Best Wi-Fi Boosters 2014

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prashB

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Jan 27, 2015
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Hi Tom, I use Wi-Fi at home, coffee shop and library and carry Wi-Fi booster around. Do you know of a Wi-Fi booster/extender that once programed to a Wi-Fi router saves its info and when configured to other weak public Wi-Fi router saves its info as well. A Wi-Fi booster than can save more than 1 router info in it. So that next time when plugged in within a range of 1 of the pre-configured router does not need to re configure again.
Example… the way our laptops store various Wi-Fi routers security info and when within a range just connects it.
Currently I have Netgear WN3500RP configured to my home. It works fine there. When I decided to take it to a coffee shop and use there had to factory reset it to configure it to the
coffee shop. I do not want to factory reset every time I configure to a new place.
 

dolandr

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Apr 26, 2015
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I just got this and set it up but it wouldn't see my 2.4ghz network at all! I had to click the text that reads "I don't need a second network". Will it not work as well because of that?? Also, is it supposed to improve speeds when doing a speed test because it didn't, in fact it got 32mbps versus 44mbps before right I bought it. Is there maybe a router setting I should do for it to see my 2.4? (I have a Netgear router)
 

Sonja_

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Dec 29, 2015
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Wow, RE6500 as best buy. You are very lucky or this paid review, no offense. I have that crap and it breaking whole network, DC every so, breaking connections between my devices and router, WPS not working at all. If you want more just go at Amazon and read 1 star reviews. There are no problem there I have not experienced. It even broke casting radio via router to Chromecast somehow. Could not listen more than 30 sec. Setup is story for it self, you can try same thing 5 times and it won't work, but 6th it will. It is like playing lottery, and yes, speed, my internet speed was dropped to 1/3 of my max speed, still RE6500 was showing that it is on perfect spot. DO NOT BUY THIS.
 

nasty62nick

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Jan 21, 2010
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18,510
I bought the RE6500 and got it set up without difficulty but was surprised to find out that it does not offer the option of using MAC address filtering on the extended network. There has been some discussion about using MAC address filtering on the router and virtual MAC addresses assigned by the extender to achieve this but I don't have any spare spots in my router's permitted MAC address list. My old Netgear extender had no problem using MAC address filtering but it crapped out on me six months after the warranty expired.
 

mr_dj80

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Aug 4, 2016
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I can't believe nobody has commented this yet. Your wifi range chart says the TRENDNET TEW-822DRE comes in second place with 150 feet. But in your review comment, you say it comes in third with 125 feet.

So, WHICH IS IT??? ;-)

I personalli am looking for a long range, but still cost/efficient wifi booster solution and was just about to buy the Trend 822dre based on your range chart.

But undtill confirmed, it seems I can't depend on the information provided! :-(
 

Nick_150

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Dec 23, 2016
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thanks tom for this article. Very helpful as I've tried 3 different extenders so far but not this one
 

kerumbo

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Jan 25, 2015
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The Netgear Nighthawk EX7000 rescued our changeover to gigabit wifi, which involved moving the router/modem to a different floor than my home office and past a weight-bearing wall. Throughput for the main floor's TV was over 250mbps, but my "work" computer upstairs was barely online. Our new "fast" wifi would have been worthless to me personally if not for the range and speed that this range extender gave me -- I got about 150 gigabits from the extender. Now the bad news: The EX7000 flat-out died in less than 2 months. I liked it enough to buy a second one, this time with the kind of add-on warranty that I normally refuse. So it was great, until it turned to crap.
 

optimisjoe

Prominent
Jun 7, 2017
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About a year ago, I looked for cheaper alternatives including messing around with my router settings and trying different antennas and after my second attempt, luckily, I found these ASUS Antennas on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PA1WCL4) that seemed to do the job perfectly. The reviews are pretty good and I would personally recommend them to anybody but nobody seems to be selling them on there anymore. I did find them on eBay however: http://cgi.ebay.com/122536401882
 

RichSad

Prominent
Jun 13, 2017
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Hey Tom, I moved to an office in the farthest corner of my house in the basement. My TP-Link AC3150 WiFi router couldn't be relocated and I had trouble with 5GHz signal strength. Based on the positive reviews I saw of TP-Links earlier Range Extenders I decided to go bleeding edge with their new RE650 AC2600. WOWZA. It effectively tripled my speed on 5GHz. It's an awkward shape. I got it on Amazon with a $20 coupon so paid $109. Okla speedtest reports nearly 3X faster on 5GHz and 2.5X on 2.4GHz with no noticeable degradation anywhere on the network. I'd encourage you to test this model in the future. I can't speak for distance or some of the other criteria you measure on, but as far as getting it done this thing works better than I could have hoped.
 

jwyantbusiness

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Aug 29, 2017
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I have some basic questions about extending wifi outside to a metal building. Do you get an antenna for the metal building so it can hear the wifi in the house or do you get an antenna on the house pointed at the outside metal building to transmit a strong wifi signal that can be picked up by a wifi access point in the metal building.
 

whitblauvelt

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Sep 18, 2017
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Don't know why you say the DAP-1620 needs separate setup for 2 and 5 GHz bands. I've had a couple of these (the first was flakey), and the only option it gave me was a single setup. It only connects to the main router on one band or the other, although when they both share the same ID it can sometimes switch between them. Then the 2GHz and 5GHz radios can be set to different IDs and passwords, if you like. But the setup is quick.
 

puffkit

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Sep 20, 2017
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tom....i need a bit of advice. we have a tp link c9 in our basement ......my wife's laptop (other end of house about 60 feet away and up one floor; passes by kitchen) frequently has lapses in signal strength. i was looking at extenders but am a bit confused about which would be best for my scenario. i think the best would be an extender that she can hardwire with ethernet and have it right next to her computer. i was looking at something like the tplink ac1200 extender but b/c the extender will be essentially as far away as the laptop i may need stronger antennas to pickup the c9 signal without losing much? in this case should i look for something that has a longer range as an extender? any recommendations for this instance. ......
 
Mar 13, 2018
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Informative article, I'm a bit behind on Extenders. If you have the money I would always recommend a Mesh Network System, not only do they give a large coverage area, they also provide a far more resilient network.
 
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