Linksys WBP54G

The WBP54G is a very small Wi-Fi 802.11g-to-Ethernet adaptor.
It can be used with to turn the SPA-941 Phone into a wireless desk phone.

It was on display at the Boston October 2005 VON show.

See Also

• Linksys
• Linksys (Sipura) VoIP Support Forum
• Sipura

Also may be used a simple transparent wireless bridge between non VOIP devices

Requires a 5 V adapter
Cheaper than other stand alone wireless G bridges available
There is a warning on the product packaging that states the device is only to be used on Linksys VOIP devices (but it works with other devices)

Internals

The unit is easily opened by prising apart at the DC power connector.

Opening this up shows chips with the following legends

• MX T053319 29LV800CTTC-70G 2M355100A1
• EtronTech EM638325TS-6G J423703ABF856.11M
• Something under a heatsink which is HOT to the touch
• An unmarked RF-screened flat can, about 23x23mm
• A small corkscrew piece of wire at right angles to the PCB, presumably the antenna

 

Caveats

Some people have been unable to get this device to work.

In my tests with WPA-PSK, it did not work first time. However, after changing the SSID of the AP it worked, but then it also worked when I changed the SSID back again 🙁 After more changes it failed again. It seems to be happier if the SSID has no capitals or spaces in it, but I can’t be sure.

This device is not IP manageable. The Windows setup software works by sending layer 2 frames with ethertype 0x8888.

There is no external antenna, so the sensitivity may be low.

If you wanted to use this for wireless access in a hotel, you’d still need laptop to configure it, in which case you might as well just use a soft phone. Or consider a wireless AP which runs OpenWrt instead.

However, it is very cheap and small, and doesn’t require a separate PSU if your phone takes 5V DC.

— candlerb 2006-10-20