Help & Suggestion needed re Buffalo repeater bridge (WLA-G54C) purchase.

From my manhattan hotel room, I can see many, many connections as
available wireless networks, many of which are public access hotspots.
I can log on periodically but the connections drops frequently due to
distance. After reading an excellent review of the AirStation G54
(WLA-G54C), I puchased one and tried configuring it while at home
where I have 2 other computers on a wireless network.
After configuring the AirStation via it's LAN IP address and sepping
up WEP password, the instruction said I needed to reset and add the
WEP password again. Well, I wasn't able to even connect to the
AirStation's IP address again and called support. The tech was not
able to get me connected again and in his frustration also mentioned
that I had purchased the wrong product when I mentioned why I bought
it. He said this Repeater Bridge required that I know the MAC address
etc of any other networks I intended to connect to and instead, I
should go and buy the Buffalo Ethernet Converter (WLI-TX1-G54) and he
would also recommend purchasing their wireless card antenna
(WLI-CV-G54a) and probably the PCCard as well as it may not work with
my Orinoco card (recently purchased and accepts external antennas).
I need advise so I do not buy another product that I do not need. I
guess I need to return the Repeater Bridge?

Thanks,
Arawak

"Arawak" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> From my manhattan hotel room, I can see many, many connections as
> available wireless networks, many of which are public access hotspots.
> I can log on periodically but the connections drops frequently due to
> distance. After reading an excellent review of the AirStation G54
> (WLA-G54C), I puchased one and tried configuring it while at home
> where I have 2 other computers on a wireless network.
> After configuring the AirStation via it's LAN IP address and sepping
> up WEP password, the instruction said I needed to reset and add the
> WEP password again. Well, I wasn't able to even connect to the
> AirStation's IP address again and called support. The tech was not
> able to get me connected again and in his frustration also mentioned
> that I had purchased the wrong product when I mentioned why I bought
> it. He said this Repeater Bridge required that I know the MAC address
> etc of any other networks I intended to connect to and instead, I
> should go and buy the Buffalo Ethernet Converter (WLI-TX1-G54) and he
> would also recommend purchasing their wireless card antenna
> (WLI-CV-G54a) and probably the PCCard as well as it may not work with
> my Orinoco card (recently purchased and accepts external antennas).
> I need advise so I do not buy another product that I do not need. I
> guess I need to return the Repeater Bridge?
>

Does the WLA-G54C not have a reset button on the back that sets it back to
factory settings? And it is true that you need the WLAN MAC address of the
AP you want to bridge/repeat. I have a working Buffalo bridging setup
(WBR-G54 and WLA-G54) and both have the other's MAC address entered into the
bridging function screen (they also bridge with Linksys WAP11 and WRT54G).