Page 3 - Configuration and User Interface
While most users nowadays use routers from their internet service provider, there still is reason to purchase a router separately. Those who buy routers separately often look for ones with open-source firmware support, especially for those supporting the Linux-based DD-WRT firmware. There are some who even avoid a router altogether if DD-WRT cannot be installed on it. The EnGenius ESR580 does not have support with DD-WRT, so what does EnGenius have to offer in its place? To find out, you can start by connecting your device to the EnGenius ESR580. Unfortunately, the only way to set it up first is to connect one of the units to your internet connection. Afterwards, you must download the “EnMesh For Home” app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. After the setup, you can then use the web browser option to make some more advanced configuration options, so we will explore both.
Once you install the mobile application on your device, you can launch the application and set up your EnGenius ESR580 system. This will guide you through the setup and detect the first node. You can then set up the first unit. After this is done, you will be greeted with the main page of the EnMesh app. This shows the four main navigation points. You can also access these menus with the hamburger side menu at the top left corner. The page here also shows off a nice speed test metrics on the front page, which seems to run every time you re-enter this front page. Otherwise, a connection status shows off the number of devices connected to your Wi-Fi network as well as its Internet status.
Starting with the section marked Wi-Fi, you can modify the SSID, password, and the encryption type for both the primary and guest networks. You can also disable the guest network altogether. Unfortunately, neither of these can be enabled or disabled on a scheduled basis. In the advanced settings, you can modify the channel and bandwidth for each of the three networks. In addition, you can see we have the dedicated 5GHz mesh backhaul enabled on the second 5GHz network, but this can be changed here too. One thing that was a bit frustrating was the slow times it took to update your network for the configured settings, as it would take around three to four minutes after applying each change. This can be pretty annoying as it is unavoidable. I would have liked to see a global "apply" button instead to let you make all your changes before applying the changes.
Under the Devices section, you can see all of the mesh nodes in your ESR580 setup. As you can see, after setting up the first mesh device, you can add more in this section with the large '+' button at the top right corner. This will again guide you through a step-by-step process to set up more nodes. Afterwards, you can see all of the mesh units on the main page. This area will also give you tips about positioning your routers, especially if they are too close or far from each other. Under the advanced settings for each node, you can enable or disable the LED indicator light or Samba file server for each mesh unit. You can also press the WPS button here for the node. While I would have preferred a physical button on the unit itself, this is the alternative. Otherwise, you can restart or factory reset each node from this area. This will again timeout your app for around three to four minutes before it is responsive again.
Finally, there are three more sections to take note of. First, we have Parental Controls, where users can modify and apply rules or schedules to specific devices or to your guest network. You can set QoS priority and specific rules for each device. Under Rules List, you can create a schedule to enable or disable access to your network for each device. You can also add new rules for filtering certain types of content based on their URL. From here, EnGenius has split out three main filter sources, but you can also add custom URLs. While this is pretty basic in terms of rules or customization, I am glad to see them provide some sort of filtration. Of course, there are other hardware- and software-based options available elsewhere to protect your children from the shadier areas of the Internet that can be used in conjunction or as an alternative to this.
Under Diagnosis, you can view a better information about internet speeds and mesh node speeds. It will also show you how you have mapped your setup in a relatively basic way. Otherwise, in our final section, we have some typical Settings pages to modify Date/Time, information, and update the firmware. One annoyance I ran into while updating the firmware was that I could always only update the mesh unit directly connected to the Internet and not my secondary one. No matter how many times I ran the update, the secondary unit always showed up with the older revision of the firmware. The only way I could resolve this was by swapping out the mesh units so that I could plug the Ethernet cable into the WAN port to update it. This meant I also had to reset my mesh unit several times to get it functioning. While this will probably be a rare occurrence, I wish EnGenius included an easier way to update your firmware.
There actually is one more section in the application called "Advanced", but tapping it just redirects you to your web browser on your phone. As such, I pulled up my laptop to explore the browser configuration options. Once I did so, it was quite apparent that EnGenius is a bit of a step behind some of its main competitors like D-Link, TP-Link or Linksys, especially when it comes to the user interface. Most of these navigation pages are just a plain blue and white color scheme with walls of text. Worse of all, some of the features are only available in the app, while others are only available in the web browser. If they really wanted the web interface to be the advanced area, users should be able to make all of the changes on the browser and not just a subset of them.
The first page is the Home page, which shows off general information about the devices. There is quite a long list of information, but it is a lot of text to take in. The second page is Wi-Fi is where you can modify your network settings, though these are the same options as what is available in the app. The Interfaces section is split into several subsections. The first is LAN where users can modify settings for IPv4 and IPv6. We also have settings for the DHCP server here. Under the WAN and WAN6 subsections, we have settings to change the operation of the mesh router to operate as a router or a bridge. In our Routes subsection, we have the ability to setup the routing table. Finally, IPTV lets you enable or disable the IPTV functionality.
The next section is Storage with two subsections of File Sharing and IP Cam Recording. These names are pretty self-explanatory, but once again you can modify the Samba file server under File Sharing as well as enable or disable access from each mesh node. Under IPCam Recording, you can configure any IP cameras that are connected to the network itself.
In our third section, we have four subsections, but each are quite self-explanatory. This includes enabling or disabling Firewall, DMZ, DoS, and Port Forwarding. DMZ refers to a demilitarized zone on the router, though this setting is not a true DMZ. This DMZ host is one on the internal network with all the UDP and TCP ports open and exposed besides the forwarded ports. This allows users to forward all ports to another firewall or NAT device. In the DoS or Denial of Service Feature, you can prevent some DoS issues like the ones listed above.
Finally, in Tools, we have several subsections like Web Management, UID/DDNS, UPnP, Backup/Restore, Restart, Firmware, and System Logs. Under Web Management, you can see we can enable or disable secure HTTP access and remote access. UID/DDNS is where you can set up the dynamic domain name service for your network. Systems Logs stores all of the logs for the router, including errors and information logging. The rest are pretty clear by their names, but many of these pages are just single enable/disable checkboxes or selection boxes, which could have been combined into a single organized page.
Overall, the mobile app should suffice for most users in terms of common changes, but both the application and browser utilities are lacking in terms of polish and user interface. There are also missing features like an anti-virus or a fully-fledged firewall, as well as network disabling based on a schedule. The app also required restarts or timeouts throughout for settings to update, which felt very frustrating to work with.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Configuration and User Interface
4. Performance Tests
5. Conclusion
