My apartment is approximately 730 square feet and the layout is long and narrow — very much like a spaceship or two submarines.
And when you divide that long area between an upstairs and downstairs, the wireless connection gets choppy on the far side of the apartment, especially when the modem and router on a opposite floor.
They’re not quite dead spots, but the signal strength is noticeably weaker at the edges of my apartment.
In order to improve that connection, I needed to try something. After some looking around and reading some online reviews, I decided to purchase the TP-LINK RE200 AC750 Wireless Range Extender.
The setup was more steps than expected, but the instructions were straightforward and simple and wireless extender worked perfectly the first time after I set it up. Well, at least the right lights lit up.
After the set up, I placed the wireless extender upstairs.
Prior to adding the wireless range extender, the connection upstairs (modem is downstairs) rarely hit a full five bars — mostly four bars right above the modem, and between 2-3 bars in the spotty, problem areas.
With the TP-Link RE200, I’m now receiving a full five bars all over the top floor.
Basically, the way the RE200 works is that the extender repeats the original signal wherever it’s placed. The TP-LINK adds another password-protected wireless network name for a device to connect to (e.g. “Stuart’s Wifi” and “Stuart’s Wifi 2”). So when a device is trying to connect, it will usually choose whichever signal is stronger. So far, it’s all worked seamlessly.
I’ve only had this device a little less than a week and am loving the performance. I also love that I really don’t think about it; my devices connect to whatever network is “better”.
As of this post, I 100% recommend the TP-Link RE200 Wireless Range Extender/Repeater.
