Today I purchased a AC1200 Wifi Range Extender Model EX6150v2. I followed the instructions provided in the Quick Start guide to set up the device which also involved setup procedures online. Upon completion of the setup, my devices recognized the new WiFi connections with the EXT extension. I tried connecting to the Internet with my PC laptop using the EXT Wifi connection at which time both lights on the AC1200 were solid green. I was able to connect to the Internet with the Wifi status on my computer indicating "Connected, secured." After about 20 seconds the Internet connection was lost and the Wifi status on my computer indicated "No Internet, secured."
Similar situation when conecting using my iphone.
I have no problem connecting to the Internet on either device using the old Wifi connections.
Thank you for your reply. The answers to both your questions are as follows: I am using a Linksys router provided by Spectrum. I initially tried setting up the extender using the wps method as outlined in the instructions. Specifically, the extender was plugged in a few feet away from the router. The extender switch was set to extender. Once the power light was a steady green, I pushed the wps button on the extender causing the wps green light to blink. I then pushed the wps button on the router. After two minutes, the blinking green light on the extender briefly blinked faster then went out. I repeated a few more times with the same results. I next followed the instructions for set up using a WiFi connection and that seemed to work.
It appears the Best Buy technical sales consultant was right. WiFi range extenders are useless. NETGEAR support told me my unit was defective so I returned it and purchased the next model up. Same result. Returned the extender the next day.
I'd have to agree a bit. Standard range extenders aren't that great. They're really only good if you need a little extra distance to reach a low bandwidth device.
The tri-band extenders are a whole different ball game.
Reason why is a standard extender needs a good signal to function. as well as it has to recieve and then retransmit. And it can't do both at once so its speed is cut in half right off the bat. And when they get put in an area with already a reduced signal, their final output can be pretty horrible at times.
The tri-bands mitigate this by reserving one of the 5ghz radios just for router----extender communication. So they don't take the massive speed hit.
And a lot depends on your router. its the backbone of the system. We see many people putting range extenders on bad routers. And the extenders can't function better than what they're connected to. And they take the speed hit.
