Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
My old Linksys E4200 router has performed admirably for quite a few
years now, but may be getting a little long in the tooth. I've been browsing routers for awhile now. Yesterday an ad for the Linksys AC2200 popped up in my inbox. It looks perfectly well-suited for my home network (3 Win 10 PCs, two android tablets, HVAC system, 2 Windows phones, network printers/scanners, Amazon TV, and of course internet connectivity)... The kicker is that it requires downloading an Android or iOS app in order to set it up. We still use Lumia 950 Windows phones. Why would I need Android or iOS to install a router which will be running a Windows wi-fi network? Second question - when I do decide on a router, will I need to re-install all the peripherals or will the new router recognize the current network and take over from there? Thanks in advance for any enlightenment! -Walt |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
Walter Boyd wrote:
My old Linksys E4200 router has performed admirably for quite a few years now, but may be getting a little long in the tooth. I've been browsing routers for awhile now. Yesterday an ad for the Linksys AC2200 popped up in my inbox. It looks perfectly well-suited for my home network (3 Win 10 PCs, two android tablets, HVAC system, 2 Windows phones, network printers/scanners, Amazon TV, and of course internet connectivity)... The kicker is that it requires downloading an Android or iOS app in order to set it up. We still use Lumia 950 Windows phones. Why would I need Android or iOS to install a router which will be running a Windows wi-fi network? Second question - when I do decide on a router, will I need to re-install all the peripherals or will the new router recognize the current network and take over from there? Thanks in advance for any enlightenment! -Walt The app is to allow remote access to your router; i.e., you are away from home and want to see what's happening or reconfigure your router when not at the router. You might want to consider the security ramifications of allowing remote (external) access to your router. Make sure to change the default admin logon password after getting the router. https://www.linksys.com/us/support-a...icleNum=274486 As the instructions mention, you can setup the router using a wired (Ethernet) connection from an intranet host to the router. With a wired connection, you connect to the internal web server in the router. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , Walter Boyd
wrote: My old Linksys E4200 router has performed admirably for quite a few years now, but may be getting a little long in the tooth. I've been browsing routers for awhile now. Yesterday an ad for the Linksys AC2200 popped up in my inbox. It looks perfectly well-suited for my home network (3 Win 10 PCs, two android tablets, HVAC system, 2 Windows phones, network printers/scanners, Amazon TV, and of course internet connectivity)... The kicker is that it requires downloading an Android or iOS app in order to set it up. We still use Lumia 950 Windows phones. Why would I need Android or iOS to install a router which will be running a Windows wi-fi network? because it's generally easier to set up and just about everyone has at least one android or ios device. you say you have two android tablets, so it's not an issue. you can still use a browser if you want. Second question - when I do decide on a router, will I need to re-install all the peripherals or will the new router recognize the current network and take over from there? the latter. there is no 'install peripheral' for a router. however, you will probably want to reboot all of the devices to renew their dhcp leases. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , Wolf K
wrote: [...] The kicker is that it requires downloading an Android or iOS app in order to set it up. We still use Lumia 950 Windows phones. Why would I need Android or iOS to install a router which will be running a Windows wi-fi network? [...] The router should be plug'n'play on Windows, OS-X, and Linux. If it isn't, don't buy it. no it very definitely shouldn't. there might be (and often is) a setup wizard, but plug and play it is not. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , VanguardLH
wrote: The app is to allow remote access to your router; i.e., you are away from home and want to see what's happening or reconfigure your router when not at the router. nope. it's for easy setup, done locally. remote access is *optional*. You might want to consider the security ramifications of allowing remote (external) access to your router. Make sure to change the default admin logon password after getting the router. always, which has nothing to do with any app or remote access. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
Walter Boyd wrote:
My old Linksys E4200 router has performed admirably for quite a few years now, but may be getting a little long in the tooth. I've been browsing routers for awhile now. Yesterday an ad for the Linksys AC2200 popped up in my inbox. It looks perfectly well-suited for my home network (3 Win 10 PCs, two android tablets, HVAC system, 2 Windows phones, network printers/scanners, Amazon TV, and of course internet connectivity)... The kicker is that it requires downloading an Android or iOS app in order to set it up. We still use Lumia 950 Windows phones. Why would I need Android or iOS to install a router which will be running a Windows wi-fi network? Second question - when I do decide on a router, will I need to re-install all the peripherals or will the new router recognize the current network and take over from there? Thanks in advance for any enlightenment! -Walt Some comments here. https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/07...mr8300-router/ So it's a router with four antennas, that can't reach your entire house. Unit costs $250 in local currency. You're supposed to buy multiple of them, using the mesh support it has, to extend coverage to the whole house. Seems like a conflict of interest in there somehow :-/ Like buying a car with 3 wheels and needing to pay $2000 for the 4th wheel. If the "meshness" is such a deal, a second plastic box and power supply should be included right in the box, with the second plastic box "dumbed down" and there purely to extend reach. The lack of a user manual may be due to the release of the device during CES. Even though, you know the user manual was put in the box when they ship units, and to do that, the user manual was ready to go, months ago. The day that's announced at CES, that document should just "pop up" on the Linksys server. A user manual is in a sense, a "contract" between the manufacturer and the user, as it contains "promises of functions". Distribution of user manuals as a pre-sales tool is a common feature with a lot of companies, and that's why. It fills in all the gaps the marketing people glossed over. ******* In a "desperate" situation, you could use the EA8300 manual, which is presumably similar but lacking the mesh software inside. The EA8300 doesn't have mesh, so purchasing two EA8300 devices, there would be no "magical connection" between then for whole-house coverage. http://downloads.linksys.com/downloa...ernational.pdf On page 8, you use a web browser at http://192.168.1.1 or similar. Once you've connected to a Linksys server and "set up an account", at that point an Android app might be able to also "log into the Linksys server", use the information there in the DDNS sense, and from there the Linksys server connects to your router. It would be something along those lines. In other words, it doesn't absolutely have to be bootstrapped with an Android. Classical web browsering to 192.168.1.1, like with older products, will suffice. If you didn't set up an account on the Linksys server, then perhaps logging in from the WAN side or something, would not be supported. Or would take "good ole hacking skills". Personally, I'm not in favor of *any* WAN ports for such functions, as it's an unnecessary attack surface. People will still get in, and it's really a matter of what kinds of exploits the equipment supports. Some routers are riddled with holes, and people search for those with Shodan. This is why we have routers arranged in botnets. Paul |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , Paul
wrote: So it's a router with four antennas, that can't reach your entire house. Unit costs $250 in local currency. You're supposed to buy multiple of them, using the mesh support it has, to extend coverage to the whole house. Seems like a conflict of interest in there somehow :-/ Like buying a car with 3 wheels and needing to pay $2000 for the 4th wheel. nothing like that at all. covering a large area with a good wifi signal using a single wifi access point is difficult to impossible and setting up multiple access points where users can seamlessly roam among them is non-trivial for most people and usually requires cabling each one. mesh solves that problem, and more. If the "meshness" is such a deal, a second plastic box and power supply should be included right in the box, with the second plastic box "dumbed down" and there purely to extend reach. and that's exactly what some mesh routers do. however, that's not ideal for every situation. example, eero: https://ad3d98360fa0de008220-e893b89...8245.ssl.cf5.r ackcdn.com/eero-wifi-2nd-generation-router-review-49-hp.jpg main unit: https://d2vw57jh8139vw.cloudfront.ne...8b392d4af7c0c6. jpg beacon unit: https://d2vw57jh8139vw.cloudfront.ne...9a9a0e542e27d4. jpg and it's even a nightlight: https://d2vw57jh8139vw.cloudfront.ne...505bebd15a4e54. jpg |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , Wolf K
wrote: The router should be plug'n'play on Windows, OS-X, and Linux. If it isn't, don't buy it. no it very definitely shouldn't. there might be (and often is) a setup wizard, but plug and play it is not. Erm, when I connected my present (wi-fi) router to this box, it ... just worked. The last time I had to set up a router was so long ago I've forgotten how to do it. if you did nothing and left it at its default settings, then it's not secure. in fact, it's horribly insecure, dangerously so. at a minimum, its default password should be changed, a unique wifi ssid and different password should be chosen, all of which would be part of a setup wizard, or can be done manually. many people will want to change other options, such as network security, port forwarding, qos, dhcp, dns and more. what wifi router is it? Win8.1 Home 64 bit on an HP box. that doesn't matter. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , Wolf K
wrote: The router should be plug'n'play on Windows, OS-X, and Linux. If it isn't, don't buy it. no it very definitely shouldn't. there might be (and often is) a setup wizard, but plug and play it is not. Erm, when I connected my present (wi-fi) router to this box, it ... just worked. The last time I had to set up a router was so long ago I've forgotten how to do it. if you did nothing and left it at its default settings, then it's not secure. in fact, it's horribly insecure, dangerously so. To connect to the router, I used Windows network applet. I had to enter the security key (128 bits) that came with the box. That's all. so not plug and play. and no, that's not all. if you didn't do anything else, your router is wide open, which is *really* bad. Are you saying that's some kind of universal key that anyone can use? no. If so, why do I have to give to my nearest and dearest when they visit so's they can use the network? And why can't I connect to the neighbour's wi-fi, which shows up as available both in Windows network applet, and in Speccy? are you saying you have not changed the ssid and password from what's on the card, and that's what you tell others to use? at a minimum, its default password should be changed, a unique wifi ssid and different password should be chosen, all of which would be part of a setup wizard, or can be done manually. OK, noted. In the Windows Network applet, I re-labelled the router to suit me. Speccy shows this label as its SSID. I suppose that could be considered set-up. the ssid/password is changed within the router interface, not windows, which has no way of knowing how every router does it. many people will want to change other options, such as network security, port forwarding, qos, dhcp, dns and more. what wifi router is it? DLink, can't recall the model number, and it's on a high shelf, so I ain't gonna climb up there and find out. :-) d-link is admin/admin or admin/{none} for almost all of them, usually at 192.168.0.1. as noted above, if you did not change that, that is *bad*. anyone can pwn you. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
nospam wrote:
d-link is admin/admin or admin/{none} for almost all of them, usually at 192.168.0.1. as noted above, if you did not change that, that is *bad*. anyone can pwn you. Even crappy modern routers now require you to set a new admin password upon initialization for some time now. -- Take care, Jonathan ------------------- LITTLE WORKS STUDIO http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
In article , Jonathan N. Little
wrote: d-link is admin/admin or admin/{none} for almost all of them, usually at 192.168.0.1. as noted above, if you did not change that, that is *bad*. anyone can pwn you. Even crappy modern routers now require you to set a new admin password upon initialization for some time now. yep, and that's a really good thing. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
On 11/01/2019 17:33, nospam wrote:
In article , Jonathan N. Little wrote: d-link is admin/admin or admin/{none} for almost all of them, usually at 192.168.0.1. as noted above, if you did not change that, that is *bad*. anyone can pwn you. Even crappy modern routers now require you to set a new admin password upon initialization for some time now. yep, and that's a really good thing. Agreed - to a point! Years ago, the routers I used had a 'user name' of 'ADMIN' and a password of 'PASSWORD'. It was right and proper to change both! In more recent times, though, my BT Home Hub routers have come with a factory preset Wireless Network Name, a 12 digit Wireless Password/key and also an Admin Password for the Hub Manager. Why is there a need to change these if no one else has physical access to the router? -- David B. |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
David B. wrote:
my BT Home Hub routers have come with a factory preset Wireless Network Name, a 12 digit Wireless Password/key and also an Admin Password for the Hub Manager. Why is there a need to change these if no one else has physical access to the router? DNS Rebinding plus tempting someone to visit an attack website, in this case Hyperoptic/ZTE routers, rather than BT https://contextis.com/en/resources/advisories/hyperoptic-zte-home-routers |
Linksys MR8300 Mesh WiFi Router, AC2200, MU-MIMO
On Fri, 11 Jan 2019 10:05:02 -0500, Wolf K wrote:
On 2019-01-10 20:05, nospam wrote: what wifi router is it? DLink, can't recall the model number, and it's on a high shelf, so I ain't gonna climb up there and find out. :-) To get that info, you log into its interface. ;-) |
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