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Request for New Firmware for WET200, Wireless Ethernet Bridge

Voltron-IU
Level 1
Level 1

Hello:

I am placing a formal request to Cisco and to the firmware development team to create a new-and-improved firmware release for the WET200 wireless Ethernet bridge, a product that is still being produced, shipped, and sold.  I purchased the product about one-and-a-half years ago and have enjoyed its performance.  There have been, however, some flaws with the device, namely the following:

  • While configured to use WPA2-based security, DHCP-related traffic is not passed from a router/gateway's DHCP Server to connected devices on the WET200.  Current firmware release notes indicate this was a known issue and was, supposedly, fixed; however, due to the level of problems customers are reporting, it appears this may have only been resolved, if at all, with security configurations of WPA, WEP, or OPEN.  It has not been fixed for customers using WPA2-based security.
  • When I originally purchased the WET200 and configured it to use WPA2-based security, while it, initially, did have a few problems connecting to my router/gateway, it, eventually, did connect and stayed connected for, approximately, one year.  However, in September of 2009, it suddenly lost connectivity with my router/gateway and has not been able to establish a connection since, even after reinstalling the latest firmware revision and after several soft and hard resets of the device.  I tested the WET200 with another router/gateway, only to experience the same issue.  Other devices are connecting to my router/gateway, but, not the WET200. 
  • The last firmware update for the WET200 was dated back in July of 2008.  Currently, it is January 2010 and since these issues have been known for quite some time, it is unacceptable that the firmware for this device has not been updated in such a long time, especially when there are known issues with the WET200's firmware.  Such lack of support is forcing me and my clients to stop using these Cisco-based products and purchase competing hardware, something I would prefer not to do; however, without better support, I and my clients do not have a choice.  Expecting me and my clients to use an inferior form of security on the WET200, such as WEP and/or WPA, until a firmware update is issued is unacceptable, especially when that update has not been released in over one-and-a-half years.  Such lack of support is especially unforgettable when my clients and I are looking to purchase new networking equipment.  In the past, I would not have hesitated to purchase a Cisco-based product; now, with this experience in mind, I am finding it very difficult to recommend to a client that he or she should invest their organization's finances into Cisco-branded equipment.  Proper, professional, timely, support of your hardware is expected of your customers, especially if you wish them to remain loyal customers. 

I have noticed that other similar devices, albeit, higher-end devices, have had their firmware updated, more recently, compared to the WET200.  I assumed this meant that the firmware development team was updating all firmware on such devices.  So far, I have been disappointed in the lack of firmware updates for the WET200.  While I understand the possible desire to update the higher-end products, first, as a professional whose job is to research, recommend, purchase, install, configure, secure, and maintain both the enterprise-level and small business-level devices, I highly encourage Cisco not to overlook their small business products when the firmware development team is updating firmware for any Cisco products.  Deficiency in the support of one strata of Cisco-based products is reflective upon the support of any Cisco-based product and is not easily forgiven by Cisco customers, such as myself, when new and additional hardware needs to be purchased.

I sincerely hope this posting will be met with the urgency and attention it is meant to initiate from Cisco, with the end result of producing a stable, effective, timely, and issue-resolving firmware release for the WET200.  Your current customers desire such results and future customers will desire the same results, especially, if Cisco wishes to not only maintain their current customer base, but, more importantly, if the company wishes to grow their customer base.  Thank you for your attention to this matter; I hope to see proper results, soon.

Sincerely,

--Dylan

15 Replies 15

ledhilderink
Level 1
Level 1

Dylan,

I completely agree with you. I cannot connect to other (CISCO) wireless products with decent security settings. Since I am a security professional, I cannot and will not use inferior security mechanisms like WEP. However, WEP is the only method that works to connect this WET200 to for instance my WRT610N access point.

My WET200 is now a rather pricy 5-port switch on my attic with no connection to my WAP on the basement. So CISCO, please update the firmware!

Regards,

Led

Thank you for your post, Led.  I am absolutely astounded that Cisco allows such hardware/software to exist.  I have talked to many different departments at Cisco, regarding the WET200 and every time it ends up the same way:  Cisco cannot guarantee their products will work with every piece of hardware.  Some customers have complained that Cisco blames the compatibility issues on other hardware, because users are trying to connect the WET200 to a non-Cisco/non-Linksys router/access point.  Well, your situation would counter that argument.  Other times, I have read where Cisco said that because the WET200 is a small-business product it cannot be expected to work on even Cisco/Linksys-branded consumer models--GIVE ME A BREAK!!!  One employee even said that he has worked with the firmware development team for years and he knows that they are not going to update the firmware, just to increase compatiblity.  WHAT????!!!!!  Some research in the release notes of newer Cisco hardware indicates that there is firmware development, strictly for increasing hardware compatibity.  After all, is that not one of the benefits of having a device with upgradable firmware????  While I am grateful that Cisco is offering me an RMA on the WET200, right now, they are also willing to give me my money back.  This is quite nice; however, as a Cisco customer and as a security-minded professional, myself, I simply want good hardware, with good software, in a reliable product.  I will even and have paid more money for such a product.  I am extremely frustrated at Cisco for this fiasco; it is uncalled for and is a stain on Cisco's reputation.

So, Led, if you have the time and tenacity, you may wish to contact Cisco about this, highlighting these past experiences from users and emphasize that you are trying to connect the WET200 to a Cisco-branded product, using WPA2 and that it will NOT work.  I and many others would be interested in knowing what Cisco's response to your incident will be.  A few years ago, it would be nearly impossible that a company, such as Cisco, would even begin to argue that it is perfectly acceptable that one of their products would not be compatible with another product of theirs; then, to refuse to address the incompatibility, unheard of just a few years ago, by Cisco or most other companies.  Now, I'm afraid, we are seeing a new information technology corporate mentality, a delayed "bait and switch."

Thanks, again, Led for your post.  I appreciate the support, your information and wish you the best on getting a resolution to your WET200-based compatibility problem.

Thanks.

--Dylan

Wanted to post this to make folks aware that we have been advised that  the latest firmware,  version 2.0.0.5 for the WET200, is now available in the software center  on Cisco.com. 

A CCO login is  required to download this new firmware image.
It will take a day  or two to be posted on the "Free and Anonymous" download link within the Product  page.
The release  notes will be posted  shortly as well....

Steve

Hello, Steve:

After all these months of hearing nothing from Cisco, regarding the WET200 firmware, your post was an incredible surprise to me and, I hope, to many others who have been anxiously awaiting fixes to our WET200-related issues.  I have downloaded the version 2.0.0.5 firmware and am quite excited to start flashing my WET200 bridges.  Thank you, too, for the update regarding the release notes; I do not see them, yet; but, I anxiously await their publishing, as well.  I cannot express to you how cautiously encouraged I am by this response from Cisco; I certainly do appreciate you, personally, reaching out to we, the customers, alerting us to this new firmware release.  As soon as I have feedback on the new firmware release, I will be glad to post that information here.  Once again, thank you, Steve for this information and thank you to Cisco, for responding to your loyal customers' wishes.

Sincerely,

--Dylan

Update at 8:04 PM EST:  I just downloaded the new release notes; I'm glad to have them.  Although, the small number of "fixes" does have me worried that the WPA2 and DHCP issues have not been addressed.  I will have more information, once I am able to flash one of my WET200 Ethernet bridges.

Message was edited by: Voltron-IU

Hi Steve,

I have been anxiously waiting for the update, but unfortunately, this firmware update does not solve my connection problems. The WET200 can see my CISCO WRT610N (with link quality 60%), I put in the WPA encryption with pre-shared key, I save it and then it says 0% link quality and nothing happens...

So, too bad it is not solving my problems. Steve, is there any chance you and your team are going to solve this??

Hello, Steve; hello, everyone:

I was happy and quite surprised to see that Cisco released a new firmware release, version 2.0.0.5 for the WET200.  I was, however, not encouraged about this release addressing the issues I addressed in my original post, since the release notes do not list such fixes.  I have upgraded one of my WET200 Ethernet bridges and, so far, short of the cosmetic change of the firmware interface, I have not experienced any fixes, specific to the WPA2 encryption or the DHCP issues listed in my original post.  Also, while the release notes indicate the installed expired certificate was replaced inside firmware version 2.0.0.5, my browser is still indicating the certificate has expired (This is not a huge deal, compared to the WPA2 [most important issue] and DHCP issues [second in importance].).  I hope to look into this further, once I get a few extra minutes; but, I wanted to alert you and the firmware development team to these issues.  Since the development team just updated this firmware, I would like to make a formal request that the development team go back and address these issues that continue to plague the WET200.

Thank you, Steve; I look forward to hearing further from you and from others, regarding their experiences with the Cisco WET200 and this latest firmware release, version 2.0.0.5. 

Sincerely,

--Dylan

Hello, Steve:

When I spoke to a Cisco technician several days ago, he indicated that Cisco is aware of a problem the WET200 may be having in communicating with access points (APs) that use EAPOL, Version 2 or Extensible Authentication Protocol Over LANs, Version 2.  Are you aware of this and do you have any documentation on this known issue by Cisco?  Hopefully, the firmware development team can check more into this, as a direction to investigate, in creating a new firmware release.

Has anyone else been made aware of or is aware of this possible compatibility issue, regarding the Cisco WET200s?  Thanks for any input.

Hoping for a quick, complete, and responsible resolution to this extremely frustrating issue...

--Dylan

Just like all the other disgruntled WET200 users who can't get the unit to work using WPA/WPA2 (even with other Linksys equipment), I eagerly awaited the new version of firmware 2.0.0.5 which would surely solve my problems.  We've certainly been waiting long enough!

I started to have some doubts when the release notes made no mention of the problem, but was heartened when a Cisco engineer asked to feedback on whether I had success.

So I can now reveal .... that the updated firmware makes no progress in overcoming the units inability to communicate via WPA/WPA2!

Come on Cisco!  What about a firmware release that resolves the issue!!!!!

Good news - firmware 2.0.3.2 is now available.  Bad news - the release notes makes no mention of addressing this problem.  I'll report back when I've had a chance to test, but am not holding my breath.

(Has anybody within Cisco any idea why their development colleagues are releasing new firmware, without apparently making any attempt to resolve this issue? There are enough other forum posts and logged customer issues to indicate the significance of the problem).

Hello, JulianBond:

Thank you for the "heads up" for the new firmware.  Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a few PC disasters, which would be made easier if the WET200 were functioning.  Therefore, I have not had a chance to test the new firmware.  Have you had a chance to test the new firmware?  Does it fix the WPA2 connectivity issue?  I noticed, too, the "known issues" in the release notes do not the WPA2 issue.  What do we have to do to make Cisco, officially, recognize this as a long-standing issue???!!!

Thanks, again, JulianBond; I appreciate your assistance, your "heads up," and your tenacity.  CISCO!!!  Let's get this WPA2-based issue fixed, if it is NOT already fixed!!!!!!!!!!  Thank you.

We have resolved a WPA2 rekeying issue which is part of the WET200 and WRVS400N v2 interoperability fix mentioned in the WET200 firmware v2.0.3.2 release note; however, we do not guarantee that it can fix all the WPA/WPA2 interoperability with other Linksys Consumer and Cisco Enterprise products due to different design criteria and different chipset/driver characteristics which were out of our original design and test scope.

We're trying to expand our interop scope, but if your issue requires immediate attention, please contact the Small Business Support Center. US/Canada 1 866 606 1866 24/7 Outside of the US and Canada, please see: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/support/tsd_cisco_small_business_support_center_contacts.html .

Thanks.

I am pleased to confirm that the latest firmware 2.0.3.2 resolves my problem, allowing a WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK connection between my WET200 and Linksys WAG325N.

Many thanks Cisco!  (I'm relatively secure at last)

Voltron-IU
Level 1
Level 1

Hello, everyone:

I want to apologize for my late response; but, I wanted to express my sincere appreciation to all those who were involved in getting firmware version 2.0.3.2 released.  I am very happy to report that this release does appear to have solved my issues, especially my WPA2-based issues.  As I have said in previous posts, I am completely stunned and surprised that it took Cisco so long to address these issues, especially when so many people had expressed our frustrations to Cisco, regarding the lack of firmware support for our WET200s.  Regardless, now, WET200 owners appear to be much happier with their WET200s, as firmware version 2.0.3.2 does, in fact, appear to have solved our problems, finally.  It took a very, very long time; many thanks go out to everyone who was involved in getting this firmware version released.

Hello, been tairing my hair out with this Security issue, does anybody have a downoad link to the WET200 v2.0.3.2 firmware Please?

Thanks in Advance!

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