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Description
LED
•
Solid white
. 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.
USB 3.0 port 1 and USB
2.0 port 2
The LED color indicates the speed: white for Gigabit Ethernet connections and amber for 100 Mbps or
10 Mbps Ethernet connections.
•
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.
Ethernet ports 1–6
Table 2. Front panel button descriptions
Description
Button
Pressing this button changes the LED mode.
•
Mode one
. All LEDs stay on and blink.
•
Mode two
. All LEDs stay on but don't blink.
•
Mode three
. Only the Power LED stays on and the other LEDs are off.
LED
Pressing this button lets you use WPS to join the WiFi network without typing the WiFi password. For
more information, see
Join the WiFi Network on page 9
on page 19.
WPS
Pressing this button for two seconds turns the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz 1, and 5 GHz 2 WiFi radios on and off.
WIFI
USB Ports on the Right Panel
Two USB ports are located on the right panel. To access the ports, open the USB port cover as shown.
Hardware Setup
11
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Figure 3. A USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port are located on the right
Rear Panel
The rear panel connections and buttons are shown in the following figure.
Figure 4. Rear panel
Position Your Router
The router lets you access your network anywhere within the operating range of your WiFi network. However, the
operating distance or range of your WiFi connection can vary significantly depending on the physical placement of
your router. For example, the thickness and number of walls the WiFi signal passes through can limit the range.
Hardware Setup
12
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Additionally, other WiFi access points in and around your home might affect your router’s signal. WiFi access points
are routers, repeaters, WiFi range extenders, and any other device that emits a WiFi signal for network access.
Position your router according to the following guidelines:
•
Place your router near the center of the area where your computers and other devices operate, and within line
of sight to your WiFi devices.
•
Make sure that the router is within reach of an AC power outlet and near Ethernet cables for wired computers.
•
Place the router in an elevated location, minimizing the number walls and ceilings between the router and your
other devices.
•
Place the router away from electrical devices such as these:
•
Ceiling fans
•
Home security systems
•
Microwaves
•
Computers
•
Base of a cordless phone
•
2.4 GHz cordless phone
•
Place the router away from large metal surfaces, large glass surfaces, insulated walls, and items such as these:
•
Solid metal door
•
Aluminum studs
•
Fish tanks
•
Mirrors
•
Brick
•
Concrete
Cable Your Router
To cable your router:
1.
Unplug your modem’s power, leaving the modem connected to the wall jack for your Internet service.
If your modem uses a battery backup, remove the battery.
2.
Plug in and turn on your modem.
If your modem uses a battery backup, put the battery back in.
Hardware Setup
13
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3.
Connect your modem to the Internet port of your router with the yellow Ethernet cable that came with your router.
4.
Connect the power adapter to your router and plug the power adapter into an outlet.
5.
Press the
Power On/Off
button on the rear panel of the router.
6.
To change the LED mode, press the
LED
button on the front panel. Pressing the
LED
button turns off blinking.
Pressing the
LED
button again turns off all LEDs except the Power LED.
How Active Antennas Improve WiFi Performance
The growing number of WiFi devices in the home combined with the increasing demand for high-speed WiFi
connectivity, places extraordinary demands on the WiFi infrastructure. To meet this demand, many WiFi routers
now use external antennas and high-power amplifiers to maximize signal power and extend WiFi coverage throughout
your home.
Increased signal power on the router is important, but effective WiFi connectivity requires two-way communication
between the router and clients such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The client must acknowledge every WiFi
data packet sent by the router; otherwise the router resends the data packet. A strong signal from the router without
a corresponding boost in signal from the client to the router does not provide you with the full benefit.
Mobile devices continue to get smaller, while adding more features and reducing power consumption to extend
battery life. Since mobile device WiFi signal power and performance has not been improving, router technology has
evolved to find ways to compensate and improve the client-to-router WiFi signal. One passive approach to addressing
this problem is to add low noise amplifiers (LNA) on the router board to amplify the received signal. The router's
external antennas transmit the received WiFi signal to the router board. The issues with this approach are twofold.
Transmitting the signal from the external antenna to the router board reduces the signal strength and quality. In
addition, the router board injects noise from other components.The received signal deteriorates and noise is injected,
which reduces the efficacy of the received transmission.
Active antennas solve these problems. Active antennas move the powered amplification component (LNA) to the
antenna itself instead of using the router board. This eliminates signal loss during transmission since the active
antenna directly amplifies the received signal. In addition, since no noise from the router board components are
present in the antenna, the amplified signal is cleaner.
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The router receives a much cleaner and less noisy signal for amplification, significantly improving the received signal
and providing a clean, powerful signal that extends WiFi coverage and performance. Active antennas help reduce
the mismatch between the sent and the received signal by compensating for the relatively poor WiFi on the client
side.This WiFi improvement is seen across all devices-new and old but helps mobile devices the most, which present
the greatest connectivity challenges today.
Position the Active Antennas
The router’s four active antennas include a built-in receiver low noise amplifier (LNA), for high-speed WiFi connections
and excellent range. Both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz low band (WiFi Channels 36-48, and 52-64) use the active
antennas. The 5 GHz high band (WiFi Channels 100-140, and 149-65) uses the passive antenna.
The best position for the active antennas depends on the layout for your home or office.We recommend the following
antenna positions:
•
For a large single-story home (about 2,500 to 4,000 square feet in size), position all four antennas vertically and
place the router on a table.
•
For a multi-level home, position the two antennas in the center vertically, and position the other antennas at a
45-degree outward angle.
Hardware Setup
15

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