Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter

The Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter gives wireless connection capabilities to any wired Ethernet-equipped game console. The Game Adapter can be used in several different ways. If you have an existing home wireless network and a cable or DSL Internet connection, the Game Adapter lets your Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation2 or 3, 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. There is also a special “Wireless LAN Party” mode to connect several consoles at once.

Consumer Review

The product is a bit hard to configure if you do not have a compatible Linksys N router. The CDROM that comes with the WGA600N can only configure it if you have a compatible Linksys router. I have a Apple Airport Extreme N router and had to spend a little time googling to discover that the Reset button on the WGA600N puts it on 192.168.1.250 IP address and that I had to enable static IP in the same subnet on my desktop’s interface in order to be able to go to the Web GUI at http://192.168.1.250. After that, it was a breeze to setup. Very easy.

That aside, the best part about WGA600N is that it is very good for streaming HD content over your network. I have Slingbox hooked up to my HD enabled Comcast DVR to enable streaming to my desktop in the other room. The desktop has no wireless card and so it was wired to a NetGear Powerline HDX101. With this setup the HDTV streaming with Slingbox was not impressive – frequent lost packets, not so good speed etc.

But once I hooked the desktop to the WGA600N and had it connect to my extreme N router (Airport shows it connects at 300 rates, whereas my Laptop with WirelessN card connects at 130) no more lost packets, and I get the best streaming speeds, consistently (hovering around 5500Kbps to 6000Kbps).

Overall I am quite happy with its performance, Linksys should fix the configuration utility though, that will save people without Linksys routers some headache for sure.

Features:

* Lag-free head-to-head or Internet gaming, without stringing wires
* Converts wired-Ethernet-ready game consoles to Wireless-N network connectivity
* Works without drivers on Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation2 or 3, and GameCube
* Dynamically changes channels and radio bands (2.4 or 5GHz) to find the fastest connection available
* Device Type: Wireless Bridge
* Interface: RJ-45
* Form Factor: Desktop

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