Jack Of All Trades but master of any....

where do i start...beginning maybe? o.k. brief desc. of the problem i "had". in my apartment, in the netherlands, the walls are very secure wi-fi doesn't work well. i needed something to boost the range of the wireless router. i tried hi gain antennas, re-positioning it with cable extensions, you name it, i tried it!! i tried to use my u.s.robotics spare router (i guess i could still use it) . nothing really worked. i was becoming resigned to the fact that nothing was going to work. i also was looking for a solution to connect my networked d.v. recorder (kiss dp-558) to the network. at present, it's connected using a power-lan connection which is so s l o w. a game adapter would cost around 60 g.b.p. upwards. anyway, i was routinely checking my supplier's bargains and came across this. i read up on it, checked the edimax website etc. seemed like the right thing, some kind of wireless repeater also game adapter (it transpires that it can be only or the other, not the two at the same time, at least i can't see how it can be), plus other things. a bit of jack of all trades box but would it be the master of any?? well, for the money i had nothing to loose-30 day m.b.g. i've blown more on more stupid things before. well it arrived, promptly as usual from my supplier. i un-packed it, r.t.f.m.'ed (read the manual). had a bit of a panic attack - bought the wrong thing but thought, look what's the worst that can happen...waste a load of my time (too valuable a commodity). so off i went, trying to set it up. the first thing i encountered was the XP set up instructions were wrong!! at least to me they were. i read the w2k instructions and they made more sense. then wired up the l.t. to it. configured it the best i could, remember i only wanted a repeater. now i'll say the manual is not the best written one (english grammar not 100% etc.). i had to do a bit of reading between the lines (i write manuals for a living, badly written ones are my pet hate!!). after a lot of time spent (hours!!) i got it configured and working, yes, it worked!!! it links the adsl router to the edimax @ 70 per cent connectivity; the edimax to my l.t. downstairs @ 70 per cent, often reaching 100 per cent (54 m.b.p.s.). for that segment, i must say i used a sitecom 10db hi-gain antenna but i don't think it makes a difference. all i can say is have some patience if you're a bit of a novice, it does work as a repeater at least. next thing for me is to link it to the kiss dp-558 (i've never missed a video recording in the two years i've had mine!!) as a game adapter. take in to account most game adapters are over 60 g.b.p. this thing cost me 25 g.b.p.

so, in summary - the documentation a little vague but this is the way with "interesting brands". setup was a little tricky but if you've done it once it becomes easier and you can always save the settings as you go. does it do what it says on the box...yes, at least for the repeater part of it. v.f.m.=for the money, you really could do a lot worst!! would i buy it again, yes!