ZyXEL MWR102 USB Powered Travel Router IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g/n ZyXEL MWR102 USB Powered Travel Router IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g/n

Pros: Extremely small in size, but very capable 3-in-1 device (router, AP or client adapter). Supports 802.11n. Signal is as strong as typical regular size router.

Cons: User guide only provides instructions to set up as router and AP mode. ZyXEL email support never replied to submitted question on client adapter mode. However, when calling support, was able to get agent right away. Although agent was not knowledgeable with question on this device, he was able to search and find answer in about 10 min wait time. Instruction was emailed to me and was easy to follow. Suggested ZyXEL to post client mode instruction at their product web site. Agent also confirmed there's no firmware update since the original version that's shipped with product (quite dated).

Other Thoughts: Summary of client adapter mode setup:
1. Configure PC NIC with static IP address (e.g. 192.168.100.10 /24).
2. Flip switch on MWR102 to AP mode.
3. Connect MWR102 to NIC Ethernet port.
4. Open browser and type in 192.168.100.1 as address/URL.
5. Login in to MWR102 with "admin" and password (default is 1234).
6. Select: Wireless > Basic Settings.
7. Change Wireless Mode to "Client", click Apply.
8. Select: Wireless > Site Survey.
9. Click Site Survey button.
10. Select the wireless network SSID you want to connect to, enter security settings (including pre-shared key).
11. Click Connect. If successful, will get "Connect Successfully" message.
12. Close browser window. Change PC NIC back to using DHCP to get IP address assignment (i.e. undo step #1 above).
13. The MWR102 is ready for use on this or any device you like, as long as it's Ethernet connected to the MWR102.

Pros: Small and easy to setup right out of the box. For many, no "setup" at all is required. Plug it in as the "cheat sheet" says and connect your wireless device. Those who want to really dig into it, can, with its browser interface.

Cons: As was stated by someone else, the carry bag isn't big enough to hold all the parts that are included. Not a big enough "Con" to subtract a star, though.

Other Thoughts: For the price at the time (less than $20 shipped), this was an incredible steal. Even with NO discounts it's worth the price.

Pros: My wife said "it's cute". Obviously, it's not going to win sexiest device awards, but my wife gave it an approval. But really, it did everything I wanted right out of the box and exactly how I expected it to..... One off the surprise features was that I could set the output power (by 10% steps) which means that I can reduce the power to keep my battery life long and to reduce my exposure to unfriendlies.

Cons: I'd like to see more firewall options. Right now, the only firewall security I saw was MAC filtering which is easily bypassed by a savvy hacker. It's not a major issue as I suspect there will be easier targets when I'm using this in a public space.

Other Thoughts: As a consultant, I'm sometimes at a client space or hotel where wi-fi isn't available or the client gives my team a workspace that only has a single connection. This device is perfect to keep in my go-bag and allow my team to share a single connection. Powering off of USB is perfect because I always have a USB cable and a wall adapter (for my phone) giving me the option of powering off of my laptop or from the wall with nothing extra to carry.

Pros: Small size - about 2/3 the size of a deck of playing cards. Terrific for traveling, especially since it comes with the travel bag.
USB powered.
Easy to use - I used it straight out of the box with no configuration/setup required. I left the default password in place, which is secure enough for now (8 alpha-numerics), and is included on a label on the bottom of the unit.
WiFi is powerful enough for use throughout our 2200 SqFt house. We've used this with 3rd, 4th & 5th generation iPod Touch units, a Samsung tablet, a Kindle Fire HD tablet and a couple of HP laptops, and although it's not as powerful as our regular full-size router, it's good enough, and will certainly be powerful enough for any hotel room we're ever likely to stay in.
Although it only comes with a 2-page quick start guide (which is good enough to get started), there is a 180 page comprehensive PDF manual available at ZyXel's site.

Cons: The travel bag is a nice touch, but it's not quite big enough to hold all 4 items: the router, the power adapter, the USB cable and the ethernet cable. I've kept the power adapter separate.

Other Thoughts: Great value - I got it on sale.

Pros: Creates a hotspot wherever there is an ethernet connection. Works out of the box (I only changed the settings to enter a new PW; easy). Powers from the wall adapter or from a notebook's USB port. It's unbelievably small and it has a decent range.

Cons: still trying to find a con

Other Thoughts: I am traveling frequently as a consultant and need to set up base camp in an office or conference room of my client. At times we are up to 10 people. If there is cabled internet access in that room, my colleagues and I are set up in seconds with this router. Even if there is WiFi available, this is safer and quicker.

Pros: It just works--right out of the box
Small, easy to pack
Runs off USB power from laptop if needed
Comes with USB power via AC adapter
Comes with all needed cables, small & packable
Easy setup
Reliable
Easy to configure for normal settings changes

Cons: Wish it had more wired ports (but then would be bigger)
Admin program isn't DD-WRT, but it's easy enough.

Other Thoughts: I got it on sale for just under $20 with free shipping. Just about the best $20 I've ever spent! Took it to Las Vegas for a week, to give me wifi in hotels that have wired Internet connection. All hotels want to charge you their Internet fees (typically $12-15 per day) per DEVICE, so $15 laptop plus $15 iPod touch plus $15 SO's laptop--ridiculous. As it happens though, the hotel Internet looks at the Ethernet MAC address of the connecting device to decide if it's a new, chargeable device. So, after getting hotel Internet working properly with my laptop, I connected up the router to the hotel's Internet cable, and my laptop to the wired port of the router. Of course the hotel Internet wanted to charge me again. So, I used my browser to go into the ZyXEL's admin utility at 192.168.1.100, I think it was, and the config screens were easy enough, and I changed the router to pass my laptop's Ethernet MAC address to the hotel's internet connection. That worked, and then all other devices simply connected to the ZyXEL router via WiFi, and life was good. The router performed well enough, better than good enough to handle the (often slow) Internet the hotels had. I used this setup at 3 different hotels in the course of a week, and had no issues.
Now I don't need to pack one of my bulkier Asus routers any more on trips. This ZyXEL is highly, highly recommended in my book.

Pros: VERY SMALL !! Comes with a complete set of connections and a travel pouch.

Tx/Rxis meant to be for a hotspot type of setup or if you have a remote device that needs a connection like an IP Phone in a far warehouse location.

Can be operated from a portable battery source like an Energizer PowerCell or you can use the USB port on devices like an Ooma or the USB expansion port of a NAS or other device that you want to get a network connection to.

FYI: Not for home users that know nothing of networking setups.

Cons: Instructions are for router mode, nothing for Wi-Fi client/bridge mode.

if you need to use it as a wifi bridge-client, change the switch on the side of the unit and then change the ssid and encryption type, disable dhcp, wifi mode should be bridge, then reboot. after each of the prior steps select "reboot later". only on the last step do you need to reboot.

Other Thoughts: if you need to use it as a wifi BRIDGE MODE, change the switch on the side of the unit and then change the ssid and encryption type of the network you want to join, disable dhcp, wifi mode should be bridge, then reboot. after each of the prior steps select "reboot later". only on the last step do you need to reboot.

For a wi-fi CLIENT mode, change the switch on the side of the unit and then change the ssid and encryption type to match the network you want to join, make sure dhcp is enabled, wifi mode should be CLIENT, then reboot. after each of the prior steps select "reboot later". only on the last step do you need to reboot.

OVERALL, This is a must have for serious travelers, business pro's and gadget junkies.

Pros: A lot of features are packed into a small package and the ability to use a USB power source comes in handy. Also, I got a deal on the price from Newegg. This would be handy to travel with. I might just buy another one if I can get the same deal as before, especially now that I know about the firmware update.

Cons: As of the date of this review, the device requires a firmware update to enable the client bridge feature and to get that firmware update you have to contact ZyXEL support and ask specifically about the client bridge feature. I was told a decision was made to remove it in the latest firmware release and that the firmware I was being sent to re-enable it was a patch and not officially released.

Other Thoughts: One star minus for not answering my support requests submitted through their web site. Another star minus for advertising features they purposefully disabled in the firmware and then not publishing the known client bridge fix. If this thing would have worked out of the box as advertised, I would have given it five stars. I was looking for something cheap to hook my new Tivo Premiere wirelessly to my existing (read: dated) network. Tivo didn't support my old wireless adapter and my network wouldn't support Tivo's new wireless adapters. The answer was a client bridge, to make Tivo think it was connected to a wired network while making the connection to my old wireless router. The fact I can power it off of one of the Tivo USB ports is a bonus. It took a lot of time and effort to get the device set up because I kept searching for a phantom option that wasn't in my version of the firmware.

Pros: LAN and WAN ports for Ethernet passthrough or dual connections in Client Bridge mode
Client bridge mode
Nice to add a firewall at a hotel

Cons: Became sensitive to placement for best connection in my basement, though that only happened with Xbox and one game... But seems to work fine from further away in my bedroom. Our wifi serving router is centrally located in our living room. Our home network is Wireless G standard.

Other Thoughts: I used this once on my first business trip as a travel wifi router. Worked great with my iPad 2 all over the room. Then I came home and got back to my normal use for this: in AP mode, you can change a preference in the setup menu for Client bridge mode, which means I can plug my DIY computer and Xbox 360 into both Ethernet jacks and serve them both WiFi access.

It's been fantastic and reliable as a cheap Ethernet bridge, if you search for how to do this you'll probably find my walkthrough on Tom's Hardware.

Pros: Works great. Have been running this router for about 2 weeks to my network in router mode. I have used this with my ipad 2, works great. have not yet tried other devices. Configuration panel looks fairly intuative.

Cons: non so far.

Other Thoughts: I am happy with it so far. Not sure on why above reviwer has a range issue with ipad, I did not experience this issue at all.