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In an ideal situation, your Wi-Fi network will work without you having to think about it. However, Wi-Fi is not made in a perfect world. if your
You can work well in most parts of your home, but your laptop or phone will disconnect a certain area regularly, and a good Wi-Fi extender is the fastest and cheapest way to fix it. After more than 30 hours of research and testing, we found that the price is cheap
Will make your network significantly more reliable in a small area.
No cheap Wi-Fi extender will increase the speed of outdated routers or cover multiple blind spots in your home. If your router is good and there are still many areas to improve, we recommend you
the following. If your router has been in use for more than a few years, it is best to skip the extender and completely replace your network with a router.
.
TP-Link's RE220 is a cheap way to provide more reliable Wi-Fi coverage and Ethernet ports for your part of the home when you already have a router and wireless network.
*At the time of publication, the price was
$25
This
It is a cheap dual-band Wi-Fi extender that can improve the Wi-Fi quality and connection reliability of our independent routers in the test. In addition, it is easy to set up, small in size, and has an Ethernet port for connecting wired devices. The usual price is $25, which is a simple fix and much cheaper than major hardware upgrades. If you have one
, You can use the OneMesh function of RE220-when we tried it, using the TP-Link Archer A7 router was easier to use and improved performance. RE220 is not a panacea because it improves reliability at the expense of speed, but it is a quick solution to disconnect Wi-Fi connections in a small part of the home.
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TP-Link RE300 does not have onboard Ethernet, but it does provide better wireless coverage.
$35
It is larger than RE220 and the price is higher, but it provides more reliable Wi-Fi coverage with zero loss in our test. If RE220 is out of stock, this is also a good choice. It lacks an Ethernet port for connecting devices such as desktops or game consoles
, So it only applies to wireless networks. But RE300 has the same OneMesh function, if you have a compatible TP-Link router, it will make setup and management easier.
With Netgear EX7700, you can increase the speed and reliability of Wi-Fi in most homes almost like the mesh network kit, without having to replace the current router or cable gateway.
$124
If your router is only one or two years old and requires faster or more reliable Wi-Fi in an area larger than a room, the price will be higher
Better than a simple TP-Link extender. Unlike the basic extender, the EX7700 is like a mesh network kit that repeatedly sends Wi-Fi signals on the second network name (usually to ensure reliability and transaction speed prevails). It expands the existing network with the same name, improves the reliability and speed of the dead zone, and covers a larger area than the standard extender. Although the performance of the new mesh kit with matching routers and extenders may be better, compared to the EX7700, the cost is usually $100 less than our favorite made from scratch.
Another way to easily extend a Wi-Fi network is to use a powerline network kit, which uses a household wire to transfer data from one extender to another. Such kits may be more reliable than Wi-Fi-only extenders, but they also depend to a large extent on the age, quality and complexity of the house’s wiring. You can read more
If Wi-Fi is not suitable for your medium-sized home, a powerline network may be your best solution. These are the options we recommend.
If you cannot get a good Wi-Fi signal in some parts of your home or apartment, a wireless extender can help you. The Wi-Fi extender connects to your existing Wi-Fi at a well-connected location, and then rebroadcasts its own signal, thereby improving the quality of the Wi-Fi connection within its range. If you already have one
And just want to improve the Wi-Fi and boost the Wi-Fi signal in one or two additional rooms, the extender may just be the band-aid you are looking for.
Despite the name, a Wi-Fi extender cannot extend your network beyond the range. A good extender can reduce network latency within the current range and improve your web browsing experience, which is very useful for reflecting signals near obstacles such as elevator shafts, reinforced walls or foundations.
Extensions are an inexpensive solution that can easily solve a common problem, but they are rarely the best solution. Before purchasing a Wi-Fi extender, please consider replacing the router with
-Or with
. If you already have a good 802.11ac router, make sure to place it as high as possible and as close to the center of the house as possible. Plug in computers, streaming media devices, game consoles, and everything else that can be plugged in
-Or one
If you need more ports-reduce the number of devices competing for wireless connections via Ethernet.
If you’ve done everything but still have problems, a wireless extender may help. However, cost is the key-good
The initial price is slightly more than $250, and it provides more features, greater range, better roaming between access points, and higher performance. The cost of adding a Wi-Fi extender while replacing the old router is enough to make us choose a mesh network is a better choice.
In the past year or so, Wi-Fi manufacturers have been taking features from their mesh kits and applying them to Wi-Fi extenders. Generally, when setting up a Wi-Fi extender, you must set another network name or SSID (such as "routername_ext"), and then manually connect the device to that network name. As you move around the house, you may also have to choose which of these two networks to connect to. Grid-compatible extenders use a name for your network, which allows you to roam at home without having to manually disconnect from one network and join another. All this happens automatically, so after joining the network, you don’t need to bother to set it up. Some mesh-compatible extenders only work with routers from the same manufacturer, while others are compatible with any Wi-Fi router (even routers from Internet service providers).
One final warning: don't even consider not using 802.11ac extenders. Old 802.11n extenders are even cheaper, but when such extenders are running, they will greatly reduce the speed of all devices on Wi-Fi. In addition, for devices connected to the extender via Wi-Fi, this type of model provides less than half the speed of the basic router.
We researched various expanders with prices ranging from US$25 to US$150. We did not test any of the more expensive extenders (up to $300), because at that time you should definitely buy a mesh kit. When considering the model of this guide, we expect each device to have the following features:
Once we initially determined the list of all pure Wi-Fi and mesh-enabled extenders provided by major vendors in our three price categories, we checked Amazon customer reviews as well as those from CNET and SmallNetBuilder. This step provides us with six devices from ASUS, Netgear and TP-Link.
We not only tested the maximum throughput on a single New York laptop, but also used six laptops distributed around our New York test facility to simulate actual activity on a busy home network. The wine cellar of our office building is not only spacious, but also facing Wi-Fi challenges: masonry walls and gypsum board structures, open spaces, glass windows and metal frame doors. We used
(our
During the test) as the benchmark for the test; it is an excellent router used in small spaces such as townhouses or apartments, but in our test space, its signal is somewhat subtle.
Since these tests simulate real traffic, they are incompatible with things such as
, This is a manual testing tool that can move data from one machine to another as quickly as possible. We conducted similar tests on the latest version of the guide
Placing the equipment in the correct location is the key to the success of any mesh network. You should isolate them in a way that covers all areas of the home Wi-Fi. First, place the router in the office preparation kitchen in the center of the test space, and then connect it to the Internet connection via Ethernet. We placed each extender about 40 feet away from the router, in the lounge on the other side of the main kitchen of the office, within the "bubble" of the Wi-Fi signal sent by the Archer A7. Remember, despite the name of the signal booster, it cannot extend the signal beyond the original signal sent by the router.
During the test, there were only six laptops, and our wired controller laptop and Apple iPhone running the extender application (if needed) were the only devices connected to the test network. We did not disable any surrounding Wi-Fi networks or wireless devices such as Sonos speaker systems; these people have been doing their usual noisy things, just like they do at home. Neighbors and our corporate network also keep their Wi-Fi network running, which can see a dozen network names nearby at any given time.
Before using network equipment, upgrading the firmware to the latest version is essential to obtain potential performance improvements and security patches.
We separated the six client laptops so that they should naturally try to connect to the router or extender, whichever is closer, but we also group them close enough so that certain laptops can be used when necessary Can be switched.
Before the test session started, we updated the drivers on each extender, Archer A7 router and each client laptop (using Windows Update). After setting up the network device, upgrading the firmware to the latest version is essential to obtain potential performance improvements and security patches.
Our six laptops were tested as follows:
We ran all these tests simultaneously for a full five minutes to simulate the actual overactive time on the home network. Although your network may not always be so crowded, it is often very busy-it is those times when you are most annoying, so the experience is what we modeled in the test.
These tests also evaluated the range, throughput, and multitasking capabilities of the network. We connect each extender to the Archer A7 router via Wi-Fi, and then create an independent Wi-Fi network with a unique SSID. If the extender is compatible with the grid, we use a single network name (or SSID) to enable roaming between the router and the extender. We haven't covered most of the other settings, and you should be able to connect to Wi-Fi and make it work without having to constantly fiddle with things.
Since we are testing the extenders of existing routers, not the full extenders, we measure our results by improvements rather than original numbers. Before testing any extenders, we only used the Archer A7 base router to run the baseline test in exactly the same way. Then, when testing each extender, we subtracted the value of the benchmark test. This method allows us to directly show you how much each device has improved or reduced the performance of the test network from the beginning.
Although not the fastest Wi-Fi extender on paper, it has two advantages over the competition: In our tests, it significantly improves the performance of the Archer A7 basic router and is inexpensive. It also has a compact size, plugs directly into a power outlet, and has a 100 Mbps wired Ethernet port for nearby devices. The second best choice to improve the performance of existing Wi-Fi routers-our
Or our
-Faster than RE220, and maintain a more stable connection, but for most houses, a relatively small improvement, the cost of either of the two is about five times that.
TP-Link RE220
, Especially in keeping six laptops connected and satisfactorily providing analog video streaming and website services. Without the extender, our router disconnected almost twelve times during the test, but RE220 reduced these disconnections to a very small number. TP-Link RE300 and Netgear EX7700 have never been disconnected, but their improvements to RE220 are not enough to provide a higher price for most people. The network is down (for example, when you add more devices (such as a streaming box) to the network, and then the phone or laptop drops, and restarting is the only "solution"), it may be the most frustrating Wi -Fi problem.
Even though most people are considering increasing the speed of Wi-Fi by increasing throughput (or speed, usually in megabits per second or Mbps), reducing latency is usually more important. Latency (in milliseconds, in milliseconds) is the delay you experience while waiting for content such as web pages to start loading. When we compared the worst case of the tested extenders (that is, the case you might hate the most), RE220 reduced the latency by a few seconds compared to what you saw when using only the test router. This is enough to make you feel that normal web browsing has been greatly improved. Even the best hardware we tested (including Netgear EX7700) can only provide twice the cost, but usually only five times the cost.
Like most extenders, the RE220 has an onboard Ethernet port, although it only has 100 Mbps instead of gigabit (1,000 Mbps). When possible, it’s best to insert things like
Or plug the game console into the Ethernet port of the RE220 instead of letting them use Wi-Fi. If you want to insert a lot of things, you can use
Make them all fit.
If you are already using
Like Archer A7, enabling OneMesh on RE220 can further improve connectivity. Unlike the normal extender mode, the latter rebroadcasts your Wi-Fi network with the second network name, and OneMesh integrates these two devices like a mesh network system. All you have to do is enter the universal network name (SSID) on the phone or device, and your phone or device will automatically connect to the extender or router and choose between 2.4 and 5 GHz channels according to the most effective connection. When you When roaming at home. In addition, you can use the same interface on Archer A7 to manage the settings and firmware updates of the two devices. In our test, the performance was excellent when OneMesh was activated and not disconnected. The speed of running RE220 without OneMesh is slightly slower and the session is in a disconnected state, but on the whole, web browsing is more stable than using Archer A7 alone.
As in the case of Wi-Fi extenders, the addition of RE220 makes the Wi-Fi connection more reliable, but the speed is reduced. Overall, although the connection still has a faster response speed and less frustration compared to a connection without an extender, we think that improving stability is a good trade-off. If you have a compatible TP-Link router and enable OneMesh, the speed difference is less noticeable. But the mesh Wi-Fi kit even
If you want to maximize speed, it is a better choice.
You can manage RE220 (and other TP-Link extenders) through TP-Link's Tether application or web interface. If you have a manual, that is, connect to the extension, it will prompt you to browse to tplinkextender.net, then the connection is easy. However, if you forget the URL and want to reconfigure the extension within a year or two, you will have hope that your router will provide a "connected devices" screen to help you determine on which IP address you can find it.
After the connection is established, the Tether application or RE220's web interface will guide you through the process of connecting it to the Wi-Fi network of the basic router. If you don't use OneMesh, it will give you the opportunity to connect to the router on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands-although connecting to only one frequency band may be a better option. You only need to carefully choose which frequency band to perform which task to reduce some of the burden on the extender, because if you do, it will serve devices in another frequency band and will not bounce back and forth between the two frequency bands. For example, if you have an older device that can only be connected on the 2.4 GHz band, you should use the 5 GHz band for communication between the extender and the router. Conversely, if all your devices are on the newer side, you can reserve the 2.4 GHz band for connecting back to the router and let the extender broadcast the 5 GHz band.
If RE220 is out of stock, or you don’t mind spending a little more money,
Provides almost the same benefits. In our tests, it has never disconnected from Wi-Fi networks that have expanded in similar areas. RE220 has only dropped a bit, but each setting will be different, and because RE300 is expensive and lacks a built-in Ethernet port for wired connection, we still think RE220 is a better choice in most cases. Both TP-Link Wi-Fi extenders are compact plug-in models, and if you have a compatible TP-Link router, they both provide OneMesh support to provide better performance.
When we added RE300 to our test Wi-Fi network, during our entire test period, all six laptops had rock-solid connections without a drop of water. This result is better than what we saw from RE220. RE220 has shown a significant improvement in network stability, but during our testing process, the number of connections has decreased a lot. Both models are significantly better than the Archer A7 without an extender. Only the router disconnects again and again. This method will make even the most patient web surfers frustrated. Just like RE220, RE300 greatly reduces waiting time (waiting time for web pages to start loading), especially when our test network is busiest.
The setup process of RE300 is the same as that of TP-Link RE220, and using the TP-Link tether application should make it easy for most people to start and run the extender within half an hour. If you have a compatible TP-Link router, both RE300 and RE220 can work in OneMesh mode, which brings you the advantages of a mesh network, such as a single network name and higher performance. However, in OneMesh mode, RE220 is actually more reliable than RE300, so this is another reason why we recommend a cheaper model to anyone who has a compatible TP-Link router.
The cost is several times that of our other products, but if you have more dead spots in your home, or you want mesh features (such as a single network name) to work with any router, it's worth the investment. EX7700 is different from conventional Wi-Fi extenders. It can improve the reliability of the test network, but it gives up a certain speed, and it improves Wi-Fi in all aspects. Since it adds mesh functionality without changing the main router, it is also the best choice for problematic Wi-Fi if you must use a wireless network.
. However, if you are considering buying an EX7700 and a new router, it is best to use a dedicated router from scratch.
The EX7700 is usually five times more expensive than the RE220 or RE300, but in return, the Netgear EX7700 surpassed these two expanders in all our tests. Other extenders have improved the reliability of a small area at a certain speed, and compared with using the Archer A7 router alone, the EX7700 can improve the size, reliability and speed of our network.
With a reasonably priced router, the EX7700 can easily maintain its expensive performance.
. All six laptops reported above-average numbers in our tests, so even phones, tablets, and streaming boxes for the entire family should have strong enough connections to satisfy everyone. Like our best mesh networking kit, the EX7700 did not disconnect any connections during our testing. In contrast, our test router alone disconnected from the test laptop nearly twelve times.
High latency (basically just the latency of the network connection) is even higher than the original speed (in Mbps), which may cause slower browsing speed. Although in our test, a cheap extender like TP-Link RE220 can significantly improve latency, the EX7700 performs even better. Compared to the worst case, RE7's latency is reduced by nearly 50% compared to RE220. Although RE220 and RE300 exchanged some speeds in exchange for better latency, EX7700 both have been improved. Compared with the results of using the router alone, we have seen a 50 Mbps speed increase; this performance can shorten download time and help reduce buffering time when streaming audio or video.
The extra performance and price are partly because the EX7700 is a triple-band extender, while the RE220 and RE330 are dual-band models. Netgear has two 5 GHz channels instead of one, and the additional channels are dedicated to communication between the extender and the router, thereby freeing up other 5 GHz channels and 2.4 GHz channels to serve laptops and other devices.
In other words, if you want to replace the old router, or if you know that you need to expand the network in the future, we still recommend buying a dedicated mesh network kit. The same price as the router and EX7700, the mesh network kit can bring you more value. The kit has a unified management page or mobile application, which is much easier than two separate management pages or mobile applications (one for the extender and one for the independent router). Moreover, because all the components of the mesh network kit are designed to work together, they may be better than standalone routers with additional extenders when it comes to juggling equipment. In addition, it is more convenient to find and speak using the technical support of the dedicated mesh suite. If you find that the EX7700 and existing routers still cannot reach all areas of your home, it is a less ideal choice than the easily expandable mesh networks provided by manufacturers such as Synology or Eero.
In addition to evaluating the extension’s ability to cope with loss, we also tested how the extension can improve the browsing experience (in terms of latency). As mentioned earlier,
It refers to the time it takes between when you click the link and wait for the next web page, streaming video or file to be downloaded.
In our multi-client test, we studied the performance of the web browser connected through the extender under normal conditions (median value), and at the worst moments (75th, 90th, 95th and 99th hour) How effective is the percentile result). Through this process, we can determine how often and how frustrated your experience is.
Compared with the standalone Archer A7, TP-Link RE220 improves latency, especially when OneMesh is enabled. The browsing performance of the Netgear EX7700 extender is also very good. Mesh technology optimizes the connection between the extender and the router. In our tests, it ensures that all six laptops get the best connection, while having the least interruption and the shortest waiting time.
When we disable OneMesh to show how each TP-Link extender can be used with other non-OneMesh routers, the browsing performance will be slightly worse. TP-Link RE300 in our test is slightly better than RE220 when OneMesh is turned off. However, RE220 still improves the stability of the Wi-Fi connection in most cases, especially when the network has experienced its worst moment (as shown in the figure above, above the 80% mark).
The stacked median wait time chart above shows the typical wait time for each computer on the test network, giving people an idea of how the entire network will generally operate when multiple devices are requesting at the same time. Each color bar represents someone who is waiting for something to happen after clicking a link, while a longer color bar means more time to stare at the spinning circle or windmill. It is obvious why Netgear EX7700 is much more expensive than RE220 or RE300: Due to its third wireless frequency band and more powerful processor, when the network provides web pages, streaming videos and downloading files at the same time, its overall efficiency is higher. Overall, we found that its speed is similar to that of Synology and D-Link grid kits, which is one of the fastest competitors in our latest round of grid kit testing.
OneMesh-enabled RE220 followed closely, and its delay time was a few seconds longer than EX7700. The performance of RE300 with OneMesh disabled is worse. All of the above settings are faster than the Archer A7 alone, and this result proves how these extenders can help medium-traffic active networks. The test results of ASUS RP-AC55 show that it prefers the test laptop that downloads large files and transmits 4K video compared to the three test laptops being browsed. If you were web surfing on that network at the time, you might complain about long waiting times and "slow Internet speed". Netgear EX7300 ranks second from the bottom, and generally produces an unpleasant experience in the entire environment, and its delay time is much longer than average.
Although TP-Link RE300 maintained a stable connection during our test, once OneMesh is turned on, it will have a relatively long waiting time. In this mode, it tends to use the slower 2.4 GHz frequency band to communicate with the device and the 5 GHz frequency band to communicate with the router, which can keep the connection stable, but at the cost of a longer total waiting time. Waiting for less than 1000 milliseconds (or less than one second) for requested web pages is not eternal, but it is more complicated on many sites, and the experience will be much slower than using RE300 as a non-mesh network. Supplements. This result shows that mesh is not a panacea in all situations, so for now, we recommend using RE300 with OneMesh turned off. As for other models, when we tested the ASUS RP-AC55 and Netgear EX7300, the browsing latency of these two extenders both showed worse performance than the Archer A7 alone, thus ranking fourth in the worst-performing list.
Many interesting Wi-Fi technologies are about to appear.
, Also known as
Protocol, it will replace 802.11ac, just as 802.11ac replaces 802.11n. Wi-Fi 6 will bundle many new features that will greatly improve networks with a large number of active devices. However, just like the different standards in 802.11ac (such as Wave 1 and Wave 2 MU-MIMO or WPA2 and WPA3 encryption), most of these technologies are only under all or most of the clients (and routers) on the network Only effective) support them.
In practice, this means that you need a new router and a new extender to take advantage of these technologies, and once these technologies are available, they may be impractical in terms of cost. When a dedicated mesh kit can usually provide you with faster, wider connections and easier setup, it is already difficult to recommend an extender. We expect that this trend will only continue as grids become more mainstream and cheaper.
It is a large router-shaped Wi-Fi 6 mesh extender, the price is about 150 US dollars. It can be used with any wireless router, but may be best suited for use with new Wi-Fi 6 routers and Wi-Fi 6 devices.
D-Link has launched two Wi-Fi 5 extenders with mesh functions, namely
. The prices of both are between US$100 and US$110. Like the Netgear mesh extender, the two D-Link extenders are expected to be easier to set up and manage, and have a unified network name.
Like RE220 and RE300,
The Wi-Fi 6 extender can be connected to other routers, but it can work in OneMesh networks with compatible TP-Link Wi-Fi 6 routers.
Other extenders we have include Asus (
,
), D-Link (
), Linksys (
), Netgear (
) And TP-Link (
). They are a mix of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 5 options, most of which have mesh compatibility.
It is a selection from the previous version of this guide. It has been replaced by RE220 on the inventory list and our extended selection. Version 3 of RE200 can be updated (via firmware) for use with OneMesh. You can check the label on the back of the extender to verify the version of the hardware used. You can still find RE200 in some stores, but the price of RE220 is a few dollars cheaper.
, It supports AiMesh of Asus, which lags behind in our performance test. Moreover, compared with TP-Link RE300 and RE220, its price is too high.
As one of the cheapest (about $90) mesh extender that can be used with all routers, it shows promise. However, in terms of performance, it fell in the middle of the package, and since it was still expensive compared to our choice, we eliminated it.
About $120,
A mesh extender priced and positioned between the EX6250 and the router-like EX7700. In our performance test, the effect is not good.
There are four Ethernet ports, and with
, We used to be the first choice in the mesh networking toolkit. However, its price (approximately $170) and features are very close to a complete mesh network kit or a mesh base router, so if you consider this model, we recommend that you only replace the poorly performing router with a mesh kit . instead.
We also studied and considered more than a dozen expanders from Amped Wireless, AmpliFi, Asus, D-Link, Edimax, Linksys, Netgear, Tenda and Zyxel. These models either did not meet our requirements, were discontinued by the manufacturer, or were deleted in the previous version of this guide.
In fact, it downloaded a 1 MB file over and over again. The test measures throughput and speed, and more importantly, imposes a constant load on the router that must be resolved by other devices on the network.
Joel Santo Domingo
Joel Santo Domingo is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, responsible for networking and storage. In the 17 years before this, he tested and reviewed more than 1,000 PCs and technical equipment for PCMag and other sites. After Joel answered many "what's good?", he was attracted by service journalism. Problems encountered as IT managers and technicians.
after
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