Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
by Hawking Technology
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: Hawking TechnologyAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: HWREN1
Color: White
Product features:
- Doubles the range of your wireless network
- The only repeater that works with most networks and access points
- New setup wizard for quick and easy setup
- Eliminates wireless dead spots in your home or office
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
Customer Review: Setup Recommendations
Summary: 4 Stars
Prior to purchasing I reviewed the comments here by others. Seemed like outside of setup problems most had a good experience with this extender. Hence, I decided to purchase it and so far so good. I am posting a setup configuration step by step for others in the future to avoid such headackes.
Before posting such steps, I also noticed a few comments complaining about dropped links. I have not experienced dropped links. If anyone experiences drop links consider that the extender may be just on the border of the access range to the AP. This could be caused by distance (too far); a semi-blind spot between extender and AP; or some interferring devices such as microwave ovens or cordless phones in the path between extender and AP. Consider relocating the extender or changing its default channel setting (mine was set to operate on channel 6; while I have the AP on channel 11). If the extender and AP are in the same room in perfect line of sight of each other, with no interference then disregard this recommendations; you may have a bad device.
Now steps for configuring your HWREN1 extender, with the least headackes:
1. As many others suggest, diregard the CD and easy setup instructions. I tried it and does not work. A number of custom settings are needed, which apparently the CD based install cannot do.
2. If your AP is configured to filter by MAC addresses then you need to add the MAC address of the extender to your AP MAC filter. As someone else pointed out the MAC address provided in the bottom of the extender is not the one you need. Use that same MAC address, but increment the last digit by one. If the last digit is 8, then use 9; if the last digit is 9 use A; these are hex numbers. If you do not understand any of this, then you have not setup your AP to filter by MAC and no need to worry about this step, skip it.
3. Now, if your network is setup with an IP starting as 192.168.1 then you can use your network to connect to the extender. Mine is on 192.168.10. You can check your computers IP and if the first three digits are 192.168.1 then you are good to connect to the extender. You can follow the instructions provided in the provided "Start Here" poster to connect the cables and power up the extender. Because my network is on 192.168.10.0 I decided to connect differently. I used a hub as described in step 4 below, which you can skip (or not), if you are on a net with IPs starting as 192.168.1 (typically your AP will be at IP 192.168.1.1).
4. To avoid any problems with my current network I used a laptop and manually changed its IP to 192.168.1.2. Again if your computer/laptop IP already starts with "192.168.1", you do not need to make this change; unless its last digit is 240. In such case change the IP of your computer as I did from 192.168.1.240 to 192.168.1.2. I have an inexpensive hub. With a network cable I connected one of the hub ports to my laptop (obviously you need to disconneted the computer first from the home network), and then connected another hub port to the extender with a second network cable. If you do not have a hub you can connect your computer/laptop back-to-back to the extender with a cross-over network cable (the one provided with the extender will not work). What this connection does, is it takes the home network out of the picture while configuring the extender. This step 4 is not necessary, but recommended.
5. Once the connections are completed by step 3 or 4, proceed to bring up your IE browser and type in (go to) http://192.168.1.240/. The extender's login should pop up and proceed to type in "admin" for user id and "1234" for password (without quote marks). If that does not work type admin for user id and leave the password field blank. Once you press OK you are presented with the extender's configuration Web page.
6. The Status tab presents configuration information, nothing to set here. You can come back here after done with changes and review. The Basic Setting tab allows to configure the Wireless Setting of the extender. Set the Main ESSID (do not use the same SSID of your AP) to whatever name you want. Here is where you can change the channel number (I left the default setting 6). Click on "Select Site Survey" and after the scan completes, select your AP from the list. Make sure after all selections are made you click the Apply button.
7. The Security tab presents first "MAC Adress Filtering". If you have set MAC adress filtering (which you should) in your AP (see step 2), then you want to enable this same security feature here. There is no point of having MAC address filtering at the AP and allowing someone to break in thru the extender. Add all the same MAC adresses that you have in your AP here again, with the exception of the extender's MAC address added to the AP in step 2. Instead of the extender's MAC address add the AP MAC address. This is important, otherwise the extender will not allow connections from your AP. Make sure to click on Apply button after done with entering MAC adresses, also verify for typos.
8. Move on to Wireless Security, while still under the Security tab. Provide the pre-shared key used in the AP. All security parameters should be the same as in the AP.
9. At some points you may be asked to press Continue or the Apply button while making the above changes. Each time press continue, except after this last step; press Apply which will cause your extender to reboot.
10. Once it reboots, connect back with the browser if your connection was lost. Use again the http://192.168.1.240/ link to reconnect and if necessary login again as admin and whichever default password worked before. We need to make one last change.
11. Move on to the Advanced Settings tab. Leave alone all setting under Advanced Wireless Settings as presented; and move over to System Utility. Here you want to change the device admin password. Unfortunately, this device only accepts a 4 character password (very poor security), nonetheless change it to something else than the default password known by everyone in the World. Click on Apply and when prompted login back with the new password.
12. When presented with the System Utility page again, you may want to change the IP of the extender to something that works on your network. Again, if you are on a network where all IPs start with "192.168.1", then you may leave the default IP as "192.168.1.240". I changed mine to 192.168.10.8 to work correctly on my network. This way I can make future changes over the wireless or wired network without having to connect the extender to a hub. This IP is not necessary for the wireless connection to work, it is only necessary if you need to connect back for administrative and configuration changes using a browser.
13. If you changed the IP then press Apply once more and again if presented with the "Continue" and "Apply" options. If the IP changed you may see a warning that you need to reconnect using the new IP.
After this you can disconnect the network cable from your extender and relocate it to wherever you need to. Connect power to the extender at its new location and whola!, you should be able to connect to it. If it does not work, you may want to review the steps above and verify that everything entered was correct. I made a mistake in typing one MAC address incorrectly in the MAC filter option. Your security key needs to be also correct if using wireless security. If not sure you can start over by resetting the extender to factory defaults. Reset the extender by pushing the small resesed button on its back and holding it for 10 seconds.
If you changed your computer/laptop IP as I did, you need to change it back as it was originally. You also need to diconnect from the hub if you used one.
That's all folks; hopefully this helps future buyers of this extender. I gave the product 4 starts instead of 5 because of the above setup complications, the worthless CD included and the useless tech support (as reported by others).
Description of Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
The HWREN1 effectively doubles the operating distance of your entire wireless network. Whether its an area in your home that has limited or no wireless coverage or a warehouse in your office, the Hawking Wireless-300N Range Extender takes the signal from your wireless access point and retransmits it at a higher rate. Simply place the Range Extender halfway between your Wireless Access Point and wireless trouble spot.Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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