TP-LinkAC1200 WiFi Extender (RE300), Covers Up to 1500 Sq.ft and 25 Devices, Up to 1200Mbps, Supports OneMesh, Dual Band Internet Repeater, Range Booster

I've become a fan of TP-Link in recent months. I install internet for a living right now and I've been looking for a simpler solution to recommend folks. You can go blow huge money on mediocre mesh systems like the Orbi which will set you back $500 for a 3-pack these days, or you can buy a TP-Link router and buy a couple of these extenders and create a smooth mesh system that's low-profile and can get you up to 3,000-4,000 sq ft of coverage without breaking a sweat or spending all afternoon getting it squared away. If you download the Tether App from TP-Link, it's easy to get these extenders setup. Right now I'm not connected to a TP-Link router but eventually I'll probably replace my modem/router combo from my ISP with a TP-Link A7 or whatever their AX/WIFI-6 setup is because I like the idea of a mesh network but I don't like the restrictive nature of some of the ones out there. All that being said, this extender seems to get the job done. I still get hiccups and packet loss but I'm starting to think it has everything to do with my ISP's modem/router unit or my ISP specifically and less-so the equipment in my home. I have a 3 level home (2 main floors and a bonus room/attic at the top) and want quality wireless connections on every floor. I sat this extender on the 2nd floor and game and use my PC on the 3rd floor. I initially used the 5G band for the better speed but as I sorted through the settings on TP-Link's Tether app, I found that there's a "high speed mode" available. What I quickly found is that you can choose 1 of 2 things here: use the 2.4 GHz WIFI band from your internet source broadcast as a dedicated communication channel or a 5 GHz WIFI band dedicated to communicating with your internet source broadcast and then use the other band to connect your devices to. What that does (I happen to be familiar with this process - there's no real instructions) is create a finite connection over one band and throttle-up the other band for your devices to connect to. I used the 5 GHz band to create the modem/router > extender pairing for maximum performance between those two devices (they aren't that far away from each other so the 5 GHz band is fairly strong where the extender is) then I use the 2.4 GHz band to connect my Xbox One X and my PC. The results are fantastic for the price I paid for the extender. I ran a speed test on my Xbox One X and got 105 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 100% wireless connection strength, 0% packet loss, and 24 ms ping. That's solid performance given that my maximum download speed is 150 Mbps if the network is completely free of other users.You may or may not need to use the "high speed" setting and dedicate bands like I did, but I wanted my connection to be as solid as I could make it so I used the faster band to connect my extender to the internet and the "slower" band (2.4 GHz is slower most of the time) to establish high quality connections with my devices so I can move around more. I'm very pleased so-far. If anything changes I'll report back but I spent a couple hours testing out online gaming with my Xbox and it seems to work pretty well. A couple hiccups at first but the experience smoothed out quite a bit as time went on.

The product worked as advertised. I repurposed it to help out some friends of mine. I used the Tether app originally to set it up and it worked just fine. When I tried to use the Tether app to set up the extender for my friends, I could not get the app to work. Tried multiple times with no luck. I ended up calling Tp-Link Tech Support. I am so glad I did that. Our Tech, Remnard, was great! I would give him an 11 out of 10. The manual setup process has many steps to it. I guess that just goes to show how much is done behind the scenes when the app is working. Remnard was very patient and knowledgeable. He would give us instructions then wait until we were finished with his instruction to make sure we were on the proper screen. At one point, he gave us instructions then wanted us to wait on the next screen and to Not press NEXT button. Once we got to the proper screen, he then said the press the NEXT button. It probably took another 15 minues via the phone but his instructions worked and the extender started working. Thank you, Remnard. My friends and I are now happy campers!

As a disclamer, yes, I do have more technical knowledge and I am full-time in IT industry. Which may lead many to expect that I prefer more expensive brands of equipment to strain the best optimal performance per dollar. However, the budget and circumstances I am currently experiencing have made me decide on a lesser of two options.Yes, I have considered the google wifi mesh pucks, but, the always on microphone and the thought of google following me throughout the house bugged my paranoia senses and I opted for a piece of hardware that would put a focus on 'performing' rather than being 'innovative'.The current setup, the main house we live behind has a stock, all-in-one Docsis 3.0 cable modem with WiFi. Prior to the upgrade, we used a Linksys RE2000 WiFi extender. The previous extender 'worked' but tapped at a mediocre 1.8mbps down and 0.8 up speeds. This is part 1 of upgrading the wireless experience in the guest house as the construction for internet runs on a DSL connection (were too far for service) and satellite (too pricey for yearly subscription). After a few WiFi analysis runs, I found that the wireless signal would broadcast from inside the house to the outer rim of our pool (length of the pool is 55ft). We have an outlet on the outside of our house covered by a storm cover which is signal enough to catch a good signal (WiFi analyzer bars were in the green) and repeat both the 2.4ghz and 5.0ghz signal.Now -- onto the review of the device.The TP Link WiFi extender is an excellent purchase if you are looking to build a Wireless Mesh network for your backyard/backhouse. This device does not support a wired connection, which, considering most networked devices in the home run on WiFi, can be a good or bad thing. If you prefer for devices in the home with ethernet connections to be connected via ethernet, consider using a over power line device (carries the signal through your outlet). I considered a similar solution in my case, but the wiring and time involved did not justify the speeds. your mileage may vary.Since the AC1200 WiFi extender does not have an ethernet connection, initial setup requires a cell phone with a decent signal and the use of their TP Link tethering app. While I was skeptical, I continued with the setup, which requires patience on behalf of the end user. Registering, downloading, syncing and then connecting can take an upwards of 30 minutes. To shave some time off of the overall process, I kept my existing wifi extender up, connected to it, ran the configuration through the tether app, then swapped the devices. I tested the signal and found we had whole house WiFi for a 930~ sq 1 bedroom back house. I connected other devices, then with some minor adjustments, found that all devices were clocking in a decent 9~10mbps down and 2mbps up speeds.These are exceptional to watch HD streams with some loading, light browsing and downloading of pdfs,ebooks and moderately large files.A few options to consider, I am running this WiFi extender across a decent sized pool, with a Docsis modem that is connected in a closet on the inside of the main house. I'd estimate the signal from the modem to the guest house front door drops to 1 bar signal.A few things to consider:1. This is a WiFi extender, a powerful one for the price. You will not get 'excellent' speeds the further you are away from your main hub and bouncing multiple extenders off of each other will diminish the speeds. Consider using this for end-to-end coverage of a large home or to push the signal out of an older router/modem.2. Setup is simple enough if you have a few things on hand, namely your WiFi password, decent connection on your cell phone and a good position for the extender to be plugged in.3. If you are trying to extend the signal to another house/guest house please see below for some suggestions.Final thoughts & WiFi part 2After dealing for about 6 to 8 months with the old Linksys WiFi extender, I expected to see drops in video quality, bandwidth issues and below average connectivity. By plugging in this WiFi extender to 'upgrade' an existing device over 3+ years old, I nearly doubled performance and coverage in under a half hour. Considering that there is another family with wireless devices closer to the main router, part 2 of my project is to provide an entirely separate wireless router on another SSID to separate bandwidth. Currently, my thought is a single wireless signal hosting 10+ devices (4 laptops, 7 cell phones, 4 tablets, 2 smart t.v.s and 1 console) will continue to struggle unless another private SSID is utilized to better organize the signal. To do this, I opted for a TP Link AC1200 WiFi router, with a hidden SSID to connect the backhouse WiFi separate from the main home. Its in my experience that a 'guest' wifi and a 'internal' WiFi will have varying degrees of performance based on those connected to the signal so its my hope of a dedicated router to extender will improve not only the speeds but dedicated coverage in the guest house.