EnGenius ECB3500 Review

click here for more information on the ECB3500

The 600mW ECB3500 is the newest indoor WAP from EnGenius this is the first indoor device with 5dBi antennas for EIRP as high as 2000mW.  Also a first is the dual diversity antennas to better negate multipath interference in tough environments.  Also note EnGenius dropped the - from the product name so it will be know as the ECB3500 going forward.  The ECB3500 also has 7 operation mode we will detail some below. 

In the access point mode you have options for 4 SSID's each one can be taged with a VLANID.   Traffic can be isolated between SSID's and also between stations.   Route your public traffic over one SSID/VLAN and Office traffic over another SSID/ VLAN.  Don't have a switch with VLAN tagging enable isolation to keep the traffic private between SSID's.

Want office users users to have access to each others shares leave separation disabled or enable for a public network.

Under advanced settings you have options for variable power output from 9 to 29dBm.  There is also a antenna selector for 1 or diversity (note: antenna 1 is farthest from the power plug).  So you could use 1 or 2 external omni antennas  or a single directional antenna (to avoid near far problem).

 

The ECB3500 has two repeater modes "repeater" mode is universal wireless repeater it can connect to any brand access point and repeat the signal.  Then there is a "WDS bridge" mode where you can connect to another ECB3500 as a bridge and repeat the signal.  In either mode you can also connect a wired network to the repeater.

There is a client router mode where the ECB3500 is in bridge mode and will NAT from the WLAN network to the LAN port.  This is a good mode for mobile applications so the LAN IP always stays the same.

The  ap router mode will NAT from the LAN to the WLAN port.  So the ECB3500 could be plugged into a cable / DSL modem with no need for a router. Once the device is switched to this mode you must connect to SSID engenius to manage.

You can see the detachable RP-TNC connectors and single PoE capable ethernet port below.

 

click here for more information on the ECB3500