Hawking Hi-Speed 54M Wireless G Router (HWR54G) Review

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(More customer reviews)I got this one as a replacement for a wireless D-Link DI-784 router that was glitchy and could not be programmed at all. And this was quite a change! While this router is not too sophisticated in terms of either available wireless security protocols or some other features, it has everything one needs to create a home network, and more.
Namely, compared to similar wireless routers from better known brands (DLink, NetGear, Linksys) this one:
1. Is PROGRAMMABLE. That is, it does not stop working or deos not develop glitshes when you change modes and parameters. (Many others present you with a whole spectrum of glitches when you start changing default settings.)
2. Supports any Internet connections, not only cable/DLS. You CAN use it with a leased line, you CAN connect it to another router with a static address, etc.
3. You CAN assign it a static IP address, and it works. (MOST others don't.)
4. It does support opening additional ports for your special applications (such as IP telephony - see below), and it works. (Many others don't do it properly.)
5. You can switch the DHCP feature off, and the router still works. (Many others don't.)
6. VPN pass-through works, and one can really connect to your work networks from home without glitches.
SUMMARY: I have successfully set the router up so that it currently supports 3 wired computers, 1 wireless, and a Vonage IP phone router. I couldn't do it with other routers from manufacturers mentioned above, because all of them were glitchy and actually could not work with static IP addresses and/or other routers and/or DHCP off, etc.
All wireless features work fine, and the speed/range are acceptable. One can use a long WEP key (26 Hexadecimal characters), and communication is fast and stable.
For those who are interested in configuring IP telephony: Vonage offers great phone plans, but it currently sends you a regular Linksys router of of its own with 3 RJ45 ports and 2 phone ports. So IF you have more than 3 computers and/or computers using wireless, you need to set up TWO routers to work together. And I succeeded in doing this with the Hawking one. Namely, I have connected the Hawking HWR54G to the cable modem, and it is the "primary" router with DHCP enabled. All 3 wired computers are connected to it as well as the wireless laptop.
The "secondary" Vonage router is connected to the primary one using a STATIC IP address (outside of the range used by DHCP). That way you can guarantee that it will always have the same address irrespective of the number of reboots. This configuration makes it possible to MAKE calls, but not receive them, because the system (primary router) doesn't know where to send incoming call data packets, and also blocks some of the ports by default (firewall function).
So I opened the IP telephony ports on the Hawking router and set up re-routing of these data packets to the Vonage Linksys router at its static IP address. Also, I had to open port ranges used by Vonage by adding these to the list of custom applications. Ports to be opened on the router/firewall:
69-69 (Vonage 1)
5060-5063 (Vonage 2)
10000-20000 (Vonage 3)
All three apps should be checked.
That way the phone works both ways, i.e. you can receive calls as well!
On the negative side, the only thing that I noticed was as follows: from time to time (once a day if you work intensively for the whole day) the router can "hang", and wireless networking stops working. As soon as you unplug it and then plug it in again, it reboots, and everything works fine. Nothing else is needed (no computer reboots). Generally speaking, this is quite a good result compared to some other models, and I can live with it. Recommended.


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Hawking Broadband Booster (HBB1) Review

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(More customer reviews)Pros: Works as advertised - makes better use of limited upstream bandwidth.
Cons: A bit black-boxy. Not a whole lot of info out there on how it works - some reviewers test it all wrong.
Despite the lack of solid information, I took the plunge and got one - and I'm glad I did. In my opinion, this is the most innovative home networking product I've seen since the first broadband router came out.
Installation was a breeze - all you do is hook it up. It is the size of a deck of cards with 3 connections (network in, network out and a tiny transformer). Plug it in and it tests your upstream line speed. About 30 seconds later, the 4 lights come on and the thing is up and running.
One thing Hawking did which is really nice, is the last LED goes from green (indicating standard traffic) to bright, super intense blue when the booster does something to optimize the network traffic. Let me tell you, once it is plugged in, you'd be surprised how much that light stays blue.
What this thing does is to prioritize outgoing traffic. Outgoing, you say. Who cares, right? That's what I said until I hooked this thing up. The small, outgoing broadband upstream pipe (usually 128k - 384k) is pretty overloaded with all the Internet-aware applications we're all running these days, and the pipe gets used pretty inefficiently.
The official press states that the booster prioritizes the traffic, so more "time sensitive" requests such as voice-over-IP, gaming and certain UDP packets are sent out first. Bumped to the bottom are the HTTP web page requests, FTP traffic and so forth. This is seems to do as advertised.
What was not advertised (and was quite surprising) is what happened when only ONE machine is on the network. We turned on my wife's computer and she connected to work via a Citrix connection - which is always extremely slow even when noone else is on the network. I shut down all the other machines on the network to ensure it was as slow as normal, then I installed the booster. When she reconnected, the booster's little blue light came on and hardly went out. The remote session became as responsive as working with a non-remote machine! Three days later, she is still happy. Now I'm just guessing, but it seems as if the booster is not only prioritizing, but is actually combining the barrage of small, outgoing packets of data into larger ones.
I didn't go crazy and bog down the network with a ton of artificial activity - plenty of other folks have tried that. I did fire up two more machines with browsers and my XBox Live. They had no effect on the Citrix session and my XBox Live session (voice and gaming) seemed a bit more zippy than normal.
A friend at work did some similar tests on his network and was equally blown away by the results.
Bottom line... I'd whole-heartily recommend this to anyone who:
1. Has more than one machine running on their home network. I'm guessing it would help a lot if you had kids doing any sort of file sharing.
2. Has a single machine performing a lot of Internet-related activity that you want prioritized (e.g. FTP's to the back of the line).
3. Anyone who runs remote connections a lot - I will definitely be recommending this to folks at work that complain about slow Citrix and Remote Desktop connections.

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Hawking Wireless G USB Network Adapter with external SMA jack, Apple Compatible - HWUG1A Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been waiting a couple years now for a wireless manufacture to "get it" and realize there is a market for a USB wi-fi dongle with a detachable antenna. For all the PC Card versions out there with detachable antenna, it's taken forever for someone to come out with a USB equivalent. Finally, Hawking has, with the HWUG1.
The version I purchased is the Macintosh version (HWUG1A). This comes with a driver from a chip maker called Ralink. Ralink has been doing a public beta with this driver for a few years now, and I was already familiar with it. It's in pretty solid shape now. I guess you could say it's ready for prime time. And now that Ralink are actually getting money for it directly from OEMs like Hawking, MacSense and a couple of others, the driver is likely to be maintained and kept in good condition through OS X upgrades. This is an important consideration because, unlike some other nework interfaces, a wi-fi dongle requires a driver apart from anything that comes with the standard Mac OS X install.
The screw on antenna uses the popular and common SMA connector. Hawking sells several omni-directional and directional antennas that are compatible. I have also attached it to a Cantenna which works very well. But lately my favorite solution is to add a Tritium Flatenna reflector. I like the Flatenna because it packs so flat and slips right into my laptop case with my papers. Ironically, the Flatenna doesn't require a detachable antenna. But I still regard this feature as important.
Overall I'm very pleased with my purchase. I wish it had cost a bit less. I have been able to purchase D-Link wi-fi USB dongles, that I was previously using with the Ralink beta driver, for as little as $20. I paid over $50 for the Hawking. Also, the D-Link comes with a nice, weighted USB stand and extension cable. The Hawking does not. But with the included, foldable antenna, there is less need of a remote stand base.

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Hawking HWDN1 Hi-Gain Wireless-300N Network USB Dish Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this last week and hooked it up last night. It worked perfectly for me. Installation was easy and I didn't have to make any adjustments to the settings. I am about 500 ft from the source and it is in a separate concrete building. While I am only able to get about 50% signal strength I think that this is great. I am going through multiple interior walls and two concrete block walls over a distance of 500 ft. With a normal wireless card it couldn't even find a network let alone one strong enough to get a good connection. I also have a friend that lives in a apartment that has WIFI at the clubhouse. She is two buildings away but has a window with a view of the building. She set the receiver in the window and was able to get around 40% signal. Considering that she got nothing before this is good. I would definitely recommend trying this dish.

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Hawking HiGain Directional Corner Antenna, indoor, 15dBi - HAI15SC Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a "deconstructive" review of Hawking's corner reflector. Basically I took it apart so you don't have to! BTW - I am an RF engineer, so I apologize if it gets too technical.
First let me provide a explanation of what a "corner reflector antenna" is. A corner reflector antenna is a very simple, but high gain type of antenna. It consists of a dipole antenna (a dipole is just a straight piece of wire cut in a precise way) and behind the dipole is an angled metal screen or plate which is called the reflector. The angle of the reflector is typically 90 degrees, which forms a corner and thus the name. The reflector focuses the signal so it is more concentrated, which results in higher gain versus a simple dipole.
Taking apart the corner reflector is straightforward, but it does take some time and muscle. I carefully but forcefully pulled on the gray plastic end caps. After some time, the end caps finally came off. This revealed an unlabeled, rather ordinary black "stick" antenna inside the white plastic pipe. It's probably a 5dBi collinear dipole. The antenna is connected to the coax cable via a panel mount SMA connector. I was able to remove this antenna, but it does take some torque because Hawking applied thread locking glue.
Based on it's construction, I have no reason to doubt the 15dbi gain claim. However, I seriously doubt the 90 degree vertical and horizontal beamwidths that the manual seems to claim. I guesstimate that 3dB beamwidths are in the order of 40 degrees horizontal and 30 degrees vertical, based on my experience with similar corner reflectors. This makes orientation MUCH more critical. If you are 15-20 degrees off, you could be losing half (3dB) of your signal! On the other hand, such a narrow beamwidth is a good thing if other people's AP's/client's are interfering. Any other transmitters outside of the main beam will be weakened, reducing your noise and improving signal quality.
Now to analyze the coax cable. The outer jacket is unlabeled white plastic, so you can't tell who made it or what type of cable it is. It's thin, about 1/8" thick . I cut off one end to see what's inside. The shielding is quite good. It's a dual shield, foil plus braid. The foil provides complete coverage. The braid is tin plated copper and has excellent coverage, probably 95%. The center conductor looks and cuts like pure solid copper, not copper clad steel. The center insulator (the dielectric) is a clear translucent, solid (not foam) plastic. When I soldered on an SMA pin, the dielectric easily melted! It's probably NOT teflon, but cheaper, higher loss polyethylene. Based on this, it's probably a RG-174 type cable, not the lower loss RG-316. Cables of this type generally have a loss of 0.6dB per foot at 2.4Ghz. The cable is 6 feet long , so you lose more than half (3.6dB) of your signal in the coax! Making a shorter cable and/or using better cable would help.
Considering how it's made, a lot of the negative reviews make sense. It's a 15dBi antenna, but you lose 3.6dBi in the cable so effectively it's only 11.4dBi. Plus if you don't point it within 15 to 20 degrees of your target (both horizontally AND vertically), you will lose even more signal. Used indoors, there is so much RF scatter that the actual direction of maximum signal can very often NOT be in the direction of the target due to signals being bounced around. You'll have to rotate the antenna in different directions vertically and horizontally to find the maximum signal. Used outdoors or in unobstructed area, just point it at the target and you're done. However, keep in mind that this IS NOT a weatherproof antenna, so don't leave out outside where the rain and sun will beat down on it.
Used properly, this antenna really shines. It provides a tremendous value for under $50. Antennas with similar gain will cost MUCH more.

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Increase Your Wireless Network Strength, Works with 2.4GHz 802.11b /g Wireless Standards, Extend your Network Range, Great for Large Conference Rooms or Open Spaces, East Installation (No Software Required).Main FeaturesManufacturer: Hawking Technologies, IncManufacturer Part Number: HAI15SCManufacturer Website Address: www.hawkingtech Product Type: High-Gain AntennaFrequency: 2.4 GHzGain: 15 dBiImpedance: 50 ohm NominalConnectors: 1 x Reverse SMAStandard Warranty: 1 Year(s)

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Hawking HSB2 HiGain Signal Booster Review

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(More customer reviews)I want to start by qualifying my comments - I'm a 16-year IT professional. I'm an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) certified from Windows NT 3.51 up to present (Windows 2003). I am also an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) had have taught Microsoft technologies for over 12 years.
The first thing to understand about the product line from Hawking Technologies is this: these are not Fischer Price toys. When you get into the arena of boosting signals of your wifi network...or extending...or repeating the wireless signals of your wifi network....you are dealing with intermediate to advanced technology implementation.
I am reading through the reviews on this product and there seems to be this recurring "expectation" by various people....that they are buying a fool-proof product that will install itself. Well.....that's not the case and these people bring on their own frustrations.
Hawking Technologies offers this signal booster product so that you can add it to your existing WIFI router. As such there is ALWAYS a chance of compatibility issues. There is no "magic way" to make a third-party product compatible with every vendor's router. That's just not realistic.
Still, I have recommended and installed this particular booster product for at least three dozen SMB clients (small-to-medium-sized businesses) throughout NJ and NY. I have had fantastic results with each application and have not seen a SINGLE INSTANCE where the product failed after a short time period (something I've read from some reviewers).
I have been recommending, installing and supporting this product for approximately four years now (beginning with the company's first version and now their revised implementation; which is almost identical).
Furthermore, my experience with Hawking technical support has been very good; compared to that of much larger companies (such as Dell....whom I believe have the worst technical support of any large technology vendor).
Perhaps Hawking has "outsourced" their customer service to a third-world sweat shop in India just as every other medium or large IT vendor has in the US. Don't get mad at the vendor for that, people.....get mad at your politicians and our country's legislation; which makes it profitable and financially practical for this scenario. Yes, I absolutely HATE IT when I have to deal with broken-English, non-professional and disgracefully underqualified customer support people in sweat shops. These people are earning ten cents an hour with no bathroom breaks....so what can we expect?
And with regard to the inaccurate owner's manual....well.....that is valid but NOT MAJOR!! Yes, Hawking needs to revise their installation manuals such that they are accurate and easily digestible. It's silly that they haven't remediated that problem yet; considering that the paperwork is for a best-of-class product. Still......this is ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY and people can't rely on a manual in order to make this product work for them. You may need an SMA to TNC adapter; depending on your application. Any local Radio Shack should have in stock what is needed to make it plug in. I suggest packing up both the router and the booster and bring it right to your nearest Radio Shack. Have the counter guys and gals gather up for you the couplings and cables that you need for connectivity.
What matters most of all is that this product is the best booster available for the price range and for the class of application (home usage). I have installed MANY of these into mission-critical business environments and have enjoyed outstanding results EVERY TIME.....WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
Additionally....someone mentioned a health risk associated with using this product at the maximum setting. RUBBISH!!! IN A PIG'S EYE!!! People really make me laugh. As one of my mentors once said....."The Internet is a cesspool of misinformation so beware". True indeed!
I have installed industrial, omnidirectional WIFI towers that emit a hundred thousand times the radiation as this product. These towers are only dangerous when a human stands right in front of them. From five feet away....there is no health risk. Thus, the notion that this small device is a health risk is complete made-up nonsense. Go ahead and put the device in the cage with your gerbil and it will live a long, healthy life.
Lastly....the noise that this device creates is so insignifigant....I can't believe how many people are complaining about it. You can only hear it when you're right on top of the unit so it will only be an issue if you intend on strapping the booster to the side of your head. If not (hopefully NOT!!!) there is no concerns about the noise. Put it in the corner next to your WIFI router and it won't bother anyone...I PROMISE!!
I do not give up five-star recommendations easily but Hawking Technologies is one of those companies that excels infinitely at their specialized market nitche. This signal booster is the "only show in town" and I whole-heartedly recommend it above all others. When you receive it and open the box, you will be immediately impressed by the obvious workmanship and engineering that went into it.
Not only will it improve signal strength throughout your home or office but it will improve your wifi throughput SUBSTANTIALLY in every way.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When you use a signal booster, you increase your SECURITY RISK enormously. Your neighbors may pick up on your boosted signal even stronger than their own indoor wifi router signal. You will have effectively offered your WIFI network to an extended and unwelcomed audience. Accordingly.....be SURE to revamp your wifi router's security. Use WPA instead of WEP if all your machines are compatible (WEP is, for all intents and purposes....fairly hackable). Use STRONG passwords for wifi access to your network. Be sure that your firewall is properly setup. Exercise as much security as is possible without compromising your network's functionality.
And stop thinking about it and buy this product. You'll be GLAD that you did (believe it).
PS: This is a purely objective review of Hawking Technologies' signal booster product. I'm not affiliated with the company. I simply call 'em as I see 'em.

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Hawking HSB2 IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-FiSignal Booster HSB2 Wireless Access Points

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