Introduction

Wireless networks are becoming increasingly prevalent in our world with each passing day. They’re used to share internet connections and transfer data between devices throughout a whole house, office building, college campus, or even an entire downtown district. They make sharing and accessing all sorts of information so easy, but not every network-capable device is equipped for wireless connectivity. IOGEAR recognizes this problem and has attempted to address it with their Universal Wi-Fi N adapter.

Though they advertise it mainly as a means of freeing your home entertainment system from the shackles of unsightly cable mess, it actually works as a wireless-N adapter for anything that has an Ethernet port. So in addition to connecting things like your Blu-ray player, HDTV, or set-top box to a wireless network, it would work just fine on a PC, game console, or network-enabled printer. So when they say “Universal,” they really mean it. No more buying overpriced manufacturer-specific wireless adapters!



This Universal Wi-Fi N adapter differs from a standard wireless adapter that you might buy for your computer in that it emulates a wired network connection. That’s how it’s able to connect ANY device to a wireless router, so long as it has an Ethernet port, without having to install drivers or even set it up more than once. In that sense, it’s kind of like having a very long, invisible Ethernet cable, except within a very small and sleek black package.

Here are the specifications:

• Model number GWU627
  
• Uses standard RJ-45 Ethernet and USB 2.0 interfaces
  
• Supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n wireless modes
  
• Data rates up to 300Mbps using wireless-N
  
• Wireless range of up to 320 feet
  
• Compatible with 64-bit or 128-bit WEP, TKIP, AES, WPA and WPA2 encryptions
  
• Push-button Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) enabled
  
• No drivers required
  
• Measures 2 7/8” x 5/8” x 2” (smaller than a deck of playing cards)
  

What’s in the box?

The Universal Wi-fi N adapter comes with everything you need to hook it up to and create a wireless connection for whatever network-enabled device you’ve got. This includes the adapter itself, a standard Ethernet cable, and a USB to Micro-USB cable, which is used to provide the power. It even has an A/C adapter so you can draw power from any wall outlet if there is no USB port nearby, which is something you usually have to buy separately (*cough* Apple products *ahem*). A neat bonus that isn’t mentioned anywhere is a 1-inch square of 3M adhesive Velcro that you can use to stick the lightweight adapter to a smooth surface, perhaps underneath a table or on the back of the TV.