If you are using a Wi-Fi router and not happy with the Wi-Fi range, you will need a Wi-Fi range extender. The TP-Link 300Mbps Wi-Fi Extender TL-WA860RE is one such option that comes with AC passthrought and will be available soon for ₹2,500.
Unboxing
Inside the box you will find the TP-Link Wi-Fi Extender, RJ45 cable, quick installation guide, technical info booklet and resource CD.
Design
This Wi-Fi Range extender comes packed inside a plastic body with glossy finish (white colour). Build quality is very good. I am currently using the Netgear Wi-Fi extender and this one from TP-Link is different. It comes with AC passthough i.e. an extra outlet that makes power available for other devices.
Since you will be using this extender at a good location so as to evenly distribute the range, most likely you might plug this on the power slot that might have already been occupied, but with the AC passthough the TP-Link Wi-Fi range extender will not only access power but also make it available to other devices.
There are two antennas on this device, that can be rotated as need. On the front you will find 3 LED light, on the right side there is reset button, WPS quick setup button and On/Off switch. You can wirelessly connect to the primary router or connect wired devices using the RJ45 port available at the bottom.
Installation and Performance
The installation process is simple. You can either connect with WPS or use the browser to setup. Plug in the extender at a location ideally between source (primary router) and destination.
Once switched on, the extender Wi-Fi will get active after some time and it will be available on other devices in the range. If you check your Wi-Fi setting you will find the TP-Link_Extender_XXXXXXX network. Connect to that network – there is no password required.
Once connected you can open the browser try loading any site or type tplinkrepeater.net – use user:admin / password:admin. Follow the steps, you will then need to select the primary router and enter the password. Setup the range extender Wi-Fi Network name (SSID), customize it – better to use the same name as your primary router and add _ext to it.
Once done you will get two networks for example if your primary router SSID was abcd you will find two networks – abcd and abcd_ext. The abcd_ext will be available at a longer distance which is actually an extension of the primary router i.e abcd, and the password is the same. If you want you can also keep the primary SSID just use copy from main router option.
If you are facing Wi-Fi range issues this Wi-Fi extender can be really useful. If your router is in room A and you are able to access it from room B, but not able to access it from room C. You can place the Wi-Fi extender in room B and can easily access it from room C.
This is a 300 Mbps Wi-Fi Range Extender that operates at 2.4GHz. The range will be almost similar to your existing 2.4GHz Wi-Fi router.
Verdict
If you want to extent the Wi-Fi range for a stable network connection, the TP-Link 300 Mbps Wi-Fi Range Extender with AC Passthrough Model No. TL-WA860RE is a very good option.
TP-Link Wi-Fi Range Extender will be available for ₹2500.
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