Still, the performance was solid across the board, and strong enough for me to take video calls in the Smart Home's basement dead zones, something I would have struggled with using just the single router I ran my tests on. The only thing keeping me from saying that the two finished in a virtual tie is that the RE7310 was slightly less impressive with earlier-gen Wi-Fi 5 devices, particularly with respect to upload speeds. As for the uploads, Linksys finished with an average whole-home speed to my Wi-Fi 6 test device of 124Mbps. That's only 4Mbps behind that top pick from TP-Link. In the CNET Smart Home, where we have a fiber internet plan with uploads and downloads of up to 150Mbps, the RE7310 returned average Wi-Fi 6 downloads throughout the entire multistory house of 132Mbps. TP-Link took the top spot in 2022, but the Linksys RE7310 was very close behind it, and would be almost equally as good on most home networks. All of that makes this extender an easy recommendation. That's better than extenders that put out an unsecured network by default - and if you use the app to delete that "-EXT" bit, it'll automatically sync up with your original network and work invisibly to keep you better connected, which is ideal.
#Wireless repeater vs extender password#
Throughout the entire 5,800-square-foot-home, among all the extenders I tested, the RE605X delivered the fastest average upload speeds to both Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 devices, the fastest average download speeds to Wi-Fi 6 devices and the second fastest average download speeds to Wi-Fi 5 devices.īy default, the extender puts out its own separate network when you first pair it with your router, and that network will use the same password as your original network, and the same SSID with "-EXT" added to the end. In my tests at the CNET Smart Home, an RE605X in the basement was able to extend the router's signal from upstairs just fine, giving my upload and download speeds a significant boost in every room I tested. The performance is particularly sharp, too.
#Wireless repeater vs extender full#
At $100, it's far from the most affordable extender on the market (keep reading for the value picks), but with a highly capable AX1800 design, full support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 speeds and features, adjustable antennas and a helpful, easy-to-use control app with strong reviews on both Android and iOS, it's about as well-rounded as range extenders get. If you're buying one in 2022, I think you should put the TP-Link RE605X right at the top of your list. TP-Link makes some of the most popular picks in the range extender category, with a fairly wide variety of options to choose from at various price points. That creates a single, seamless connection that you won't need to think about too much. All of today's top models are less expensive than upgrading to a full-fledged mesh router with its own range-extending satellite devices, they're a cinch to set up, they'll work no matter what brand of router you're using and in most cases it's easy to give them the same SSID and password as your original router. Plug one in near the edge of your router's wireless range and pair it with the network, and it'll start rebroadcasting the signal farther out into your home.
However, there are plenty of devices out there that can help boost the range of your home's router, and we've rounded up some of the best Wi-Fi extender options on the market right now below.Ī range extender, or Wi-Fi signal booster, is a compact, plug-in device that uses built-in Wi-Fi radios and antennas to pair wirelessly with your router.
For many homes, a single router isn't quite strong enough to generate a stable signal that reaches into every room, which can result in weak connections and dead zones. There's no point paying for fast internet speeds if your home's Wi-Fi network is too weak to take advantage of them.
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