I bought one 2 years ago for $90 and I’ve been using it in my home for a wifi range extender. Very happy with it and a steal at this price.
Linksys/Cisco has a nice arrangement. You’ll be happy with the way these buggers hold up year over year.
$45 and 3.5 stars on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WET610N-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Adapter/dp/B001QVQ7JU
I have two WES610N units, the big brother of this one. Had them for a while now and very happy. This is a good deal.
These are also used for AT&T Uverse…for the wireless boxes
I think you mean 3.5 stars
Indeed.
20% one stars, complaining of drops and just not talking to same brand devices if encrypted.
was going to buy one, but thought about why I might need it first. My desktop has a wired connection, I rarely play games online on my 360 and the only time I really use my laptop is when I’m at college, so, this doesnt really serve much purpose for me and I’ll suppose I’ll have to pass on it, despite it being a good deal.
I read some of those reviews, and they just sound like the people don’t know how to/haven’t set them up properly.
These are actually pretty difficult to setup.
I’ve setup a few for UVERSE and you have to make sure (in the case of UVERSE) they are set to WPA2-TKIP, not WPA/WPA2 or WPA2-AES+TKIP.
You have to specify exactly what the router is running. If you try to go for a ‘universal’ approach, it will constantly drop.
Once its set right, it works forever.
However, it isn’t very fast. Mine only get 72mbps which in the real world is about 2MB/second. I setup someone else’s and they get 112mbps which is around 4MB/second file transfer.
EDIT: I want to add that I still think this is a steal for $20. I ordered 3.
I won’t even pretend to know what this thing does, although I have a grasp of its most basic concept i.e., ‘it connects stuff’.
Would some kind soul or wise Wooter offer me a more precise insight into just what connectivity needs are filled by an entertainment bridge?
I’m sure I’m in the minority here but personally I’ll never buy another Cisco/Linksys item. I remember way back when Linksys was pretty much the best wireless gear around, my old wireless b router lasted forever. When I finally broke down and upgraded it was for a “Linksys by Cisco” G device. On the job all we use is Cisco and I’ve had a great track record with them so I figured it would be worth it. Long story short, that AP was replaced 3 times (only twice under warranty) and the replacement N AP I decided to get as a last chance had severe overheating issues resulting in having to be powercycled every few days. My free Netgear replacement has held up perfectly for 2 years since.
Easiest usage scenario:
You have a home wireless network, but you have a device without wireless capability (either no wireless whatsoever, weak signal, or flaky antenna resulting in constant drops, etc.). You get the bridge to connect to the wireless, then connect via ethernet cable to said device.
I guess I don’t understand what this thing can do - what do you mean when you say you use it as a range extender? It can receive a wifi singal and allow a device to connect if the device is plugged in to it. But can it also retransmit the wifi singal to extend the range of an existing router?
My router is in my living room, and I have a spare PS3 in a bedroom. The PS3 can barely pick up the wifi signal from the living room. So this device would only be useful for my situation if it could be placed midway between the living room and bedroom and retransmit (extend) the range of the living room wifi. Is that how you are using it?
A “wifi range extender”? I like the sound of that. How do I do that? Pretty simple?
Not sure how you’re coming up with those numbers, but 72Mbps=9MBps and 112=14.
Only one Ethernet port? It would have cost them 1¢ to add in three or four.
For some reason I see these fairly often at Goodwill. I guess lots of people buy them accidentally when they’re after a router and just drop them off in donation bins. Anyway, they generally sell for $1.99 or $2.99 at Goodwill so I’ve made a few bucks flipping them on Amazon and eBay. 
Soon to be “had.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-16/cisco-said-to-hire-barclays-to-sell-linksys-division.html
This is a great bridge, I have two.
Depending on your conditions and type of traffic it may or may not be faster than AV-class powerline networking.
I’m getting 8 MB/sec sustained for large (2+ GB) files (takes a bit to ramp up) across the room (about 10 feet and through a TV).
It’s a bridge, not a router or switch (though you can connect it to a switch for more than one client).
In fact, the machine I’m on now is connecting through one.
It gets its own IP for the web configuration, so it’s easy to check on after initial setup.
Quite the steal for $20.