Edimax Wi-Fi access point is affordable and powerful

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Product: EW7209APg 802.11g Access Point
Company: Edimax
Price: £35.49
Web Site: www.edimax.com

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I FOUND that if you're looking for an inexpensive yet powerful Wi-Fi access point of the 802.11g variety, you should consider the small yet powerful EW-7209APg from Edimax.

Chances are that if you are reading this and you already have a broadband connection, you already have a DSL or Cable modem, and perhaps a firewall/router for protection, or to share this broadband link among several computers. Then, all you need to get wireless is a 802.11g Wi-Fi "access point", to bridge your wired network with your notebook or any other Wi-Fi devices like PDAs or smartphones. Yes, 802.11"n" might be coming soon, but at this point, "g" hardware is the standard and becoming more affordable by the minute. The edimax EW-7209APg features five ethernet ports -acting as a hub or switch as well-, one detachable antenna, and a reset switch, LEDs on the front indicate link status and activity for each ethernet port, as well as wireless connection status.

Size compared to Edimax 802.11a AP.
Back view exposing ethernet ports and reset switch.

This is the second Edimax device in my arsenal, back in 2003 I reviewed the company's impressive dual Wan router, the BR6524. I expected something bigger, but after purchasing the EW-7209APg and opening the box at home, I found this wireless AP shares the same beautiful design as the BR6524, with the only difference being the Wi-Fi antenna on the left corner. To this day, my broadband link is kept up 24/7 by the Edimax BR6524, so that should be enough proof of the Edimax quality and reliable construction. Until now, when I wanted to connect without wires, I relied on a cardbus A/B/G adapter and my Netgear "A-only" access point, and the EW-7209APg gave me the opportunity to extend my Wi-Fi network into the more popular 2.4Ghz bad at a low price.

Configuration
After pointing my Firefox browser -and later SeaMonkey Suite- to the unit's default 192.168.2.1 internal IP address, you only need to fill in the ESSID to identify the access point, select a WPA key to secure your wireless link, and finally set the internal IP address of your "default gateway" -in my case, my Edimax broadband router.

Setup from Linux with my favourite web browser. No IE-specific code.

For an added layer of security, I enabled the "MAC Address Control" feature and entered one by one the MAC addresses of every Wi-Fi device I own. After I saved the settings, the unit rebooted and lo and behold, I could see the network from my Gateway 7422gx notebook, with its internal Broadcom "54g MaxPerformance" b/g miniPCI card.
Security setup. Encrypted WPA and MAC address filtering

Testing begins
For these tests I used the Broadcom MiniPCI card built into my Gateway 7422gx notebook, which in my experience has worse signal strength and reception than using my external D-Link A/B/G card with Atheros chipset. To make a long story short: I found that a single "g" Edimax access point covered my whole flat with excellent signal strength, giving me 54Mbps -"excellent" quality or five signal marks over five in WinXP's WiFi monitor- on almost every corner, even inside the bathroom, a feat quite impressive considering the EW-7209APg has a single antenna. It only dropped to 36Mbs on the farthest point from the access point possible on my flat, the edge of my kitchen near a window -and that is with no line of sight and 3 brick walls behind the AP -although the wood doors surely provide a big hole for the signals to pass through.

Good coverage with stock firmware. 4/5 signal strength
at the farthest point from AP, with no line-of-sight, behind 3 brick walls

The difference between the 802.11g AP operating at 2.4Ghz with my 802.11a Netgear AP running at 5GHz is impressive. With the 5Ghz kit, signal drops to 70% after having to pass through a single wall only, and goes to 50% on my living room. Yet, metal is the biggest enemy of Wi-Fi. When I took my notebook to the building's corridors, I found that signal from the Edimax AP dropped to two over five just after closing the door, and to "Low" at about 10 metres or near 33 feet -one signal mark in the one-to-five scale provided by WinXP. In short: my thick metal door is a great Wi-Fi blocker, I found out. One floor below, the network was not seen at all. Keep this in mind if you plan to install this access point on a home with two floors -or as Americans say, a two-story home. In such case you will then probably need a pair of these APs, one for each floor.

One of the most useful features is the "Configuration tool" admin page which allows saving -downloading- the current configuration to a file named config.bin. You can then use the "Restore" option to restore all parameters from the saved file. I am sure this would be of use for people setting up multiple APs with the same configuration. It is also handy to save settings and have a backup of your configuration in case of hardware failure or if you need to reset it to factory defaults.

Config Tool allows downloading a EW7209APg configuration into a file

The Good
Inexpensive, good signal reach for the average apartment, even with its single antenna.
Setup with a web browser is a breeze.
Linux-friendly, Mozilla/Firefox friendly. Its admin and setup screens are ActiveX-free and work with Firefox/Mozilla browsers.
Can act as a Radius server for authentication of up to 96 users.
The plastic case design allows "hanging it" vertically to a wall with two screws, or sitting on a desktop or shelf horizontally.

Open hardware, can use third party enhanced firmware for high-end features.

The bad
The company would really increase sales if it improved its U.S. distribution, specially on popular online retailers. And when I say so I'm thinking Amazon.com, for instance. A quick search on the site only gives a single Edimax Wi-Fi router, with no picture, and only available used. I've commented this to Edimax back in 2003 and I'll repeat again: the World deserves having Edimax kit widely available on Amazon.com giving often over-rated gear like Linksys some competition.

The Ugly
There's nothing ugly about the EW-7209APg. In fact, I think it's one of the best purchases I've made lately.

The Verdict
The good performance and reach, -even with a single antenna and tested behind two brick walls- surprised me, and the fact that source code for the firmware is available from the company's site under a GPL license is just the icing on the cake. As I mentioned in a recent article, third party firmware is available from a company in Brazil, offering high-end features like bandwidth throttling based on IP address, IPtables firewall, and the ability to tweak the transmission power of up to 400mw -the third party firmware company claims.

I give this unit four and a half Fernandos, in my personal one-to-five rating scale - or nine over ten if you prefer. Recommended. ?

Related reading
Linux spawns Brazilian Wi-Fi firmware for Realtek devices
Edimax EW-7209APg firmware source code (GPL open source license)
Brazil's AP Router (English web page)
Realtek RTL8186 datasheet (PDF)