Digital Trends

Compex WPE54G 2a

November 23rd, 2004 | by Jeff Fila

Introduction

With so many manufacturers coming out with similar wireless products based on the same designs, there isn't much out there to differentiate one brand from another. Compex has already impressed us with their NP26G-USB wireless router, which incorporates two USB ports that allow for print and webcam serving. The company's latest wireless product, the NetPassage WPE54G, breaks yet another mold by offering a collection of wireless services you're not likely to see from many competitors.

The WPE54G is called a wireless access point by Compex, but the product is more than just a simple access point; it offers five different modes and a host of business-class features. Available online and at retailers for around $110, the WPE54G may be attractive both to advanced home users and corporate setups.

Features and Design

Based on Intersil's Prism Nitro 802.11x chipset, the NetPassage WPE54G is a small, sleek-looking, wireless-only device that can operate in several different modes:

-          Access Point mode: This is the default mode of the WPE54G. It allows you to add wireless devices to a wired network, bridging the wireless clients with the wired infrastructure.

-          Access Point Client mode: This allows you to use the WPE54G as a wireless bridge between two wired networks.

-          Internet Gateway mode: This allows you to hook the WPE54G to your broadband internet provider to allow for wireless broadband sharing.

-          Wireless Routing Client mode: This mode allows you to use the WPE54G to connect to the internet wirelessly, and to route traffic to a wired network.

-          Wireless Ethernet Adapter mode: In this mode, the WPE54G can wirelessly connect a notebook or workstation to a wireless network.

Like most of today's wireless access points and routers, the WPE54G offers static IP, dynamic IP, PPP and PPTP connections to Internet service providers. It also features the usual DHCP server, NAT (Network Address Translation), and port forwarding found in similar products.

Small enough to fit in a notebook bag or hide away in your office, the included power brick takes up almost as much room as the WPE54G itself. Besides the router and power adapter, included in the retail package are a quick install guide poster, a bright yellow Ethernet cable, product manuals, a plastic stand for upright positioning, and a CD containing the manual and Compex' uConfig device management application.

For wireless security, the WPE54G supports both WEP and WPA encryption. In our review of the NP54G-USB we noted that it did not support WPA so we were glad to see that Compex has implemented it in the WPE54G. Other security features include MAC address authentication and the ability to work with RADIUS servers.

The WPE54G can also be used in a WDS (Wireless Distribution System) environment and it supports two features we've seen on other Compex devices: their “Wireless Pseudo VLAN” and parallel broadband configuration. Wireless Pseudo VLAN allows you to segregate a single wireless LAN into multiple virtual LANs, only allowing communication between the virtual LANs. Parallel Broadband allows you to use multiple WPE54G's as load balancing and fail-over redundant routers when you have more than one connection to the internet.