Wireless Extenders « Joey Gibeault

September 27, 2010

Hawking HWREG1 Wireless G Range Extender

Filed under: Wireless Extenders — Tags: Extender, Hawking, HWREG1, Wireless — teraanymore @ 5:49 pm

Hawking HWREG1 Wireless G Range Extender Hard to set up out of the box – Kennet R. Todack – Alexandria, VA, USA
I received the Hawking HWREG1 yesterday, hooked it up to my network (D-Link DIR-655) and tried running the Setup Wizard on CD that came in the box. The wizard recognized the HWREG1 on the net but couldn’t find the D-Link wireless signal. After a couple of hours with an Indian service rep, trying everything in her book (pretty difficult to understand her accent, though she was patient and nice) she gave up and suggested I call back the next day to talk to a technician. Instead of talking to a technician I went to the Hawkings Technology website and downloaded Setup Wizard version 1.007. I ran the wizard and voila, it found my wireless signal from the D-Link and I was able to make the handshake between the HWREG1 and the Dir655. I removed the extender ethernet cat5 connection and took it to the middle of my living room were I sometimes have dropped WIFI connections. I was able to see the Hawking HWREG1 on my Apple Touch and connected to it. I’m now getting 3 bars (max), so life is good for now, it’s been just two days so I don’t know what the long term performance will be.
I’ve been using this repeater for about a year now. The first one I received was definitely defective– it just wouldn’t keep a steady signal; it kept dropping in and out of being connected to the main network. Hawking customer service was great and they replaced it right away. Since then, it’s been great. I’ve successfully connected to a 2Wire HG2700, and a D-Link DIR655 with no problems, and relative ease– and mind you, I’m far from a tech professional, though I’ve set up many a home network using the 2Wire gateways.

I haven’t had any problems requiring a reset/reboot of the repeater except for when I’ve changed significant router settings (like the network passcode), when I’ve had to reprogram the repeater from scratch.

I will say that for routers that are using anything but 192.168.1.** protocols, you must use the included set up CD initially, and manually change the management address of the repeater to whatever your home network is using, eg 192.168.0.[insert number of your choosing within the range of your dhcp] because the default address for the repeater is 192.168.1.235 and you won’t be able to access the online management page without the CD. Also some routers (like my D-Link) require that you manually reserve the address for the repeater. The 2Wire gateway automatically detected and assigned the address. Other than that, I found it pretty easy to understand and connect.

I’ve successfully used it to extend my network from the main house to the detached garage in the backyard where my office is, and I’m on the internet pretty constantly all day, and there haven’t been any issues with the repeater. I can stream video fine, and I haven’t had any issues with speed through the repeater (using WEP- I can’t say about WPA). The steadiness of the throughput from ATT dsl, that’s another issue…

4 stars all the way around:
Ease of use: well, it does require either a tiny bit of tech savvy (or research if you don’t know what DHCP means, or if you’re unfamiliar with IP addresses) or just plain bravado for the trial and error method, if you want to customize beyond the CD setup wizard capability, so 4/5.
Pricing: approx new. Decent price, considering it’s about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of buying an access point or a second router, and you’ll get about 2/3 more range. But I’d hardly say it was a steal of a deal.
Range: It doesn’t quite double the range, but it’s close– on the other hand, I’m only dealing with two walls, the back of the house, and the front of the garage.

Hawking Technology: HWREG1 Hawking’s Wireless G Range Extender, HWREG1, 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-G 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. The HWREG1 is the ONLY wireless repeater on the market that supports most wireless 802.11b/g networks so you never have to worry whether the wireless network you have at your home or office will work with the Range Extender. The HWREG1 also features a Hassle Free installation. All you have to do is enter in the ID of your wireless network and youre ready to go! The HWREG1 features a new advanced setup wizard that allows for setup in seconds. Simply run the wizard from the setup CD and do a wireless site survey of all local wireless networks in your location. Select the one you wish to extend and youre done! The new Wireless-G Range Extender features increased reliability and stability, resulting in no or minimal signal drops and support for the most 802.11b/g wireless access points on the market. The HWREG1 also features a removable Wi-Fi antenna that can be upgraded to any Hawking Technologies Hi-Gain Wi-Fi Range Extending Antenna for added range and throughput. Simply unscrew the original antenna and screw on a Hawking Hi-Gain Antenna. $99.00

Comments (0)