Great extension of my wireless. I have a" man cave/office" in my unattached garage about 100 feet away from my cable company supplied Wi-Fi modem. It actually was able to reach this but the signal without the extender but it was weak and often dropped the connection or slow speed. I installed this NETGEAR N300 about 50 feet away. I now get great connectivity for my laptop.
The initial setup is to:
- Plug the Range Extender into an outlet (I put them side-by-side) very close to the modem. You DO NOT use an Ethernet cord to set this extender up.
- Wait for the solid green LED power light of the extender.
- Push the WPS button on the extender and another LED light will blink.
- Push the WPS button on you old Modem and watch them connect. I had to look for the WPS button on the old modem because it not obvious but it does exist.
- Once the Router LED light on the Extender is solid green, unplug the extender and move it into an area that already can receive some signal, (I placed the Extender 1/2 way between my office and the old modem) as it cannot "extend" what it cannot detect!
- Select the new Network name it has created (it will be your old network name with an -EXT at the end)
- Use the password you use on your existing Wi-Fi system and you are done!
I felt obliged to write a review since there are some bad reviews of this product. Full disclosure, I've been in IT for 25 years so I generally know my way around technology. I base my 'ease of setup' on if I would be able to walk my mother-in-law through the setup over the phone. This product is brain dead simple to configure and get going if you have a WPS capable router. You simply push the WPS button on your router then push the button on the N300. Do this in the same room to ensure a strong signal. Once you get the green light on the N300, you're good to go and can upnlug it and move it to where you need.
As for the range extending capabilities, my access point is on the second floor of our 3 story house (3200 square feet). The extender is on the first floor with the hope of improving wifi to the TV and the family room. I ran a speed test from my laptop. Prior to the N300 it got 50mbs/10mbs (down/up). With the N300, the laptop got 100mbs/24mbs.
For the price, this is a good solution and much more cost effective than the mesh network systems. I'll be ordering a second N300 to put in the master bedroom. The speed isn't needed but the geek in me can't pass up a faster connection for the small cost of these extenders.
#1) I am a customer who paid full price for this product.
#2) I've needed something that would make my Comcast WiFi connection extend into my bedroom, which was never more than 25 feet from my modem. However, for some reason, I'm sure because of the layout of my home and the barriers between the rooms, I was never able to actually receive a nice strong connection in my bedroom.
#3) I purchased this, with no knowledge of these products, purely based on the ratings and reviews.
#4) Very fast shipping, as always, with my much loved Prime membership. :)
#5) Very simple installation... the very 1st step is to simply plug it into the wall in the same room as the modem. I was unsuccessful using the "WPS" push setup method, however I've literally never had success using this method any other time, either, so I am not necessarily blaming this on the product.
But, the other setup option is using your laptop, another very simple option, that was easily accomplished and fully functional within 10 minutes [and, that was being distracted with conversation, so I'd say a normal person would do this within 5 mins, or less :)]
Then, once you've completed setup, you unplug the extender and move it in position between the modem and the area that you're wanting coverage. Literally couldn't be any easier!!!
#6) Before, I couldn't get a decent connection in my bedroom at all, now it literally seems like I'm sitting right next to my modem anywhere in my bedroom with FULL STRENGTH for the WiFi connection on my laptop.
GREAT PRODUCT, VERY HAPPY WITH THE PERFORMANCE!!! :)
When it arrived and I took it out of the box I thought it was broken because the manual and directions kind of suck because to do the step by step directions don't work right. It took some trial and error to figure it out because I thought I had a bad extender out of the box.
1st thing you want to do is plug it into an outlet right next to your main router and what that does is let's them sync up to each other.
2nd thing you want to do when the extender power button is solid green is push the WPS button on your main router until it's blinking and then push the WPS button on the extender.
3rd thing you should see the lights on the extender light up on the Router, Power, and WPS.
The Device light will stay unlit until you try and log into the extender.
Click your WiFi settings and you will see a new 2.5ghz and a 5ghz and those are your new ones that are broadcast through the extender.
I know this is confusing but you need to enter your password that you use on your Internet provider on the new extender and log into it and try both the 2.5ghz and the 5ghz and save both of them and you should see the Device light on the extender light up to green.
When you have done the complete install with the WPS feature on your main router then you ready to move it to the other side of the house but don't move it to far because you mighy not get a strong signal. Mine is about 20ft from my main router and it covers this old stone wall farmhouse perfect.
The last thing you want to do is hit the WPS button on your router again and hit the WPS button on the extender again and if there within a good distance of each other and all lights are green then you should be up and running but if there not green then you will have to move it closer to your main router.
If your main router doesn't have a WPS option on it then you might have to call netgear online support to help you out because I didn't find another way to install it correctly.
Another thing is if the power ever does go our just sync them back up with the WPS button and wait like 5mins and it will work again because you already did all the setup.
I leave mine on 24/7 and it runs a little warm here and there but that's normal and I have never had any issues except power outages from thunder storms.
Hope this helps someone else but every Internet providers router might be different but I'm using the new Comcast router on the triple play with the works.
As a Senior Network Engineer I work around a lot of networking hardware. I am very adept with AP's, Extenders, WLC's, and all of that so I knew what to expect with this. I am not sure why people are complaining about setup, it's ridiculously simple! Note, this is NOT a Mesh-Mode AP/Router, it's an EXTENDER or AP, which means it will provide a 'new' SSID that you can connect to that will bridge to your primary SSID. You should not use this with the same SSID as your router or there could be serious issues. (That's MESH MODE and this is not that!)
For extender mode, what this device does is grab the SSID from your main router and act as a 'bridge' to that router and re-broadcasts the signal with it's own hardware over another SSID. Think of it as a relay race for wireless.. You can use almost anything to bridge networks, even other laptops, routers and access points. So your traffic goes like this: Device over extender SSID to Extender. Extender Hardware processes it as a bridge mode router then sends it through wireless to the existing SSID from your primary router. You are hopping multiple SSID's. To set this up you just put in the SSID and Passkey for your existing wireless, assign a new SSID to the Extender - and note this SHOULD be a different SSID than the primary SSID from your router. Once this is done you connect your wireless devices to the extender and it will 'hop' your data from the extender to the router.
QUICK SETUP: Plug in the extender, wait for it to boot up (2 min), connect your laptop to the SSID of the extender which by default will be something like "NETGEAR_EXT".. Once your device connects to this open up a browser and go to 192.168.1.250, that's the gateway, which is the extender. Once you hit the IP of the extender you will enter setup mode. Here it will ask a series of questions, poll the existing WiFi in the area, and have you setup a new SSID after you input the existing SSID information from your normal router. Setup is done! Now any device you want to go through the extender should utilize the SSID on the extender NOT the SSID on the primary router. Presto! A couple reviewers hammered this for difficult setup which I find hard to believe. Follow my instructions and it's up and running in 3 minutes, and 2 of those minutes are the device booting up! (seriously)
Second mode this can do is AP Mode. Essentially it will act as an AP off your existing network. Connect an ethernet cable to it and set it up per the instructions and you will have a second AP In your home utilizing the same network but different SSIDs! Remember, this is not an enterprise grade WLC AP so you are not going to have multiple AP's using the same AP profile and SSID, each AP will have different SSID's. (but they can use the same password for continuity)
IMPORTANT: A HUGE benefit to this device is it's ability to run in AP mode. Think about this - you are in a motel room with bad wireless but strong ethernet. Simply plug this in and have your own SSID's with speedy wireless. Another important way this can be used is with insecure wireless networks. You can 'hop' this into insecure networks and provide your devices with their own secured SSID's with AES Passkeys. Anyone attempting to hack you through the insecure WiFi would need to hack your secured device and SSID! So there are some pretty cool things you can do with this. Although keep in mind it's not a VPN so they still could sniff the stream going from the extender to the router if the router uses an unsecured SSID, but at least they aren't getting directly into your device so there is some slight, additional security.
Features/Advanced Options: After you run through the silly quickstart stuff you can go to 192.168.1.250 which is likely the preferred DCHP this will grab from your router. From here you have advanced options where you can see transfer rates, connected clients,setup MAC access permissions and other goodies. Not bad! But again this is really a tiny router so these settings are to be expected. There is a 'Fastlane' system in this which is really a gimmick that is absolutely pointless and more generally considered a marketing feature. What this does is you give the extender a designated frequency from your router (2.4 or 5.0) then the router pushes 5.0 with the 2.4 or 2.4 with the 5.0 channel. This is just frequency isolation that will allow you to use a designated band for the extender. It's utterly pointless in my testing and offers no speed boost at all. In a crowded home with a lot of devices this would probably be something you may use. Forcing everyone on 2.4 then piping 5.0 directly to the extender then 2.4 off of the extender. But I would say for 90%+ of uses this is utterly pointless. It's also likely why the feature is buried on the device in sub menus. I'd leave it off.
PERFORMANCE: I will say while the performance of this device is good, it's not perfect. You WILL NOT get the same performance as your primary router. The reason for this is that you are stepping through what amounts to an additional (low powered) router. This device has session and throughput limitations that are likely well below your router in some cases. Performance is lost in that transition, but also the SSID hopping also degrades the speed. This is to be expected, this is not an access point, it's an extender and performance on an extender will never be as good as a pure router or AP.
In my case, my connection averages 110Mbps-180Mbps over my primary router and AP's. (2400AC) Through the extender I averaged 50-60Mbps per device. That's a 50% loss on average of speed in comparison to the primary router/AP configuration. So remember, the point of this is to get WiFi to areas of your home with bad WiFi coverage but don't expect this to be a speed demon. Also there is a slight ping-drop between this and the router, expect 20-50% increase in ping latency. So if your existing router averages 10-20ms to a close hop, this will bump that to 20-40ms average. Not a big deal unless you are a gamer, that could present some issues.
Do I like this device? Absolutely! It's the best extender I have ever seen to date. Is the technology of extenders perfect? No. But this is as good as you are going to get unless you want to run a router in MESH or install a WLC and controlled AP's. I am using this for my vacation where signal power is probably going to suffer, but in my home my AP's do the heavy lifting and this isn't needed. Also on vacation I will provide myself with my own secure SSID's to use and leave the other SSID's for anyone else at the vacation home.. ISOLATION!
IMPROVEMENTS: Companies that make these extenders should focus on reducing latency and increasing throughput. This would be done by putting better processors in these units. My APs in the home have quad core processors and can handle a lot of speed, sessions and clients. I would guess this unit has a sub-1Ghz single core processor which is going to limit your performance. I suspect the higher model number has a better processor and/or other brands have better processors which would likely result in more robust performance.
Feature Product
- EXTENDED WIRELESS COVERAGE: Adds Wi-Fi range coverage up to 1000 sq ft, and connects up to 15 devices such as laptops, smartphones, speakers, IP cameras, tablets, IoT devices, and more.
- AC750 WI-FI SPEED: Provides up to 750Mbps performance using dual-band and patented FastLane(TM) technology.
- UNIVERSAL COMPATIBILITY: Works with any wireless router, gateway, or cable modem with Wi-Fi.
- WIRED ETHERNET PORT: Simply plug in game consoles, streaming players, or other nearby wired devices using the one 10/100M port for maximum speed.
- SAFE & SECURE: Supports WEP and WPA/WPA2 wireless security protocols.
- SIMPLE TO SETUP: Press the WPS button to connect to your router. Use the NETGEAR WiFi Analyzer app for optimal location.
- For Indoor Use Only
Description
NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extender (EX3700-100NAS). System Requirements:2.4 and/or 5GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wireless router or gateway,Microsoft. Internet Explorer. 8.0, Firefox. 20, Safari. 5.1, Google Chrome 25.0 browsers or higher. Trouble shooting tip- If you cannot get a WiFi connection working, you can use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the extender. Data throughput, signal range, and wireless coverage per sq. ft. may vary due to differences in operating environments of wireless networks, including without limitation building materials and wireless interference. Operating temperature:32°to 104°F
This review is for the EX8000.
Included with the extender is a power adaptor and the instructions.
I purchased this direct from Amazon and not a third-party seller after seeing it go on sale here for $159.00 which I thought was a decent deal for this extender. I held off on getting this because I thought the original price of 299 when it was first released was way too high as that cost as much or more as most good quality routers.
The included instructions are rather basic but once I figured out how to activate WPS on my R7000 router, which doesn’t have a physical button, the connection with the extender was quick and easy. When the extender is first powered on, it takes a minute for it to boot up and be ready to pair with the router. The WPS pairing process also takes a couple minutes where it connects to the 2.4 Ghz network. You have to activate WPS again for it to connect to the 5 Ghz range, which takes about another minute to complete. If you don’t have WPS, you can utilize the installation assistant program.
Once connected, you log into the extender to complete the setup. There was an update for the extender available (1.0.0.98) when I initially did the setup and I recommend updating immediately before completing the setup as it has some bug fixes. The firmware update completed pretty smoothly, although for some reason I could not access the extender webpage after the firmware update and instead had to use the extender’s IP to login and continue the setup. I assume that is some quirk in the new firmware that needs to be fixed.
Once in the extender setup page, the setup is pretty easy to walk through and understand. The extender connected to my router with no further issues. It shows in my routers attached device section as 5g Wireless EX8000, along with its IP address. The one thing that I really like about the extender over other similar devices is that it is capable of using the same signal and network name as the router without having multiple networks being created. This makes connection to the network simple. If you have the devices already connected to the network there is no interruption.
One small complaint I have is the white LED lights on the front of the extender are a bit hard to see and differentiate what it is indicating is active. Even though my router has the same white lights, the reflection caused by the angle of the LEDS make them blend together a bit.
The extender is pretty big, standing 9 inches tall by 6.75 inches long but has a narrow vertical footprint at 2 inches deep. So, it does take up a bit of space wherever you put it. There are 4 Ethernet ports for hardwiring devices along with a USB port, which is similar to what my R7000 router has for hard drives. I have found that the USB port works but like my R7000, not nearly as well as a dedicated NAS server. In addition to the ports, there is a WPS button, power button, power port and reset button on the back of the device.
I have a variety of devices that I use for streaming videos, music, and web surfing, including phones, tablets, smart TV, blu-ray players, computers, and PS3 and 4. Even my treadmill and elliptical is internet connected.
For the most part, I have no major issues with getting a network signal from my R7000 router but since my router is on the 2nd floor of my home in a room that is in the front of the house, it sometimes struggles with some areas in my basement and in the back yard where the signal is a bit temperamental. Specifically, I have issues with my networked Nordic Track exercise equipment that has a built-in tablet of sorts that allows you to connect to the internet and play videos and things like that. With just the router, I get a decent signal but tend to get a lot of disconnects or a lot of stutters when playing videos. In addition, when I am outside in the back yard, the signal sometimes has issues as well.
Once I got the extender connected and running, I put the device in the basement area. The instructions recommend putting it halfway between the router and the areas of poor signal. In my case, I would say that I have it placed a bit further than that, mainly because the signal being received from the router was still strong. I powered on my exercise machines and crossed my fingers. I got a full, excellent signal and connection on both machines. There have been no disconnects and no video stutter when watching videos on the machines. I also took my tablet out to the farthest reaches of my yard and whereas I would normally get a fair to good signal with just the router, I now have an excellent signal with no stuttering issues on the network. As far as I am concerned, it is a big improvement and so far, the device has worked as it is supposed to do. If you want to improve your routers signal strength, then this does the job. I also like that this device is setup to work with new routers that come out as well, so when the time comes that I will eventually replace my R7000, then I have an extender that will work as well for that one.
Netgear, as well as other companies, tend to release hardware before the bugs are worked out in the firmware (as I experienced with the R7000) and that is probably the case here, since there an immediate update for the extender. Based on my experience with the router, Netgear does work hard to update the firmware for their devices. So far, I have had no issues with the extender working as it should with the 1.0.0.98 firmware, other than the quirk with the webpage, I described above which hopefully be fixed and continue to improve with future firmware updates.
Pros:
Easy setup
WPS pairing
Tri-band
Good network speed (router dependent)
One network ability
Greatly extends range
Firmware Updatable
Future proof
No interruption in connected devices
No more dead spots
4 additional hardwire ports
Cons:
A bit expensive for an extender (at regular price)
An occasional firmware update quirk
Large footprint
Instructions a bit basic and may not apply to your router
White LED indicator lights a bit hard to see and determine which is on
USB hard drive connection a bit flakey
Overall, this extender seems to work well with an excellent 5 bar signal through two floors, a basement and outside, but I do think it is a bit pricey, especially at regular price. I will update my review if I have any future issues or updates.
4 stars
Wow I had never read the 1 star reviews. I likely would not have bought one. But I did... works GREAT except I tried direct LAN connection to my laptop and that doesn't work. (maybe user error? might have to configure it in settings)? I'll look into that.
I run a observatory in my yard. 300+ feet from my router. I have 5G and 2.5G on the router. (cable internet). I could BARELY connect to the 2.5 300+ feet away. I got this for 1/2 way... but first time I tried it I just plugged it in next to the laptop 300+ feet out. It picked up good signal and was giving the laptop 5 bars. Works great. MY PROBLEM is my laptop is old and has slow wifi. So I want to try direct LAN connection. I got 50mbs in the house and 10 at the laptop. I may have to get a faster/newer laptop. Many reviews say it died in a couple months. I'll report back if mine does.
UPDATE OMG! I worked on the LAN connection. Seems I had a bad cable. It's now working, My speedtest.net went from 15mbps to 66 mbps!!! Now that LAN is working - I'm going from 4 to 5 stars!
PS - I think the 1 star reviews are user/error.
I puchased this because I was having a hard time streaming movies, programs, audio books, etc., in my sewing room or in the other end of the house. I'm self employed and work in both ends of the house throughout the day. Our router is located in the center of the house.. If my retired husband was watching something in the den, I was having a very hard time pulling anything else in.. This has fixed that problem. It took me a bit to figure out how to connect it to our router (maybe 1/2 hour), but once I figured it out, it was very easy to do. I watched a video on Utube, then followed the directions included with the device, and had it working in no time. It's very easy to unplug and replug in the other end of the house when I need to move it. With our internet program, we're suppose to be able to stream two video's at once, but it just wasn't working.. To upgrade to the next higher service would have cost $30 a month more..This device fixed the problem and all at a low price.
I set up residence on a family member's property...somewhere out in the yard over there... and needed to extend the wi-fi from his house. This item did the trick and I was quite impressed with my Redneck Skills by fastening a base to the bridge railing and then fastening an old Tupperware bucket over it for shelter. It's been that way for seven months now and has never failed once.
My structure is about 100-120 feet from the main house and this extender is in the middle of that. At times I can "barely" get a peace of the house wi-fi but most often I get the extender. I get four bars from it in this position. On occasion it goes down to three bars. I never suffer speed cutbacks compared to the main house.
Set up was very easy using the instructions. I was set up in an hour.
I have plans to build a more permanent light post with mason jar lights and a bird house on top with a roof made from Budweiser cans. I'll also add a wind measure device made from an old bicycle wheel. I'll make a "wi-fi" icon painted on barn wood and hang that somewhere on the poll, making very sure that it's absolutely crooked. It will be a glorious art piece in time and be a testament to human ingenuity.
I moved in recently to a extended room in a two bedroom house. The room is large and long about 25' by 35'! The lease owner installed internet service. I asked him to get a service pack so I could game online. 4 other people didn't care what speed we got. They only use their cells or watch movies. So after a week, I had lots of dropped connections. And the 5G service could never be picked up by my game consoles. So I was forced to stick to the 2.5G service. Still, my connection was weak and I would get messages saying "Low Bandwidth" when I watched movies on Amazon! So I bought this repeater because of so many positive reviews! I got this within 9 hours of ordering along with some AA batteries I needed. And I installed this the next day. I watched the installation movie clips provided. I wrote down information I needed to write down. Like the "Mywifiext.net" And I followed the directions as mentioned. Very simple straight forward directions and everything connected right away. After installing and renaming my connection a unique SSID name. I unplugged my Netgear repeater and put it near my room. The green lights lit up, indicating good signal reception. I connected all my game consoles and my cell phone and laptops. And I have been very happy since buying this repeater! This one of the best useful products I have bought this year! It does what it says, and says what it does! No more "Low Bandwidth messages or dropped signals"!
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