The very best Wi-Fi extenders in 2024

Most switch price: 2402 Mbps | Vary: 110 toes

TP-Hyperlink has a bunch of Wi-Fi extenders below its umbrella, however the one that can doubtless serve most individuals the perfect is that this AX3000 mannequin, which is available in two variations: the RE700X and the RE705X. Each extenders have the identical specs, together with Wi-Fi 6 assist, however the 705X has a barely completely different design with pull-out antennas on both aspect. I examined the 705X, so I’m basing my advice off of my expertise with that mannequin, particularly.

Establishing this extender was as simple as plugging it in and following directions in TP-Hyperlink’s Tether cell app. The entire gadgets I attempted adopted the identical primary setup course of: first, plug within the extender near your wi-fi router, observe directions in a cell app or on a setup webpage, and as soon as the connection is established, transfer the extender to your required location.

It took all of 5 minutes to pair the 705X with my Verizon FiOS router – most likely probably the most time-consuming bit was deciding what I wished to call the brand new 5Ghz and a pair of.4Ghz networks. I went with the identical identify for each as a result of I didn’t wish to manually select from two completely different bands when connecting issues like my cellphone or laptop computer. The gadget will robotically pair your gadget with the suitable band — for instance, connecting most good house devices to the two.4Ghz community, which regularly helps cut back latency.

The everlasting location the place I moved all the extenders I examined was in my basement, since that’s the place we will get the spottiest Wi-Fi sign. I first ran pace exams on my iPhone and MacBook utilizing Speedtest.internet and Speedcheck.org so I may examine them with the usual speeds I acquired when linked to my router’s major community. Unsurprisingly, the speeds generated by TP-Hyperlink’s extender have been a lot slower than these from my router’s community, however that was the case with all the gadgets I examined. Solely our high decide (see beneath) acquired near my router’s commonplace speeds, however I anticipated this. Wi-Fi extenders aren’t going to make your connection higher – they’re simply going to present you a wider space of protection. From a spec perspective, each the 705X and the 700X are rated for speeds as much as 2402 Mbps on the 5GHz band and 574 Mbps on 2.4GHz band.

Regardless of the outcomes of my exams, I used to be glad to find that I wasn’t held again by the 705X’s seemingly slower speeds. I labored as regular for hours with my cellphone and laptop computer linked to the extenders wi-fi community, answering emails, messaging in Slack, streaming YouTube movies and in any other case sustaining a number of dozen tabs in Chrome, with none hiccups or noticeable slow-downs.

I used to be not stunned to seek out TP-Hyperlink’s Tether companion app to be simple to make use of, if slightly easy, as a result of that was my expertise with TP-Hyperlink’s good house app. Tether is particularly used with the corporate’s networking gadgets, and also you most likely gained’t spend a ton of time in it after preliminary setup. I particularly like that you would be able to identify wi-fi gadgets which might be linked to your extenders community like your cellphone and good TV. That makes it a lot simpler to know which issues in your house are consistently paired with the extender reasonably than your router’s default community.

One vital factor to notice with these TP-Hyperlink extenders is that they each assist OneMesh, which is the corporate’s characteristic that means that you can create one seamless community you probably have a suitable mesh router. Since I’m nonetheless utilizing the router offered to me by my ISP, I wasn’t capable of take a look at out this characteristic, but it surely works like this: you probably have a OneMesh router and OneMesh-compatible extenders, you possibly can hyperlink all of them collectively below the identical community identify. So reasonably than having a router community and an extender community below the identical roof, all the pieces can be linked and filed below your major community’s identify.

It’s a small perk that turns into not so small you probably have a spotty extender, and even simply an awkwardly laid-out house. In my testing, I discovered my cellphone disconnecting from some extenders’ networks after I went upstairs to the primary ground of the home from my basement. It could then try and reconnect to the extender community, when actually I’d have most popular it to default again to my router’s community. That fortunately didn’t occur with TP-Hyperlink’s RE705X, but it surely’s one thing to remember when contemplating shopping for a Wi-Fi extender in any respect. If you will get one which has a characteristic like OneMesh, it’ll make your life a lot simpler.

Coming in at $130 and $120, respectively, the RE705X and RE700X might not be the most affordable Wi-Fi extenders on the market, however their protection vary, newest Wi-Fi assist and max speeds make both of them a very good decide. If you recognize precisely the place you wish to put an extender and it’s not in a clumsy or hard-to-reach location, the marginally cheaper, antenna-free RE700X may match simply advantageous for you. However if you’d like that additional capacity to tweak antennas to fit your wants, the RE705X is the way in which to go.

Most switch price: 867 Mbps | Vary: 1500 sq.ft

TP-Link’s RE315 Wi-Fi extender is bodily similar to the RE705X, however with decrease specs and that’s what makes it a $50 gadget. You’ll stand up to 867 Mbps speeds on the 5GHz band and 300 Mbps on the two.4GHz band, and it solely gives protection for as much as 1,500 sq. toes. That gained’t be as a lot of a problem for most individuals as max speeds will, however you probably have a very massive property, you’re higher off going with a dearer extender that may cowl more room.

There’s additionally no Wi-Fi 6e assist on the RE315, which can be a dealbreaker for many who lately invested in a Wi-Fi 6 router. This mannequin does assist OneMesh, although, which is sweet if you have already got a OneMesh system in your house.

I’m specializing in specification variations as a result of my expertise with the RE315 wasn’t that far off from the RE705X. Setup was simply as plain and easy for the reason that RE315 additionally makes use of the Tether cell app, and whereas speeds have been barely decrease in my testing, I didn’t discover an excessive amount of of a distinction in actual world use. For $50 usually, and sometimes nearer to $30 when on sale, the RE315 is a simple decide for anybody who needs a budget-friendly approach to fill Wi-Fi useless zones of their house.

Most switch price: 4800 Mbps | Vary: 2500 sq.ft

Having multiple Wi-Fi community in your own home is par for the course in relation to including an extender into the combination. However that’s not so with the Netgear EAX80 mesh community vary extender – it has “seamless good roaming,” which lets you set it up below your present SSID identify. So as a substitute of disconnecting out of your major wi-fi community and reconnecting to the extender’s community if you transfer out of your front room to your basement, all it’s important to do is… transfer from one room to a different and let Netgear’s gadget do the heavy lifting.

That’s one of many premium options included on the EAX80, however its $250 price ticket will be attributed extra so to another perks. It’s a dual-band, Wi-Fi 6e mesh vary extender that can work with just about any wi-fi router you could have. It helps speeds as much as 6 Gbps and may have greater than 30 gadgets linked to it directly. So far as sq. footage goes, it’ll widen your Wi-Fi’s protection by as much as 2,500 sq. toes, which needs to be lots for small and medium-sized properties. It carried out nicely in our pace exams, coming very near the add/obtain speeds I acquired when being linked to my major community earlier than putting in the extender.

There’s nothing out of the bizarre concerning the Nighthawk cell app, which is what you’ll use to initially arrange the EAX80 extender. After that, you should use the app to troubleshoot, test Wi-Fi speeds and see which gadgets are in your community. It’ll doubtless be a giant checklist because you’ll see all the pieces that’s paired to your router’s community as nicely. My solely gripe is that you would be able to’t edit gadget names. For instance, my den’s TV exhibits up as “LGwebOSTV” and our soundbar in our basement exhibits up as “sonyaudio” — however there are a selection of linked gadgets with no identify in any respect, and we’re simply caught with that.

Apart from its quick speeds and dependable connection, two issues set this Netgear extender other than the opposite gadgets I examined. First is that seamless good roaming characteristic – not having to modify between Wi-Fi networks when going round my house was tremendous handy. I by no means needed to fear about my laptop computer shedding connection to a devoted extender community after I moved from my basement to my second ground, which is one thing I incessantly needed to take care of when testing different gadgets.

The second differentiating issue is the EAX80’s design. In contrast to different vary extenders which might be chunky blocks that plug instantly into an AC outlet, Netgear’s mannequin appears to be like extra like a standalone router. Whereas that does imply it has a bigger footprint than different gadgets I examined, it was really simpler to seek out good spots for it in my house as a result of it didn’t should be chained to the wall proper above an outlet. Most individuals, particularly these tight on house, will most likely choose the usual extender design, however the EAX80 gave me a bit extra flexibility. I additionally appreciated that the EAX80 has 4 built-in ports for utilizing an Ethernet cable to bodily join issues like TVs, consoles and extra, plus one USB-A port for hardwiring a printer.

Netgear’s EAX80 vary extender is a strong choice in case you don’t thoughts dropping a bit of cash to get a bunch of handy options on high of stellar speeds and Wi-Fi 6 assist. But it surely’s value noting that Netgear has a number of choices which might be just like the EAX80, however with varied variations in pace, protection and have set. Probably the most comparable is the $130 EAX20 extender, which incorporates 1,500 sq. toes of protection, assist for Wi-Fi 6 and as much as 1.8Gbps speeds, plus seamless good roaming capabilities. The wall-plug model of that, the EAX15, is definitely a tad dearer at $140.