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The Linksys WBP54G is a wireless device designed to be used with any SPA9XX IP phone to give it wireless access.
The WBP54G supports WEP and WPA/WPA2. The device is configured
through a setup wizard only, sorry, no web interface. The setup wizard
is very simple and makes setup easy. The WBP54G also uses the same
power supply as an SPA9XX phone so unless you are using POE no extra
cords are needed. One of the nice things about this setup is that the
phone can be carried to any room, plug in the power, and
it works. The WBP54G works inline with the standard PA100 power
supply. Although I have not tried it, it should work with any device
with a standard RJ45 jack.
For a bit of backgound on the testing for this review we did a real
world test. The WBP54G and an SPA941 were installed 9 months ago in a 100 yr old
house occupied by 6 college students, all girls. Talk about a tough
test. The device is also connected to an older D-Link access point
which caused an issue during setup. I could not get the two devices to
talk using WPA (WPA worked on 2 previously used Linksys WAP's). After switching excryption to WEP on the D-Link the
setup worked and the unit has been extremely reliable.
Setup - Very simple.
Reliability - Very reliable. The device has lost it's connection
twice (in 9 months), both after lightening storms. Simply resetting the power fixed
the problem both times.
Range - Comparable with any wireless device.
Call quality - Very good when the signal strength is good. When
working at the limits of its range calls start getting choppy and will
sometimes drop, which is not unexpected. When the WBP54G is located
close enough to get a decent signal call quality is good enough that
you cannot tell that you are talking over a wireless connection.
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