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Download spped with extender slower than download w/o extender
Product is actually AC750 WiFi Range Extender (EX3700-100NAS) purchased form Amazon
I need the extender to increase signal strength for faster download speeds. Without the extender I get 150mbp...
Generally speaking, extenders increase the wifi coverage area, not the speed. If you connect directly to the router when you are near the extender, you usually will get a faster speed than you will get connecting through the extender. One issue is that a dual band extender is using the 5 Ghz radio to receive the data from the client, and then using the same 5 Ghz radio to forward that data to the router. That cuts the maximum speed in half.
The fastest extenders are tri-band - using one 5 Ghz radio to connect to the router, and using a separate 5 Ghz radio to connect to the clients. The EX7500, EX7700 and the EX8000 are the triband models. They are quite a bit more expensive than the EX3700. But you shouldn't see the drop-off you are getting with the EX3700, and if you place the extender part way between the router and the upstairs room you likely will see a speed increase in that room.
You could also look into getting an cat-6 ethernet cable run between the router location and the upstairs. Then you could use the EX3700 (or any of the other models) in access point mode, and you would get faster speeds.
Thanks for replying - appreciate any and all help. The router is a D-Link DIR 880L - I've connected thru the 5Ggz 802.11ac - router is one floor down approximately 35 feet away from the extender. The extender is 7 1/2 feet from the desktop PC in the same room.All the lights on the entender are green. The signal strength to the extender is 780 Mbps
I've also checked the speeds on a laptop and get basicly the same result - the download on the laptop very near the router is over 300 Mbps,
The EX3700 is an AC750 extender, your router is AC1900. So part of the issue might be that the EX3700 isn't fast enough. It might also be too far from the router.
Can you try moving the extender downstairs (perhaps 10 feet or so from the router), and test the speed through the extender (and directly through the router) from a spot near the extender? That would help identify the problem.