Wireless Reviews

A Peek Inside

Given all the brouhaha created by Broadcom during last month's Comdex, I don't think I'll be giving away any trade secrets by telling you what makes up the innards of the WBRG54. As expected, it's pretty much an all-Broadcom implementation, but manufactured by Buffalo.

The heart is a Broadcom BCM4702 Wireless Network Processor coupled with a Broadcom BCM5325 5 port switch. The processor is a pretty zippy little number and has plenty of power for the G54's needs as you'll see later. It's also used in Linksys' WAP51AB Dual-Band Access Point [reviewed here], and I'd wouldn't be surprised to see it at the heart of Linksys' "54G" efforts, the WAP54G Access Point and WRT54G Wireless Router.

The radio is a Broadcom BCM94306MP, which is their OEM reference design in mini-PCI format. The radio connects to a small PC board that runs front-to-back at the top of the cabinet and contains a dual-dipole diversity antenna assembly. This arrangement puts the antennas in a fixed, horizontally polarized orientation, with the external antenna jack connected in parallel with the antenna closest to the rear panel.