Netgear Ac1200 Dual Band Wifi Range Extender Review

More and more than consumer wireless range extenders coming to market are small, wall-mountable devices that plug right into an electrical outlet and sit flush to a wall. Netgear'south AC1200 WiFi Range Extender (EX6200) ($129.99) bucks this trend. The AC1200 is a relatively large, standalone piece of networking hardware that looks like an access signal. All that size translates to power, however. In fact, this is 1 of the most powerful wireless extenders I've tested. Add together in extra goodies such as a USB iii.0 port (for connecting USB external drives and printers) and five Gigabit Ethernet ports to span networking gadgets, and you have a winning Wi-Fi range extender.

Specs
The EX6200($119.99 at Amazon) looks like to Netgear'southward Nighthawk($119.99 at Amazon) except it's smaller than the Nighthawk and doesn't have a sloping chassis. Still, it's large for an extender, measuring nine.92 past half dozen.85 past 1.22 inches (HWD). What's unique is its red-and-black design—it'southward really rather striking. Furthermore, the EX6200 can operate horizontally or vertically on a cerise stand that is included in the packaging.

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Too unique to the EX6200 are its premium hardware specs, which are far better than what's plant in virtually Wi-Fi extenders. The EX6200 has an 800MHz dual-core processor, for starters. In addition to its 700mW high-ability amplifiers, the device besides has two 5dBi high-gain external antennas.

Of grade, the EX6200 is pricier than smaller, wall-mountable extenders, such as the $50 D-Link Wireless N300 Range Extender DAP-1320($119.99 at Amazon), or the $thirty TP-Link 300Mbps Universal WiFi Range Extender (TL-WA850RE). Still, for more than than double those prices, the EX6200 is not but a dual-band extender (the DAP-1320 is but single-band), but information technology can too operate every bit a span with five Gigabit ports. It's also got a USB 3.0 port, which allows it to operate as a print or media server. And and so in that location are those powerful components under the hood. Take all that into business relationship, and the price seems more reasonable.

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Setup
Netgear's extender ships with a Getting Started guide, a one-page manual in workflow format. The guide begins by asking you if your router has a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) push button. If the answer is "Aye," you lot follow the instructions on the left side of the guide. If "No," follow the steps on the correct side. The instructions are clear, easy-to-follow, and simple, thanks to this workflow logic.

In a nutshell, there are two ways to set up the EX6200: using WPS or using the extender'due south Netgear Genie software wizard. I went through both setup processes testing the extender with Netgear's Nighthawk router. Both setup methods worked well.

When using WPS, yous want to place the extender shut to the router, preferably within line of sight (you can relocate the extender after configuration). The next steps include powering upwards the extender, pressing the WPS push on the extender, and and then activating WPS on the router. The Nighthawk does not take a physical WPS push; instead, you initiate a WPS connection via its management interface. Fifty-fifty with software-based WPS, the WPS pairing between the EX6200 and Nighthawk worked well (as it should for whatsoever WPS-supported router, non just Netgear'due south). I was able to connect the two devices via WPS even with the router in a dissever room behind a drinking glass divider.

There is a "Device to Extender" LED on the EX6200 that lights solid dark-green when the extender is successfully paired with the router. Using the WPS method extends the 2.4GHz ring on dual-band networks. To extend the 5GHz signal on the aforementioned router using WPS, you have to press the WPS buttons on the EX6200 and the router a 2nd time.

Although all of my LEDs indicated I had the two devices connected successfully, I went into the customer tabular array in the admin interface of the Nighthawk and confirmed that the extender was listed along with its DHCP-assigned IP address.

For those who desire full command over extending a wireless network, the 2nd setup method is the option for you. From a laptop, you connect to the extender's pre-configured wireless network (the SSID and login credentials are provided in the guide). Once connected, I opened upward a browser and was automatically re-directed to the extender's Web-based interface. This interface is the same Genie app UI that is included across Netgear'due south latest line of networking products.

A wizard walks you through selecting the existing network you want to extend. I opted to extend the 2.4 GHz indicate of my router and was pleased to run into that the extender interface detected that I likewise had the 5GHz band configured and asked if wanted to extend that network every bit well.

Features and Interface

Features and Interface
You tin use the extender's Genie user interface for mail service-setup management. As soon as I re-accessed the UI after install, I received notification that a new firmware update was bachelor.

The software quickly and adroitly handled the update while automatically refreshing the UI during the process. I complaint: After updating, I logged out of the UI and went back in. I still saw the alert "A [sic] extender firmware upgrade is available."

I re-clicked on the alert and received the on-screen bulletin that there was no new firmware available. Of form—I had merely updated it. This is a minor complaint, but once the firmware is updated to the latest version, the update should be canned.

That said, I did experience ii inexplicable disconnects of my extender from my network, after the upgrade. I had the extender running a full 60 minutes prior to the update, and it wasn't until I updated the firmware that I experienced ii flaky disconnects. I rebooted the extender and I didn't have another disconnect afterward. This isn't a deal-breaker for what truly is a fine piece of consumer hardware, only it is something to picket out for when upgrading.

Operation
We test wireless range extenders in an excruciatingly RF-heavy role environment. That traffic actually puts an extender to the test. Without the extender, with about 75 feet between my wireless customer and my router, Windows showed my wireless signal strength at 3 bars. That bumped up to five confined when I continued the extender.

The EX6200 delivered the best performance of any extender at a distance of 75 feet from the router. On the other mitt, the BearExtender PC and DAP-1320 extenders delivered the aforementioned or ameliorate performance (although not significantly so) at 100 to 150 feet.

I was impressed that at a altitude of 100-125 anxiety from the router, I was nonetheless able to slowly browse the Internet even though our testing software, Ixia's IxChariot, could no longer register throughput. The fact that I still had a network connection wirelessly, in our crowded testing environment, is impressive, and it gives me confidence in deeming this a powerful extender.

An Fantabulous Extender
The EX6200 is an first-class piece of consumer networking hardware (and could likewise work for smaller concern wireless networks), even with the software hiccups encountered after a firmware update. With its extra capabilities as a five-port Gigabit Ethernet span, and as a print or media device server via the USB 3.0 port, you get a lot of features for the price. The Netgear AC1200 WiFi Range Extender (EX6200) is our Editors' Selection for Wi-Fi extenders.

Netgear AC1200 WiFi Range Extender (EX6200)

Cons

The Bottom Line

Netgear'southward AC1200 WiFi Range Extender (EX6200) is an excellent piece of hardware despite a few software hiccups after a firmware update. V Gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB 3.0 port brand this extender a winning proposition.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/netgear-ac1200-wifi-range-extender-ex6200

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