Question 1

How's the wireless connection in a 2 story home?

Accepted Answer

It works fantastic. I have mine located in the basement and I get great signal first and second floor of a 2 story home with 9ft ceilings. I will note that if you can see a lot of signals within your wireless range on your computer, you might have to log into router and modify wireless connection's channel until drops go away. The default is auto. I tend to see 12-20 connections and had to set mine to specific channel. Choices are Auto or 1-11 and you must click apply to see this change. Also to log into router if wireless connection is down, you most likely will have to do so with direct wired port using the Ethernet cable that comes with router unless you have some run in the house that is connected. Then of course you can connect on the house cable, just make sure it's plugged into one of the 4 ports of the router. I share all this info because one of my main reasons for switching routers before was because of constant dropped signals. Once I dialed in a channel that was not competing with one of the other Wifi signals, surfing was bliss.  Hope this helps.

Question 2

is this a modem?

Accepted Answer

No, it is a router for connecting multiple computer to your modem.  It connects to your modem, which may be provided by your Internet provider or you can purchase one from NewEgg.

Question 3

Does the purchaser of this device need a home phone & internet service provider, or is this device inclusive to the connection??

Accepted Answer

Yes, the internet is what it is designed for.  It will broadcast at the maximum speed of your internet provider all over your house.  We use it in our split level home.  It feeds five computers for five family members and it's the best router we've every owned.

Our internet provider is wireless, and has nothing to do with our phone service.

Hope this helps in your shopping.

Question 4

The specification says "Firewall: NAT, SPI"  Is this a hardware firewall, or is it a software firewall that I have to install on my computer?  Or is it a software firewall pre-installed on the router?

Accepted Answer

This function is provided by the router's firmware with options to enable/disable the function.

Question 5

I have a 4TB external hard drive I'd like to connect and use as a backup device. Does this device support 4TB drives on the USB3 port?

Accepted Answer

Sorry - I dont know
Quit Trendnet using after I moved

Question 6

Power over ethernet?

Accepted Answer

Has a lot of capability, but alas no PoE.

Question 7

Does anyone use this with a VoIP internet phone?  Any issues?

Accepted Answer

Yes...I use Magic Jack and it's as good as can be.

I think this model is worth every penny after frustrating experience with Belkin. It recognizes and connects with all my devices flawlessly.

Full signal strength range in my concrete block house is 35-50 feet. Dummy me didn't realize that the pass-code key is case sensitive.

Question 8

Is this product's security WPA2-PSK [AES]?

Accepted Answer

It is WPA2, and the other stuff will show up in the security menu.

Questions & Answers