NETGEAR has released the Nighthawk X4S, Wall-Plug, AC2200 Tri-band ,Wi-Fi Range Extender with FastLane3 and Smart Roaming. It can add basic mesh capabilities to existing Wi-Fi AC home networks.
The Nighthawk X4S (EX7500) leverages NETGEAR’s proprietary FastLane3 Technology that can transform compatible existing Wi-Fi AC networks into an expanded Wi-Fi mesh system to help eliminate dead zones and boost performance.
This technology can enable NETGEAR’s Tri-band routers to create a dedicated wireless link from the extender to the router, removing bottlenecks in home networks so that smartphones, tablets and computers can stream, game or browse the internet.
To be clear it will work with most Wi-Fi AC routers, but it is best with a NETGEAR Tri-band router like the AC5300, R8500 to dedicate one of its two 5GHz bands to create a mesh FastLane 3 link to the AC2200 extender.
The only catch to this is that 5GHz Wi-Fi has a shorter range, so the extender needs to be reasonably close to the router. NETGEAR provides its Android Wi-Fi analytics app to help optimise the network. The X4S can cover an area of 138m2 (about 12 x 12 metres)
This also enables on single SSID Wi-Fi network name and seamless roaming.
It breaks the AC2200 up into
- Band 1: 400Mbps @2.4GHz – 256QAM
- Band 2: 866Mbps @5GHz – 256QAM
- Band 3: 866Mbps @5GHz – 256QAM
“If you love the features of your current router or are locked into the modem-router provided by your ISP, the Nighthawk X4S Extender with FastLane3 Technology offers you an easy way to extend your home W-Fi by adding a mesh network without overhauling your network,” said David Henry, senior vice president of Connected Home Products at NETGEAR.
“With no need to dismantle or replace your existing Wi-Fi equipment, you can now experience the benefits of Nighthawk Mesh Wi-Fi. You need only decide between the wall-plug design (EX7500) or the desktop extender (EX8000).”
Price
A$279 at major retailers.
GadgetGuy’s take
Don’t believe everything you read. Wi-Fi can end up a nightmare in Australian homes with lots of Wi-Fi absorbing or blocking materials like corrugated roofing, cement/clay brick walls, steel framing and more.
While Wi-Fi extenders can work in the right circumstances, they can cause other issues like loss of bandwidth in the main router’s service area. The best way to extend the Wi-Fi network is to use hardwired Ethernet cables or Ethernet over Power devices to dedicated bridges or extenders supporting seamless roaming.
And while this product works with all AC routers/gateways it is going to perform best with NETGEAR’s flagshipAC5300, R8500 router where it can dedicate one of its two 5GHz 2166Mb/s channels to the extender. If you are already using that extra band, it will no longer be available.
It is important to note that the extender cannot transmit speeds greater than the link speed to the existing router and for the most part that is a lot less than AC2200.
And it is even more important to note that the router cannot transmit any faster speed than the internet delivered to it – from 10 to 100Mb/s depending on your ISP.
Before you buy any extender make sure you can take it back to the store if it does not work for you.
Ray,
Love your reviews!! I’m trying to extend the wifi range in my house using my existing router – a FritzBox 7490. I have CAT6 points throughout the house, and I assume using Access Points is the best option – BUT I can’t find any decent reviews on Access Points.
Cheers,
Brett
Hi Brett
Your Fritzbox is an AC1300 router with an ADSL/VDSL port, two analog phone ports, four Ethernet ports and two USB3.0 ports.
In its day it was pretty good, but the dual-band (2.4GHz 450Mb/s and 5GHz 850Mb/s) is pretty limiting especially if you want to extend the internet around your house.
You don’t mention if you have NBN yet (probably not) nor what Internet speed you are currently getting.
My guess is ADSL2+ and probably around 10Mb/s download (may be as high as 20Mb/s)
So using any range extender will be limited to providing shared ADSL 2+ speeds. In other words, you don’t need an expensive range extender/access point as you only have a trickle of the internet to share. And NBN is coming – certainly within two years so you will need to reassess your router and needs.
Some issues with any access point. They connect either by Wi-Fi (forget it as your Frtizbox does not have the Wi-Fi bandwidth) or Ethernet.
If you have Ethernet, the ports can provide up to 1000Mb/s back to the Fritz, but it can only provide 10-20Mb/s shared internet access.
All access points transmit their own SSID (Wi-Fi name), and there is no roaming between points.
So the conundrum is, do you buy for today or try to futureproof?
If buying for today get a D-Link AC1200 access point https://www.dlink.com.au/home-solutions/DAP-1665-wireless-ac1200-dual-band-access-point at $179.95. It connects via Ethernet and retransmits with a Dual Band 2.4/5GHz at the same speed as your Fritzbox.
Or if you are trying to futureproof a little and are happy to go with D-Link then buy a faster Wireless AC router https://www.dlink.com.au/home-solutions/DSL-5300-cobra-ac5300-wave2-wi-fi-modem-router and change your Fritz to an access point. The the only issue here is if you are using the Fritz phone ports.
The D-Link is whole of home ready and has additional range extenders that offer a single SSID.
Ray