode for wireless LAN peer-to-peer gaming and supports multicast point-to-multi-point HD video streaming.
The WNHDE111 supports WiFi Protected Access (WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK), and 64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption and is backed by a 1-year warranty.
What's in the Box WNHDE111 5 GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge, stand, Ethernet cable, setup CD, power adapter, and warranty/support information card.


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