ZyXEL Communications WRE 2205 User manual

Quick Start Guide
www.zyxel.com
WRE2206
Wireless N300 Range Extender
Version 1.00
Edition 1, 12/2015
Copyright © 2015 ZyXEL Communications Corporation
User’s Guide
Default Details
Web Address http://zyxelsetup
OR
http://192.168.1.2
User Name admin
Password 1234
SSID ZyXEL
Pre-shared Key 00000000

WRE2206 User’s Guide
2
IMPORTANT!
READ CAREFULLY BEFORE USE.
KEEP THIS GUIDE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
Related Documentation
•QuickStartGuide
The Quick Start Guide shows how to connect the WRE2206 and access the Web Configurator
wizards.
•MoreInformation
Go to support.zyxel.com to find other information on the WRE2206.

Contents Overview
WRE2206 User’s Guide
3
Contents Overview
User’s Guide .........................................................................................................................................7
Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................8
The Web Configurator .............................................................................................................................12
Connection Wizard ..................................................................................................................................14
Status ......................................................................................................................................................20
Tutorials ..................................................................................................................................................25
Technical Reference ..........................................................................................................................35
Wireless LAN ..........................................................................................................................................36
LAN .........................................................................................................................................................45
System ....................................................................................................................................................47
Tools ........................................................................................................................................................48
Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................................................54

Table of Contents
WRE2206 User’s Guide
4
Table of Contents
Contents Overview ..............................................................................................................................3
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................4
Part I: User’s Guide ........................................................................................... 7
Chapter 1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................8
1.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................................8
1.2 Securing the WRE2206 .......................................................................................................................9
1.3 Front Panel ..........................................................................................................................................9
1.4 The WPS Button ...............................................................................................................................10
1.4.1 WiFi Protected Setup ............................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2
The Web Configurator ........................................................................................................................12
2.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................12
2.2 Accessing the Web Configurator .......................................................................................................12
2.3 Resetting the WRE2206 ....................................................................................................................13
Chapter 3
Connection Wizard .............................................................................................................................14
3.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................14
3.2 Configuring the WRE2206 for Connection to an AP .........................................................................14
3.2.1 Selecting Automatically Detected AP Parameters ...................................................................14
3.2.2 Manually Configuring AP Parameters .....................................................................................16
3.3 Completing the Connection Wizard ...................................................................................................17
Chapter 4
Status ...................................................................................................................................................20
4.1 WRE2206 Status ...............................................................................................................................20
4.1.1 Summary: Packet Statistics ....................................................................................................22
4.1.2 Summary: WLAN Station Status ..........................................................................................23
4.2 Navigation Panel ...............................................................................................................................23
Chapter 5
Tutorials...............................................................................................................................................25
5.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................25

Table of Contents
WRE2206 User’s Guide
5
5.2 Connecting a Wireless Client using WPS .........................................................................................25
5.2.1 Push Button Configuration (PBC) ............................................................................................25
5.2.2 PIN Configuration ....................................................................................................................27
5.3 Connecting the WRE2206 to an AP ..................................................................................................28
5.3.1 Connecting to an AP with the WPS PBC Method ....................................................................29
5.3.2 Connecting to an AP with the WPS PIN Method .....................................................................30
5.3.3 Selecting an AP from an Automatically Detected List .............................................................31
5.3.4 Selecting an AP by Manually Entering Security Information ...................................................33
Part II: Technical Reference............................................................................ 35
Chapter 6
Wireless LAN.......................................................................................................................................36
6.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................36
6.2 What You Can Do .............................................................................................................................36
6.3 What You Should Know ....................................................................................................................36
6.3.1 Wireless Security Overview .....................................................................................................37
6.4 General Wireless LAN Screen .........................................................................................................38
6.5 MAC Address List .............................................................................................................................39
6.6 Wireless LAN Advanced Screen .......................................................................................................40
6.7 Quality of Service (QoS) Screen .......................................................................................................41
6.8 WPS Screen ......................................................................................................................................41
6.9 WPS Station Screen ..........................................................................................................................42
6.10 AP Select Screen ............................................................................................................................43
Chapter 7
LAN ......................................................................................................................................................45
7.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................45
7.2 What You Need To Know ..................................................................................................................45
7.3 LAN IP Screen ..................................................................................................................................45
Chapter 8
System .................................................................................................................................................47
8.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................47
8.2 What You Can Do .............................................................................................................................47
8.3 System Password Screen ................................................................................................................47
Chapter 9
Tools ....................................................................................................................................................48
9.1 Overview ...........................................................................................................................................48
9.2 What You Can Do .............................................................................................................................48

Table of Contents
WRE2206 User’s Guide
6
9.3 Firmware Upload Screen ..................................................................................................................48
9.4 Configuration Screen ........................................................................................................................50
9.4.1 Backup Configuration ..............................................................................................................51
9.4.2 Restore Configuration ..............................................................................................................51
9.4.3 Back to Factory Defaults .........................................................................................................52
9.5 Restart Screen ..................................................................................................................................52
9.6 LED Screen .......................................................................................................................................52
Chapter 10
Troubleshooting..................................................................................................................................54
10.1 Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs ......................................................................................54
10.2 WRE2206 Access and Login ..........................................................................................................55
10.3 Internet Access ...............................................................................................................................56
10.4 Resetting the WRE2206 to Its Factory Defaults ..............................................................................58
10.5 Wireless Problems ..........................................................................................................................58
Appendix A Customer Support ..........................................................................................................59
Appendix B Legal Information............................................................................................................65
Index ....................................................................................................................................................73

7
PART I
User’s Guide

WRE2206 User’s Guide
8
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
1.1 Overview
The WRE2206 (N) is a universal repeater that is an access point and a wireless client at the same
time. The WRE2206 (N) wirelessly relays communications from its wireless clients to the access
point.
Figure 1 Universal Repeater
Your can create the following connections using the WRE2206:
•LAN. You can connect network devices via the Ethernet port of the WRE2206 so that they can
communicate with each other and access the Internet.
•WLAN. Wireless clients can connect to the WRE2206 to access network resources.
Use a (supported) web browser to manage the WRE2206.
See Chapter 4 on page 20 for more information.
LEW
N
AP
WLAN

Chapter 1 Introduction
WRE2206 User’s Guide
9
1.2 Securing the WRE2206
Do the following things regularly to make the WRE2206 more secure and to manage the WRE2206
more effectively.
• Change the password. Use a password that’s not easy to guess and that consists of different
types of characters, such as numbers and letters.
• Write down the password and put it in a safe place.
• Back up the configuration (and make sure you know how to restore it). Restoring an earlier
working configuration may be useful if the device becomes unstable or even crashes. If you
forget your password, you will have to reset the WRE2206 to its factory default settings. If you
backed up an earlier configuration file, you would not have to totally re-configure the WRE2206.
You could simply restore your last configuration.
1.3 Front Panel
Figure 2 Front Panel
WPS Button
Signal Strength
Ethernet Port
Number of Clients Indicator

Chapter 1 Introduction
WRE2206 User’s Guide
10
The following table describes the LEDs and the WPS button.
1.4 The WPS Button
The WPS button can be used to begin WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), reboot the WRE2206 while
keeping it’s configuration or reboot the WRE2206 to factory default configuration.
Table 1 Front Panel LEDs and WPS Button
LED STATUS DESCRIPTION
Signal Strength 3 LED On The signal strength is 50-100%.
2 LED On The signal strength is 25-50%.
1 LED On The signal strength is <25%.
The WRE2206 is in the process of starting up.
Off No signal detected, disconnected or the LED is turned off in the firmware.
Number of
Clients Indicator
1 LED On The number of wireless clients connecting to the WRE2206 is greater than or
equal to ten.
2 LED On The number of wireless clients connecting to the WRE2206 is greater than or
equal to five, but less than ten.
3 LED On The number of wireless clients connecting to the WRE2206 is greater than or
equal to one, but less than five.
The WRE2206 is in the process of starting up.
Off The wireless LAN is not ready.
The number of wireless clients connecting to the WRE2206 is zero.
WPS On This remains on for 5 minutes after a successful WPS connection has been
established.
Blinking
Slowly
The WRE2206 is waiting for another WPS device to connect.
The WRE2206 is in the process of starting up, rebooting or resetting.
Blinking
Rapidly
The WRE2206 fails to connect to a router or AP using WPS.
Off There is no WPS connection established or a WPS connection has been
established for more than five minutes, or the LED is turned off in the
firmware.
Table 2 WPS Button Functions
ACTION RESULT
Push once or hold for
less than 5 seconds
The WRE2206 begins connecting to an AP via WPS. See Section 5.3 on
page 28.
Push twice The WRE2206 begins connecting to a wireless client via WPS. See Section
5.2 on page 25.
Hold for 5 to 10 seconds The WRE2206 keeps its configuration and reboots.
Hold for more than 10
seconds
The WRE2206 resets its configuration to factory defaults and reboots. See
Section 2.3 on page 13.
Push three times Push three times to turn off the WPS LED. After turning off the LED, the
WRE2206 disconnects the connection to a wireless client via WPS and
returns to the normal state.
The physical WPS button has priority over the WPS button in the Web
Configurator.

Chapter 1 Introduction
WRE2206 User’s Guide
11
1.4.1 WiFi Protected Setup
Your WRE2206 supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), which is an easy way to set up a secure
wireless network. WPS is an industry standard specification, defined by the WiFi Alliance.
WPS allows you to quickly set up a wireless network with strong security, without having to
configure security settings manually. Each WPS connection works between two devices. Both
devices must support WPS (check each device’s documentation to make sure).
Depending on the devices you have, you can either press a button (recommended) on the device
itself, or in its configuration utility or enter a PIN (a unique Personal Identification Number that
allows one device to authenticate the other) in each of the two devices. When WPS is activated on
a device, it has two minutes to find another device that also has WPS activated. Then, the two
devices connect and set up a secure network by themselves.
For more information on using WPS, see Section 5.2 on page 25.

WRE2206 User’s Guide
12
CHAPTER 2
The Web Configurator
2.1 Overview
This chapter describes how to access the WRE2206 Web Configurator and provides an overview of
its screens.
The Web Configurator is an HTML-based management interface that allows easy setup and
management of the WRE2206 via Internet browser. Use Internet Explorer 6.0 and later versions,
Mozilla Firefox 3 and later versions, or Safari 2.0 and later versions. The recommended screen
resolution is 1024 by 768 pixels.
In order to use the Web Configurator you need to allow:
• Web browser pop-up windows from your device. Web pop-up blocking is enabled by default in
Windows XP SP (Service Pack) 2.
• JavaScript (enabled by default).
• Java permissions (enabled by default).
Refer to Chapter 10 Troubleshooting to see how to make sure these functions are allowed in
Internet Explorer.
2.2 Accessing the Web Configurator
1Make sure your WRE2206 hardware is properly connected and prepare your computer or computer
network to connect to the WRE2206 (refer to the Quick Start Guide).
Note: Your computer or the part of your network connected to the WRE2206 must be on
the same subnet as the WRE2206.
The WRE2206’s DHCP server is enabled before the WRE2206 is associated with
your AP or wireless router and disabled after association. If this is the first time you
are accessing your WRE2206, you can configure your computer as a DHCP client
(computer factory default) so it will get an IP address automatically from the
WRE2206. After the WRE2206 is associated with your wireless router, your
computer will get its IP address from the wireless router.
2Launch your web browser.
3If this is the first time you are accessing your WRE2206, type "http://192.168.1.2" as the website
address in your web browser. This is the default LAN IP address. Alternatively, after the WRE2206
has successfully associated with your wireless router, type "http://zyxelsetup" instead of the default
IP address.

Chapter 2 The Web Configurator
WRE2206 User’s Guide
13
4Type admin (default) as the user name and 1234 (default) as the password and click OK.
Figure 3 Login Screen
2.3 Resetting the WRE2206
If you forget your password or IP address, or you cannot access the Web Configurator, press the
WPS button for more than 10 seconds to reload the factory-default configuration file. This means
that you will lose all configurations that you had previously saved, the username will be reset to
admin and password will be reset to 1234. The IP address will be reset to “192.168.1.2”.
1Press and hold the WPS button, the WPS LED begins flashing immediately.
2Release the WPS button. The WRE2206 reloads factory defaults and begins to reboot.

WRE2206 User’s Guide
14
CHAPTER 3
Connection Wizard
3.1 Overview
This chapter provides information on the wizard setup screens in the Web Configurator.
The Web Configurator’s wizard setup helps you configure your device. The first time you access the
WRE2206 Web Configurator, the wizard displays automatically. For subsequent access, click to
start the wizardsetup.
3.2 Configuring the WRE2206 for Connection to an AP
In this step of the configuration wizard, you must configure the WRE2206 with the security
parameters of the AP you want to connect to. These parameters can be configured by selecting
those automatically detected by the WRE2206, or by configuring them manually. Manual
configuration is useful when the AP is hidden.
3.2.1 Selecting Automatically Detected AP Parameters
1Select an AP using the following screen.
Figure 4 Wizard: Wireless Setup

Chapter 3 Connection Wizard
WRE2206 User’s Guide
15
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Note: The wireless stations and WRE2206 must use the same SSID, channel ID, WPA-PSK
(if WPA-PSK is enabled) or WPA2-PSK (if WPA2-PSK is enabled) for wireless
communication.
2Type a key. The number of characters accepted by the KEY field is shown in the following table.
Table 3 Network > Wireless LAN > AP Select
LABEL DESCRIPTION
Select Use the radio button to select the wireless device to which you want to connect.
SSID This displays the Service Set IDentity of the wireless device. The SSID is a unique name
that identifies a wireless network. All devices in a wireless network must use the same
SSID.
MAC This displays the MAC address of the wireless device.
Channel This displays the channel number used by this wireless device.
Mode This displays which IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless networking standards the wireless device
supports.
Security Mode This displays the type of security configured on the wireless device. When no is shown, no
security is configured and you can connect to it without a password.
Strength This displays the strength of the wireless signal. The signal strength mainly depends on
the antenna output power and the distance between your WRE2206 and this device.
Setup repeater
manually
Select this to setup the AP manually.
SSID If Setup repeater manually is selected, use this field to type the SSID of the AP. This is
useful when the AP’s SSID is hidden.
Refresh Click this to search for available wireless devices within transmission range and update
this table.
BACK Click this to go back to the previous step in the wizard.
NEXT Click this to start the next step in the AP setup process.
EXIT Click this to exit the wizard.
Previous Click this to see the previous page of APs.
Next Click this to see the next page of APs.
Table 4 Maximum Key Lengths
ENCRYPTION KEY FORMAT KEY LENGTH
64-bit WEP ASCII 5 characters
Hex 10 characters
128-bit WEP ASCII 13 characters
Hex 26 characters
WPA pre-shared key Passphrase 8-63 characters
Hex 64 characters

Chapter 3 Connection Wizard
WRE2206 User’s Guide
16
Figure 5 Wizard: Type a Key
3.2.2 Manually Configuring AP Parameters
If the AP you want to connect to is not listed, then follow these steps to configure the security
settings of the AP manually.
1Select Setup repeater manually.
2Type the SSID of the AP into the SSID field.
Figure 6 Wizard: Manually Typing the SSID
3Configure the security settings. The number of characters accepted by the KEY field is shown in the
following table.

Chapter 3 Connection Wizard
WRE2206 User’s Guide
17
Figure 7 Wizard: Manually Configuring Security Settings
3.3 Completing the Connection Wizard
1Click Next. The key verification screen appears.
Table 5 Maximum Key Lengths
ENCRYPTION KEY FORMAT KEY LENGTH
64-bit WEP ASCII 5 characters
Hex 10 characters
128-bit WEP ASCII 13 characters
Hex 26 characters
WPA pre-shared key Passphrase 8-63 characters
Hex 64 characters

Chapter 3 Connection Wizard
WRE2206 User’s Guide
18
Figure 8 Wizard: Verifying the Key
The following screen appears if the key verifies successfully.
Figure 9 Wizard: Key Verification Success
The following screen appears if the key fails to verify. Click BACK and check the key.

Chapter 3 Connection Wizard
WRE2206 User’s Guide
19
Figure 10 Wizard: Key Verification Failed
2Click Apply to complete the wizard setup and restart the WRE2206.
Figure 11 Connection Wizard Complete

WRE2206 User’s Guide
20
CHAPTER 4
Status
4.1 WRE2206 Status
The screen below shows the status screen.
Figure 12 Status Screen
The following table describes the icons shown in the Status screen.
Table 6 Status Screen Icon Key
ICON DESCRIPTION
Click this icon to open the setup wizard.
Click this icon to view copyright and a link for related product information.