6

AC1200 Smart WiFi Router with External Antennas

Change the WiFi Mbps Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Change the WiFi Password or Security Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Set Up a Guest WiFi Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Control the Wireless Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Use the WiFi On/Off Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Enable or Disable the Wireless Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Set Up a Wireless Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Specify WPS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Use the Router as a Wireless Access Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 11

Use VPN to Access Your Network

Set Up a VPN Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Specify VPN Service in the Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Install OpenVPN Software on Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Use a VPN Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Use VPN to Access the Router’s USB Device and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Use VPN to Access Your Internet Service at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Set Up VPN Client Internet Access in the Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Block VPN Client Internet Access in the Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Use a VPN Tunnel to Access Your Internet Service at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Chapter 12

Specify Internet Port Settings

Set Up Port Forwarding to a Local Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Add a Custom Port Forwarding Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Edit a Port Forwarding Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Delete a Port Forwarding Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Application Example: Make a Local Web Server Public. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

How the Router Implements the Port Forwarding Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Set Up Port Triggering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Add a Port Triggering Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Disable Port Triggering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Application Example: Port Triggering for Internet Relay Chat . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Chapter 13

Troubleshooting

Quick Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Sequence to Restart Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Check Ethernet Cable Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Wireless Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Network Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Troubleshoot with the LEDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Standard LED Behavior When the Router Is Powered On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Power LED Is Off or Blinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Power LED Stays Amber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

LEDs Never Turn Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Internet or Ethernet Port LEDs Are Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

WiFi LED Is Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

7

AC1200 Smart WiFi Router with External Antennas

Cannot Log In to the Router. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Cannot Access the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Troubleshoot PPPoE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Troubleshoot Internet Browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Changes Not Saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Wireless Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Troubleshoot Your Network Using the Ping Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Test the LAN Path to Your Router. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Test the Path from Your Computer to a Remote Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Appendix A

Appendix Title

This is hp1_head_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Factory Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

8

1

1.

Hardware Setup

The AC1200 Smart WiFi Router with External Antennas is compatible with the latest WiFi

devices and is backward compatible with 802.11 a/b/g and n devices. With simultaneous

dual-band WiFi technology, the router offers speeds up to 300 Mbps at 2.4 GHz and 833 Mbps at

5 GHz and avoids interference, ensuring top WiFi speeds and reliable connections. You can also

use the Gigabit Ethernet ports and USB port to connect local devices.

This chapter contains the following sections:

•

Unpack Your Router

•

LEDs

•

Rear Panel

•

Position Your Router

•

Cable Your Router

For more information about the topics covered in this manual, visit the support website at

.

Hardware Setup

9

AC1200 Smart WiFi Router with External Antennas

Unpack Your Router

Your package contains the following items.

Figure 1. Package contents

LEDs

The status LEDs are located on the top of the router.

Table 1.

LED descriptions

LED

Description

Power

•

Solid green

. The router is ready.

•

Blinking green

. The firmware is upgrading or someone pressed the

Reset

button.

•

Off

. Power is not supplied to the router.

Internet

•

Solid green

. The Internet connection is ready.

•

Off

. No Ethernet cable is connected between the router and the modem.

WiFi

•

Solid green

. The 2.4 GHz WiFi radio is operating.

•

Blinking

. The router is sending or receiving WiFi traffic.

•

Off

. The 2.4 GHz WiFi radio is off.

Ethernet LAN

ports 1–4

•

Solid

. A powered-on device is connected to the Ethernet port.

•

Blinking

. The port is sending or receiving traffic.

•

Off

. No device is connected to this Ethernet port.

Router

Ethernet cable

Power adapter

(varies by region)

Hardware Setup

10

AC1200 Smart WiFi Router with External Antennas

Rear Panel

The rear panel connections and buttons are shown in the following figure.

Figure 2. Router rear panel

The

WPS

button lets you use WPS to join the WiFi network without typing the WiFi password.

See

WiFi Connection

on page

14.

Pressing the

WiFi On/Off

button for two seconds turns the WiFi radios on and off.

Pressing the

Reset

button restores the factory settings. See

Factory Settings

on page

157.

USB port

•

Solid green

. A USB device is connected and is ready.

•

Blinking

. A USB device is plugged in and is trying to connect.

•

Off

. No USB device is connected, or someone clicked the

Safely Remove Hardware

button and it is now safe to remove the attached USB device.

WPS

•

Blinking for two minutes

. Someone pressed the

WPS

button on the router to join the

WiFi network. See

WiFi Connection

on page

14.

•

Solid green

. Someone used WPS to connect to the WiFi network.

Table 1.

LED descriptions

(continued)

LED

Description

Ethernet

WAN

Power

Power

(Internet)

LAN ports 1–4

connector

On/Off

WPS

button

WiFi On/Off

button

USB

port

Reset

button

port