ASUS WL-330gE review

This page updated 25 July 2008

Introduction

Being abroad (in New Zealand) for some time I needed wifi in our temporary home, to allow both my partner and me accessing Internet simultaneously without risking our 5-yr old daughter, in her native running-about-the-house mode, getting entangled in all the cables lying around (a valid reason, I'd say).
In addition we had been supplied with probably the very cheapest D-Link ADSL-modem/router that Telecom NZ could provide (a DSL-502T), featuring just one RJ45 port (although it *IS* a router), effectively / physically ruling out simultaneous Internet access.

Rather than getting a plain-vanilla run-of-the-mill wifi ADSL modem/router/switch/AP from Dick Smith or the like, I set out for a portable solution. After the end of my partner's locum GP period in NZ we plan to travel around a bit in NZ &Oz. A portable wifi option meant as a backend for a wired internet connection (LAN or even dial-up) might come in quite handy then. And upon returning home next year I might put it to use for e.g., setting up a wireless printer somewhere in our home.
Last but not least: I had already found out that the portable ones were simply significantly cheaper than the -uhmm- "classical" ADSL wifi routers (the brick-sized ones).

Some googling brought up a number of viable alternatives. Keep in mind that in NZ there's not much choice unless you are prepared to pay outrageous shipping/handling/insurance costs as the most promising options come from Australia and further, and the majority of US vendors dare not ship overseas (or are simply too ignorant).
So we've got:OK, first I tried the D-Link G730AP wifi AP/pocket router (priced at NZ$ 116 through www.elive.co.nz, around €58,=). It's actually a rebranded & improved Asus WL-330g (look here for a review for that one), but it soon proved that D-Link's Q&A isn't quite on par with average consumer expectations. That is, while Elive had it delivered the very next day the D-Link decided to die even faster, i.e. within 10 minutes of receiveing the package, after I had simply pressed the Reset button. I'll spare you a description of the procedures and especially waiting time to get a refund (note: after some initial confusion Elive proved very helpful and responsive), but alas, that's a general issue with Internet purchases :-(  And: you'll always loose shipping costs twice in this game as well  :-((
While waiting for the refund, I found similar user experiences on the web as I had. Really too bad, as judged from its specs the D-Link would have served my needs very well.

Right, next up then was the Asus WL-330gE, an improved version of the Asus WL-330g and D-Link 730GP. Priced at AU$ 78.86 on eBay (around € 49,=, i.e. even cheaper than the D-Link) it features a lot more functions and -hopefully- more robustness. The seller despatched it very quickly (from Hong Kong) and I could try to get it up & running within a few days after purchase.

The device

The Asus can function in four modes and some submodes:Asus WL-330gE
  1. Wireless adapter (or Ethernet Adapter, EA mode). This means that on e.g., a notebook w/o wifi but with RJ45 LAN connection you can simply connect the Asus to that RJ45 port to have wifi on your notebook.
  2. AP (Access Point). If you have a non-wifi router, you simply connect the Asus (after initial setup) to a (or, as in my case, the) RJ45 LAN port of your ADSL modem and you have a wifi in your home. Now watch out because in this mode the Asus relies on your ADSL modem to function as a router; it won't use it's built-in functions to do this. It just translates the wired packets into wifi packets, much like in EA mode.
  3. Gateway (or wifi router). In this mode, it adds a router function to the AP function. It can do this in two submodes:
    1. Plain wifi router. Just like it says, it accepts a LAN cable on one side and translates this into wifi access for multiple clients on the other "side". The minimum you'll need on the "one" side is apparently an ADSL modem.
    2. "Hot Spot" mode. It this mode it picks up a wifi connection on one "side" and translates this into wifi access for multiple clients on the other "side" in a different (E)SSID. Consider a scenario in which you've bought a few hours of wifi access on some airport. Now you can redistribute this wifi access to all your friends and relatives. (Now IANAL, but this scenario might not be the intention of the original wifi provider; it might even be plain illegal.......)
  4. Wireless repeater. In this mode it can be used to extend the coverage of your (or someone else's) wifi coverage to a wider area (and/or to create an ESSID, Extended Service Set IDentifier ...).
The package comes with:
The little box that is the Asus WL-330gE hosts a lot of functionality, a.o.:
Of course there are also some things it won't do.
For one, it doesn't support NETBEUI (or IPX/SPX), a pity as I use the non-routable NETBEUI (plain NetBios over e.g. LLC) for file sharing in my home LAN, and in NZ I hoped I could do the same for file sharing between my girlfriend's laptop and mine (intruigingly it does allow browsing the network using NETBEUI, but that's all I got). I know, the non-routable based implied safety of plain NetBios is decreased somewhat once emitted in the form of air waves, but .....
That the router part (which is based by definition on TCP/IP) doesn't do this is obvious, but the AP part might nevertheless have done, like my Linksys WAP54G back home that does support all protocols. It is a bit of a pity that the specs don't clearly indicate what protocols are supported and what others not. I had to find out by contacting Asus tech support directly.

Experiences

I've only tried the AP mode (option 2) and wifi router mode (option 3a) so far, as that's the main use I had in mind.

The Asus can be setup from a PC through the RJ45 LAN cable using a built-in web browser. Any browser will do, I used Seamonkey 1.1.8 & 1.1.9 from OS/2 and Windows XP, respectively.
It  is preconfigured to have the IP address 192.168.1.220; there's a DHCP server built-in so if you've set your LAN adapter on your PC to DHCP ("automatically obtain an IP address" ) it is a mere 10 sec wait and off you go.
After having typed in the usual user and password strings (admin & admin, respectively) you'll see a screen similar to the following:

AP mode introductory screen

If you just press Finish here, you have an AP providing a wifi network with SSID of "default" and no security at all. So to get basic security you'll need to get to the meat by pressing "Advanced settings" instead.

In my case I wanted "Gateway" mode so I first selected that tab, and then pressed "Advanced settings".
Those settings, grouped and contained in various "subfolders", are too numerous to copy here. Suffice it to say that you should only change those settings of which you know what they are meant for.
Note: in the System Setup folder, under "Operation Mode" I had to select "Home Gateway" (rather than "Access Point" = default mode); this is not very clearly outlined in the manual or setup mode screens. From then on, when accessing the Asus through a browser it came up in Gateway mode rather than AP mode.
IMO this mode is the most versatile for my use (= backend for wired LAN connections). From now on I can just plug it in anywhere were Internet through a RJ45 cable is supplied, and my partner and I can share that connection through our own private and well-secured wifi LAN. And having another NAT router between your personal WLAN and the rest of the potentially evil world is always a plus, even in pompous luxury hotels where internet access seems robust (if not always usually ridiculously expensive).

Regarding range: I've suspended the Asus to a curtain rail in just behind a window, high in the living room (see photo above). I've got "excellent" signal strength in and around the entire (wooden) house, it drops to "good" at a distance of 50 m down the drive way, behind a big palm tree (and with a thick curtain, several glass windows and wooden porch in between). Some day I might try to walk away with my laptop in my hands until the signal gets so weak that my laptop disconnects, but I'm already pretty sure the range I get is sufficiently large for my (our) needs.

Other remarks

As often with LAN and Internet stuff that can be set up using built-in webservers I wonder why support software should be installed at all. This point is equally valid for the Asus WL-330gE, although the utility to fix a broken firmware does appear to be useful. But I'd install that only if it were really needed.

A thing to mention here is that both the manual (a .pdf file on the CD-ROM) and the Help screens & popups in the router firmware probably have been put together a bit hastily in a late stage of marketing. Further in the manual it refers to the somewhat generic "Asus 802.11g AP" rather than Asus WL-330gE and I couldn't match a number of menu items shown in the manual to the actual web browser menus of the real Asus. But as long as you know what you are doing you actually don't need the manual other than for hints on what unexpected options the Asus has got for you.
If you're unsure, here are some potentially confusing glitches I noticed in the manual on CD-ROM (E3158, 1st ed, May 2007) and actual router's webserver setup screens (firmware 2.0.0.9):
After initial setup I plugged the Asus simply behind our D-Link ADSL modem/router (on the LAN side), plugged in the power, waited 15 secs for it to get booted and having an IP address assigned from the D-Link ADSL modem/router, and then my WLAN was up and running.
A nice feature is that I can access both the Asus (using 192.168.1.220) and the ADSL modem/router (using its LAN address of 10.1.1.1), the latter being quite useful as the D-Link DSL-502T router always forgets its ADSL password after a reboot (which happens regularly because in rural NZ you'd better unplug your precious electronics when leaving home for a longer spell and bad weather is imminent).

In AP-mode, setup happens while being connected to your PC. After setup you must connect it to the router instead. Now you may be puzzled by how to reach the Asus through your WLAN when it is actually connected to the router, aspecially when its cable LAN side gets an IP address from the router's DHCP server. Here's what you can do:
  1. In your browser type in the router's LAN IP address (that doesn't change while the Asus is in AP mode, the Asus is completely transparent then); it's usually the "default gateway" IP address
  2. Search for the router's Status page and somewhere there search for "DHCP clients" or "DHCP status" (tab or screen)
  3. You'll probably find at least two clients listed, one is the PC from which you have setup the Asus earlier, and another, probably "unknown" client (the Asus apparently doesn't show a LAN host name to the DHCP server)
  4. Obviously, the "unknown" client must be the Asus in AP mode. Typing in the assigned DHCP address in your browser window will show the Asus' setup screens.
(This trick probably works with many other AP/router combinations, too. When you setup your LAN with fixed IP addresses this trick still works after the obvious modifications.)

A useful feature is that the Asus allows to have WPA authentication and WEP encryption at the same time using the built-in Guest account. Comes in handy as our laptops wifi adapters support WPA &WPA2 but my partner's PDA (a Fujitsu-Siemens with Windows Mobile 4.20) only supports stand-alone WEP encryption (it does support WPA authentication but only with 802.1x Radius). That issue is probably due to lacking functionality in Windows Mobile 4.20. Hacks and commercial apps for adding WPA to WM do exist, but I wouldn't dare to touch my partner's devices with hacks unless I get full consent from her *and* I fully trust those hacks. (My own PC's are obviously free game in this respect.)

As to keeping the Asus healthy, when "idle" it doen't get noticibly heated, but it feels warm though never hot after prolonged Internet use. I had little faith in the small ventilation holes on the back and up front, but the seller told me he has wrapped his one in kitchen plastic to keep it dry and it is still working after several months.

And then an unexpected extra bonus..... the (somewhat overly) bright blue LEDs provide for excellent nightly house illumination for my little daughter who sometimes gets out of bed in the middle of the night and is then scared of monsters, witches, big carnivores and what-not......

Conclusions

Keeping in mind that I've got and tried it only a few months yet, I think this Asus AP/router/repeater is excellent value for money. Its security controls are state-of-the-art, its setup menus and versatility too, and its size and portability are just what we needed.

Buy it if you have a need for a thing like this. My partner and I are very happy with it.

<>