- Oct 9, 2002
- 28,298
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I'm doing tech support for a local ISP. We decline to provide technical assistance with home networking equipment because we would be expected to answer configuration questions instead of the equipment manufacturer. One customer was particularly upset because we could only recommend that she perform a factory restore, which she did, and now her Netgear wireless router is not broadcasting an SSID at all.
Connecting her laptop to the router with a network cable meant disconnecting the network cable from the cable modem; because she has only one network cable. The built-in Setup Wizard REQUIRES that she have the computer wired to the router AND the router connected to the modem through the WAN socket. This is extremely frustrating. I'm very familiar with configuring various brands of networking equipment and would have no problem setting the Internet connection type, configuring the SSID, selecting an available channel (anything other than 6 or 11), and configuring wireless security settings.
It is unacceptable that the built-in Setup Wizard REQUIRES two network cables to complete setup. What if I wanted a wireless local area network with NO INTERNET CONNECTION AT ALL and I was forced to subscribe to an Internet provider just to complete the setup for a wireless LOCAL network? What if there were to be no devices with wired connections (Nintendo Wii, PSP, Nintendo DS, etc)? What is Netgear thinking?
I had her bypass the Setup Wizard by typing in the URL: http://www.routerlogin.net/basicsetting.htm
"Wireless Radio" shows already as "enabled". We disabled that setting and also the "SSID broadcast" setting, applied changes, then re-enabled both and applied changes again. Still the router is not broadcasting an SSID and wireless is still not enabled. The setup wizard no longer intercepts her browser's home page, but it still forces her to go through it when visiting www.routerlogin.net, with no way to override/skip the part where demands a WAN connection.
I finally had NO choice but to have the customer come pick up a network cable from me and complete the setup the way Netgear intended.
I can understand that a router would ship with wireless disabled so that the user is forced to go through setup and is more likely to enable wireless security or choose a non-conflicting SSID/channel. However, the forced setup wizard only allowed the SSID to be changed and NOT the channel or wireless security! It also enabled wireless without telling the user the default config password or allowing it to be customized! This defeats the entire purpose of shipping with wireless disabled and forcing the user through a setup wizard. It should have asked for channel/security settings before enabling wireless. It should have allowed the configuration password to be set or AT LEAST revealed the default password so that the user could configure wireless security or choose a non-conflicting channel.
Why would hardware/software engineers be STUPID enough to create a situation where experienced users without an Internet connection or without a second network cable can't configure/use the device? Why would they want their own technical support to endure the problems that it would cause?
In case I run into this problem again with another customer, I would LOVE to know if there is a way to bypass the wizard permanently and enable wireless without an Internet connection.
One thing that I noticed is that it did not ask for the factory username/password (default:admin/password) when we bypassed the wizard with http://www.routerlogin.net/basicsetting.htm. Does anyone know if setting a password from there would kick the router out of it's vicious cycle?
Connecting her laptop to the router with a network cable meant disconnecting the network cable from the cable modem; because she has only one network cable. The built-in Setup Wizard REQUIRES that she have the computer wired to the router AND the router connected to the modem through the WAN socket. This is extremely frustrating. I'm very familiar with configuring various brands of networking equipment and would have no problem setting the Internet connection type, configuring the SSID, selecting an available channel (anything other than 6 or 11), and configuring wireless security settings.
It is unacceptable that the built-in Setup Wizard REQUIRES two network cables to complete setup. What if I wanted a wireless local area network with NO INTERNET CONNECTION AT ALL and I was forced to subscribe to an Internet provider just to complete the setup for a wireless LOCAL network? What if there were to be no devices with wired connections (Nintendo Wii, PSP, Nintendo DS, etc)? What is Netgear thinking?
I had her bypass the Setup Wizard by typing in the URL: http://www.routerlogin.net/basicsetting.htm
"Wireless Radio" shows already as "enabled". We disabled that setting and also the "SSID broadcast" setting, applied changes, then re-enabled both and applied changes again. Still the router is not broadcasting an SSID and wireless is still not enabled. The setup wizard no longer intercepts her browser's home page, but it still forces her to go through it when visiting www.routerlogin.net, with no way to override/skip the part where demands a WAN connection.
I finally had NO choice but to have the customer come pick up a network cable from me and complete the setup the way Netgear intended.
I can understand that a router would ship with wireless disabled so that the user is forced to go through setup and is more likely to enable wireless security or choose a non-conflicting SSID/channel. However, the forced setup wizard only allowed the SSID to be changed and NOT the channel or wireless security! It also enabled wireless without telling the user the default config password or allowing it to be customized! This defeats the entire purpose of shipping with wireless disabled and forcing the user through a setup wizard. It should have asked for channel/security settings before enabling wireless. It should have allowed the configuration password to be set or AT LEAST revealed the default password so that the user could configure wireless security or choose a non-conflicting channel.
Why would hardware/software engineers be STUPID enough to create a situation where experienced users without an Internet connection or without a second network cable can't configure/use the device? Why would they want their own technical support to endure the problems that it would cause?
In case I run into this problem again with another customer, I would LOVE to know if there is a way to bypass the wizard permanently and enable wireless without an Internet connection.
One thing that I noticed is that it did not ask for the factory username/password (default:admin/password) when we bypassed the wizard with http://www.routerlogin.net/basicsetting.htm. Does anyone know if setting a password from there would kick the router out of it's vicious cycle?
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