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Appledev wrote:

I'm thinking of getting NETGEAR 11AC 1200 Mbps (300 Mbps + 900 Mbps) Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender with External Antennas (Wi-Fi Booster) (EX6120-100UKS) because it has higher speed than the 300Mbps models.  However, I want to make sure that I will ctually be able to get the higher speed.

 

How do you use both wi-fi bands to establish one very high-speed connection?

 

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The answer the second question first - you don't.  Instead, the extender connects back to your router on both bands.  The 2.4 ghz radio (the 300 Mbps part) extends the 2.4 ghz wifi from your router.  The 5 ghz radio extends the 5 ghz wifi from your router.

So the first thing is that you need to make sure that your router is at least 300+900 mbps.  If it's less than that, the performance will be limited by the router wifi.  Also, you need to find a spot for the extender where it can make a solid connection to the router, and still cover the dead spots.  5 Ghz speeds drop off more quickly than 2.4 ghz.  You should try testing some locations using a PC or tablet - either looking at signal quality directly or running speedtest.net. 

Using the extender in this way will cut the bandwidth in about half, since everything is being relayed to the router using the same radios that the extender uses for the clients.  There are two approaches to overcoming this.  One is to run ethernet from the router to the extender location, and then configure it as an access point.  The other is to get a triband extender, and use Netgear's fastlane technology.  That dedicates a radio to the router->extender link. 

Note that there is a fastlane option for the EX6150 too, but that won't get you the highest speeds.  If you use it at 2.4 ghz, you'll be limited to the 2.4 ghz connection to the router.  If you use it a 5 ghz, you'll be limited to the 2.4 ghz connection your client makes to the extender.