EnGenius ESR9850

[tipstir]

Belkin N+ down (both of them) Buffalo HP-G54 down and replaced

98% active now. Getting late but wanted to share what's going on so far. I was able to test the WDS function. I must say that works right out of the box. Also tested AP/Repeater again did a site survey and it connected to the main AP Router not problem. I can't use the main AP as that will be 802.11g but I did notice that even though the main is 802.11g and the link AP is 802.11n that if left that way any system wireless would see 802.11gn appear. for Radio Type: Now getting to work as AP through a wired connection was tricky.

I did notice along the way to that road that the wireless signal strength wasn't the great, but soon cleared that up and the 802.11n AP only works with all bars showing. So this is my plan 802.11g on the master to control all wireless g devices mostly netbook and business VPN laptop plus my wireless all-in-one plus fax (that was tough to connect to this setup. Found out the issue. I see that the master AP is dropping the signal again down to 3 out of 5. Where the link AP is strong at 5 out of 5. I think I'll have to reposition the main AP again to correct that issue with the signal.

Tested out the WPS on the all-in-one that did read it but the all-in-one just couldn't connect using it's software. Found an issue in the router configuration and fix it. Now it connects to the all-in-one wireless.

As for wired gig to gig (LAN to LAN) I do a lot of remote control which is easier then to get up and go to the systems. But measuring the performance of the connection from PCI-E to PCI-E dual slightly faster. I'll have to do some more testing and transferring 300MB to 3GB files over the network.

Two print servers need to be added, so hopefully that will go smoothly.

I see my master AP now showing 4 out of 5. So there must be something causing that interface or it just can't reach this part of the house. I'll check in the morning.

 

[tipstir]

More about the 802.11n on the second ESR-9850

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=18827&postcount=5

 

[tipstir]

100% Completed - Youtube Review by me!

Here's my take on this AP/ Repeater / Router/ AP / WDS. Well here are 3 youtube videos shot yesterday showing off the router an etc.

ESR-9850 Part1 - demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYI1LeQdf1g

ESR-9850 Part2 - un-boxing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--q6bujNEmw

ESR-9850 Part3 - mounting on the wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wZ31WHHWu4

 

[tipstir]

Live Action Shot in 1080P

ESR-9850 Part 4 - Live!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl2SFwbl_iY

Note: Position was move to less interference area.

 

[saturation]

Hi Tipstir. Just finished your videos. Now everyone will know what the unit looks like and what it takes to install it. Great job! You may want to add a short clip of the speed transfering data and the quality of your reception.

 

[tipstir]

Hi Tipstir. Just finished your videos. Now everyone will know what the unit looks like and what it takes to install it. Great job! You may want to add a short clip of the speed transfering data and the quality of your reception.

Well sure that can be done also.

 

[tipstir]

This ESR-9850 is very powerful in 802.11n but lousy in 802.11g. I had to bring in back Belkin N+ and leave that in G mode which is was able to give me a stronger single. The main DHCP will have the radio disable for now and use it as wired router. The link AP the other ESR-9850 is able to cover the 1,600 sq feet for 802.11n the signal 50mW is stronger. Right position right signal.

The price I got from TD won't be had again as in their latest catalog the price is almost $20 bucks more. Boy did I uncover the way they do business online. Not a pretty picture. Anyway I should have grab 3 of ESR-9850. Your ESR-7750 would be great if the ports where gigs. They're coming out with another one deed gaming router suppose to have both dual bands and gig ports.

As for now the P2P downloading is so super duper quick. There was talk about getting DD-WRT for this but the author of that software said might be hard because of the hardware is so configured.

Well I've been at it still I got G running on the Belkin N+ the signal is off the chart meaning it's Excellent all 5 bars. Both are using the Ralink but one is 266MHz 16I/16D an 384MHz 32I/16D n the ESR-9850. ESR-9850 is 802.11n only. AP only feature doesn't seem present. I did a firmware update from 1.09 to 1.10. Big mistake! Doing so did make Windows 7 see the AP as AP with a icon, but doing so had taken away some controls network hardware engine enabled or disabled button but of coursed that features is associated with QOS enabled or disabled and gone it my network monitor. So that one is now the AP for N and Belkin N+ in the same wrong running in AP mode for G. And I may add daisy chained. Still have to play with that. I rather dedicate nodes with their own line then doing the piggy back method. Everything works streaming wise no issues there. I have 256x Super Duper FF on my network media player that quick but now it just goes so fast I have to use REW 4x to go back some. P2P I've tried to measure it which I did got a solid 2.4xmb/s until the file completed. There is a image to show.

I found Sitcom out that WL-341 are the same, but the firmware didn't take. Just wondering it it would work?

Running now:
Main DHCP Router ESR-9850 wireless disabled, network hardware enabled
AP 802.11g mode only - Belkin N+ (shows 5 bars)
AP 802.11n mode only ESR-9850 wireless enabled (shows 5 bars)

 

[tipstir]

Everything on the 2x ESR-9850 DHCP and the AP. Ditched the Belkin N+. Let's see how it goes? I was going to show you all 5th video for P2P action but the transfer was so quick. I'll have to do that on Monday!

P2P - avg is 3.33mb/s dwl
1080P streaming content over the internet to HDTV - excellent
Streaming, watching live tv from SageTV server to any set in the house - very good. Watching more than one set with different recording content - very good
802.11n - very good
802.11g - testing in mix mode over gig line
Face Book Cafe World - with 4x cafe open and updating food over 802.11n with 2x laptop and 1x desktop no issues. This is a real challange since that Java app is very demanding over the network. Testing download P2P, watching 1080P, listening to MP3 and watching recorded TV all at the same time does have some good results.

 

[tipstir]

Odd stuff

802.11gn mix mode is not a good idea. Leaving that on it's own and getting to stick is another issues. What I mean if you go from 802.11b/g/n back to 802.11n it won't stick. You have to do some things to get it to lock on. Once that is fixed then 802.11n coverage the entire house with a very strong link speed and quality signal. My wireless all-in-one shows real-time signal gauge. In the mix mode it shows it as 74% in 802.11g it shows it as 50% -67%. This is coming from the main router. 802.11g doesn't cover the entire house as strong as the 802.11n does. Anyway most of you would buy this for 802.11n and gig features.

Wireless is fine on 802.11n full coverage no issues I can see. 802.11g so, so 1/2 coverage. Gig connection WAN to LAN, LAN to WAN this is very good and right down speedy. I still think this would make wired gig router even-though it has wireless features.

 

[tipstir]

Final images

Been trying to get all of this to work right. ESR9850 both of them when it comes to wireless it not easy going. Both firmwares are doing the same thing. Main one keep dropping the wireless and the second one use AP just won't work with the first. one. Crazy. I almost had it with both them. Just ready to turn one into wired router since the darn router performance can't be beaten so far in that book. Anyway. finally got everything working. I was going to get two EAP-9550 use one for 802.11n and the other one for 802.11g. But they're pretty much the same as the ESR-9850 the only difference is they're more for AP/Repeater/WDS on port which is 10/100 can't figure out that one but it is and power uses AC power supply unit. Since that is more like a smoke detector. Price for two would take me out of the area where I want to be in pricing. So since I already had what you see below under my sign something should work right?

Okay now this is what going on. Frankly I am glad something working right!
Out of the two ESR9850 one is now use as the wired Router, since 802.11g won't stick and then I get systems showing it picking up both 802.11g/n combo. I had to save it disable it before it would lock in to the correct mode. Crazy. First I setup the main ESR9850 as the 802.11n AP Router mode.

Then I got the second ESR9850 as the 802.11n AP/Repeater. The repeater is suppose to be WDS mode which is 100% but in this case to get the signal strength as high as I could get it (5/5 bars) this is what I did. Once everything was in sync I then disabled the master main router for wireless. This had forced the AP Repeater to work as the main AP 802.11n instead of working as dual router mode. Yeah that's what happen for some reason you just can't disable the DHCP/NAT or Smart NAT for this router to stick in AP mode.

Well now it's in Repeater / AP mode though it doesn't read it that way but is. In the image it looks like the main router but it's the repeater. Before this it was a huge question mark icon.
Show below image is Wireless Network Connection Grid for 802.11n/Gig & 802.11g signal is present. Note: Under Windows 7 the icon would be for ESR9850 looks like Wireless AP or what you see.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/21344768/385949952.jpg

Next this images shows you what I am getting on Windows 7 HP(Home Premium 64-bit) signal strength wise. Master is the 802.11n and the Link 802.11g (for some strange reason it shows it as Link 2) I've tried renaming, merging, deleting still shows-up. Must be something in the Registry left over.
Anyway both signals are very strong as the 802.11g is now once again handled by Belkin N+ well one of them. Belkin N+ has AP mode just enable it and that's it. Well you create static IP address for it.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/21344768/385949565.jpg

This should wrap up my final testing. Note 802.11n Repeater ESR9850 is about 3 floors up, 802.11g is here in the same room as this is where the dead spot is for 802.11g! All ports are connected to Gig port switches not 100mbps. Update I did find that for some strange reason the Monitor feature as re-appeared in 1.10 firmware as it wasn't there for a few days. I had shown up when I had place this unit into Repeater mode. It should have been there if I didn't change that setting. It was there before the firmware update. Go figure.

 

[tipstir]

One side note fixed the LINK2 name to match SSID issue now back to normal. Also taken the AP out of Repeater mode caused so much issues with the main gig router and it's SSID. Anyway I'll see how it goes from this point on. Changed SSID for 802.11n put that back in AP Router Mode with NAT/DHCP disabled. Very unstable in the Repeater mode.

 

[tipstir]

EnGenius ESR-9850 Review #5 P2P downloading Video

View P2P Test Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YNmPwlik3Q

ESR-9850 Heads-up changes are as follows:
Port #1 1000mbps - 8-port switch (for all 1000mbps wired clients)
Port #2 100mbps - 16-port switch (for all 100mbps wired clients)
Port #3 801.11N - Belkin N+ in AP (802.11N mode wireless clients only)
Port #4 802.11G - Belkin N+ in AP (802.11G mode wireless clients only)

After getting serious drop outs on 802.11n with the second 9850 AP in Repeater & DCHP AP in Router mode either way drop out was awful or just disappeared off my network for the wireless I mean. One day I'll do another test but right now the two Belkin N+ use to manage 802.11n only and 802.11g only connected above has yield very good throughput and on the gig side is quick. See the video on the like that was done from LAN to LAN then LAN to WAN remotely over PCI-E Gig Dual Direction. Still throughput is steady. Like I say this router makes a good wired gig router that doesn't get hot!

 

[tipstir]

Testing again

Okay finally got both 9850s working. Well I am testing and looking for drops.

9850 #1
DHCP - AP is on
802.11b/g/n (yeah I know throughput)
SSID: Test1
Auto Channel: 8

9850 #2
Repeater On
802.11b/g/n
SSID: Test1 (site survey connection to 9850 #2)
Auto Channel: 8

Note: When using the site survey EnGenius 9850 DHCP AP shows 50% signal, now it's 100% with the second 9850 in Repeater mode. The Belkin N+ 802.11n only in AP mode shows 100% signal and Belkin N+ 802.11g only in AP mode shows 90% signal. Both Belkin N+ Radios are disable now during the test.

I've put the repeater which is just connected to AC *no hard-wire is connected to it) mid-way. Signal is much stronger than the two Belkin N+ combine. Still testing.. So just have to see how it goes?

 

[saturation]

Thanks Tipstir. I'm reading your posts, but am tied up with a project so can't comment in detail. Glad you are getting things figured out.

 

[tipstir]

Thanks Tipstir. I'm reading your posts, but am tied up with a project so can't comment in detail. Glad you are getting things figured out.

Well thanks, I've tried to get it work. So far it seems to be working very well. Both 802.11g and 802.11n. What I have learned you can't use it as wired AP like you can with Beklin N+ just can't disable DHCP thus leaving in AP mode. These routers are geared more for WDS/Repeater. At times the darn thing had peaked -40dBm that's 20% higher than the two Belkin N+ in AP mode which was stuck at -60dBm.

Now I got to get back to working on my car, I hope I can finally get that out of the driveway... Take care..

 

[saturation]

Well thanks, I've tried to get it work. So far it seems to be working very well. Both 802.11g and 802.11n. What I have learned you can't use it as wired AP like you can with Beklin N+ just can't disable DHCP thus leaving in AP mode. These routers are geared more for WDS/Repeater. At times the darn thing had peaked -40dBm that's 20% higher than the two Belkin N+ in AP mode which was stuck at -60dBm.

Now I got to get back to working on my car, I hope I can finally get that out of the driveway... Take care..

You've certainly got to torture test all its features, and determine it can work together. I mean you have these?

Routers/AP
EnGenius ESR-9850 v1.00/1.10 & v1.00/1.10 (2x)
Belkin N+ F5D8235-4 v1000/1.01.24 (2x)
Dlink DIR-655 A3/1.32NAB03 Gig
Trendnet TEW-652BRP w/DIR-615 C1/3.11NA
Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 w/DD-WRT V24/SP2/7/09 (2X)


All in proximity to each other is just ripe for radio interference in the same band, and its marvelous you got them to work together, with some work!

In my set up, I have dedicated G and N bands with the 7750, so it was plug and play, working with both, G on 2 GHz and N on 5 Ghz clients.

 

[tipstir]

You've certainly got to torture test all its features, and determine it can work together. I mean you have these?

Routers/AP
EnGenius ESR-9850 v1.00/1.10 & v1.00/1.10 (2x)
Belkin N+ F5D8235-4 v1000/1.01.24 (2x)
Dlink DIR-655 A3/1.32NAB03 Gig
Trendnet TEW-652BRP w/DIR-615 C1/3.11NA
Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 w/DD-WRT V24/SP2/7/09 (2X)


All in proximity to each other is just ripe for radio interference in the same band, and its marvelous you got them to work together, with some work!

In my set up, I have dedicated G and N bands with the 7750, so it was plug and play, working with both, G on 2 GHz and N on 5 Ghz clients.

Well as I type this I am on netbook 802.11n ASUS Eee PC and 2005 HP/Compaq laptop that uses 802.11g built-in. Both running Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit and My laptop build software package. I have inSSIDer running on the laptop and measuring the performance of the two ESR-9850.

This morning I had moved the 9850 repeater around the first floor (main floor) to see where it should be located. I've ended putting back where I had first had it. Just works the best. Although using both Belkin N+ in AP mode one for 802.11g and the other one for 802.11n. did provide smooth operation when connected to dedicated ports on the router looking about 50FT each around 100FT from the router. Now with the two 9850 running the show here for:

1x 12 years old Toshiba Tecra 8000 PII 266MHz/256MB/L2 512KB/802.11n
2x older DELL laptops that I've re-built (hardware and OS) 802.11n 7U32
1x HP/Compaq laptop 802.11g (or PCMICA 802.11n 300mbps or USB mini n150
1x Acer Aspire 7540 802.11n
1x Acer Aspire A205xx 802.11g
1x Gateway NV series with B-Ray 802.11n
1x ASUS Eee PC 1005HABxx 802.11n
-----
8x wireless mobile devices
I didn't even factor in the wifes company DELL laptop 802.11g with Cisco VPN
Got the Wii which has 802.11g built-in I did get the USB 10/100 for it as the prior times 802.11g was alway acting up on it. Now forget out it with ESR9850.

I also have Lexmark Pro 205 all-in-one with fax 802.11g the Wi-Fi Signal reader is a graphic bar with percent. Not bad it does work 100% wireless no USB no hardwire to the network.

So these of what I test with. The old Toshiba I keep that going with spare parts I've re-built that myself and don't let the age fool you it runs quick with Windows XP Pro SP3. More for testing software and wireless gear.

Anyway there is more gear I got those 7x network media extenders I only use 5 out of the 7 now since I going on all HD and getting out of the SD format.
4x Print Servers and 5x Gig Desktops only 3 out of the 5 are active they run PCI-E Dual Direction Gig to ESR-9850 DHCP Router. Everything wired has it's own dedicated port to switches. I was going to build a patch panel from scratch, but never got around to it.

Below the sign are just some of the routers/ap I have or used. Buffalo WZR2-300N I had two of those, DIR-615 1 of those these have gone back to the place I got them from. Both had 500MHz NPU. But firmware was crappy. Netgear one is not listed crappy. Still in all those below are it for now.

The 9850 repeater as you know it flip/flops the TX/RX signal, but I've notice is might be dropping connections when both of them change channels to provide the best signal.

I'll keep testing

 

[tipstir]

Seems okay now.. I'll go with configuration for now. Hope the info well help others here. The router you all know is very fast on LAN and WAN side. Wireless is very good to excellent! If you want to extend or want AP get just the ESR-9850. If you need a repeater only then get either EAP-9550 or ERB-9250. Dual band is ESR-7750 or ESR-7760 found in Europe that has gig ports as the 7750 sold in USA has 100mbps ports.

 

[Gingernut]

After searching seems that the ESR-7760 is sold under Engenius's sister company Senao.

 

[tipstir]

After searching seems that the ESR-7760 is sold under Engenius's sister company Senao.

Parent Company is : Senao International
Off shoots are: EnGenius and Sitecom
Sitecom has more Senao products than does EnGenius