9258T Network AC Power Controller

Many reviewers have noted the poor English instructions etc. and it's true. This unit looks and feels very retro (in a solid way)...no plastic here, it's metal and has a very sturdy feel. Nothing pretty to look at here and it does not need to be. The possibilities are endless and it really depends on your creative usage of this product. Initial install is not the most pleasant, getting the IP address and changing it to your own static ip and port is your first priority. Since the real power of this device is the remote on/off capabilities, you need to setup port forwarding in your router and use something like DDNS to be able to locate your connection across the internet. Get the "Power IP Strip" app for android from the play store (well worth $3) and you have power control over 4 devices on the road. Remember that each outlet is capped at 6A, so that's the power limit of each plugged device, but that should be sufficient to control the type of devices you may want to control on the road. With the trend these days of app control of everything, this is a really great way to get control of non-app enabled devices. The primary function would be to reboot stuck routers, servers, hubs etc., but there are lots of other possibilities ....I'm sure you can think of some. Once you have some basic networking experience to get the initial setup going, the actual usage of this device is a no brainer (manual not needed).

I've used similar devices from known manufacturers such as APC in the past. They have always worked as expected.My goal was simple: Plug my modem and wireless router into the device so that they could be automatically reset when the internet was down. Most people are familiar with this problem - you have to reset your modem and/or router once or twice a month.I tested the device with a few lamps and quickly had it working. The interface is simple to use, but not designed for a novice.A few hours after installing the device I began to notice instability in the network. I finally isolated it to the devices connected to the IP Power 9258T. It appears that the quality of power coming from this device is poor and sporadic making sensitive devices have random errors. I cannot recommend this device - I've removed it and am trying to determine how to get a refund.After removing the device, everything returned to normal and all devices perform as expected.You get what you pay for - look elsewhere for your solution.

The other reviewers are correct that the documentation does not seem to have been written or even proofread by a native English speaker, and the same can be said for the box. However don't judge a piece of gear by its box. This appliance gives 4 individually controlled outlets and a web interface. It is perfect for what I need it for, which is to power cycle a couple computers that do not have remote management capability, and a video capture device which occasionally locks up.There are a few peculiarities and I would not recommend this for the tech-clueless. It worked fine with DHCP, except that in the web interface it did not reflect the correct default router. I don't know if it was a display error or an actual error in the firmware because I changed it to a static IP anyway. Also it has NTP time synchronization, but when you click the update button it only updates the time not the date until you log out and back in. But I have no regrets (at this price) over scratching my head for a minute at the initial setup. The web interface is functional - works fine in Firefox and mobile browser. Once you get this all configured, the interface is not pretty, but it's intuitive, and gets the job done. I did not open the CD that accompanied the product.I wouldn't put this in my data center, but for home use, it's functional at a great price.Tip: default login admin / 12345678. Now that you have that info you can trash the documentation that came with the unit.

UPDATE 5/16/2017: Dropped rating to two stars. This controller broke two or three years ago, replaced with a WebRelay product.------------------------------------------------------I've had this product installed and in use for several months and it does the job at a *very* reasonable price. Some of the others I looked at were priced in the $250 range, so this one is extremely price competitive.Based on an earlier review, I wasn't even going to consider a firmware upgrade and besides it works fine - I didn't see the need to update it in any case.It really helps to have some networking experience and capabilities when getting this controller set up, the instructions are typical Chinglish and not designed to walk the average non-techie user through the process.A couple of caveats -- you must use Internet Explorer to log in to the user interface, apparently the software developer(s) chose to use Microsoft's ActiveX for some reason. I hate when developers use ActiveX - then you are locked into using Internet Explorer; this is a big deal for me since I use Firefox. What's wrong with Java? Java is platform independent and truly universal in scope.- the login/password situation - the login is admin and apparently can't be changed. What really had me going is the password. The password must be exactly eight characters long. Not six, not nine but eight - this was a weird situation, completely unexpected, and caused me a bit of fiddle time.