Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
by Hawking Technology
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
Customer Review: Great unit, but don't use automatic setup
Summary: 4 Stars
I have two computers that are on different levels, through walls, and some distance from my wireless router. Their connections were slow and spotty. I bought this device to resolve that problem.
The first time I set up the 300N, the process seemed to go smoothly. I made the mistake of leaving the default setting of allowing the 300N to obtain an IP address instead of setting a static IP address. I will explain why I believe this was a mistake.
I got the first computer attached. Then someone turned on the microwave, interrupting the signal. My router uses the 802.11n protocol and runs on the 2.4 GHz band. Unfortunately, microwaves also run on this band, as do some wireless phones (and a few other devices). (I actually have a dual band router with the second band running on the 5.0 GHz band. But the 300N is not designed to work with the 5.0 band.)
When the 300N reacquired the signal after the microwave shut off, the computer went to a local only connection. Then all of the computers on the network started showing an IP address collision error. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but I believe that when the 300N got a new IP address, it grabbed the same one used by the router. This caused my whole network to die. You'd think that the thing would avoid using an IP address already in use, but it didn't.
The problem at this point was that trying to re-run the auto setup didn't work, as the software couldn't find the device. Trying to access the device through the web interface didn't work either. Fortunately, I found a reference in the user manual that said that the 300N could be reset to factory settings by pressing the reset button on the back for over 10 seconds. Once I did that, my network came back alive.
I tried to run the auto setup again, but the software still couldn't find the device. I accessed the web interface (as described in the user manual) and followed the instructions in the user manual. However, I made sure to set a static IP address that was outside of the bounds of the router's addressing range. I used the same security setup that I use on my router.
After doing that, the 300N worked like a charm. Both of the distant computers now have full strength signals (even through walls and on different levels) and have a snappy network response. The 300N still loses its signal whenever the microwave runs, but it reacquires the signal almost immediately after the microwave shuts off. That's just part of the package when you use the 2.4 GHz band.
My main motivation for getting the 300N was to improve network service to the most distant computers in the house. This device does a fantastic job of that. But I would advise setting up the unit using the web interface and the instructions in the user manual. I would avoid using the auto setup on the disc that comes with the device.
Customer Review: Does work - some specific advice for Netgear WNDR3300
Summary: 3 Stars
I give this product an average "3" rating because it's not too easy or too hard to set up, but it could have been much easier for the consumer. It does what it says it does - extend the range of your existing wireless hardware, which in my case was a connection for a Wireless-G laptop even though I have a Wireless-N capable router, therefore it received a "4." It's too hard to tell whether it's reliable, so I just gave it a "3" for now.
Skip the CD Setup as it seems to be a pain in *** for the majority of users. In my case, I consistently received a message
stating that there was a failure to connect to the device at the "Rebooting" stage of the setup. After wasting 15 minutes
trying to comprehend why this final stage would not pass without error, I did some trial-and-error with both my router and
the Hawking. It took about two hours to figure out, but I found the following settings to work. Obviously it will not work
for everyone with a Netgear WNDR3300 router, and better yet, it may all be technical voodoo with random chance factors at
play. Nonetheless, it worked for my old Wireless-G laptop (54 Mbps max) and here it goes:
1. Login to each device from a browser (my Hawking for example was 192.168.1.9; admin; 1234).
2. For each device, configure the following:
A. Router: Netgear WNDR3300
Firmware: V1.0.45_1.0.45NA
Go to Setup and select Wireless Settings.
*Mode: Up to 270Mbps at 5GHz & 54Mbps at 2.4GHz
*11G Channel: 4 / 2.427GHz
*Security: WPA2-PSK [AES]
B. Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender (connected to my router).
Firmware: 1.51
Go to Basic Settings
*2.4 GHz (B+G+N)
*Channel: 4
*Click on "Select Site Survey" and find your router's SSID. Select it and then the router's SSID will be displayed in the
"Root AP SSID" field. Click Apply.
I disconnected the Hawking from my router to do some local testing using my old Wireless-G laptop. The laptop finally
connected to the Hawking! I then placed the Hawking between my troubled spot in the house and the Netgear router. Without
the Hawking, my laptop connected 50% of the time, with anywhere between poor to medium connection speeds. With the Hawking,
the laptop connected fine (for now) and at full 54 Mbps connection speed as displayed in the connection status window. The
webpages seemed to load relatively fast, as if the laptop was connected to the router in regular wireless mode. Connection
hasn't dropped for 30 min so far. These results may change upon further testing, but I'm not holding my breath. On a final
note, you'll need to configure both devices to the same channel, which I found useful from others' comments - Channel 4
seemed to do the trick in my case.
Customer Review: Beware: Setup CD misconfigures this device!
Summary: 2 Stars
When I ran the setup CD for this device, it seemed to work fine - found my network, allowed me to enter all my settings, connected itself right up, and all seemed well - till I tried to access the extended network from my laptop, at which point the connection would inexplicably establish itself and then drop 5-10 seconds later, even with full strength. I'm pretty network-savvy so I poked around with the settings but couldn't find anything particularly troubling, so I called tech support at about 10:30 PM Pacific time. To their credit they answered and (despite a few muffled yawns) guided me through a number of checks and found nothing wrong until...
Turns out the setup CD did its job a bit too well. It hit the DHCP server on my existing wireless router and obtained not only an IP address, but also a DNS server - the DNS server from my cable provider (Comcast). The remote tech had a eureka moment there, which I was kind of stunned by - he proceeded to explain that if the DNS server is not set to the same IP address as the router, nothing will work right!
So the important lesson here is: make sure to tell the router that the default gateway and dns are both the same address as the router you're trying to extend from. If you don't, stuff doesn't work.
I have to scratch my head on this for three reasons:
1. The setup CD made this decision for me. Therefore, the setup CD is not so helpful... indeed, it is dangerous to use.
2. Something is fishy here. The default gateway settings were correct, so the range extender should have at least been smart enough to realize the packets destined for the DNS should go to the gateway. Yet apparently it couldn't figure that out, and I'm guessing the resulting errors it blasts back to the client are the reason that Windows drops the connection like a hot potato (trying to save you from being connected to a broken network, no doubt).
3. Even with a soft-reboot of the router through its provided web administration interface, things were still broken. I had to physically remove and restore power to the device for this change to take effect. Bleh.
Bottom line:
* A setup CD that horks the device right out of the device. Come on, guys. Seriously?
* Tech support answers the phone at 10:30 PM and troubleshoots successfully - kudos to you guys, I hope they treat you well there. You deserve it.
* All seems well once the device is actually connected, but it is incredibly painful. I lost 4 hours on this.
The hideous setup situation here leads me to give this thing 2 stars. If someone who knows networking pretty well can't configure this successfully, the layperson doesn't have a prayer if anything is even remotely wrong. Get ready to call tech support, or to be disappointed at how long this takes to get right.
Customer Review: Working as advertised, Lightning fast setup, Great so far!
Summary: 5 Stars
Latest updates (2/9/11):
1. I had to talk to customer service regarding the configuration. They are just awesome and first rate. No issues.
2. They admitted that MAC IDs are not supported by HWREN.
3. I have observed that when you try to connect to Wifi using a PSP, it does not work. So, XBOX 360 and PSPs does not work with the extended wifi network.
I read many reviews on Amazon on this product(thanks to all of you), before I took the plunge. Got it imported to India. Not sure how many people in India are using this given the nature of the product. Nobody seems to "extend" their networks here :).
Quite a few reviews here focused on difficulty of setup and other issues. So I started the setup with doubts about my success. I used the step-by-step instructions provided in the box.
a) I connected my Linksys WRT45 with HWREN and ran the CD. I disabled all the security measures and left the network open. In approximately 90 seconds, I was done! I could see TWO SSIDs now, which made absolute sense as one can pickup the appropriate network based on its strength.
b) Then I restarted the same process with WPA2 security. HWREN wouldn't recognize the SSID to be extended and it started disabling the security on the router. Not sure what is going on.
c) Again I started on a clean slate (disabled all security: WPA2, Mac ID filter, WEP etc) and I configured it again within 60 seconds.
d) Then I re-enabled WEP, but removed MAC ID filter, I was able to configure it under 90 seconds.
It was time to place the range extender in a dead spot and see if it would extend the range. I had difficulty in selecting a suitable spot. I switched on my PS3 which is enclosed in a wooden cabinet and PS3 had no difficulty in detecting the range-extended SSID and latched on to it. It said the signal strength was only 50%...May its due to intervening walls and the wooden cabinet. My iPad worked great in remote corners of my house. Blackberry Curve 3G's lousy browser displayed pages with ease. My house is now splattered with two SSIDs without any dead-spots. Brilliant!
Summary:
Thanks for reading my review. HWREN worked as advertised without any complications. The configuration took 90 seconds at max during various attempts as above. I just followed the attached instructions. It couldn't have been more easier or simpler. I liked the idea of TWO SSIDs, though many would disagree. It shows that range has indeed been extended and its a nice feeling. I am happy so far..but I am yet to figure out MAC ID issues and increasing the signal strength. I will post another ownership review a quarter year later.
-BSD
Customer Review: After a couple setup 'gotchas' it's working well so far
Summary: 4 Stars
I live in a 2 story house with my router upstairs. I have a couple areas downstairs where my signal just doesn't work well and I couldn't get a good connection sitting on my back deck, even though I have what is considered a powerful wireless N router (the D-Link 655). So I finally decided I needed to extend the range and did some comparisons and decided to try the Hawking HWREN-1 since it was an N-rated extender.
I'm happy I read some of the tips and hints shared by other reviewers here. I downloaded the setup wizard from the Hawking product support page on my netbook computer (don't have a CD drive on that) and used that setup wizard to setup the extender. I also used the big foldout quick start sheet, which was all I needed. It's very straightforward. My network uses a 192.168.0.x number scheme and so I allowed my wireless router (a D-Link 655) to automatically select the IP address. It selected 192.168.0.6, which was fine with me.
Now, there are a couple gotchas in getting the range extender properly configured and they are:
1. You *must* select the same security settings as you selected in your wireless router. Although this can be a bit confusing: in my D-Link I had selected "WPA2 Auto" which is a TKIP encryption scheme and it will also support WPA security as well as WPA2. Frankly the names confused me a bit. The matching security scheme in the Hawking is called "WPA" which is the Hawking TKIP encryption scheme. I had to select that one to get the extender to work with my router.
2. When you setup your Hawking, give it the SAME wireless channel as your router. AND, select the option on your router's wireless setup so it's using the same channel all the time and not just automatically selecting one each time. In my case my wireless router was already using channel 4 so I just went with that one and changed the settings so it would always use channel 4. I then made the Hawking use channel 4 as I was filling out the fields in the setup wizard.
Those 2 tips got me over the setup hump and the Hawking was working from that point forward.
One final tip. When you give your Hawking network a name, make it something simple and don't use any spaces or special characters. I don't know if this will create an issue, but I heard it might, so I just gave it a short name with no spaces, no dashes, no special characters, and all is well there. Better safe I figure.
Good Luck! I do recommend this product, though I've only had it for 1 day so far. It's been too cold to test my laptop out on the back deck, but all the dead spots inside my house have been changed to connectable areas with good speed!