ESR 1221
Off grid or not, sometimes your wireless router doesn’t make it far enough on your property. Yes, the signal works in your house, but not your outbuilding or shop. Some vendors charge extra, and re-brand their wireless routers as “wireless repeaters”. Now, with the right ordinary router that supports this mode, you can quickly configure your own and get those distant parts of your shop!
In the old days, the only way to get your router to talk with another was using WDS (wireless distribution system) mode. Its configuration was the technical detail that always got in the way of a working repeater setup. WDS was often incompatible between different equipment vendors. With the new Universal Repeater Mode (URM) offered by some products, all the complicated barriers are removed!
The following is the Quick Start version of the repeater setup. If done carefully and exactly as outlined, it will give you a working wireless repeater in a handful of steps. (I’ve done this from a freshly opened unit several times this afternoon.)
What You Will Need:
- The ability to login to your current wireless router. You may need this to inspect your current settings. Or make sure you have the following information handy from your router:
- Your wireless network name.
- Your router’s wireless encryption type (for example WEP, WAP, WAP2, etc)
- Your router’s encryption key or pass-phrase
- Your router’s WiFi channel. 1 through 11 on most systems.
- We will be working with the EnGenius ESR-1221
wireless router that you can purchase from Amazon using the link provided for about $40.
- Your working wireless PC or laptop to test the new setup.
Setup steps
1) Connect to Repeater
Initial screen after login
When you first power up the ESR1221 it’s in the default state. You should take the Ethernet cable that comes with it and plug it into your laptop and one of the 4 ports labeled LAN. You should open your web browser (Firefox, Internet Exploder, Safari, etc.) and go to the address 192.168.1.1 in the address bar (not Google search). Login with the default username, admin, and the default password, admin. Your browser should look like the one above. If you get ‘server not found’ or something like that, reboot your PC so that it can get a good address from the ESR and try again.
2) Change Password
Managment -> Pasword setup
Navigate the menu as indicated above to the password setup. Enter a username (admin) and create a password to enter twice in the form. (Never use admin for the password, as you are exposed to way too many dangers!) Click on ‘apply changes’ and continue.
3) Change LAN Settings
TCP/IP Settings -> LAN Setup
Navigate the menu as indicated above to the LAN setup. Here you want to change the IP address so that it doesn’t conflict with your existing router. The default value will likely cause problems, try something like 192.168.1.53 . Apply changes and go to step 4.
4) Configure Encryption
Wireless -> Security
Navigate to the wireless security page as indicated above. If your wireless router does not have encryption enabled, the stop! Do not proceed any further, as you will increase your exposure to many computing hazards, and possibly financial, or legal problems by expanding your insecure network! See your router’s owners manual, or get help, to make sure you use encryption.
This is the page on the router where you select an encryption type to match that of your router. This is also where you will enter your router’s key or passphrase. Be careful to do this accurately, since mistakes here will force you to reset the ESR and start over. Press ‘apply’ and continue to the final step.
5) Configure Wireless
Wireless -> Basic Settings
Navigate to the basic wireless settings page as indicated above. Make sure to enable the Universal Repeater Mode check box. In the box labeled “SSID of the Extended Interface” enter your existing wireless network name. For the other item, SSID,you could use the same name, but I highly suggest you use something different (like repeater1, mynetwork2, etc), that way its always clear which box you’re connecting through. Finally, make sure to select the same channel that your current router is using.
| Selecting the correct channel on this page is required. Its too easy to think you need the names only and the channels will take care of themselves just like many WiFi connections and operations. Don’t fall into this trap, get the channel correct here, or the show’s over! |
Anyway, this is the “Quick Start” version of the setup. It is tested and does work. If you run into any trouble the easiest thing to do is to reset the ESR1221 according to instructions and start over. With my technical background, I could make this complicated, but with the URM mode on the ESR1211, its a snap.
Note: for Techies: Even though we don’t disable the DHCP server on the LAN page, it appears to be disabled when the URM mode is connected to your router. If wireless settings are incorrect, and it is not, then the DHCP worksm, making it easy to plugin and connect to the address entered in step 3.
Well, I feel a cold starting and want to get this out there now. Did you find this how to helpful? Do you have any improvements to suggest? Comment below so we can make this a really useful post!
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Heay, thanks, didn’t know there were hidden treasures in my router!
CrisisMaven´s last blog ..Economic Musings II: The Euro as a Basket Case
Repeaters work nice for extending a wifi signal. to really extend a wifi signal, I have used not only a repeater, but added a cantenna to one. Using a cantenna, I can hit my wifi at my house from a half a mile away!
Here is a link on how to build a cantenna for about $10 in materials.
Mike´s last blog ..How to Password Protect a web page or directory
Thanks Mike. I remember making Cantennasin 2002 using a pringles can and one with a coffee can. The strongest gain was a little left or right of center, which didn’t match what you would think. They did help.
You can simply pick up RPSMA antenna’s that have a gain of 5dB or 7dB compared to the 2dB that is shipped with the unit. See Best Buy or other large retailers.