Side by Side Comparison of: Netgear

I have only had the product for approximately one month but so far so good. The setup was relatively easy. The WPS button did not work as I expected but I honestly do not know if it was my router or the Netgear router. I had to create an account in order to complete the setup since I could not get the WPS to work. The range on the router is good and covers my entire upstairs while my main router covers the entire downstairs. It is a little annoying switching back and forth between the two wifi networks but I am slowly getting used to it. Overall a good product and exactly what I needed.

I live in an apartment over a garage. The router is next door in the main house waaaay on the other side of the lower level. This extender is in the downstairs window closest to the apartment. Granted, the garage is pretty close (30 ft) from the house, but still. Setup was easy since the router had a WPS button, but I still had to set up the password on my computer, of course. I only use a Roku for television and it was very happy. So far so good, I'm sure it'll deteriorate eventually but for now it's great!

I live in a relatively small old house that has several wifi dead zones, so I wanted to find a tool that would at least allow us to use wifi throughout the entire house. I also wanted to be able to use it as a network switch so I could simultaneously boost speeds and plug in my printer to the network, which is in a separate room from the router/modem.The Nighthawk AC1900 nails it all. It extends the signal so that we can now use our faster 5.0 GHz band throughout the house, and we can even use the 2.4 GHz band outside on the patio. Not only that, I'm also getting much faster speeds than before. According to speedtest.net, I'm getting about a 250 Mbps boost on the 5 GHz band, and about a 100 Mbps boost on the 2.4 GHz.Well worth the investment, IMO.

Purchased a refurbished unit because the place we're renting I'm pretty sure has metal in the walls or something. This eliminated most of the connectivity issues we were having with our ring doorbell. I've used it to play my PS4 online, stream from my plex server, and play my Nintendo Switch online with no issues. I also like that it registers as being within my normal network so I can stream stuff via chrome cast from my phone that's connected to the extender to the chromecast that's connected to my main router without having to switch my phone to the main router. I tried using a linksys extender I got off clearance at walmart a few weeks ago first but no luck. This device worked great first try using the WPS button set up.

Setup:
I purchased a Refurbished AC1900 and tried to use the WPS setup. But the Wifi network icons did not light up after hitting the WPS button. So I called Support and they had me do a manual setup with my laptop through the EXT Wifi network. Which when setup was completed the device froze up and did not broadcast the networks. So I was instructed to do a hard reset (hold the reboot button for 1 minute. Tried manual setup again and everything worked this time.

Use:
Moved Extender into my garage to help get my Wifi Speakers working through my concrete patio. Workes great! I now have reliable signal in my garage, and the speakers connect right away.

After a bad experience with the last wifi range extender, I bought and returned, installing the NETGEAR refurbished EX7300 Nighthawk X4 AC2200 model was a snap to install and the results were astounding. Buying the refurbished model made the price especially reasonable for a top rated product and by its visual condition, I couldn't decern any evidence of its previous use. What put it miles ahead of the Chinese junk being imported for sale is the excellent documentation and online support for installing and operation of the NETGEAR product.

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 had terrible wifi reception in my bedroom. I'd have five bars in the front of the house but in my bedroom/bathroom at the back of the house I had one, maybe two bars at most. I don't have cable tv so all my entertainment/news/internet is done over wifi. This product is amazing! Very easy to install, took less than five minutes start to finish and now I have five bars in my bed/bath all the time! If you need an extender I highly recommend this one. It is fantastic. Just follow the instructions, no wire/cable necessary for installation. I live in a 1,200 sq ft condo for reference.

This review is for NETGEAR N300 Wi-Fi Range Extender, Essentials Edition (EX2700)by NetgearMy friend asked me to solve his networking issues because his house had been added on to and the back wall to his living room is brick which leads to the rest of his house which prevents the wifi signal from being very good just on the other side of this wall.Luckily he had an outlet in the hallway leaving the living room and so this was what I got him to solve his issues.This was very easy to configure, after plugging this is and letting it power on completely, the power LED on the device will be green, I logged onto the local website to configure it and it was up and running. It took longer for my friend to decide what he wanted as the security questions / answers then it did for any other part of installing this.Great item with easy install and that is why I give this five stars.I really hope that this review was helpful to you, if it was, please take the time a click yes below, thanks.

They keep coming out with exciting products. I am old enough to have been wildly ecstatic over the wireless phone for land lines. And years ago when I saw the first wifi at my sister's house (an Apple Airport) I was astounded! Wireless computers too? It took me a long time to jump on the smart phone band wagon, but I finally did three years ago. When I was in college I never dreamed I would be able to put a computer, tv, radio, book reader, game machine, etc. all in one pocket. I wouldn't have believed it if Einstein (had he been alive) had told me it would happen.While this doesn't equal the inventions of smart phones and wifi it sure makes wifi devices usable in all parts of my house. I am pretty sure I could sit in my car outside with the windows and doors shut (not that I would normally do that) and it would work. I will try that tomorrow and if it doesn't work I will come back and edit this paragraph. I am delighted with this extender. It's one more thing that makes life less stressful. Isn't that something we all want? (I have no problem with coming back to edit this review if things go bad).

I've used this for a month now, and am very happy with it. It replaces a Diamond range extender that had become unreliable; it would lose connectivity every time the microwave was used for more than a couple of minutes. I would have to reconnect the satellite box, the Blu-ray player, and the Roku box several times each week, and suffered occasional buffering when the Diamond slowed down. I have a 20 MPS connection through Centurylink DSL (fastest available in my neighborhood), so I didn't have a lot to spare once an extender cut the speed in half.This has proven to be both reliable AND more effective. The receiver portion seems to be more sensitive, so I was able to put the extender in a more convenient location and still receive an excellent signal from the router. All three of my internet-capable video devices show a stronger signal and faster downloads. Amazon went from a 5 MPS average to an 8 MPS average, and Netflix went from 3 MPS to 6 MPS. I can now watch Netflix HD without down-res or buffering.Setup was extremely easy using WPS. Simply plug in, wait a couple of minutes for the unit to boot, then push the WPS button on the extender. You then have two minutes to push the WPS button on your router, and the extender connects. You can then go to your devices and do a search for Wifi networks -- there will be at least one and possible two showing: one will have your original network with a "2" suffix and the other will have your original network name with a "5" suffix. Both will use the same password as your Wifi router. Pick the one with the stronger signal or the one that best meets your needs. The "2" band has a longer range but may suffer from more interference from microwaves or fluorescent lights; the "5" band may have a weaker signal at long ranges but will be less prone to interference.Very happy with it so far -- the extender is about 40 linear feet from the router, through one ceiling and floor, one wall, and several cabinets. It is about 25 feet from the AV cabinet, and all of the devices report a strong signal with acceptably fast downloads.

I purchased one of these for my technology-challenged parents who have a rather large house and their wifi router upstairs. Lots of duct work, pipes, wiring, etc. between the router (in the FAR upper left corner of the house) and the devices in their kitchen, on the deck, in the garage, etc.The extender was up and running in less than 5 minutes, WPS setup with their TrendNet router could not have been easier. Wifi signal downstairs immediately doubled, or better. Devices that were registering Poor signal with 1-5MBps connections now show excellent and 65MBps+.I highly recommend this device for anyone who has dead spots, routers upstairs or in the basement or anyone who just needs to extend their G/N wireless signal.

I have several Internet devices in a back bedroom that either lack WiFi or have weak internal antennas. The solution was a WiFi bridge with a strong transmitter that could wirelessly connect to my main WiFi router and then attach Ethernet cables to my Internet devices. I have no need to extend the WiFi by creating a secondary 2.4 or 5 GHz network. The EX7000 has the ability to turn off both the 2.4 & 5 GHz secondary WiFi radios and act as a simple WiFi bridge. This is not clear in the marketing specs or the users manual.

The device works quite well once it it correctly setup. I deducted one star because the setup process is challenging. You have to register an email address and password with Netgear in order to get to the web based setup screens. The first time I tried to connect to my main router I was unsuccessful and had to do a factory reset. Eventually I got it to connect, disabled the setup password, and disabled the 2.4 & 5 GHz extenders. The process took well over an hour (I can usually setup a router in 10 minutes). A good product, but not recommended for novices.

Unnecessarily complicated to find it to set up. But the performance is excellent connected to my LinkSys WRT1900AC. All the expected features with a nice UI. Hoping it is solid for longer than the other Netgear oroducts I've owned. Fingers crossed.

This was my third choice as an extension. I has proved to be superior to the 2 others I tried. This unit was very easy to install. It provided me with superior connections including 2.5 and 5.0 which allows me to receive the maximum speed provided by our carrier. I can recommend this device to anyone needing a WIFI extension.

The Netgear AC1900 WiFi Range Extender has met my needs for a WiFi extender to connect my guest house with the main house about 50 feet. The main router is located downstairs in the main house while the Netgear AC1900 is located on an upstairs wall facing the main house. The Netgear AC1900 receives a full five bars where it is located. The device is easy to pair with the existing router. The strength of the signal is consistently three with an occasional two bars downstairs from the Netgear AC1900. This is to be expected as the signal is traveling through several walls, a staircase and a floor. I have a blueray player, an Amazon Echo, and a smart TV and all three devices work well with the Netgear AC1900. The signal is enough to comfortably watch Netflix and surf the Internet. I recommend the Netgear AC1900 WiFi Range Extender for anyone that has a need to extend their current WiFi network.

It's fast when used with my Netgear Nighthawk X4S R7800, it's easy to set up. Well I used to need a Network extender to reach my living room but it turns out the X4S Router's wireless signal is so strong that I no longer need to extend the wireless coverage.
I previously thought this was causing me issues, and put it in my review but it turns out it is the netgear router that is the issue not this extender, so I edited this review and added a star. It seems fine.

This little unit has really helped my wifi reception in my back yard and shop. Where I was not getting good signal or any at all, I am now getting a strong signal and speeds seem to be fine. The only thing I don't like is that it operates on a different network than my main wifi, so when I walk back into the house, if I get too far away from this range extender and need to be back on the original network, I have to manually switch back. But for the price, I can't complain.

Following the instructions was easy but being an expert I was a bit miffed at not being able to go into advanced/expert setup immediately. The device insisted on hand-holding me through the setup. That docked star is also for the device being completely stupid about username and password... it wanted an email address (blah@blah.blah) for the username and it wanted two recovery questions/answers. Ridiculous for a small device like this which one can reset to factory defaults with the push of a button.Once I got through that mess I was able to login in again, go to setup, and turn off the wifi relay function since I only want to use the device for its hard ethernet port to connect to an old TiVO. And that port works quite well, thank you.-Matt

Works well. Easy set up, but no advanced options.Less than five stars because I was irritated by the fact that the router requires filling out security questions like my mothers maiden name. Those things are never secure and I certainly don't want personal information like that stored in a wifi device that may or may not be secure now or in the future. I know how to manage my passwords. Of course, you don't have to fill these fields out correctly, but you better make sure that what you do fill out is not easy to guess. I dislike being forced to use security questionsWhat I like very much on this device are the status lights. Their meaning is very clear and they work.

I purchased this to use as a range extender in a ranger style house that is brick and very solid. Currently the main router is in the basement and was not providing a strong enough signal throughout the house. Once I was able to finish the configuration of this signal strength was no longer issue. It works fantastic for that.The issue I had was that the set up was not as straight forward and easy as I had hoped. I am pretty IT savvy and normally these are not an issue but this one had me looking up troubleshooting tips on the internet. There are two issues that I found for the set up. First issue is that the instructions are not that well written and it does not tell you early on that this device has a static IP address assigned to it and it can not be changed. The reason that this can be an issue is that if you do not use the standard 192.168.1.X address scheme you will run into problems. I purposely change mine for security reasons to something like 192.168.24.X and limit the number of devices that connect by defining the number of IP addresses that can be assigned. Well, the static address assigned to this is 192.168.1.250. Make sure that that address can be seen in your router.The second issue is that you will have to make sure that your devices connect the SSID of your main wireless router as well as the new SSID of this wifi extender if the main one is out of range. I guess I was hoping the could leverage the same SSID name but that was not the case.One last point (which isn't really a drawback) is that a network cable is NOT included in the box so if you are planning on setting it up using the cable you will have to provide your own.

The 1st one I received was a dud. It kept powering OFF while I was trying to set up the network. Netgear tech support told me to return it, and Amazon was great about that. The second one connected right away as the instructions indicated. I'm moderately tech-savvy, so the instructions are very easy to follow, but I did have to carry my laptop into the room with my router to initiate this thing, as it requires that you plug the extender into a wall socket near your router the first time you set it up. Once I got an extender that worked, it was pretty simple. You *must* know your WEP key if you're using FiOS, so make sure you have that handy before you start. The only lingering question I have is whether or not all of my devices are connected to the extended network. You have to direct your devices to connect to the "new" network (this expander). So, I did this with my laptop & phone. Now my phone receives FULL signal in parts of my home where it previously would not. However....my wireless speakers and wireless surveillance cameras still seem to not be getting their full signal (which was the whole purpose in buying this), so I need to either go to web forums to research this question, or call Netgear again and find out if I'm supposed to reboot these systems, and how they will find this extended network. BTW...the first time I called Netgear, I got a tech person whose English I could not understand. So, I called back and got someone different, who still spoke with an accent, but it was much clearer to understand. So, if you need to call Netgear, don't get frustrated. Call back until you reach a person who you can understand, because they really are helpful.

The good news is that eventually the N300 Range Extender worked and does a good job. There are two ways to join the Range Extender to your network. You can use WPS or through your browser. I would have referred to use the browser method but the instructions on doing this were rather sketchy and I never could locate the Range Extender on my network in order to access on board configuration. Fortunately my router supported WPS so once I enabled that and followed the included instructions the status lights on the Extender turned green, indicating I was connected. I still did not see the Extender on my network in order to further modify the configuration, but I was able to look up the IP address in my router's device table. Using the IP I was able to connect to the Extender using my browser.Basically I wanted to change the default password to one of my own choosing. Also it wasn't clear to me that as a default the extended wi-fi connection was password protected, as my iPad connected without my having to enter a password. Finally, I wanted to disable WPS on my router again but to keep the Extender visible from my network. I must have done something wrong when I made all these changes, because suddenly I was no longer able to access the extender, either to get to the internet or to modify the configuration. In short I had to perform a factory reset in order to access the extender again.Once more, using WPS, I added the extender to my network. This time I took a more systematic approach. First I changed the password. That worked and I was still able to access the configuration model using the new password. Next I walked through the setup wizard which allowed me to set the the Extender to the same security settings as my router. This may have been the default anyway. I didn't check before I used the wizard. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of my wi-fi connected devices were smart enough to log into the Extender without my having to re-enter the password as I connected them. So far so good. Next I disabled WPS on my router. As soon as I did so I was no longer able to access the Extender to change the configuration, although the range extender portion still worked. I checked my router and the Extender was no longer in its tables. I enabled WPS again and the extender showed up in the router tables again but with a different IP address. I went into Extender configuration utility and assigned the extender a static IP address. When I committed the change the Extender rebooted and when it came up I was no longer able to log on with my new or old password. After a few attempts I received a prompt asking for the devices serial number, which fortunately was on the box. Once I entered the serial number I was asked a couple security questions which I'd set up when I'd changed the password and it recovered the password and I was able to log on again. I hesitated to once more disable WPS on my router, but finally decided to chance it. This time Extender stayed visible. Hurrah.I moved the Extender to a distant portion of the house were the signal was weak, and after a few moments it booted up and all lights were green. The devices in that room that hadn't been able to connect due to a weak signal now connected and were happy. I was happy as well. The Extender has been working for a couple days now without complaint.I took off one star for feeble instructions, especially if you don't wish to connect using WPS. That said, I believe if I would have just stuck with WPS and left it at that the Extender would have worked fine pretty much out of the box. Although I'm still not sure if it would have been password protected by default at that point. Anyway, now it is working perfectly, so I'm happy.

Works great once it is setup properly. I had trouble with both methods of connecting, with the extender a few inches from the Nighthawk 1900 router. Finally got it to connect on 2.4 GHz via WPS, and then was able to force the 5 GHz online via the "manual setup" by running the wizard via the browser.

I would be nice if it included a way to configure the device over ethernet, the old fashioned way. Rather than spending an hour, I could have spent 10 minutes. But these devices aren't marketed to people who know what they are doing, so it's mostly plug and pray.

At least it was cheap. :)

Difficult setup (for my system) and not very good range. Despite being physically very large, this extender didn't help much with signal strength even when I am in the same room with it. I ended up switching to the Google mesh router instead and this ended up in the box of junk devices I can't bear to throw in the electronics recycling. But I doubt if it will ever be used again.

Pros:
- OK Device. Transmit in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz without issues. Very easy to install and configure.

Cons:
- Lack of advanced configuration options. It is so user friendly that it lacks advanced options for the Networking Experts. No options to modify the wireless advanced settings like Beacon Interval, Thresholds, etc.
- Outdated firmware with some errors like showing that it is not connected to the internet when it is actually connected and working without issues.
- Advertises Wifi Coverage of Up to 10,000 square feets, while my home is way smaller than that I still find many spots with almost no coverage.

Conclusion:
- Not worthy of spending more than 100$ for almnost no improvement in coverage while compared to other APs that sell cheaper than that.

My place has the front entrance and garage on ground level but all the living space is on the second, like a townhome. Using devices with Wi-Fi in the main living space is not an issue, but my Ring doorbell is at ground level and it rarely works due to the Wi-Fi being weak by the front door. I placed the extender near the top of the stairs, which is the closest outlet to the doorbell and a short distance from the router, all lights indicate it's good to go and "fail". I attached a screenshot of my Wi-Fi test by the front door, this is actually worse than it was without the extender so it is going back.

Pros:
Setup took about 60 seconds, very easy.
I liked the idea of not losing an outlet with this design.

Cons:
Did not help with extending Wi-Fi down stairs.

I purchased this product to improve laptop browsing. Out of the box - set-up was tricky - the device finally recognized the network password. Two laptops were connected and browsing seemed improved. Now just 6 hours later the MAC book Pro is connected to the browser, but I can't search or navigate to any URL's. I have restarted the device and the computer. The other lap top is further from the device and is functioning fine. Of course, you can only access Netgear help if the device is connected, and I can't get to the help IF the device IS connected. When I disconnect the device network and log on to the original network - everything is as it should be. Maybe this is a MAC thing - but if it is - it should be identified in the advertisements.

UPDATE - It's working better - there are moments - but the performance is much improved and the signal to the other non-MAC laptop is working really well, where previously it did not receive a signal at all in any room except the room where the router is connected. I still can't give it more than a 3 because the installation is tricky and the on-line assistance is very frustrating - but it seems that once you negotiate the installation process - you'll be OK and its worth the price.

Great device. Does what it says on the box. Really happy now set up, however - two issues...

1. Covers both outlets when plugged in. Even if it's plugged into the upper outlet the lower outlet is partially covered hence unusable. I guessed it might do this from the picture. That's why I bought this one with the pass through outlet.

2. Horrible, horrible setup. Took me an hour. Using the enclosed guide booklet was useless. Netgear has worked to make it easy but needs to try harder. I needed to go online to their Help Center several times to work out the problem. Trouble was that with the unit powered up my laptop kept connecting to the extender instead of my home network. The extender didn't yet have internet access. Catch 22. In the end I connected the unit to my laptop via Ethernet cable. That did it.

Took me about an hour to configure and I'm pretty good at networking. It's finicky at one point after I get the wifi on the 2ghz then 5ghz not working. Took me a bit to figure it out (dont bother with the phone support they are useless if you have done the basics) The wired connection works well on the 2ghz but on the 5ghz it was timing out or all the packets were not transferring (using a wired printer) so it was a hassle once I switched it to the 2ghz no problems since. For the price it does what it needs but does exceed expectations

Downgraded to 3 stars AFTER Using it for a while.After using this extender for a while I downgraded my review to 3 Stars.All the things from my initial review is true BUT What I discovered is this thing is keep dropping the connection. I have to keep turning it on and off at least once a day and that blows.Yessssss I have internet in my garage.When we moved to our new L shaped brick home my garage was strategically located in the worst possible spoT for WiFi. I got this extender in. took 3 minutes to set up (plug & play) BAM ! I got internet. SPEED! That i don't know. I got super slow speeds where I live so not sure if the extender slowing things or not.

Set up was easy and unit was working but in less than 60 days it stopped for no apparent reason. I tried to reset and troubleshoot but just no lights or any indicator it works. I've been a loyal Netgear customer... 5-6 routers and other devices over 10 years. Hope this is a fluke in quality control. Will reach out to Netgear to see if they would provide a replacement.Update: Netgear support kindly sent a replacement and since April I've had no issues with the new unit. Overall the unit works as advertised although every so often it needs a reboot.

My wireless router is on the first floor of my house but the signal isn't strong enough to keep a decent connection for my Xbox One on the second floor other side of the house. After reading other reviews I ordered the product and bookmarked a review with step-by-step instructions on how to set it up since others said the instructions were lacking. Once the product arrived, I had no problems getting the extender configured and running using those instructions posted in that review. After placing the extender on the second floor of the house the Xbox shows '3 bars' of signal strength for the wireless router but '5 bars' of signal strength for the extender. The extender delivers a solid signal to all of the wireless devices I connect to it but there are times where the Xbox drops the connection or has some lag. For the price of the product, it functions well.

The product is functional. It does do some off on type things occasionally. It might be related to the range to the gateway. But that is the whole idea of getting one right? The house is average size about 2100 sf and the gateway is at the back corner in the closet. That is where it came installed. The extender is about half way to the front so it should be sufficient to reach the front of the house. Notice those little antennas on the side- they rotate so I rotated the one on the right side down toward the gateway and it seemed to clear up the signal loss. What sparked me to even buy this was because my Canon printer says it is wifi to my PC and its signal would not reach back to our gateway. Canon would not supply the usb cord to hook to PC.

The way to connect this extender is by using a Kindle Fire, Android Tablet, iPad or other mobile device. The instructions are not very clear on what you need to install the device. So if you assume you can install this device using your desktop computer and that you'll be able to find the "wireless manager," you probably will have difficulty. In fact, some of the online questions for Netgear and Microsoft are where do you find the manager and how do you make it work. Unfortunately, the answers are typical techno-speak and basically difficult or impossible to follow. So for those who cannot read between the lines of the instructions, the way you install this is:1) Plug in the device. It will probably take several seconds, sometimes minutes, before the power light registers green. Do not despair. The instructions won't tell you that this will take some time, but it does.2) Get out your iPad, Kindle Fire, or other WIRELESS tablet or device. DON'T EXPECT TO USE YOUR DESKTOP computer to make the connection. Go to the "Settings" of your wireless device and wait for it to recognize your router name plus a suffix ___EXT. When that appears, choose that wifi connection. You will be asked for the same password you use on your real router. Enter that password.3) You will be taken to a website for setting up the extender. If you try to access this website from your DESKTOP computer, you'll get an error message. Once you get to this website, the instructions in the package will start to make sense.4) When you've finished the set up, unplug the extender and take it to the location where you want to boost the wireless connectivity. Again, using your mobile device (or other computer), use the "Settings" menu to find the widi connection. Choose the network connection with your wireless name PLUS the ___EXT suffix. The password will be the same as your regular wifi network.The devices in proximity to the extender will receive a better wifi signal. I think the device is fine, but the instructions were not very well done. I think it would be helpful if the writers had made it clear that you need to use a MOBILE device (not just a computer, tablet, etc.) to set this up. In other words, you cannot set this up (at least not that I was able to discover) with your regular desktop computer. With an iPad or Kindle Fire, the process is very easy and provides decent boosted wifi. I gave this a the three-star because this installation process could have been so much clearer with more precise instructions or even a quick little video.UPDATE: Well, we just had to upgrade our router/gateway. I am sorry to say that this extender was just as bothersome to set up using the reset as before. My instructions still worked BUT you cannot do this on an iPhone. For some reason even after you enter the correct router password, the latest iPhone OS will not let you access the continue button. I was able to set this up using my Kindle Fire HDX. I have since purchased this router: MSRM US750 750M Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender Wireless WiFi Repeater With Dual External Antennas and 360 Degree WiFi Covering, which was much simpler to set up and seems to be providing the same level of access. (I did use an iPhone to set it up.) I tested both extenders using a dead spot/download speed app, and they appear to work about the same. (There also are less expensive versions of this MSRM router that others say work well.) So, I've turned off my Netgear router...for now, but am keeping it as a back-up.

I wanted to love this extender. I really did....It connected easily, but then when I told it to secure the network via the existing passwords it began to drop off the network. It did so frequently. I reset, did it all over and it just did not seem to want to be a secure network. I tried different passwords...still dropped. I called Customer service, and they connected me to a Pay for Service group that took me thru a bunch of stuff before telling me they charged $129 to get me online. It was a new router, and I thought how absurd to charge for helping a customer with a JUST PURCHASED extender. I called amazon and advised them that I would be returning the extender, and NOT paying for a service that should be free. (at least for the first 90 days, anyway.)

Very unimpressed with this product. It creates a new 'network' using your current WiFi network name + 2GEXT or 5GEXT. You then connect to that network instead of your original. Doesn't extend signal well and extended signal is significantly slower than original which is available at same location. Helped 5G a little, but not much.

I also wanted to get this model with the extra outlet as it is placed in an area with limited outlets. The design is poor in that the plugs is at the bottom so if you use the top outlet of a standard double outlet, the 3 prong cord you plug into this device will usually hang down and block the lower outlet on the wall. If you plug this device into the lower outlet, you block the top wall outlet. Makes the extra outlet cumbersome to try to use.

Easy 5 minute setup and now I have no dead spots anywhere in or around my house. Although not mentioned anywhere except in a few obscure reviews, you need to be aware that with any of these "range extenders" or repeaters, you are trading bandwidth for coverage. Because in repeater mode they re-transmit the signal from your wireless router, the speed of your connection will be about half of what the router is putting out. This is fine if your ISP is giving you enough bandwidth to start with. In my case, my router is putting out a little over 100 mps and this range extender is pumping about 60 mps to the formerly dead spots in my home.

**** Update 9/13/2017 - I guess I should have waited longer to review this range extender. After about 30 days, you cannot connect to this extender on the 2,4 gz band. It is putting out a signal but it will not allow a connection and rejects the logon credentials. Redoing the setup will allow a connection for a day or two but then it starts rejecting connections all over again. It is configured in normal mode (not Fastlane) using the same login credentials as the parent router and there is no problem at all with connecting through the 5gz band.

I have contacted Netgear customer support but based on other customer comments I don't expect any response this century.

I have downgraded my review to 3 stars. I might have gone lower but it works well on the 5gz band and was awesome until this problem showed up. I will update again if Netgear ever resolves the problem.

Bought this thinking my new verizon quantum router was crap. Installation was easy, both bands connected fine and the signal appeared strong where it got placed? The speedtest on my PS3 and speedtest.verizon.net on the chromebook told a different story. Got about 2/3's the speed on the PS3 and half out of the chromebook? The PS3 can only connect up using 2.4ghz by design but the chromebook can connect to 5ghz. I thought the extender combined the two channels for an increase in speed from reading the box, but that doesn't appear the be the case?

*** UPDATE October 10, 2017 ***I was originally very happy with the range extender, but with nearly one year of experience on which to report, the news is not good. My original range extender began showing signs of degradation within a month or two, but it was hard to determine whether it was an environmental problem, a Comcast problem, or a hardware problem because my test results were hard to quantify. Often a simple reboot restored performance, so I reserved blame on the cause for several months.Then, I noticed that the hi-frequency (5Ghz) band just stopped working altogether and the speed on the low band dropped off like a rock. I am 75' LOS to the R7000 router, so signal was not the problem. Since you get a measly 90 days of phone support, I requested a replacement under the 1-year hardware warranty, and this is when it got weird... I was told that I needed to have phone support diagnose the problem, but phone support refused to take my call. Even after explaining that I had been referred, I still got the runaround (LOUD ALARMS SOUNDING!!!!). It took an unambiguous tone and a few carefully chosen words to trigger the warranty replacement, and this was received about two weeks ago. When I plugged that unit in, everything seemed to be in perfect order. Setup was straightforward, and performance was as expected. The extender was delivering 40Mbps at the 2.7Mhz band! I was relieved! Then, this morning after a week away, my performance is down 10x on BOTH bands! I've reset the router and extender... TWICE, and the results are the same. So, what has changed? Is this an aging issue? The R7000 router continues to function perfectly in the main house and I have zero complaints about it's performance, but this EX7000 range extender is just full of unpleasant surprises. If this continues to fail, I will post an update. For now, I cannot recommend this product.

I have purchased this product a week ago, and I am experiencing intermittent connection loss to the networks I have created on this device. I am using it as an access point, so it is connected via ethernet to my modem. Every few minutes, all my devices get disconnected from it. Not reliable at all! I have a smart home, and my devices only work half the time because of the problem with this device. When it is working, its good, but for a $100+ is a total failure.

It's ok when it works. My setup was kinda rough as I had to reset(to factory default) the device about 5 to 6 times before it finally with through all the steps without messing up somewhere along the way. Now that it's up and running it often has to be turned off and on again to regain connection even though it's well within range of the router. Works great when it actually works but what can you expect out of a $30 range booster I guess. On the fence buyers should consider spending more on a better built device.

This thing just doesn't send out a strong enough single and will loose my connection on occasion. I only have it about 25 feet from my main unit so not sure why this would not work properly. Would not by again based on issue.

I ordered this because it is a dual band extender and I have a dual band router (a Google Fiber box, to be specific) and I wanted to boost the signal to some areas of my house where it has a hard time reaching. Setup was okay, but could be better. Not exactly plug and play. I ran into a few difficulties getting the webpage for the extender to load (not to mention the fact that it logs you out within like 5 minutes of no activity - really far too quickly if you are trying to do several things at once). Once I did that it took me several tries to find a spot in my house where the thing would actually pick up a signal from my router. I finally got that settled and managed to get the 2.4 Ghz band working just fine (which is the only reason I'm giving this 2-stars instead of just one).However, I ran into plenty of problems with the 5 ghz band. It simply refused to recognize that it was there at all. On the web page for the router it showed that it was there but wouldn't connect. I can log directly onto the 5 ghz band (on my original router) on my phone so I know it works. The 5 ghz extension appeared on my phone but when I would log on it would say there was no internet connection. On my laptop the 5 ghz extension didn't even show up as an option. I went online and searched forums for Negear and for Google Fiber and found that this is not an uncommon problem with this particular extender. However, after trying all of the suggestions on the forums I still couldn't get it to work - even when the extender was plugged in just a few feet from the router.Having run out of options I contacted Netgear support and after exchanging several e-mails with a person who was - bless him - trying to be helpful but obviously didn't speak English as a first language, he finally told me to return the product. All I want to do is extend the range of the wifi in my house. It shouldn't really be this complicated. I chose this product because of the majority of positive reviews it has. Guess I should have paid more attention to the negative ones.

I bought this to improve the WiFi connection for my Xbox one. I was getting some lag in online multi-player games. After setup, which was very easy, the lag got much worse. All the lights were solid green, but the game became almost unplayable. While the signal strength does appear stronger, the connection seems to be very unstable.

I give it 2 stars instead of one, because the setup is elegantly easy. But even with it near my router it gives only a fraction (1/4 to 1/10th) of the speed of the primary signal. Further away, where one has to put it to do its job, the speed falls to a pathetic fraction of 1 MB. I tried loaning it to a neighbor to solve their range problem, thinking it would work better with their higher speed Comcast service than mine, and it was useless there as well - it couldn't support a Chromecast device for NetFlix video. But I've had it too long (2 months) to return it, so I'm out more than $30. Is it the "best seller" just because it is cheap? (In another residence I have a different brand of extender which performs properly - and I am tech savvy. So it ain't me.)

This product originally worked great! We had an issue that our router was installed closer to one side of the house, so we bought this to extend our wifi range to the other side of the house. It really fixed our issues of poor wifi signal initially, but after less than a year, this thing fails to connect to any devices. I have re-started the little device multiple times and even moved it to different locations, yet it still does not work. I even attempted to restart my devices, forget the network, and set it up again, yet no luck. Such a bummer that Amazon won't help me solve this problem, it's "ineligible" to return or exchange because it's older than a month.I can't believe how unreliable this device is, I would expect a longer lifetime than 8 months.

If I could give this negative stars, I would. This replaced a Netgear that worked great until a power surge got it. This thing was a real challenge to get set up and then randomly just dropped signals. Then when our provider updated our gateway, it stopped connecting at all. Went through the reset steps, set it up as if out of the box, and still won't work. And, of course, too late to return it. I doubt I will ever buy another Netgear anything.

I got this having pretty high expectations, and it was extremely disappointing. The setup was straightforward; I logged into the website walked through the installation process. I have one gig fiber optic in my home, I was literally outside my window 10 feet away from the router, getting only 1 Mbps. I went upstairs where I was looking for a little boost up there as well with even a worse result. I completely agree with the first review that was written for this product. I wanted this to work it would solve many headaches instead it will be getting boxed up and returned.

The product does not work as advertised. I'm experienced in connecting switches / routers / and various network equipment. I followed the directions of the installation and chose the WPS connection method. Which on the surface seemed to work and connect to my Netgear R9000 router. However, that is where things go south. The extender displays a series of White LEDs, one that signifies connection strength via White / Amber or out. The LED was solid white and all indicators signified a good connection for both the 2.4GHZ and the 5GHZ wireless. All my 2.4GHZ connections appeared to be solid. However, the 5GHZ would connect disconnect and display messages that authentication failed. I redid the setup manually and again via WPS. Each time my 5ghz devices would have a number of disconnections or very slow speeds. I finally reached out to Netgear support and opened a ticket and have yet to hear back from anyone at Netgear. I will be boxing this unit up and sending it back to Amazon as I will wait for a more solid and fully tested solution.

Absolute piece of junk. This seemingly innocent looking device cost me too much of my time, sanity, and patience, all of which ran out one night after a 3 hour phone call with the Netgear support team who admitted that they could figure out why it was not working, but that I could pay out of pocket for additional over the phone help......yeah, no thanks. Save yourself the trouble and buy a different extender.

As a wifi extender, totally not happy with this at all. After several sessions with tech support and firmware updates, it now sits on my desk. At some point I will be using it as an access point once I get the wiring through the house. Wish I never bought it.

Pros:
It is fast when it is working.

Form factor is good.

Cons:
Why do I have to create an account that gets mirrored to NETGEAR's servers? The product may be able to function stand-alone, but there is zero reason I should be forced to sign up for a support forum account in order to use the product.

The web interface is extremely slow.

Fastlane (backhaul on one band with clients on the other) intermittently dropped routing using the latest two firmware revisions (1.0.0.40 and 1.0.0.44) and the router configuration page showed incorrect connectivity status while doing so.

Non-Fastlane (backhaul on same band as clients) intermittently dropped routing using the latest two firmware revisions (1.0.0.40 and 1.0.0.44).

If the extender cannot connect the WiFi AP being extended, it still allows clients to connect to it and starts handing out IP addresses using its own DHCP server. If you network setup doesn't use a DHCP range of 192.168.1.x, you are going to be confused and/or sometimes end up with clients that have an IP that isn't correct for your network.

Bottom line:
It is going back. Routing is unreliable and the unreliability is frustrating as devices roam to it and then lose internet connectivity due to the routing issues or roam to it only to lose internet connectivity hours later. I'm ordering some Ubiquiti Unifi equipment as I am fed up with consumer grade equipment such as this device.

Hate it. This made my already slow internet speed even slower, but did improve the range of the signal. But in my opinion how do you really justify that? If your speed sucks but you get a good signal how is that working? Setup was pretty easy though, but took a couple of tries. I had to manually go into my iPad settings in order for it to connect to this device, it basically makes a different network to connect to

This didn't work for at all. I would have to manually switch networks on my phone or laptop, as did my husband. It also started acting very strange, making us put in our wifi password repeatedly. After a week, I reset it, unplugged it, and destroyed it. I'm very wary about this kind of stuff, and it almost felt like it could have been gathering information or something (paranoid, I know). In the end, I just asked my provider for a better modem that would actually work for my whole house.

NETGEAR has the absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced. I've written hundreds of reviews and this is the first 1 star I have ever given. I love their products, however if you need to contact them expect a 3 week process with 30 emails back and forth. It was a very simple question on how to get the 5 Ghz working. The 2.4 works great. The 5 Ghz signal will not extend past the router to the netgear extender. You can not get in contact with a real person. All emails are they send back are automated. My Netgear router works awesome. The extender not so much. If you ever have a problem don't expect any help from them.

The extender did not work as required. One of my PCs connected successfully, the other could not. I used exactly the same parameters on both. After considerable frustration, I called the Netgear help desk. They tried to be helpful, but clearly were not sufficiently trained to address the problem. They suggested I take my desktop, which could not connect, to a technician. Cost of technician ca. $200, cost of router $29.79. I would not recommend this product to anyone.

Absolutely terrible speed. Set up was easy and it extends our wi-fi to the whole house, but the performance is absolutely unacceptable. Drops the signal often and even when it's working it takes the download speed of my primary wi-fi from 50 Mbps down to 10 Mbps. It's so bad, if I'm trying to do something on the internet I walk to an area of my house where I can get my primary wifi signal, which is what I had to do before I bought this.

Long time Amazon Prime member that's literally ordered hundreds of times. First time I've been compelled to leave a review. That said, I ordered this device about 8 months ago. Setup was fairly straight forward, but I also benefit from a heavy tech background. I could see a non-tech person maybe struggling a little, but it's not too bad. Worked okay until today. Not as fast as connecting directly to the router, but not significantly slower either. Did struggle with the device maintaining a connection, so most morning when going to my computer, I'd need to reconnect and wait for all the emails and other data transfers to completely. Wasn't ideal, but I dealt with it. Only drawback was I'd often set Google Drive to pause during the day and and then resume at night so it wouldn't bog down my internet speed for other tasks. Today the device simply stopped working. Lights were all on and green, but would not broadcast as seen across 3 separate devices. Tried to restart it, to no effect. Finally did a factory reset and though it did broadcast, I could never connect. It just times out. Reset it several more times, same deal... So I called Netgear support and after 15 minutes of reading serial numbers and handing over personal info, they attempted to sell me a 'support package' for $89 for 6 months, $129 for 1 year and $199 for two years. Netgear supports their hardware for 60 days. After that, you're left high and dry unless you pay for a ridiculously over priced support contract to be able to talk to a support rep that is clearly overseas. Mind you the device sells on Amazon new for $29. So, BUYER BEWARE!!! Sucks to add this hunk a plastic to a landfill, but obviously Netgear is expecting it or hoping you'll pay their ransom to maybe get your device up and running. Never again... After having owned many Netgear devices and purchased many in professional environments, I WILL NEVER EVER PURCHASE NETGEAR AGAIN. Further, anytime it comes up, I'll insure everyone in listening distance is made aware just how bad Netgear's support is. BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK.