After sieving through lots of reviews, I bought the TP-Link AC1900 wifi extender to upgrade from a Hawking Technology 2.4 GHz wifi extender. Since I upgraded my wireless router to an AC model, I wanted to be able to extend both my 2.4 GHz and less crowded 5 GHz networks. The Hawking worked well, but was a bit underpowered to transmiit a strong signal to the back corner of my backyard, about 40 feet away and through one wall.
Setup was tirivial. Plug in the extender within range of your wireless router, then log into the extender by connecting to its setup SSID and using the supplied default admin credentials. You will need a wifi-enabled device to do this: a laptop, tablet, or phone with a browser, I used a laptop computer. Once logged into the web interface, choose a username and password to replace the default credentials, then enable either your 2.4 Ghz network, 5 Ghz network, or both. You can choose to echo your current SSIDs or choose new ones. I chose new ones so devices in my home, like Chromecast, would not accidentially access the extender rather than the primary router by adding "_ext" to the existing SSID. This way, you have to intentionally connect to the extended network when necessary, otherwise you stay on the faster direct wifi connection. When configurations is done, you reboot the extender from the web interface, and you are all set to go. Relocate the extender to a location that receives good wifi input (there is a blue LED to tell you if your location is OK) and arrange your antennas appropriately. (You want the antennnas perpindicular to the directions you wish to have coverage.) That's it. There is also a nice phone app to access the extender directly after it is set up. You can use the app to change the SSIDs or passwords, but not much more. To start over, you need to reset the extender and use the setup SSID, or log into it using a patch cable.
I can get very usable 5 GHz and 2.4 Ghz coverage throughout my backyard, up to 40 feet away and through one wall. Since my wifi router is located at near the front wall of my home on the 2nd floor, the extender is necessary to get good coverage at ground level in the back yard. If you need good coverage, don't waste time with a small, low-power extender. You will need an extender witih a more powerful radio to get extended coverage. This unit has a stronger transmitter, and of course has the size to match. However, it can stand up vertically to save space. Mine is on a shelf in a laundry room.
This is a two-channel extender. When you are on the extended 5G network, you will get nearly full 2.4 Ghz network speeds. (The 2.4 GHz radio is being used to communicate with your wireless router, and the 5 GHz radio takes care of communicating with your device, minimizing overhead.) When you are on the 2.4 GHz extended network, you will get no more than about half of the 2.4 GHz network speed, because the same radio has to relay information from your wireless router to the extender and then to your device. Here are my real-world examples of download speeds: 5G network (direct): 25 Mbps; 2.4G network (direct): 20 Mbps; 5G network (extended): 20 Mbps; 2.4G network (extended): 10 Mbps. My ISP is capped at 20-25 Mbps, so my 5G network is not that much faster than my 2.4G network, but it has less interference from neighbors. If possible, connect to your 5G extended network for the best performance, but of course 5G has less range and poorer penetration of obstacles. The radios are pretty strong, though.
| Wireless Type | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
