Half Price Fast Router / Wifi Extender with 2 LAN ports with free delivery. £23.47 Dabs and £23.91 Ebuyer,com.
Top comments
Bloqs
5 Dec 153#13
Dos attacks? While you are staying in a hotel abroad? This startling lack of relevance has cast your review into doubt
smokieUK
4 Dec 153#6
I can't remember the last time I stayed in a hotel that only had wired internet, where do you travel to, 1984? :-) And I have memory cards large enough to fit a few films on - and how do you power all these devices on a plane?
So what with carrying around a power bank, an RJ45 cable and a plug converter I think I can live without this. Might be useful for some though, price seems good enough.
All comments (53)
sme24185
4 Dec 15#1
Travel? Would this work when say i go abroad and connect to free wifi?
smokieUK to sme24185
4 Dec 15#4
Well it would, but no point really unless you have had to pay for a connection as it lets you share that connection across devices. Can't think of any other reason for using it, if the connection is free then just connect the devices directly....
ckaradogan34
4 Dec 151#2
amazing little device amazing price HOT!!!!
CrazyBob
4 Dec 15#3
Thanks OP
willysnapper
4 Dec 151#5
I use this one to connect to my iPad to my USB drives that hold a selection of movies to watch on plane journeys.
It's also useful in hotels that only have an RJ45 socket in the room, it allows the whole family to use the Internet wirelessly!
Great little gizmo mine cost about £15 from Amazon.:wink:
smokieUK
4 Dec 153#6
I can't remember the last time I stayed in a hotel that only had wired internet, where do you travel to, 1984? :-) And I have memory cards large enough to fit a few films on - and how do you power all these devices on a plane?
So what with carrying around a power bank, an RJ45 cable and a plug converter I think I can live without this. Might be useful for some though, price seems good enough.
willysnapper to smokieUK
4 Dec 152#8
Wow! You really don't go far off the beaten track do you! :laughing:
crazygoldfish to smokieUK
5 Dec 151#24
Not everyone wants to use the same wifi that a few hundred guests are hammering.
Allot of hotels let you use the Ethernet for a much faster connection.
I use it all the time when I travel to China for work
royals to smokieUK
6 Dec 15#42
they have an impact what do you expect
royals to smokieUK
6 Dec 15#43
they have an ipad, what do you expect
cincinnati
4 Dec 15#7
what's better for connecting my humax to my WiFi this or the power line adaptor
bulletmac to cincinnati
4 Dec 15#9
Power line
frownbreaker to cincinnati
5 Dec 15#17
Depends on your wiring in your house. The Humax will need network access for a couple of uses
1) BBC iPlayer and other streaming services - You did not say what model you had but most have this
2) Media playback most of the more recent Humax units can play media from remote drives / media centre
3) Youtube, this has some HD content but the Humax will drop this to 1080p
Based on what you plan to use you can work out the max required data rate.
Then you need to work out the distance for your main cable run and if your devices to be connected at on the same mains ring. This and the make model of your propose main networking kit will give you an idea of speed. Remember the speeds quoted on mains kits are BOTH ways so a 200mb adaptor is 100mb each way. If you are watching a movie on YouTube most of the data will be in one direction! Also the speed quoted assume perfect conditions.
If you have old house wiring >8 years or spurs off the ring main your speeds will be MUCH lower if it works at all. Also mains network adaptors need to connected to the wall socket not adaptors. This is due to how they work they send RF through the mains and adaptors / spurs / old wiring with connectors effectively dissipates this RF energy. I an new house with large cable runs using 200mb kit you would expect to see speeds of around 40mb across ring mains and 110mb on the same ring main. Now if you had the 500mb kit then you might get a bit more speed say 20mb extra.
There are 1gb units but these are just marketing numbers I've never managed to get those speeds even when the units are in the same room!!
I always recommend Devolo for mains networking: Their quality is superb I have units that are >9 years old used all the time still working perfectly. They also have excellent management software that shows the speed between individual nodes as these are never the same. They also keep improving the firmware on these units and ship updates years after the stop making a model. If you are on a budget the cheaper makes are fine but you may need to replace some of the units (or replace the caps) every few years.
For wireless there are more options. You can reuse old Wireless modems (you need at least 2) to create a Wifi Bridge. This lets you connect one unit to your Humax with a network cable and the other to your modem. If your modem or cable router has Wifi then you may not need a second unit. The setup is not too bad if you write things down and get organised.
You can pay for hardware that does Wifi and mains networking in one unit Devolo and BT are good options in this space. Select a retailer where you can return stuff easily should it not work for your situation.
Finally worth checking if your Humax model has WiFi on board! Most of the top end ones do!
Finally if you are using old kit make sure you enable encryption (WPA2 AES at least) some really old units default to no encryption so that's not acceptable today.
Thus Unit has NAT which you really don't need in a domestic setup. Better off just using and old ADSL or Cable Router that you repurpose as a Wifi Bridge or Access Point if using mains networking. The make does not have to be the same as your ISP any make will do as long as it can be repurposed to your requirement.
smokieUK
4 Dec 15#10
Not if I can help it, but even when I do I've not seen a hotel with hard wired only. In fact over many years of business travel here and abroad I can only vaguely remember a couple in the dim and distant... I was in Botswana a year ago and they had wireless - admittedly it was a "proper hotel" not a backpackers place though...
So I'd say for Mr and Mrs Average this device is probably not essential, yes?
flang
4 Dec 15#11
Could you connect a chrome cast to this say in a hotel and use it to stream using 4g on your phone
KiretoX
4 Dec 15#12
Also this price at Amazon. Amazing little device. And I got it for 30 or 40 EUR... two more, please :smiley:
Bloqs
5 Dec 153#13
Dos attacks? While you are staying in a hotel abroad? This startling lack of relevance has cast your review into doubt
bojangles
5 Dec 151#14
absolutely pointless.
since you would need a device with an RJ45 port on, I would assume that would be a laptop.
A laptop that has the capabalities built in to re-share wifi.
So your paying for something you can already do for free!
tek-monkey to bojangles
5 Dec 15#16
It can share wireless, not just wired.
helmethead to bojangles
5 Dec 151#18
No. The main advantage of this is to allow to share paid-for wifi across multiple devices. In a lot of the hotels I stay in for business I can have their free internet which is usually pretty poor and definitely unsuitable for streaming. Or I can pay for premium internet which is much better but typically limited to one or two devices. With this, you connect this to the hotel's internet (wifi or wired, it doesn't matter) and it appears as a single device. You then connect all your devices to this router and they can all share the single internet connection.
Alternatively it can turn a wifi signal into a wired connection. It's very useful for some secure laptops which have USB and Wifi locked down. You can't use a Wifi dongle as USB is locked so this makes the wifi appear as a wired internet connection. Saves having cables trailing around or using Powerlines.
DE4L3R
5 Dec 15#15
In the places I cant get wifi. this and a homeplug will cover the blackspot? anything better?
frownbreaker
5 Dec 15#19
I think that's what bojangles is sayinging. Laptops are NAT capable as is this device. Though for non technical folk this might be an option perhaps not at home but if travelling. Personally I have some old ISP modems that I use for this purpose. eg. BT homehub 5, Virgin routers, Sky etc all work fine as Access Points, Wifi Repeaters, Wifi bridges, etc. Just a question of the correct setup. That said the dedicated kit like this and the BT and Develo range are simpler to set up.
Worth noting that ANY make of Wifi Extender will halve the speed of your Wifi and increase latency on that band. Best to use a dual band setup with the bridge / backhaul running on 5G and the clients on 2.4 so they all run and full speed.
Just checked this is a single band unit 2.4 only not a problem for its intended use but folk on this thread have asked about setting up Wifi Bridges and APs and this would be ok as a basic AP not sure about bridging.
If you have problems with Wifi coverage might be worth doing a site survey withe Wifi analyser to check the channel usage and then buy a high end Wifi Access point / router like the ASUS ones. I had 3 APs around the house using mains networking all replaced with a Single ASUS router (that cost 20 times what I paid for each AP!) but we now have rock steady coverage, superb speed and massive range! http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/asus-dsl-ac68u-wireless-router-ac1900-dual-band-109-99-currys-2334750
Don't buy the sales stuff about the SuperHubs and Homehubs they are slightly better than the £10 units but not good by anystrech. Also if you have a separate AP your internet speeds can improve throughput and latency. I found this on Virgin (cable) and BT (VDSL)
dc2447
5 Dec 15#20
you don't know what a DOS attack is
tartankilt
5 Dec 15#21
It's brill at home and on holiday, extends your own wifi network.
Plug into holiday home router and all your devices connect as if at home, quick and easy, up and running in no time.
tek-monkey
5 Dec 15#22
I don't see this as a device for the travelling businessman, more for families on holiday that want to pay for 1 connection and all share it (and not lug a laptop around everywhere just to get internet on their phones/tablets). It is a very useful device, him carrying a laptop around that he leaves switched on all the time for his other devices to talk through is irrelevant to most potential users.
arm5ky
5 Dec 15#23
Also a cheap way of networking a printer
forcedv
5 Dec 15#25
Can a portable hard drive (or USB stick) full of media, be plugged in to this, so the content can be wirelessly shared across devices (iPad, smart TV's)?
Does this support connecting to vpn? I'm thinking of the case when I'm in China and want multiple devices tunnelled through the great firewall and this could be an easy way, rather than each device individually.
bojangles
5 Dec 15#28
so you can your laptop. like i said. pointless.
tek-monkey
5 Dec 151#29
But I don't take my laptop on holiday, seems pointless when I have a much smaller lighter tablet. Just because you do carry a laptop everywhere doesn't mean everyone else does, for those that don't this is not pointless.
gavhtid
5 Dec 15#30
Am I to guess 300Mbos should say 300Mbps? Or am I not up to date with technology?
Shard
5 Dec 151#31
Am I the only one who has been to Hotels in the UK and USA which have rubbish wifi? i.e. you have to get to a corner of the room to get a remotely decent signal? This seems useful to me. Heat added.
shakerman
5 Dec 15#32
Hi Frownbreaker - so the ASUS AC1900 would be a big improvement on the stock virgin superhub?
royals to shakerman
6 Dec 15#44
no it's rubbish. Trialled it along with the linksys 1900 and netgear nighthawk 8000. The netgear won hands down. I get up to 140mpbs 25 feet away in the lounge and 16mpbs in a problem room with the netgear. I also get a stable 55 to 59mpbs in the problem room when using the netgear 6100 dual band WiFi extender. The Asus got up 60mpbs in the lounge, 0 in the problem room including using the extender
frownbreaker to shakerman
6 Dec 15#46
The model is this one, RTAC68U it is very good. The superhub is a budget DLINK. The high end units like the top end Netgear and ASUS are great.
Put the superhub into modem mode and add a high end router. Virgin shape their users so much, best to look at BT or PlusNet for an honest unshaped experience https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/RTAC68U/
rob1990
5 Dec 15#33
Seems to be out of stock at Amazon but you can order it for when it's back in stock
28081947
5 Dec 15#34
Check page 3 of the user manual.
Connect on the GoThe Trek gives you the means to connect to the Internet while away from home.Do you want to connect your devices to the Internet at a WiFi hotspot? Connect your Trek to the WiFi hotspot and then connect your devices to your Trek. The Trek’s firewall protects your personal devices from known DoS attacks and port scans from the Internet.
capa
5 Dec 15#35
So at the in-laws I could use this to get wifi upstairs where it is currently unavailable and if so where does this connect?
Downstairs next to the current modem/router sits or somewhere else?
slimy31
5 Dec 151#37
I have the same, for pretty much the same reason. The distinction is that the Hootoo is USB powered, which I find is far more useful than a mains powered equivalent. Having it as a movable file server for a pair of Android screens keeps the kids happy on car journeys, and they can watch different films without having to store the films twice.
If you are connecting a USB memory stick to the Trek this must be formatted to FAT32 format.
Extract from page 67 of the manual
You can use the USB port for any of the following applications in the following ways:
•Network storage. Back up the files on your computers and digital devices to a network drive. For more information, see Set Up Network Storage on page 68.
•ReadySHARE Access. Share the files on your network drive with local and remote computers and digital devices. For more information, see Access and Share Your Network Storage on page 77.
•ReadySHARE Printer. Send the files on your computers and digital devices to a network printer. For more information, see Set Up a Network Printer on page 81.
•Auxiliary power outlet. Power or recharge a USB device. For more information, see Power or Recharge a USB Device on page 86.
The USB port on the Trek can connect only USB devices such as flash drives or USB hard drives, USB printers, and USB power-compatible devices.
Do not connect computers, USB modems, USB hubs, CD drives, or DVD drives to the Trek’s USB port.
m623d
5 Dec 15#39
Out Of Stock, Dam
Is their and alternative? really could do with one of these
John Mason
5 Dec 15#40
I have come across rooms with wired only connections and also hotels where the wires network is maxed out. In those cases I create a separate wireless network.
Thar
5 Dec 15#41
Just wanted to point out that you can share paid WiFi via Bluetooth with Android devices.
m623d
6 Dec 15#45
Is there anywhere else to buy this Netgear as cheap?
I need one for next weekend.
alecb
7 Dec 15#47
very useful post. thanks.
dtokez
7 Dec 15#48
I use a similar tp link device for a WiFi hotspot in my workshop which is far out of range of my house wifi, spot on
Dominatez
7 Dec 15#49
All routers have dos protection as standard. Clearly you have no technical expertise whatsoever as your statement makes it clear that this is the case. And if the person in question had a rootkit or a bot installed on their machine, their machine would connect to where the infected machines were and be commanded to attack a specific host. So yes, this is not only possible but quite probable.
capa
7 Dec 15#50
Oos
cincinnati
8 Dec 15#51
Thanks for your long detailed post frownbreaker. Just moved into my first flat, built 1970 so yeah the wiring will be pretty old. The humax is a BT dtr-t2100, and am getting Virgin 50mb installed on xmas eve in my upstairs bedroom above the lounge. Want the humax to have net access for its integrated tv guide (which uses the online players like iplayer).
Thanks for your warning that they may not work at all if I go powerline route. I do have a couple of old adapters from around 2000 which allowed 2 pcs to wirelessly send signals and communicate with each other so we could play Unreal Tournament in our respective bedrooms together. Remember they were fiddly to setup on PC, wouldn't even know how you would go about setting one up on a humax or if you even could.
frownbreaker to cincinnati
9 Dec 15#53
Your welcome, with the additional info you provided this travel unit is not ideal for your setup IMHO.
The mains networking stuff us simple to use. Normally you just plug the network cables into them, connect them DIRECT to the mains socket ON THE WALL and you are off. Of course nothing will work until you connect the Virgin Router to the main network too! I think 2006 was when the 200Mb main network kit was launched before that it was 80mb.
Remember that some mains networking kit does not encrypt data and in a flat you need to ensure wireless comms (mains network is in fact radio based!) is secured. On the Devolo units there is a simple one time setup to bind the adaptors to your own private mains network.
If you want to connect your Humax to the Virgin superhub this is an option (100% Wifi) http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/edimax-ac750-11ac-5-1-dual-band-wi-fi-router-extender-ap-bridge-wisp-19-98-scan-2342441 Would recomend using the 5g for the link between the SH and the Edimax and 2.4g for the clients. Worth doing a site survey (ie.g Wifi Analyser from the play store) in the flat now to check for the best bands to use on 2.4g
The review of this unit on HUKD suggest this Wifi unit had a really good setup wizard for the different roles so you can be up an running in under a minute! I've got old kit that take me ages to set up!
Opening post
Top comments
So what with carrying around a power bank, an RJ45 cable and a plug converter I think I can live without this. Might be useful for some though, price seems good enough.
All comments (53)
It's also useful in hotels that only have an RJ45 socket in the room, it allows the whole family to use the Internet wirelessly!
Great little gizmo mine cost about £15 from Amazon.:wink:
So what with carrying around a power bank, an RJ45 cable and a plug converter I think I can live without this. Might be useful for some though, price seems good enough.
Allot of hotels let you use the Ethernet for a much faster connection.
I use it all the time when I travel to China for work
1) BBC iPlayer and other streaming services - You did not say what model you had but most have this
2) Media playback most of the more recent Humax units can play media from remote drives / media centre
3) Youtube, this has some HD content but the Humax will drop this to 1080p
Based on what you plan to use you can work out the max required data rate.
Then you need to work out the distance for your main cable run and if your devices to be connected at on the same mains ring. This and the make model of your propose main networking kit will give you an idea of speed. Remember the speeds quoted on mains kits are BOTH ways so a 200mb adaptor is 100mb each way. If you are watching a movie on YouTube most of the data will be in one direction! Also the speed quoted assume perfect conditions.
If you have old house wiring >8 years or spurs off the ring main your speeds will be MUCH lower if it works at all. Also mains network adaptors need to connected to the wall socket not adaptors. This is due to how they work they send RF through the mains and adaptors / spurs / old wiring with connectors effectively dissipates this RF energy. I an new house with large cable runs using 200mb kit you would expect to see speeds of around 40mb across ring mains and 110mb on the same ring main. Now if you had the 500mb kit then you might get a bit more speed say 20mb extra.
There are 1gb units but these are just marketing numbers I've never managed to get those speeds even when the units are in the same room!!
I always recommend Devolo for mains networking: Their quality is superb I have units that are >9 years old used all the time still working perfectly. They also have excellent management software that shows the speed between individual nodes as these are never the same. They also keep improving the firmware on these units and ship updates years after the stop making a model. If you are on a budget the cheaper makes are fine but you may need to replace some of the units (or replace the caps) every few years.
For wireless there are more options. You can reuse old Wireless modems (you need at least 2) to create a Wifi Bridge. This lets you connect one unit to your Humax with a network cable and the other to your modem. If your modem or cable router has Wifi then you may not need a second unit. The setup is not too bad if you write things down and get organised.
You can pay for hardware that does Wifi and mains networking in one unit Devolo and BT are good options in this space. Select a retailer where you can return stuff easily should it not work for your situation.
Finally worth checking if your Humax model has WiFi on board! Most of the top end ones do!
Finally if you are using old kit make sure you enable encryption (WPA2 AES at least) some really old units default to no encryption so that's not acceptable today.
Thus Unit has NAT which you really don't need in a domestic setup. Better off just using and old ADSL or Cable Router that you repurpose as a Wifi Bridge or Access Point if using mains networking. The make does not have to be the same as your ISP any make will do as long as it can be repurposed to your requirement.
So I'd say for Mr and Mrs Average this device is probably not essential, yes?
since you would need a device with an RJ45 port on, I would assume that would be a laptop.
A laptop that has the capabalities built in to re-share wifi.
So your paying for something you can already do for free!
Alternatively it can turn a wifi signal into a wired connection. It's very useful for some secure laptops which have USB and Wifi locked down. You can't use a Wifi dongle as USB is locked so this makes the wifi appear as a wired internet connection. Saves having cables trailing around or using Powerlines.
Worth noting that ANY make of Wifi Extender will halve the speed of your Wifi and increase latency on that band. Best to use a dual band setup with the bridge / backhaul running on 5G and the clients on 2.4 so they all run and full speed.
Just checked this is a single band unit 2.4 only not a problem for its intended use but folk on this thread have asked about setting up Wifi Bridges and APs and this would be ok as a basic AP not sure about bridging.
If you have problems with Wifi coverage might be worth doing a site survey withe Wifi analyser to check the channel usage and then buy a high end Wifi Access point / router like the ASUS ones. I had 3 APs around the house using mains networking all replaced with a Single ASUS router (that cost 20 times what I paid for each AP!) but we now have rock steady coverage, superb speed and massive range! http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/asus-dsl-ac68u-wireless-router-ac1900-dual-band-109-99-currys-2334750
Don't buy the sales stuff about the SuperHubs and Homehubs they are slightly better than the £10 units but not good by anystrech. Also if you have a separate AP your internet speeds can improve throughput and latency. I found this on Virgin (cable) and BT (VDSL)
Plug into holiday home router and all your devices connect as if at home, quick and easy, up and running in no time.
http://www.netgear.com/readyshare
Thanks OP.
Put the superhub into modem mode and add a high end router. Virgin shape their users so much, best to look at BT or PlusNet for an honest unshaped experience
https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/RTAC68U/
Connect on the GoThe Trek gives you the means to connect to the Internet while away from home.Do you want to connect your devices to the Internet at a WiFi hotspot? Connect your Trek to the WiFi hotspot and then connect your devices to your Trek. The Trek’s firewall protects your personal devices from known DoS attacks and port scans from the Internet.
Downstairs next to the current modem/router sits or somewhere else?
If you are connecting a USB memory stick to the Trek this must be formatted to FAT32 format.
Extract from page 67 of the manual
You can use the USB port for any of the following applications in the following ways:
•Network storage. Back up the files on your computers and digital devices to a network drive. For more information, see Set Up Network Storage on page 68.
•ReadySHARE Access. Share the files on your network drive with local and remote computers and digital devices. For more information, see Access and Share Your Network Storage on page 77.
•ReadySHARE Printer. Send the files on your computers and digital devices to a network printer. For more information, see Set Up a Network Printer on page 81.
•Auxiliary power outlet. Power or recharge a USB device. For more information, see Power or Recharge a USB Device on page 86.
The USB port on the Trek can connect only USB devices such as flash drives or USB hard drives, USB printers, and USB power-compatible devices.
Do not connect computers, USB modems, USB hubs, CD drives, or DVD drives to the Trek’s USB port.
Is their and alternative? really could do with one of these
I need one for next weekend.
Thanks for your warning that they may not work at all if I go powerline route. I do have a couple of old adapters from around 2000 which allowed 2 pcs to wirelessly send signals and communicate with each other so we could play Unreal Tournament in our respective bedrooms together. Remember they were fiddly to setup on PC, wouldn't even know how you would go about setting one up on a humax or if you even could.
The mains networking stuff us simple to use. Normally you just plug the network cables into them, connect them DIRECT to the mains socket ON THE WALL and you are off. Of course nothing will work until you connect the Virgin Router to the main network too! I think 2006 was when the 200Mb main network kit was launched before that it was 80mb.
Remember that some mains networking kit does not encrypt data and in a flat you need to ensure wireless comms (mains network is in fact radio based!) is secured. On the Devolo units there is a simple one time setup to bind the adaptors to your own private mains network.
With the Virgin setup see how you get on their SuperHub. For me I had to put it into modem mode and use another routers as an access point to to get good connections. I got this unit http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/asus-dsl-ac68u-wireless-router-ac1900-dual-band-109-99-currys-2334750 stunningly good.
If you want to connect your Humax to the Virgin superhub this is an option (100% Wifi)
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/edimax-ac750-11ac-5-1-dual-band-wi-fi-router-extender-ap-bridge-wisp-19-98-scan-2342441 Would recomend using the 5g for the link between the SH and the Edimax and 2.4g for the clients. Worth doing a site survey (ie.g Wifi Analyser from the play store) in the flat now to check for the best bands to use on 2.4g
The review of this unit on HUKD suggest this Wifi unit had a really good setup wizard for the different roles so you can be up an running in under a minute! I've got old kit that take me ages to set up!
Or if you wanted a main networking option for the Humax
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/edimax-hp-6002k-av2-600mbps-gigabit-ac-passthrough-powerline-starter-kit-24-99-7dayshop-2275031
According to this review there is no Wifi on your Humax model
http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/128827-bt-youview-humax-dtr-t2100-review