Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
by Hawking Technology
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List Price: Our Price: $69.99 You Save: $10.00 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $41.95 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Range Extender
Customer Review: It worked for a while
Summary: 2 Stars
* The product set-up very easily and worked well initially.
* I use WEP for backward compatibility to old computers and a good firewall keeps people out of your network anyway, so I don't know about the WPA2 issues that other people report.
* One thing about where I live is that the power is fairly unreliable and goes out periodically a couple times a week. Every time the power goes out and my main router resets, this thing doesn't re-initialize properly when the power comes back on. So I have to un-plug it, walk it back to the router, fire up a computer back by the router and re-run the set-up program. By the way, it is on a surge suppressor like everything in my house. So I actually bought a couple UPS systems for the main router and this thing so when there was a power blip I didn't have to walk back and forth, re-start a computer and re-run the set-up program. This worked! Just wanted to mention this for anyone else with unreliable power.
* With the UPS\surge suppressor system I was happy and had reliable full house coverage for about 2 months. Then all of a sudden the unit started working intermittently. My computers\devices would get an IP address but I'd get no connectivity. The router could see the unit too. I'd re-run the set-up program again. Sometimes this would work, and sometimes not. Sometimes I can connect to the internet and then during a session, it will just drop connectivity.
* So at this point I'm going to search for something else. I really don't like to give a super low rating but ultimately this unit was more trouble than it was worth and it's rather pricey. It has potential. I'm sure a firmware update would cure the re-initialization issue after a power blip but I fear there is an electronics issue behind the connection instability that needs to be addressed in a future model. I think Hawking is a good brand, unfortunately this product didn't measure up.
Customer Review: Solved all my problems
Summary: 5 Stars
In a basement apartment 20 feet from the router, but with 5, count 'em, 5 walls. (Corners are like two walls). I was not noticing any problem with basic internet connectivity, but I had terrible problems with my Airport Express. Interruption in the stream causing intermittent stutter, etc. I was stymied, did a LOT of research, tried a lot of stuff, and was ready to curse Apple basically. Finally I was monitoring my network connection (a G network) and noticed that my connection was sketchy and would drop as low as 1Mbps!. I thought about a couple of solutions, external adapter on the notebook rather than using the built-in . . . upgrade the antenna on the router, add a signal booster to the router. Finally I decided to try a repeater/range extender. The first one was a disaster . . . (the Linksys WRE54G is an obsolete product, do NOT buy that POS). It works as advertised . . . I guess . . . but incredibly does not support WPA2/PSK/AES, which is basically what I needed all the wireless clients in the home to do or else use the dreaded insecure useless WEP any wardriver can crack in under a minute.
The Hawking took 10 minutes to set up (pitch the CD and go straight to the web screens). Problem solved, and I have my beloved iTunes stream into lovely Yamaha/Klipsch home theater rig.
Ok, and a special shout out to Verizon FIOS. Ok, I love their technology, their integrated home media network is the best/only thing out there, and 3 years ahead of the competition as far as I can tell. But guys . . . you ship a router with default WEP (and the web interface for the router says it's "recommended"). Your default login for the router is userid "admin" and password "password1" (nobody changes it). The default password for the network itself? Same as the router's MAC address. Now please, don't anybody wardrive Verizon FIOS neighborhoods with this info and cause any mischief. That's illegal!
Customer Review: A few issues but working okay
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been using the HWREN1 300n range extender about 2 weeks now, and have been relatively pleased with it. My situation is that I am setting up a new wireless network between 2 buildings about 40 feet apart. I am connected to mobile broadband via a Pantech UMW190 Verizon air card, connected to a NetGear trucker antenna, feeding into a Cradlepoint MBR1000 wireless router. The cradlepoint router is tethered to the antenna by a 10 ft cable to reduce signal loss and placed in the attic of one building. I've played with positioning the 3 antennas on the cradlepoint to increase the WiFi signal between the buildings, but just couldn't get enough strength for use in the second building. So I bought the HWREN1 extender. Setup was simple and relatively quick-after I copied the installation CD to a flashdrive for use on my netbook, which I carry around to test the signal strength. Once setup, I disconnected the cables and reconnected the range extender 1 floor down and 40 ft away from the cradlepoint router. Building 1 has excellent signal strength throughout, but building 2 is spotty. I read in the Hawking manual that the power strength could be altered by accessing the web manager, so before I ran off and bought more equipment, I tried to reconfigure, or at least see what the default setting was. However, no matter what I did, I was unable to get the hawking to let me connect; couldn't even get to the password stage. Their troubleshooting says to contact the vendor. I'm reluctant to reset since using the simplified set up wizard I easily connected and have been using heavily, without signal drops or disconnects. Now Amazon says there may be a problem with the way this product is described on their site; it would help if they were more specific. Anyway, my next step is to try the hawking signal booster which plugs into the range extender; we'll see if I can open up the dead spots in my wifi coverage.Customer Review: Good product, bad installation software, terrible tech support, but thank god for amazon reviews!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this product because the reviews read were very good and from experience I can tell you is a good product, but there are some issues in the setup. There are many who say it works great out of the box and I don't doubt that. However when the product has an issue connecting to the wireless network or any error displayed by the software, you better be prepared to open your mind to new things and learn, because their tech support ain't worth the call. Their accent sometimes can't even be understood as bad english. I don't know if they are from India or China, but they have to pay more to get good english speakers. Don't be so cheap and find good personnel!
As for the manual. Let tell that you if you encounter some issue and you have being following all the instructions correctly, nothing will come out of reading and re-reading it again. The answer is not there. The answer my friends will come form the local joe's that had added reviews here. Read them carefully. Bravo for them. Thank you!!!! Hawkings JUST READ THE REVIEWS and LEARN!!!! You might find a bug in your software.
Indeed, my problem was related to the software. It just didn't send the full data to the extender. It also changed the IP to enter the menu through the explorer. But did I expected that?... no. Imagine me reading the full instructions and getting nowhere. A little patience, time, a lot of reading in Amazon and I found the solution. Thanks again amazon users!!! My access IP did change (the software included changed it), and after I found it, I manually changed the parameters and voila!! it worked. Good product, bad installation software (nice interface but may not work at all), terrible tech support (if you manage to understand it), but thank god for amazon reviews!
Dont be discouraged to take the adventure, just go for it! The product works, when setup is finished.
Customer Review: works great -- one setup problem, but quickly fixed
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the extender since my Belkin N+ router had to be located on the far end of my home and the signal was only 1-2 bars to my basement office downstairs at the other end. As a result, I kept getting dropped and transmission was slow. After considering several options I decided to get the Hawking extender.
The set-up using the CD was easy, except at the last step (re-booting the extender) the extender wouldn't reboot despite several tries.
I called Hawking support and the rep quickly knew what to do after I explained the issue. We essentially had to manually enter a new IP address rather than use the CD's automatic feature. Once that was done the extender rebooted fine and was activated. The rep then stayed on the line and waited while I located the extender in a desirable place (an area where the signal to my laptop was 3 bars) and then connected my laptop to the extender's signal. He didn't want to leave me until he was sure everything was fine, which I appreciated. I don't know how the extender does it, but the area where I placed it was just 3 bars reception and now my office is getting 5 bars! Somehow it not only extended the range, but actually enhanced it as well.
My Belkin router is currently set for channel 5 (the channel the router selected under its automatic feature). The rep told me that sometimes that channel may pose a problem and should the extender start to drop a signal he told me to change the channel to 11, unplug the extender for about 5 minutes and then plug in again. He said it should be fine after that with the new channel. So far, however, it has been working fine with channel 5, so I'm leaving well enough alone for now. But, I was impressed that the rep advised me of what could happen with channel 5, and gave me instructions on how to address any problems should they occur.