EnGenius ESR1221N2 IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wireless N router up to 300Mbps

Pros: It looked cheap but time wasted for troubleshooting counts many more times.

Cons: It just died for no reason. Cheaply made.

Other Thoughts: No support available. Only sales people left. Posts on linkedin show that engineering team left the company last year. That would explain many mistakes on their website. Firmware update not working because file is for ESR1221 not N2. Dead links or they take you to smoke detectors!!! Official support forum - nobody reading or answering.
Total disaster.
Can forget about my money and hours of time wasted.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear JohnG,

We appreciate your time in posting your comments and feedback. We are sorry to hear about your experience.

We understand that you are having some issues with the ESR1221N2. We are currently in the process of updating our website and we appreciate you pointing out if there are any dead links. Our customer support team is ready and available should you decide to contact us. Rest assured we stand by our 1 year warranty for Engenius devices and 90-day warranty for accessories.

Please allow us to do some troubleshooting with you. You may reach us through our number at 1-888-735-7888 or e-mail us at support@engeniustech.com. Our support team would be glad to be of service to you.

Thank you for your patience and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Mike
Engenius Customer Support Team

Pros: it was cheap . . .

Cons: it was cheap for a good reason - it is junk.
it lasted 2 months - now it refuses to connect to the internet no matter what I try. firmware updates for this model off the engenius website are apparently all corrupt as the router refuses to install them (says they are invalid). So I'm back to my old Linksys WRT54G - which worked just fine as soon as I connected it - naturally.

Other Thoughts: Pray that Newegg never gets these in stock again - as no matter how cheap they are - you should avoid it. They do not work for long - and they aren't even heavy enough to be a paperweight afterwards! Stay far away from Engenius products.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Rich86,

We appreciate your time in posting your comments and feedback. We are sorry to hear about your experience.

We understand that you are having some issues with the ESR1221N2. We are currently in the process of updating our website. It would be great if you could call us so we can help you through the firmware update. We look forward to getting this issue straightened out right away.

Please allow us to do some troubleshooting with you. You may reach us through our number at 1-888-735-7888 or e-mail us at support@engeniustech.com. Our support team would be glad to be of service to you.

Thank you for your patience and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Mike
Engenius Customer Support Team

Pros: Works. See cons

Cons: Works most of the time

Other Thoughts: I have multiple routers running. This one runs at 150Mbps, the other at 56Mbps. Of course i never come close to either of those speeds, i do find that the EnGenius crashes more often than the D-Link. However, i push the EnGenius a lot harder.

Pros: notVeryEnGenius - Thank you for describing your ordeal. I tried the same steps except calling tech support. I guess that is out of question now.
It was reported on WRT sites that is repackaged WL-341 v2-003 except firmware header at bytes 7/8 has 02 02 instead of 01 01.

Cons: Some of us must have a version with different components. Firmware from official site will not work, aborting and reverting.
I renovating my network so 15 bucks router is OK for now. It will go to Goodwill once new equipment is set up.

Pros: Newegg price & fast, free shipping

Cons: EnGenius ESR1221N2 Tech Support or rather lack there of. My router will not update the firmware. This is the total response from ESR1221N2 Tech Support, 1, 2 & 3 ...

My first message identified the problem, specified were I downloaded the file from, what file I used and that I had re-downloaded and re-tried multiple times. I also asked multiple trouble shooting questions.

Response-1:
Hello,
Please make sure you only uploading the .dlf file only when upgrading the firmware.
Thank You

My reply/2nd message included:

"I have tried each downloaded and un-zipped file, at least twice, which means - a total of four files, with two or more attempts each, so, more than eight attempts. ALL with the same result:
"Abort ... Invalid file ... please try again ... reboot. "

I have tried it while connect with the included cable (which seems to work fine). I have tried it wireless. ALL with the same result:
"Abort ... Invalid file ... please try again ... reboot. "

So, I would like to know, what else can I try? What could the problem be? Is the router defective? Are the files offered for download corrupted?

I find it hard to believe that all four of my downloads are corrupted on my end - i.e. bad download and/or extraction. I have never experienced this before - certainly not four-of-four tries.

Other than not updating, the router seems to work. If there is some testing procedure, please let me know.

PLEASE, do not suggest that I "make sure you only uploading the .dlf file only when upgrading the firmware."

Please, do give me some other advice or suggestion to proceed with.

Thank you. "

Response-2:
2. Attached is the RMA request form.
If the unit is under one year warranty please include the invoice from where you bought it from with the RMA form.
Thank you

My reply/3rd message:
"I did not request a RMA. I did ask if the router could be defective. Are you telling me that it is defective?

I also asked if there was anything else I could try. Is there some testing procedure I can do? I do not want to return the router unless/until it is determined to be bad. I just got it, so the one year warranty is not running out.

I noticed the reference number, so I'm guessing you will have access to me previous messages. I would prefer to solve this problem, if possible, rather than return/exchange.

Thanks"

Response-3:
Hello,
If the router is working then why update the firmware. For some reason your your end it is not uploading the current firmware is why you would send it in for us to test out. If you want us to test out the unit please fill out the attached RMA form from previous email with a copy of the purchase invoice for us to keep it under the one year warranty.
Thank You

Other Thoughts: EnGenius Customer Support Team: "Our Support team members are more than happy to walk you through troubleshooting process." Clearly, in my experience, this is not true.

Despite the lack of help from Tech Support, I continued to seek a solution on my own. On their site I found a forum. I wanted to join the forum to post my problem. In order to join you must be approved by an administrator. I have yet to be approved. It may not matter though because on there forum, posted Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:42 am, is the following ...

"I am having a problem with ERS1221N2 firmware update

Postby tracerk13 » Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:42 am

I downloaded the firmware from the official website and tried to update my device but the page says the file is invalid.

I contacted support via email and they sent me a file but it doesn't work either.

Am I the only one having trouble updating this device?

Please help."

2-1/2 weeks and 0-replies!

So, draw your own conclusions. Personally, given my experience I would recommend you avoid all EnGenius products unless you are confident you will never need Tech Support - I know I will.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear notVeryEnGenius,

We are sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused you and we take your feedback seriously. We have addressed your comments to our team and we have escalated your case directly to the supervisor.

Sincerely,

Mike

Engenius Customer Support Team

Pros: Fast and compact device. It is really cheap and free shipping! Work as described.

Cons: Hard to set-up. I had to call support to figure out how to set it up and then everything went smoothly.

Other Thoughts: It is a great product for low price but it needs a better setup guide. I had to call support line; it was quick, I waited only ten minutes.

Pros: OK speed when it works. Decent signal strength. Wireless and Ethernet are solid.

Cons: The WAN port randomly stops responding after 4-6 hours, consistently. Not sure if any other units have this problem. I rarely torrent and do very little online gaming. I have only been running this thing on the network for about a week and the WAN port unresponsiveness continues. This is by far the weakest link in my home network infrastructure.

Other Thoughts: I have tried connecting the fiber line RJ45 into the WAN directly, and as I currently set up, I pulled out an old router and am using that as a dedicated gateway. It does the same thing in either configuration, so I assume this unit is the problem. I have tried upgrading and downgrading the firmware and resetting to default settings then reconfiguring multiple times, yet I still have to do a hard reboot multiple times a day to keep it functional.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear jhyry,

We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you. Please allow our customer support team to help you in troubleshooting. You can contact our support team at 888-735-7888 or e-mail us at support@engeniustech.com.

Sincerely,

Mike
Engenius Customer Support Team

Pros: The blue LEDs are nice but do not look particularly good with a white case.

Cons: Got unit up and running but noticed lags in response time and it looks like router has rebooted a couple times. Connection speeds should be max since unit is only about 20-30 feet from laptops (open air) but they are not. I can get max connection speeds with my other router downstairs at twice the distance. Since unit does not appear to be stable and I need it to be for work will be returning and ordering another one (different brand) like the one I have downstairs. Thought this was a good shell-shocker buy but it has turned out to be a dud.

Other Thoughts: The unit is very small. It is roughly the size of a bi-fold wallet but has no weight to it so if you use the wired connections on the back there is no weight to hold the front-end down. Also, the interface is basic compared to others routers I have used. One last thing. The specs say it supports multiple SSIDs but this is misleading. You can setup up to four SSIDs with different security parameters but only one can be active at a time so this is basically useless except for initial setup. I used it to setup an open SSID because I initially had issues getting in via the SSID with security and it was easy to switch to the other SSID just to verify wireless was working.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Midlander,

We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you. If you still have the router please allow our customer support team to help you in troubleshooting. You can contact our support team at 888-735-7888 or e-mail us at support@engeniustech.com.

Sincerely,

Mike
Engenius Customer Support Team

Pros: Fast Shipping from Newegg.

Cons: It Didn't worked at all.

Other Thoughts: I had worked with EnGenious products earlier which prompted me to buy this on newegg.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer, 







We’re sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused you. Please contact us at 888-735-7888
 or email us at support@engeniustech.com. Our Support team members are more than happy to walk you through troubleshooting process.

Best regards, 






EnGenius Customer Support Team

Pros: I got it under the promotion deal from Newegg, price wise is really a good deal. Use it to replace a D-Link G behind a Netgear cable modem/router, I did not use the supplied CD. WEB configured as an AP behind a Netgear cable modem/router. It works fine (when it does-see the cons below) with a decent signal strength compatible to the old D-Link. Configured for N only, wi-fi detect it as 270mbps device for 20/40Mhz and 130mbps for 20Mhz band and I got good throughput, same as wire speed to internet that is limited by the cable modem, around 30mbps. I have not tested the transfer rate between devices on the N-network yet to see how high the N actually run. Supports WPA2 and connects to all the devices in the house including several Iphone 5, laptops and blue ray DVD players with no issue.

Cons: Plastic shell is flimsy, instructions is not clear, no AP mode documented and as such, no warning not to use the WAN port in AP mode. Supplied cable uses only 2-pair (in case you want to use it for other gigabit Ethernet ports, it requires 4-pair cable).
The real issue is off and on it lost the connection to the cable modem/router; this is on the wire side. All the devices still connect to it on Wi-Fi, but show no internet connection. I have to either cycle power the Engenius router, unplug/re-plug the Ethernet cable, or switch the devices on Wi-Fi to a different router (Netgear cable modem/router) and switch back. The problem seems to appear after a long idle time, mostly first thing in the morning, or in the evening when we come home; once it is reconnected, it will work fine. I had the IP set to no expire on my modem/router and none of the other devices that connect to the modem/router exhibit the same issue so the issue must be with the Engenius. I am contacting Engenius support and if not solved, I will return the unit.

Other Thoughts: Wired Ethernet (LAN) seems to be a bit picky. All I did is swapping the D-Link out and put the Engenius in using the same cable. The D-Link had been working fine, but the Engenius would not show a reliable link. I had to shorten the cable (as the old cable had some slack), same cable but re-crimp the connector for it to work. With the problem mention above, I tested it with several different cables ranging from 6' to 50', factory made as well as home made, but the problem persists.