The Asus RT-N16 Router Firmware – Part 2, Advanced Wireless Settings

May 29, 2012

This article continues an overview of the standard functionality provided by the ASUS supplied firmware. The first article can be found at: The Asus RT-N16 Router Firmware – Part 1, General Settings.

The first article dealt with the General Settings, whereas this article will detail the more advanced router configuration options available.

The goal is to understand the router firmware provided by Asus and compare this with OpenSource firmware options provided by both DD-WRT and Tomato Firmware groups – two popular router OpenSource firmware groups.

Wireless – General

General wireless settings can be configured on this screen including the SSID and whether it should be broadcasted (public). Other typical wireless settings include the authentication method, WPA Encryption method and the encryption key.
Wireless - General

Wireless – WPS

WPS stands for Wi-Fi Protected Setup. It is enabled by default and simply allows a user to easily configure their wireless client to connect with the Wi-Fi network without having to manually configure the different security options required by your wireless router.

Typically the user simply needs to push a button on the front of the router and then enter a PIN number when prompted. The WPS protocol then configures the client device to connect automatically in the future.

WPS was designed to allow home users with very little knowledge of wireless security to be able to easily connect their client devices. Too many users would disable wireless security because of the complexity, so WPS provided a way to keep security enabled while yet making it easy for users to connect.

Recently, (December 2011) major security flaws have been discovered in the WPS protocol. If this is a concern for you then WPS should be disabled.
Wireless - WPS

Wireless – Bridge

By default the Asus RT-N16 router functions as a wireless access point. There is an option on the next screen to configure it as a repeater, allowing it to extend the distance of your Wi-Fi network.
Wireless - Bridge

Wireless – Wireless MAC Filter

An additional security option is to enable MAC filtering for your wireless devices. All Ethernet and 802.11 wireless adapters have a unique MAC address assigned to them in the form of 01-23-45-67-89-ab or 01:23:45:67:89:ab.

If you’re still concerned about the security of your home Wi-Fi, then you can enable MAC filtering which requires you to enter the specific MAC addresses of the devices you want to allow connecting with your network. Any other devices not specific will not be able to connect.
Wireless - Wireless MAC Filter

Wireless – RADIUS Setting

RADIUS is another server based protocol for authenticating wireless users. It’s most likely not in use with the typical home Wi-Fi network but it can be useful when a wireless client “roams” between different access points. Rather than having to configure the security of each wireless access separately, it depends on one centralized server to perform the authentication instead.

Again, this is not typical configuration in a home network environment.
Wireless - RADIUS Setting

Wireless – Professional

These are settings best left to those who know what they are doing when it comes to wireless configurations. “Enable Radio” however, does seem pretty straight-forward…
Wireless - Professional

Next Step

The Asus RT-N16 Router Firmware – Part 3, Advanced LAN Settings.

Return to the Firmware Overview: Asus RT-N16 Router Firmware Overview

Terry Parker - July 16, 2012

Can you confirm what settings I need for IP configuration when I plug the USB 3g router in?

I have the ASUS RTN16 (latest firmware) & a Huawei E585 3Gmodem/wireless router
The ASUS can detect all the settings from the Huawei but I can’t get the internet connection.

ASUS support just said to reflash firmware etc so they’re of no help.
Would you be kind enough to let me know what settings I should have?

The IP address for the Huawei is 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0
Its DHCP range in 192.168.1.100-200

I had tried settings the ASUS to 192.168.2.1/255.255.255.0
Its DHCP range in 192.168.2.100-200
Gateway 192.168.1.1

But that didn’t work.

So not sure of the correct settings.

Hope you can help (screen shots are great! :) )

Terry

    Craig - July 16, 2012

    Hi Terry,
    Sorry, I did not try using a 3g modem. Right now, I don’t even have the Asus firmware loaded, so I can’t even check it out.

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