vip007
| Uniden ENR-1504 router?
Has anyone heard of this Uniden ENR-1504 router/gateway? I got it last week from Outpost for cheap. My first experience with it are detailed below...
Well, mixed bag so far. Installation was easy, about 15mins. Had to replicate all the settings (port mapping, fixed IP tables, etc.) Some odd things that have happened since:
- I set may network print server to be fixed mapped, based on MAC. DHCP client lists shows it under that IP, but the server actually has a totally different IP. Couple of times this showed in the DHCP table, but at other times it did not. This may be due to the server itself (an old emulex netque.)
- My download/upload became sluggish. Don;t know if this is due to 1540 or my DLink voip DTA sitting in front of it all.
- Two times, right after reboot of 1540, I got this odd error message "Wrong version of firmware for DR-E640 Broadband router". Went away quickly both times, but this lead me to the OEM of this router, Delta Networks, »www.dninetworks.com/prod_BBD_fea···asp?id=8. Hmm, are they the ones who made/make those crappy DVD rom drives? Anyway, no firmware updates on their site.
- Finally, at one point the router stopped routing traffic to WAN. LAN worked fine, but no WAN access and also no access to the router configuration itself. Had to go down to the basement and do the old fashioned reset
I guess this is what you get for $6 (that's how much the S&H was for me.) |
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Danno
join:2002-12-17
Arlington, TX
| Yep, saw where it was $20 with a $20 rebate and almost bought one but saw they were a "preorder" item and not ready to ship. Just know that Uniden is well-known for phones and two-way but those business sectors are drying up on Uniden in fact they closed their major Irving Texas section back in 1999...appears they are venturing into low-end network equipment. |
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AJ023
join:2001-12-25
Forest Hills, NY
| reply to vip007
I was looking for a cheap router for firewall + NAT for single pc on cablemodem so I picked up one for $6 as well after rebate. I know that Dlink + Linksys also have their problems and alot of the cheap routers do. Ill post on how the router goes for me when I get it. Uniden cordless phones happen to be excellent quality only second to panasonic. So maybe they will come out with a firmware update to cure your problems. |
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AJ023
join:2001-12-25
Forest Hills, NY | reply to vip007
Ok I did some more digging. NetGear 614 also uses Delta as the OEM. I dont know if the Uniden ENR-1504 is equivalent to netgear 614 v1 or v2 so I dont know which firmware would be appropriate. |
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AJ023
join:2001-12-25
Forest Hills, NY
| reply to vip007
Ok confirmed: NetGear RP614 v2 is also DR-E640 Broadband router. So there you have it. Go to netgear website and/or ftp servers to see if they have v2 firmware. I dont know if the firmware can be flashed from the other unit though. I would assume it will work, but the question is whether it will accept a firmware from NetGear or if it checks to make sure its from Uniden. |
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vip007
| OK, I tried to load the RP614v2 firmware and, of course, it did not work (complained about wrong firmware.) I don't have time to play with it now but will do it next week---does anyone know how they register firmware to a specific manufacturer (some kind of ID string in the firmware file?) |
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shikux2000
join:2001-12-10
Stafford, TX | Where did you find the firmware for v2? |
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AJ023
join:2001-12-25
Forest Hills, NY
| reply to vip007
Ok I just got the router today. Seems to work fine right now with no problems. I do want to update the firmware, and your right, the Netgear firmware checks the previous firmware and sees it wasnt Netgear firmware. We need a hack here. Hmm. First of all Ill email uniden to see if they have any beta firmware of their own. |
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vip007
| The netgear firmware can be found on netgear's support site.
I called Uniden tech support yesterday about the MAC spoofing problem. They were clueless! Of course, they blamed it on me, my equipment, provider etc. The fellow I spoke with essentially did not know much about the router (did I mention they have not replied to my email request for support---it did say all emails are answered within 24 hours!)
Anyhow, I asked them about new firmware and he said there isn't any (but then again, he said I could just download it directly from their site into the router, if there was one!? Ugh, I love knowledgable tech support.) |
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vip007
| I guess I forgot to mention that MAC spoofing/cloning does not seem to work on my 1504. Tried it several times, both connected directly to my cable modem and to another router and neither would recognize the cloned MAC. 1504 was always identified by its true MAC. |
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AJ023
join:2001-12-25
Forest Hills, NY | Any ideas on how to hack the netgear firmware for use with this unit? |
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shikux2000
join:2001-12-10
Stafford, TX | reply to vip007
I had the same problem when I called them. They are supposed to call me back. This was two days ago. I'm pissed and i'm going to return this POS. |
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daifanshi
join:2003-12-15
Saratoga, CA
| reply to vip007
Re: Uniden ENR-1504 router? Comments...
I bought this router as a backup for my Webramp. A few things I discovered while playing with the router left me less than impressed.
1. There isn't any way to configure the router to "stealth" all the ports even though it does "close" them. Similarly, the router will respond to all ICMP (ping) packets. You can't set it so it doesn't.
2. MAC Spoofing does not work correctly. When setting the router for DHCP, MAC spoofing will prevent the router from grabbing an IP address with Comcast broadband. It seemed to be able to grab it from my other router on SOME occasions with MAC spoofing enable. In general MAC spoofing and DHCP are very flakey. By the way, PPPOE doesn't work with MAC Spoofing enabled either. (This shouldn't matter for most people.)
3. Dynamic DNS only works if you chose your domain to be "dyndns.org" regardless of the domains www.dyndns.org offers. This is a silly thing really.
These are my major gripes. The MAC spoofing issue is pretty serious and I wasn't able to get UNIDEN tech support to acknowledge it was a problem.
There are some good things to this router like price and general reliability. I can recommend this router if you have ADSL static or PPPOE but would stay away if you need WAN DHCP in any form especially if you need MAC Spoofing. The fact that all the ports can automatically adjust for crossover or straight cables is a real plus if you have a collection of unused ethernet cables.
The ENR1504 hardware looks to be generally sound but the firmware needs serious work. |
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Danno
join:2002-12-17
Arlington, TX
| That's a great review of the Uniden model. I almost jumped on the sale of $20 with a $20 rebate on the preorder, but I think I'll pass based on your review.
They make great phones, but their two-way radio biz went SOUTH...guess networking products is their new venture. |
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lowmazda
join:2001-05-21
Orlando, FL
1 edit | reply to daifanshi
Uniden Packet Filtering Screenshot |
Also, MAC spoofing works fine. Have you tried rebooting your modem after you have set the spoofed MAC? If you look in the 'System Information' section, it shows the Default MAC and the Spoofed MAC.
Overall. Great router for $0 |
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Hel
Goddess Of My Own Little Universe
Premium
join:2002-04-11
Washington, DC
clubs:
| reply to vip007
Re: Uniden ENR-1504 router?
I need an inexpensive router that will allow me to share a dsl connection between two computers, nothing fancy. I've got no problems setting up a firewall on each computer. Is this worth the $9 (after $20 rebate)+$3.95 S&H? I haven't been able to find another router for less then $15 including S&H, but I'm wary of buying this and then having it turn out to have been a waste of $. I can't seem to find much of any reviews of this router online, even amazon only has one, so it's proving very difficult to create an informed opinion. I have a Uniden phone, and it works well, but, a phone working well does not mean a router will.
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"Sugar and Spice and all things nice, to me are quite a mystery, cos women who are well behaved, don't go down in history."Hel |
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vip007
@68.38.x.x
| I don't think it's worth it.
I've just spent the last hour trying to set up this router (again, after a month since I removed it due to problems mentioned in my posts above) and I had to reset it to factory defaults, reboot it several times, etc (which is not the case when I set up my old SMC router.)
More than anything, I don't believe Uniden will provide good tech support. Their tech support is not knowledgable and responds slowly. They refused to answer the last question I sent them by email, arguing that I sent it from a different email address (this was a follow-up to a case) and said I would first have to call in and change my email address on their records. How pittyful! Finally, I doubt they'll be posting updates to router firmware any time soon (despite known problems, such as MAC cloning.)
Go with an established network equipment manufacturer (Netgear, Linksys, Dlink, SMC,...). You can almost always find a ~$15 deal on their routers (after coupons/MIR). |
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daifanshi
join:2003-12-15
Saratoga, CA
| For what it's worth, Uniden just released the v1.08 firmware for the ENR-1504 on their website. Not sure what it does since there's no change log.
»www.uniden.com/productsupport_do···=ENR1504
Hopefully it'll fix more problems than it creates. |
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vip007
| I guess I was wrong about firmware updates 
Anyhow, I just upgraded and have not noticed any changes. The version (1.08) date is Sept. 29, 2003. I have not tried to verify if this fixes the MAC cloning problem. |
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nekote
join:2000-12-16
Hopkinton, MA
| Just received mine. Upgraded to 1.08 .
MAC spoofing worked, when I specified the address manually.
Factory reset kept 1.08 upgrade.
Internal (natural) MAC address automatically (surprised me!) worked with Comcast.
Tested with Steve Gibson's »www.grc.com "Shield's Up" test service (All Service Ports).
Uniden ENR1504: 0 Ports Open, 1050 Ports Closed, 6 Ports Stealth
Stealth ports: 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 445
SMC7004BR: 0 Ports Open, 1 Ports Closed, 1055 Ports Stealth
Closed ports: 113
NO unsolicited packets were received, in either case.
--
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all other forms of government. - Winston Churchill |
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