Square WPS button light colours on Zyxel NR5103E

[Limera]

Hi All,

As far as I know, for as long as i've had the Zyxel NR5103E, the square WPS button on the front of the device has always had a green light framing it.  What colour is yours showing and what do the colours represent?  This past few days i've seen it red and as I write it is yellow.  Has a minor patch changed something?  This week i've had some issues with my connection in general, barely holding onto weak 5g and often dipping out to 4g which isn't it's usual behavior but I don't know if that is relevant to this WPS button frame colour.  I've never so much as set up a device using WPS so it's nothing i've done with WPS settings.

[Tommo501]

good morning all - i have had mine for a little ov er a week now and it was Green after the initial setup for some time - i made some connections with other devices (a Ubiquiti UDR) and  the green light is no more. we had a power failure for around an hour and when the power resumed the green light was on again - everything booted back up and was working fine, now toiday the light has been extinguished. any ideas??

John T

[JonathanB]

Hey @Tommo501,

Have you noticed any issues with the connection itself like @Limera mentioned? Have you tried a factory reset, or been given any advice from customer services?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Limera]

Hi @Bob , was just dabbling with turning my own WPS off and noticed that if you don't have the "Keep the same settings for 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi networks" option ticked, but want to ensure WPS is off for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels, then the menus are a bit clunky.

You need to go to Network Settings - Wireless - General and select the 2.4GHz band then go to the WPS tab and switch off and apply WPS, then go back to Network Settings - Wireless - General and select the 5GHz band then go to the WPS tab and switch off and apply WPS once again.  This disables it for both.

[Limera]

Cheers @Bob, It's still lit red today but I've no idea why.  Regarding WPS (which i'm doubting my red light issue is anything to do with) I never use it myself.  Unsure of any risks or vulnerabilities in using WPS but if any the risks would be contained to any persons in physical contact with your router i'd guess.  With the Zyxel NR5103E you can turn WPS off completely in Network Settings - Wireless - WPS

Have a good evening

[JonathanB]

@Limera sorry I just saw that you'd already answered @Bob, thanks for confirming this! 🙂

[Bob]

Mines only ever been green. I was under the impression that the WPS is not a secure method of connecting to devices? I am looking to turn it off, can this be done in the router settings?

Also would love to be able to get rid of the bright light too!

[JonathanB]

Hi @Bob,

To my knowledge it's only insecure, in the sense that someone with access to the router can press the WPS button to connect. 

I've had a look and there might be an option to disable this based on some support info from Zyxel.

In the router settings is there a Network Settings>Wireless>WPS section?

Can you see an enable WPS setting that you can disable there?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[JonathanB]

Hi @Limera,

Yeah that light should just be green from what I've read. It may blink fast if data is being sent or received, and if you were to make a WPS connection it'll blink slowly for a little while as it establishes the connection.

Has this issue been coming back intermittently or has it stayed green since you last posted?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Limera]

I just checked now as I read your Email and it so happens it is red.  I don't know whether it is related but i've noticed that there are no icons visible on the top of the device right now.  The signal strength, 5G indicator, even power is all just unlit whilst the WPS frame is red.