By Ki Grinsing

Overview

EnGenius is particularly producing long range wireless equipments including outdoor access points; wireless USB high power and more. EnGenius also offers you various models of wireless routers for various applications. Two of them are ESR-7750 and ESR-9850. Both are designed to work not just as the wireless router but can also work as the wireless access point.

ESR-9850 main features:

• Wireless N with 2x external MIMO antennas
• SmartNAT for optimum performance in P2P applications
• Equipped with 4xGigabit Ethernet ports
• Multi function operation modes: AP/ Router/ WDS AP/Repeater
• Advanced security with auto channel selection

Like normally other wireless N300 routers, the ESR-9850 is equipped with two external MIMO antennas for better range and delivering the speeds up to 300Mbps. For wired connection, the router is embedded with four Gigabit Ethernet ports and one Gigabit WAN port, ideal for demanding high speed applications.

ESR-9850 Vs ESR-7750

What is the difference between the ESR-9850 Vs ESR-7750? Have a look at the main features of ESR-7750 as follows:

• Wireless N dual band technology with 4xinternal MIMO antennas 4dBi gain
• Similar with ESR9850, it supports SmartNAT
• Fast Ethernet ports for both LAN and WAN interfaces
• Multiple SSIDs
• Advanced security and auto channel selection

ESR-7750 is designed with more powerful (4x) internal antenna gain – 4dBi compared with only 2dBi in ESR-9850 (with only 2x external antenna). But on the other hand, the ESR-7750 includes only fast Ethernet interfaces.

Currently ESR-9850 does not support guest network (you should check the latest firmware to support guest network), but ESR-7750 supports multiple SSIDs with guest network. Guest network allows you create separate network in case you have to provide internet access to your visitors when they come to your home or office without granting access to your other private network.

How to configure

Run the CD smart wizard to configure the device either as the broadband router or as the AP device. Default IP address later when you need to configure the device is http://192.168.0.1 , user name and password is admin. You have two modes of operation in the menu configuration: the AP router mode and the AP repeater mode. In the AP repeater mode, the system disables the WAN interface.

Connection Diagram

In wireless router mode, you can connect the WAN port of the router to the Ethernet port of the modem either Cable or DSL. In the following diagram, the ESR-9850 works as the wireless router that connects to the modem and you may use WNCE3001 dual band universal internet adapter to connect your XBOX or Blu-Ray wirelessly to the internet.

The table below shows you some of main manufacturer specs comparison for ESR-9850 Vs ESR-7750. You see that both routers do not support USB port. It’s not good enough with the absence of USB port which is typically used to host an external storage disk drive for sharing.

Comparison table

For high power wireless AP you may consider Amped AP600EX High Power Wireless N 600mW Access Point. For long range wifi solution you may consider affordable TL-WA5210G High Power Wireless Outdoor CPE.