[section_title title=Setup and Performance]
Setup and Performance
To setup this device, I tried the first method of using the WPS (WiFi protected setup) and I’m pleased to say it set up both my 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi connections perfectly. You will notice below. My 2.4GHz connection is called ‘Wile E Coyote’ and my 5GHz is called ‘The Roadrunner’. I hope you understand the reference…
Should WPS not work for you personally, TP-Link have provided an ethernet cable in the box. Simply connect the cable to the RE200 and your laptop/computer, insert the included CD and follow the instructions to get it set up.
The RE200 also automatically sets up the ethernet port with a DHCP IP address should you wish to ethernet a device to the RE200. Another nice feature!
Now on to the performance of the RE200.
To test the performance of the TP-Link RE200 WiFi range extender, I have devised a simple testing methodology to test the quality of signals at different distances and through obstacles using my Dell E6400 laptop fitted with a Broadcom 7260 Mini PCI-E card at 866.5Mbps, the fastest this WiFi card can manage and all tests are run on the (where I live, lucky me) zero traffic 5GHz range. To test the quality, I ran Speedtest (www.speedtest.net) and took down each result from the following locations:
– 1m away from WiFi Extender
– 5m away from WiFi Extender
– 15m away from WiFi Extender (Through 1 wall and walking down the road)
– 25m away from WiFi Extender (Though 1 wall and walking down the road)
The internet connection wired reads as follows:
Ping – 23ms
D/L Speed – 36.57 Mbps
U/L Speed – 6.64 Mbps
Now it’s time to test the router…
1 metre away from RE200:
WiFi speed – 433 Mbps
Ping –27 Ms
D/L Speed –36.51 Mbps
U/L Speed – 6.64 Mbps
5 metre away from RE200:
WiFi speed – 433 Mbps
Ping – 27ms
D/L Speed –31.29 Mbps
U/L Speed – 6.12 Mbps
15 metre away from RE200:
WiFi speed – 300 Mbps
Ping – 30ms
D/L Speed – 22.60 Mbps
U/L Speed – 4.12 Mbps
25 metre away from RE200:
WiFi speed – 300 Mbps
Ping – 45ms
D/L Speed – 10.90 Mbps
U/L Speed – 2.32 Mbps
As you can see from the results, the RE200 performs admirably and to make matters better, the 25-metre range consists from the middle of my first floor flat walking down the stairs and down the street. The ping is also relatively great and stable across the range. I also know that the internal antennas hinder performance on all extender products so it makes the results less surprising.
NOTE: It should be noted that the RE200 was only about 6-7m away from the router and in a clear line of sight.
I bought the TP-Link RE200 AC750 today and honestly it was such a disappointment! I use the powerline adapters and there amazing but this is such a let down. It can’t pick up the wifi anywhere in the house unless it’s in the same room. Makes it kinda useless!
Hey Mick, thanks for letting us know what’s going on with your Wi-Fi extender. I didn’t review the product so I can’t speak for our editor’s experience, but having used a very cheap extender / repeater I can see that what you’re reporting is certainly not what anyone would expect when they buy such a device.
There are a couple of things you can do which may improve the situation…
1) Download a wi-fi sniffer app onto your smartphone to get a visual representation of not only your network but also all other local networks which might be causing interference. If your neighbour has a powerful router running on the same channel as your network it can cause interference and greatly reduce the effectiveness of your wifi setup. There are plenty of free apps that will do the job for both Android and iPhone, the one I use on Android is made by Netgear and called Wifi Analytics. It’ll give you an easy to read graph showing all bandwidth use and armed with that info you can take the guesswork out of finding a clear channel for your network. I’m not saying the Netgear app is the best choice, it’s simply the one I use and because it does everything I needed it wasn’t necessary for me to look further into the alternatives.
2) Try to find out if there’s a firmware update that will improve the effectiveness of the TP-Link RE200 AC750 – It’s important to know that there may be regional variations in the hardware and so you need to download the correct firmware for your region. If you’re in the UK you can find all the support info here https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/download/re200/ otherwise you can use that link as a gateway to then change to your own region.
3) If none of the above options help, ie. there’s no interference and the device is up to date, it might simply be that you have a faulty unit. It’s never a nice experience to receive a defective product, but I would suggest that you report your problems directly to TP-Link so that they can assist you either by resolving issues that I’ve not considered or helping to arrange a replacement device if it’s necessary.
I hope this reply is helpful for you. Please let us know how you get on if you choose to persevere with the extender… our reviews are only as good as our own experience with any product so feedback from the community (even if it’s ‘bad news’) helps other shoppers when it comes to choosing their next purchase.
My son bought me one to improve lap-top, tablet & mobile internet reception on the ground floor of our 1929 brick built house. The Virgin router is located upstairs. The RE 200 doubled the DL speed from about 20 to 40 Mbps. This made a noticeable improvement particularly to Facetime chats with family & friends.