Tag: wifi

How To Set up EnGenius ENH500

Posted onAuthorTruXter8 Comments

Tried for over a week to get two ENH500 devices to to connect with each other so I could test out their capabilities and put them in tough positions for upcoming projects with the company I work for.
Found a few videos on youtube that showed me how to set up static I.p. addresses on my pc. Which is exactly what’s in the pdf and brochure from the manufacture.
I had to turn to the tech support and see if they can get me the information I need for Setting up my ENH500 devices.

Device #1

Step 1: Log into device #1 (192.168.1.1, both user name and password are admin). You will need
to set your computer to a static IP address in the same subnet like 192.168.1.10

Step 2: Go to “Operation Mode” and change mode to “WDS Bridge” and also select Country code and Accept change.

Step 3: In “WDS Link Settings” set security type and key (we recommend AES). Then below on the same page, enable
ID field 1 and enter the Wireless MAC address of device #2 (the other device). The Wireless MAC address can be found
by looking at the serial label on the back of the unit. It will be the one on the top. After you’re done, hit “Accept”.
Note: You can also find the Wireless MAC address of a unit on the “Main” page when logged into the unit.

Step 4: Go to “Wireless Network” and change channel to 149, 153, 157, or 161 (USA) and Accept change.

Step 5: In “Administration” change the default user name and password (if desired).

Sept 7: In “IP Settings” change the IP address to a new, unused, static IP address on the same subnet and also
enter the default gateway (example 192.168.1.5 if router is 192.168.1.1).

Step 8: Apply all changes by selecting “Save/Reload” (IP address, user name and password and all other changes will
now actually take effect).

Step 9: Leave this unit powered on and move to device #2 (see next page).

Device #2 (Do this while device #1 is on and next to you, not installed at the remote location yet).

Step 1: Log into device #2 (192.168.1.1, both user name and password are admin). You will need
to set your computer to a static IP address in the same subnet like 192.168.1.10

Step 2: Go to “Operation Mode” and change mode to “WDS Bridge” and also select Country code and Accept change.

Step 3: In “WDS Link Settings” set security type and key (we recommend AES). Then below on the same page, enable
ID field 1 and enter the Wireless MAC address of device #1 (the other device). The Wireless MAC address can be found
by looking at the serial label on the back of the unit. It will be the one on the top. After you’re done, hit “Accept”.
Note: You can also find the Wireless MAC address of a unit on the “Main” page when logged into the unit.

Step 4: Go to “Wireless Network” and change channel to the same channel as device #1 and Accept change.

Step 5: In “Administration” change the default user name and password (if desired).

Sept 7: In “IP Settings” change the IP address to a new, unused, static IP address on the same subnet and also
enter the default gateway (example 192.168.1.5 if router is 192.168.1.1). Do not use the same IP address as device #1.

Step 8: Apply all changes by selecting “Save/Reload”. All changes will now actually take effect.

Step 9: Go to “WDS Link List” and verify link is UP.

Step 10: Install unit at remote location. Go to “WDS Link List” again and verify link is UP and RSSI signal.
-59dBm or better = excellent, -60dBm to -69dBm = good, -70dBm to -79dBm = good, -80dBm or worse = fair to poor.
Verify speed and connectivity etc. If everything tests good, you are done (connect the camera now).

Note: Output power should be the same as device #1. Default power is 20dBm. Turn it up only if RSSI is low
(in “Wireless Advanced Settings”). Add a network switch to connect multiple Ethernet devices at the remote
bridge (if desired). The secondary Ethernet port is “pass through” only, no POE power is available.

Here’s the video from EnGenius
In the test portion of this article I will number the devices by how far from the network they are up to my pc which will be plugged into device #3. So Device 1 is feeding network connection to device #2. Device #2 will be feeding network connection from device #1 to device #3 which my pc is plugged into.

The tests performed
Close Range – Two ENH500 devices sitting less than a foot apart. Signal level was at -3. Which i would have guessed would have been at 0 since there was nothing to interfere.
Line of site – Separated by about 20 feet. Used three EnGenius devices. One connected to the switch next to me to connect to the network, one across the room to receive signal from the first device and one connected to my computer to to connect to the second device. signal strength was -16 and -23.

lineofsite
Obstructed view – Turn all three devices away from each other. No two faced each other. Signal strength -26 and -28.

obstructedsignal
Very Obstructed view – Took the second ENH500 downstairs and placed it behind a small refrigerator and faced it away from the other devices then the faced the other devices away from that one.Distance about 30 feet. Signal strength -34 -40
Daisy chain around obstruction – Placed device 1 at the office modem down stairs. Device 2 in the storage warehouse area, device three still at my pc. Distance from enh500 #1 to #2 approximately 60 feet, Distance to device #3 from device #2 Approximately 45 feet. Signal strength -47 -52.

LAYOUT
Mesh – Turned on all three devices and allowed them all to see and communicate with each other. Had fail to connect. This test is on pause until I figure out where I went wrong.
Worst case Scenario– Took device #2 across the lot into another unit, and plugged in and set it on top of their refrigerator behind a tv. Failed to connect. Distance roughly 120 feet from Device #1 to device #2. Distance from device #2 to Device #3 Roughly 135 feet.
OBSTRUCTEDVIEW

On the final test (worst case scenario) I could not detect device #2. I had to unplug from device #3 and connect myself back into the office network and then log into device #1 to see what the signal was reading. Signal -88. This was through 3 offices,a metal building with brick face and tinted glass, through company vehicles parked in front, across the driveway through more vehicles,brick,tinted glass, an office, a cross path hallway, kitchen wall, to a device laying on a refrigerator behind a tv.

Line of site on a pole, with no obstruction, doesn’t seem like it’s going to be too strict.

3d Mapping your WiFi

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

wifiHave you ever wondered why you get a super strong signal from your WiFi then suddenly what seems like nearly no signal at all, out of nowhere?
Well there is a guy who posted a Youtube video showing you why. but for the most part, he is trying to understand it too. So no he doesn’t tell you why, but gives you a good look at the signal loss in action.
What the guy does is he holds a wifi device up and watches as it picks up and drops signal as he moves about in a small area and shows how dramatic the difference is in each spot.
The guy then saves this data and has it mapped out into a picture. color intensity to show where the signal is the strongest and where the signal is the weakest. Blue being the strongest signal.
The guy then realizes that this is not complete enout of data so he decides to not just move left and right and up and down, he now moves the WiFi devices front and back to give you a complete three dimension representation of the signal’s loss and strength.

Here is the the 3d image so you can see for yourself. and look at what is being done in the video above.

If the page does not load here is the link.

In sum:
since the guy is measuring such a small amount of space to test the WiFi signal loss, if you lose signal suddenly with your laptop, it would’t hurt if you move it just an inch and see what happens.

It looks as if the signal does not spread evenly and dissipate as you get further away, it more just broadcasts and only hits small spaces around an area.

Comcast Hotspot plan

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

comcastscamsComcast has a plan to turn your home into a hotspot. It is believed that this will be an “opt in/opt out” program.

Now… remember when Comcast was the first company to put a monthly limit on our internet downloads? and now all of the cell phone carriers have them. I guess that now the trick is to opt in, turn off your modem, connect to neighbor’s…. download entire internet.

see, now you can get around the issue of cloud computing. What is this issue? well it’s where you pay an internet provider to take you to places on the internet. One of the places on the internet, is the place where all of your files are stored. but wait. They aren’t there for free. I mean why would someone convince your to store the crap that you already have stored on a hard drive/flashdrive/dvd/cd somewhere in your house, for free? I mean something you already do, why would they give you that and make it their duty to care for it for free?
So, now you have a limit to how many files you can download a month. but all of your crap is out there in the “Cloud’ (say with spooky ghost fingers) and you can’t get to it. How do you get around this issue next month?

Easy. Go around using up everyone’s file limit each month (file limit that is mythical because the internet is not a bucket that they have to refill like a some mythical servant to a dungeon master) Comcast was busted lying about this right here. so if this is a social experiment to teach us about bandwidth hogs, it is a control experiment guided and leading (misleading).

We all know how this will play out

After the second year “demand so high we have to increase the cost but give you a free button for your shirt says “I get &(**&ed by Comcast”.
and of course that co-worker who always makes bad decisions and stand proud of his Anti-accomplishments will be happy to wear that pin and laugh at you for not having the pin.. These are the typical Comcast users.

Or more people will die quickly because the stranger in the car sitting out in front their house, might just be borrowing internet.

More on this topic

Someone please make this freaks go away.

Wireless Wars

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

wifi_warsSo.. I found that one of my neighbors (not sure which one) finds it funny to get into my wifi and reboot it randomly.
oh boy, so you can hack a wifi. You smart little wifi hacker you.

So…

I turned off the wifi broadcast for about an hour and headed to the garage.
Brought in my box full of wireless routers.

logged into each one, and gave them the name my wireless connection had.
and ran through them all turning wifi back on. then placing them around the house at all walls and corners I could.

Log back into my actual wifi, and turn off ssid broadcasting and changed password. ad changed the actual ssid.

So.. basically I gave my neighbor a hand full of routers that don’t have an internet connection at all, to my neighbor to pointlessly play with.
Takes one down, there’s 7 others.

stupid little twit.

I will if I have to, run to fry’s and load up on a bunch of 14 dollar routers and name each one after each of the signals I see broadcasting.

Clear Wireless Internet Review

Posted onAuthorTruXter

Considering Clear?
Wondering how fast Clear wireless internet is?
The trick to Clear is to locate where the nearest towers are in yoru area, and find a window closest to that tower with a good clear aim in that direct, and put your modem or external antenna in that window aimed at that clear wireless tower.

I am with in three blocks of the nearest tower to me and I receive at 10mbs.
there are a few more towers in different directions and I can connect to each one by just moving my modem from room to room and aiming the clear modem to the tower. So I only get good speeds in one room.

The wireless connection from modem to wifi adapter on laptop, not as great. Even in N mode, the signal is very weak. You can’t get a signal 20 feet away. and you lose signal when you have a curvy hallway.

The price, isn’t fair at all. Considering how spotty the connection can be for some, and how low the bandwidth is,the price is a bit high. I mean come on. People are achieving 28-35 mbs for the same cost as their 10mbs plan. $59 a month. Though there is no contract, the payments are automatically withdrawn from your account. That is frustrating. because the whole thing they sell you on is that you don’t even need to think about it. but…. when you don’t think abut something, you forget it…..

but on a scale of 1/10
I still have to give clear a good 7/10

Android Apps 2011 – our top choice

Posted onAuthorTech Review Man

Our top 5 Android apps for your Android based phones.

ixMAT Barcode Scanner
a href=”https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ixellence.ixmat.android.communityamp;feature=search_result”Barcode scanner/a for your Android phone. This one scans a large choice of barcodes.

Dungeon Defender
object width=”560″ height=”345″ classid=”clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true” /param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /param name=”src” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/BeyQ-PC_cwc?version=3amp;hl=en_USamp;rel=0″ /param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /embed width=”560″ height=”345″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/BeyQ-PC_cwc?version=3amp;hl=en_USamp;rel=0″ allowFullScreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” //object
Online Role playing game, for your android device.

a href=”http://truxtertech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/d-game.png”img class=”size-full wp-image-1380″ title=”d-game” src=”http://truxtertech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/d-game.png” alt=”barcode to game” width=”158″ height=”158″ //a

Dungeon Defender barcode

Wifi Toggle Switch
a quick a href=”https://market.android.com/details?id=com.curvefish.widgets.wifionofffeature=search_result”switch/a you can place on your main screen to toggle wireless signal connection on and off. So you don’t have to flip through the main menu and then the settings

Rev3Remote
let’s you get quick access to a href=”https://market.android.com/details?id=com.awc.revremote.freefeature=search_result”Revision 3/a content and videos. Works better than the revision 3 certified ap.

Hey tell. Hey tell is a way to send your friends short messages, voice messages, via your internet service. Cuts down on minute usage. If you have wifi, its free to use.

WordPress
For those of you with an android phone who also run a website that uses a href=”https://market.android.com/details?id=org.wordpress.androidfeature=search_result”wordpress/a, then this ap is probably the best find you will get for your android phone. EVER!

Shopping Tip: PC Vs Laptop

Posted onAuthorTruXter2 Comments

If you are in the market for a new computer but are not sure if you should get a personal computer with a tower and a monitor, or a laptop, Hopefully this article will help you. I will try and weigh the differences for you.

For the first I will start with PC (personal computer).

Ups.

A personal computer can have high amounts of power in many of the parts, Like fresh up to date video card for the gamers or high quality video watchers, Or powerful processor(s) to do the tasks you need to get done, latest and greatest up to date memory and full capacity . Nice 25inch monitor and the keyboard and or mouse of your choice allowing you to make all use of the items as easy as you want. Well Like I have a trusty keyboard I bought from CompUSA at least four years ago that has tons of extra keys for items that I may need to open and run plus it’s own scroll wheel so I can skip ahead 5 lines at a time when I know I am on a huge page and need something from the bottom of the page, but do not feel like grabbing the mouse. That wheel also works in video games. My mouse is Memorex mouse with 5 buttons plus the wheel clicks for other uses, in most games the wheel clicks for an aimer and the side button are stand up and lay down. Both of those items where my own choice and my selection, as the case for my pc is my choice with ventilation So I can run the fans I feel I need to cool my computer the way I want and have it look the way I want. Everything can be modified and upgraded.

Downs.

Lots of wires everywhere. Huge tower that I keep bumping with my knee and I know someday I will bump it hard enough to scratch the hard drive . Can hardly ever move it or take it anywhere, like on vacation. No way of just putting it away and pulling back out when in need for usage without a frickin’ owner’s manual on how to rewire it back together. I never have been good at memory games. All of the add on parts are quite costly. When buying speakers you have to select some that will sound good, look good, and last and might be impressive, So you kinda have to learn all that or trust ol’ brad from the sales desk. Pretty loud, is most annoying when using as a media center.

For thsi next section I will cover the laptops:

Ups.

Portability, design, ease of use, small, convenient, hides away nice when a guest comes over with a toddler, Slides right under the seat in my car, Has a mouse and keyboard, monitor, and speakers built right in, you can add on third party if you want but do not have to ! Really makes great use of the Wi-Fi system you set your house up to, You can actually now sit on the couch in your skivvies and pizza stained t-shirt and let that computer desk chair collect dust. You can cook and check your email or MySpace message with your laptop resting safely on the counter while you fry your bologna.

Downs.

Once that keyboard is damages or worn out, It gets expensive, once that monitor breaks, well it’s really quite ruined and probably a better idea to buy a new one instead of replace it. If that toddler gets hold of the laptop, it’s screwed. The mouse built into laptops has always been something that just bothers me into utter stress, because they never seem to do what I want them to do without a few tries. Can get stolen easily. Will warp if left under the seat in my car on a hot day when I get stuck somewhere a little longer than I anticipated. I always have to remember to gather it up when I leave a location that I took the thing out of my car. Not very good for gaming or video compression, most parts are not upgradeable.

Okay, I just covered my likes and dislikes now I will do the run down of what is the better choice.

For those who are into high end monster power tasks, Go for the PC. For everyone else get the laptop, you will get ten times more out of the laptop than what you will get from the pc. Take that sucker to work with ya. Just when you are shopping , if they do not state the specifications of what is in the computer, chances are they are outdated.

GLHF

TruXter