Aztech Wall-Plugged Wireless-N Access Point (WL576E)

The office of the church I attend, was facing Wifi connectivity issues – some areas in the office had poor Wifi signal. I thought of adding another wireless access point (AP) there to boost the signal and lucky for me, there was a free LAN port available in that area.

Found this Aztech Wall-Plugged Wireless N-Access Point at a PC fair. It was suitable for the purpose and pretty cheap too – cost only RM75 (about USD23).

To get started, I plugged it into the power source and connected my notebook to the default Wifi connection from the device. I logged into the device settings from my internet browser.

IP: 192.168.1.1; Username: admin; Password: admin

Next, I created a separate IP address (under Network > Local) for this device so that it doesn’t conflict with the existing router’s IP.
(Once you do this, the AP needs to restart and you would need to use the new IP to log in).

Third, I created a unique SSID name (the name that will appear when you looking to connect to a Wifi network) and selected a channel (both under Wireless > Settings).

Using the Wifi Analyzer app on my Blackberry Q10, I checked to see which channels were less crowded in that area and choose that. (Note: If you are using the same SSID and password as your first AP, ensure that the channels are different.)

Sample screenshot of the Wifi Analyzer app

Lastly, I set a password for the SSID (under Wireless > Security) and changed the device admin password (under System > Password) to avoid anyone from logging into the device settings.

It worked really well and was very easy to set-up. I particularly like the compact size and the fact that it doesn’t require any power cables.

The signal range was pretty good for a small device without external antennas. To give you a rough idea, I could get 3 bars from about 55 feet away from the device (I was standing outside the office).

Like any other office, it had cubicles, doors and partitions in the way; the range might be different for you depending on where you place the device, and its surroundings.

WL576E on the job