Access Point EW-7209APg combined with the switch, and allows not only to create a wireless network, but also connect clients with the help of the wires. Note that the EW-7209APg has five ports, Ethernet, and arranged as 4 1, then there are 4 four on one panel and the next one. We are even more embarrassed at first, thinking that this is not an access point and wireless router.
Completion
Theme packages are not changed. The same bright bright red box that catches the eye. Included with the access point, we saw the power supply, patch cord, CD with documentation, as well as the paper version of a brief guide to install and configure.
Packaging
Exterior and design
The body is small enough access points. Dimensions 187 x 100 x 30 mm. The antenna is installed outside, the rear connector RP-SMA. That is always possible to replace the standard antenna to any other: either simply more powerful, or directed. The body is made of silver and dark translucent plastic.
Skin and EW-7209APg
All indicators are located in front of the top panel. Indicator of the access point is the following: power, wireless network, and two LEDs for each port – connection / activity. The rear panel includes: reset button, recessed deep into traditionally the case, in order to avoid accidental presses, power connector, five built-in switch ports, and RP-SMA antenna connector. The vents are located on the bottom and sides. In addition, below is a loop for wall mounting the access point.
EW-7209APg: rear view
Inside the
As usual, we reviewed the case, to get to the payment device. To do this, we had to unscrew the four screw on the underside of the access point. As can be seen in the picture, the access point is built on a chip Realtek RTL8186 – system on a chip. Switched traffic is engaged Realtek RTL8305SC. For the wireless part of the chip meets the Realtek RTL8225, tucked away hidden under a metal shield.
EW-7209APg: board
Installation and Configuration
To configure the access point uses Web-based interface, which can be accessed at http://192.168.2.1. We remind that the address of the computer from which the access must be in the same network, that is in the range of 192.168.2.2 to 192.168.2.254, with a mask 255.255.255.0. You can either install it manually or set automatically obtain IP settings from the server, DHCP, built-in access point and enabled by default.
Access to the interface is restricted by user name and password, which will be prompted to login. For the first entry must specify the name of the admin and the password is 1234, which is, incidentally, is recalled at the first entrance. It is strongly recommended at the first input to change the password, it will reduce the risk of unauthorized access to the interface of the access point.
The interface device is simple and logical. The left side of the interface is occupied by partitions, which, by the way, ten, the right side – the contents of the selected partition. That is all very simple and clear, almost impossible to get confused.
Prompt username / password for the default
To set all the possible options that may be enough to pass all sections of the configuration interface. Note that the wizard does not provide, though, and the need for it is highly questionable.
The first page you see after you log contains information about the access point: time since last reboot, the version of hardware and firmware, the wireless network and the number of clients, as well as configure TCP / IP.
The second section contains the basic settings. Here you can select the mode of the device: Access Point, Client, Bridge (including the mode, WDS), a repeater. Here you select the operation mode: 11b, 11g, or mixed, by the way, there is reason mode band. The SSID is also specified in this section. The default value is «default». The choice of frequency channel is also carried out in this section. In addition, we can see a list of active clients with the statistics of data sent and received for each of them, as well as connection speed and duration of work.
Interface options: basic settings
The section allows you to make additional adjustments to fine-tune your wireless network. Here you can change the following settings: authentication, fragmentation thresholds, reporting interval, speed, type of preamble, the broadcast network identifier, mode of protection. Most of these parameters is best left as is, since they are responsible for the stability and speed of the network.
Interface settings: fine-tuning wireless network
Then follows a section of security, where you can choose to protect your wireless connection. The access point supports the following modes: no encryption, encryption, WEP, a key length of 64 or 128 bit, WPA-PSK (TKIP), WPA2-PSK (AES), WPA, WPA2, authentication server RADIUS. And you can use as an external server and built-in server.
Interface options: protection of wireless data
Built-in RADIUS server has a fairly modest performance, which, however, is more than enough for home or small office network: up to 96 user profiles, and up to 16 clients.
Configuration interface: built-in RADIUS server
The following is one section on network security: MAC address filtering. The access point allows you to create a list of allowed addresses, which can consist of up to 20 entries with comments.
Interface options: filtering on MAC addresses it finds
Section System Utility allows you to change your password to access the interface, as well as the IP access point (the address of the interface settings), but here you can configure the built-in server DHCP.
Interface Settings: System Settings
Note that may be ready to save the configuration to a file and later restore it. In addition, the interface can also reset the settings to their factory defaults. All this can be done in the section Configuration Tool.
Interface options: work with the configuration
Upgrade section is exclusively for the firmware update.
Interface configuration: firmware update
And the last section – Reset – reset the access point.
Interface options: Reset
Performance Testing
Testing of the wireless network was held on the traditional pattern – in two stages. In the first stage we determined the speed of the connection at a short distance, and the impact on the speed of encryption. All hardware settings were set to default values.
For testing we used a stand of two computers: a desktop based on AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800 c 1 GB of RAM and an integrated Gigabit Ethernet controller, running OC Windows XP Professional SP2, and a notebook based on Intel Core2 Duo with 1 GB of RAM (for testing wireless segment), also running Windows XP Professional SP2. To test the test system used NetIQ Chariot. Recall that in testing we connect the wired segment of the access point to a stationary PC and a laptop running a wireless segment. On the territory of testing a range of 2.4 GHz is free from the influence of extraneous hardware. The distance between the access point and the adapter is about two meters, thus allowing for signal transmission can be called a close to perfect.
As a result, we have four average velocity values (for different directions of traffic, taking into account the use of encryption). As a method of encryption, we chose the most reliable of the available simple user – WPA2-PSK (AES). Let us turn to the results.
Testing: The incoming stream without encryption
Testing: The outgoing stream with encryption
Testing: The incoming stream with encryption
Testing: The outgoing stream with encryption
As you can see, we got quite interesting results in terms of stability of bandwidth. Thus, the minimum speed was less than 1 megabit for all the above tests. Of course, it's not so bad for the transmission of non-streaming data, however, becomes relevant when the transfer flows. The average speed was quite adequate for such equipment, and, if not failures, its value would be somewhat higher.
We thought it particularly interesting to look at the access point when transmitting data over a wireless network where the client and access point located at a considerable distance. As usual, the second phase, we tested the performance of a wireless network with the distance from the access point. This series of tests designed to assess the maximum speed in each of the locations. Recall that the data transfer is performed in the clear. In addition to performance testing in the immediate vicinity of the access point, we have tested in three standard locations:
At each location, we measured the speed of data transmission in the direction from the access point to the client.
The test results are shown nizhedalee bandwidth.
Testing: Location 1
Testing: Location 2
Testing: Location 3
As can be seen, with increasing distance wireless speed decreases with increasing distance, which is quite obvious. With regard to stability, here we have not noticed much change. Neither the worst nor the best.
Total
Access Point Edimax EW-7209APg left somewhat contradictory impressions: on the one hand, it is a product with a fairly simple, convenient user interface and a good set of features to protect your wireless network, on the other – with the low stability of wireless connections, even without the use of encryption. Perhaps this problem will be resolved in future firmware, but for now, we can recommend the EW-7209APg only those users who do not need a stable band, but who has high safety requirements for home or small office wireless network.