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Editor’s Notice: We expect you have to be conscious that TP-Hyperlink routers are beneath investigation by the US authorities over safety issues and could possibly be banned within the US this 12 months, in response to a number of information stories. The TP-Hyperlink Archer RE605X was beforehand named our greatest general alternative for Wi-Fi extenders. Whereas our analysis of the {hardware} hasn’t modified, out of maximum warning for our readers, we determined to pause it as our prime advice till we study extra. Learn CNET’s reporting for extra info.
Even the latest Wi-Fi routers will battle to attach each nook of a multi-story residence. When that occurs, you have got two decisions: Swap out your router for a mesh system or add a Wi-Fi extender to your present router. For as little as $20, a Wi-Fi extender can increase your web sign to a particular space with out you having to spend money on a wholly new setup. Set up is so simple as plugging the extender into {an electrical} outlet and connecting it to your Wi-Fi router. If that sounds too good to be true, it sort of is.
CNET’s testing has discovered that Wi-Fi extenders is usually a satisfactory answer in case you’re trying to enhance the connection in a single room, however you will seemingly find yourself disenchanted in case you’re hoping to spice up the speeds to a complete ground or wing of your own home. For that, you are higher off upgrading to a full-fledged mesh system.
Should you’re trying to deliver your Wi-Fi outdoors the home, remember to try our explainer on extending Wi-Fi outside, which incorporates Wi-Fi extender and mesh community suggestions.
What’s the greatest Wi-Fi extender general?
Should you determine to go the Wi-Fi extender route, our vote for one of the best Wi-Fi extender is the Linksys RE7310. Whereas it is barely dearer than different fashions at $100, it delivered vital pace boosts in each room I examined and gives full assist for Wi-Fi 6 speeds.
Should you’re on the lookout for one thing extra reasonably priced, there are many choices for beneath $50, though not all of them have Wi-Fi 6 assist. I’ve spent the previous few years recurrently testing them to seek out one of the best of the bunch. After numerous assessments, my information recognized the vary extenders that reigned supreme. Let’s get proper to them.
Finest Wi-Fi extenders
Linksys RE7310
Finest general Wi-Fi extender
Within the CNET Good Residence, the place we have now a fiber web plan with uploads and downloads of as much as 150Mbps, the RE7310 returned common Wi-Fi 6 downloads all through the whole multistory home of 132Mbps. As for the uploads, Linksys completed with a median whole-home pace to my Wi-Fi 6 check machine of 124Mbps.
The RE7310 completed in a digital tie with the TP-Hyperlink RE605X on Wi-Fi 6 gadgets, however was barely much less spectacular with earlier-gen Wi-Fi 5 gadgets, notably with respect to add speeds. Nonetheless, the efficiency was stable throughout the board, and powerful sufficient for me to take video calls within the Good Residence’s basement useless zones, one thing I might have struggled with utilizing simply the only router I ran my assessments on. It’s kind of bulky-looking, however the RE7310 is one of the best Linksys vary extender I’ve examined but, and it is an particularly nice choose in case you can catch it on sale.
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TP-Hyperlink makes among the hottest picks within the vary extender class, with a reasonably extensive number of choices to select from at numerous worth factors. Should you’re shopping for one in 2025, the TP-Hyperlink RE605X must be proper on the prime of your record (authorities investigation however). At $64, it is from essentially the most reasonably priced extender in the marketplace (hold studying for the worth picks), however with a extremely succesful AX1800 design, full assist for the newest Wi-Fi 6 speeds and options, adjustable antennas and a useful, easy-to-use management app with sturdy critiques on each Android and iOS, it is about as well-rounded as vary extenders get.
The efficiency is especially sharp too. In my assessments on the CNET Good Residence, an RE605X within the basement was in a position to lengthen the router’s sign from upstairs simply fantastic, giving my add and obtain speeds a big increase in each room I examined. All through the whole 5,800-square-foot-home, amongst all of the extenders I examined, the RE605X delivered the quickest common add speeds to each Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 gadgets, the quickest common obtain speeds to Wi-Fi 6 gadgets and the second quickest common obtain speeds to Wi-Fi 5 gadgets.
By default, the extender places out its personal separate community whenever you first pair it together with your router, and that community will use the identical password as your authentic community, and the identical SSID with “-EXT” added to the top. That is higher than extenders that put out an unsecured community by default — and in case you use the app to delete that “-EXT” bit, it’s going to robotically sync up together with your authentic community and work invisibly to maintain you higher related, which is good. All of that makes this extender a straightforward advice.
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TP-Hyperlink RE220
One of the best finances Wi-Fi extender
The TP-Hyperlink RE220 was the least costly vary extender throughout my first run of at-home assessments, however that did not cease it from outperforming every part else I examined at each flip. As Wi-Fi extenders go, it is quick, it is dependable, it really works with nearly each Wi-Fi router on the market, and it is simple to make use of. And, as of scripting this, it prices even lower than I paid for it initially — all the way down to $15 on Amazon.
Plug it in and press the WPS button to pair it with your own home community, and it will start broadcasting its personal networks on the two.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Each supplied regular Wi-Fi speeds all through my residence, together with common obtain speeds on the 5GHz band of at the very least 75Mbps in each room entry level I examined, together with sturdy add speeds. The RE220 by no means as soon as dropped my connection, and its speeds had been constant throughout a number of days of assessments throughout each daytime and night hours.
It is a bit lengthy within the tooth at this level, and it will not wow you with Wi-Fi 6 speeds, however the sturdy ease of use and the regular, reliable degree of efficiency it gives imply it is nonetheless an absolute steal. It isn’t as quick as the highest fashions I’ve examined within the years since, and I have not had an opportunity to retest it on the CNET Good Residence simply but — nevertheless it’s nonetheless an amazing alternative if you wish to increase the sign from the Wi-Fi router to a again room that sits past the router’s attain, however you’d wish to pay as little as potential to get the job achieved.
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D-Hyperlink DAP-X1870
Watch for a sale for this Wi-Fi extender
One other sturdy mannequin from my assessments, the D-Hyperlink DAP-X1870 is a superb performer that does an amazing job of making a single, unified community as quickly as you pair it together with your router. That retains issues simple, however at a retail worth round $85, it feels a bit too costly right here in 2025.
I would in all probability keep on with the $15 TP-Hyperlink RE220 if I had been simply on the lookout for one of the best worth choose. I will hold an eye fixed out for another good gross sales and replace this put up as I spot them.
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TP-Hyperlink RE505X
Stable Wi-Fi 6 extender efficiency for the worth
Final 12 months’s prime choose, the RE505X is only a barely much less highly effective model of the RE605X that prices a bit much less. I wasn’t in a position to retest it on the CNET Good Residence but, however I will replace this put up once I get the prospect. For now, I believe performance-minded customers might be glad they spent up for the higher add speeds of the RE605X or the Linksys RE7310, and value-minded customers will seemingly be higher served with the inexpensive TP-Hyperlink RE220.
That leaves the RE505X as a little bit of a center youngster at this level, nevertheless it was a particularly succesful and constant performer in my earlier assessments. At $57, it is one of many cheaper Wi-Fi 6 extenders you will discover.
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What’s a Wi-Fi vary extender?
Additionally referred to as a Wi-Fi sign booster, a variety or Wi-Fi extender is a compact, plug-in machine that’s easy and hassle-free to implement. Wi-Fi extenders use built-in Wi-Fi radios and antennas to pair wirelessly together with your router; no Ethernet cable required. Simply plug one close to the sting of your router’s wi-fi vary and pair it with the community, and it will begin rebroadcasting the sign farther out for considerably sooner web speeds all through your own home.
Ought to I purchase a Wi-Fi extender?
Wi-Fi extenders are nice choices when you have got a single room that you just need to give a pace increase, like an workplace or a room with a sensible TV. Wi-Fi extenders are usually inexpensive than upgrading to a full-fledged mesh router with its personal mesh Wi-Fi techniques and range-extending satellite tv for pc gadgets. Plus, they’re usually a cinch to arrange, they’re going to work it doesn’t matter what model of router you are utilizing, and you may usually use the identical SSID and password as your authentic router. That creates a single, seamless connection that gives you one of the best Wi-Fi vary obtainable together with your present setup — all with out you needing to consider it an excessive amount of.
Nevertheless, sign boosters cannot lengthen your Wi-Fi sign to a complete ground or facet of the home like a mesh router can. An extender is simply pretty much as good because the router it is related to, which implies you will not see big enhancements in case your router is failing, outdated or within the improper spot.
I spent weeks testing these vary extenders on the CNET Good Residence.
How CNET assessments Wi-Fi extenders and sign boosters
In 2022, I used to be in a position to resume assessments on the CNET Good Residence, a 5,800-square-foot multistory residence within the outskirts of Louisville, Kentucky, that served as a dwelling lab for our product assessments. It is a significantly better atmosphere for testing wi-fi gadgets at vary than my considerably cramped, shotgun-style home — and with extra floor to cowl, it supplied a a lot larger problem for these extenders.
That is the management graph, displaying you the common speeds in every room I examined with no vary extenders in play in any respect. By itself, a single, entry-level Wi-Fi 6 router within the laundry room was in a position to ship respectable speeds on the primary ground of the house (the primary 4 rooms on this chart), however speeds plummeted within the basement (the final 4 rooms), particularly the add speeds.
The CNET Good Residence has a fiber web reference to matching add and obtain speeds of as much as 150Mbps. That is a far cry from the gigabit connections increasingly of us have entry to (to not point out the brand new, blazing-fast multi-gig web plans rising in some components of the nation). Nevertheless, it is consistent with the Federal Communication’s broadband definition, which makes it an amazing place to check how residence networking merchandise will work for the common client.
For my functions, I began by establishing a router within the Good Residence’s laundry room, the place the modem is about up. I went with the Netgear R6700AX, a wonderfully respectable mannequin I reviewed final 12 months. It supplied dependable efficiency however restricted vary once I examined it — and that is precisely what I needed for these vary extender assessments.
I ran all of this 12 months’s vary extender assessments with a Netgear R6700AX router working the community. It is a low-power, budget-price Wi-Fi 6 mannequin that supplied constant efficiency once I first examined it out, making it an excellent management router for these assessments.
Positive sufficient, the router was in a position to ship sturdy speeds on the house’s most important ground, however as quickly as I headed all the way down to the basement degree, speeds began to fall. That features single-digit add speeds within the bourbon room and the mud room. (Sure, the Good Residence has a bourbon room that the earlier homeowners used to age their very own barrels. We haven’t any barrels of our personal, nevertheless it smells wonderful in there. Kentucky, people!)
Working the vary check
With my management speeds established, it was time to begin including within the vary boosters and seeing which of them improved issues one of the best. Pairing every one with the router required me solely to plug it in close by and press the WPS button on each gadgets — after that, I relocated them downstairs to the basement rec room, which was the farthest level from the router that also had an honest sign and speeds. Everytime you’re utilizing a Wi-Fi vary extender, that is usually one of the best place to place it: simply shy of the sting of your router’s vary, the place it is going to nonetheless obtain a robust sufficient sign to place out a robust sign of its personal. One of the best ways to seek out that spot? Seize your cellphone or laptop computer and run some pace assessments.
In the long run, I ran at the very least 96 pace assessments for every extender, two rounds of 24 assessments to seek out its common speeds to a Wi-Fi 5 consumer machine (an iPad Air 2 from 2015) and one other two rounds of 24 assessments to test its speeds to a Wi-Fi 6 consumer machine (a 2021 Lenovo ThinkPad laptop computer). In every case, I began the primary spherical of assessments with a contemporary connection within the laundry room, closest to the router, after which began the second spherical of assessments with a contemporary connection within the mud room, farthest from the router. With every check, I logged the consumer machine’s obtain pace, its add pace and the latency of the connection.
Except for my pace assessments, I made certain to stream video on every extender’s community, and I made a number of video calls whereas related by means of every one. I additionally frolicked taking part in with every extender’s settings. You should not count on a lot, however most will at the very least make it simple to alter the extension community’s title or password. Some embody app controls with further options too.
It is also price ensuring that your vary extender contains at the very least one Ethernet port (virtually all of them do). Should you can immediately join your wired machine (like a sensible TV), then you definitely’ll get pleasure from speeds which can be as quick as potential.
Wi-Fi extender check outcomes
Able to see how the vary extenders did by way of add and obtain speeds? Let’s have a look.
These graphs present you the common obtain speeds by room (left) and common add speeds by room (proper) for a Wi-Fi 6 laptop computer related to every extender. All 5 fashions I examined had been in a position to ship noticeable enhancements to the connection, however some did a greater job than others.
On the left, this primary set of graphs exhibits you the common obtain speeds by room for every extender I examined. On the best, you are trying on the common add speeds. All of those speeds are to my Wi-Fi 6 check machine, a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop computer from 2021.
So what jumps out? First, all 5 of those extenders did an honest job of boosting speeds in these final 4 rooms, down within the basement. With all of them, I had a sooner connection all through the home than I had once I related by means of the router alone. The D-Hyperlink EaglePro AI struggled a bit with add speeds within the basement, however nonetheless saved issues above a minimal of 20Mbps or so.
That was with a Wi-Fi 6 machine, although. How did the efficiency look with an older Wi-Fi 5 machine from a number of years in the past?
Once more, that is common obtain speeds by room on the left, common add speeds on the best — this time, to an older Wi-Fi 5 machine.
Issues get fascinating right here — you may see a larger gulf between obtain and add efficiency, in addition to some extra distinct weak spots and useless zones all through the home. Every of the 5 extenders struggled to maintain uploads speedy within the upstairs dinette, as an illustration. With Wi-Fi 6, we barely noticed any points there in any respect, save for the Netgear Nighthawk X4S.
In the meantime, within the basement, our prime picks from TP-Hyperlink and Linksys (in addition to the high-performing Asus RP-AX56) had been every in a position to hold obtain speeds above 100Mbps, which is nice. Uploads had been one other story, as all the extenders struggled. None of them failed to ship a usable add connection outright, although the D-Hyperlink EaglePro AI got here shut with single-digit add speeds within the basement’s farthest reaches.
The TP-Hyperlink RE605X makes it simple to tweak settings through TP-Hyperlink’s Tether app on an Android or iOS machine. Once more, the options make for slender pickings, however you may test sign power or activate Excessive-Velocity Mode, which dedicates the two.4GHz band for visitors from the router to the vary extender, leaving the 5GHz free on your regular Wi-Fi community visitors. That mode really wasn’t as quick as sharing the 5GHz band like regular once I examined it out, as a result of these incoming 2.4GHz speeds are restricted, nevertheless it nonetheless could be a helpful choice in some conditions.
One other key takeaway from these assessments is that Wi-Fi 6 delivers a few of its most noticeable pace boosts on the add facet of issues. Should you’re trying to make a number of video calls, add a number of giant information to the net or the rest requiring sturdy add efficiency, then upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 {hardware} must be excessive in your record of priorities (assuming you have not already made the soar).
Reasonably priced Wi-Fi booster picks
For my first batch of vary extender assessments just a few years again, I examined 4 bargain-priced fashions to see which one supplied essentially the most bang for the buck. It was the beginning of the pandemic and folks had been scrambling to bolster their residence networks — I needed to make certain we may level them to an excellent, budget-friendly choose that might do one of the best job as a sign booster providing an additional room’s price of protection in a pinch.
In the long run, the aforementioned TP-Hyperlink RE220 was the runaway winner. At the moment obtainable for $15, it stays a stable worth choose.
I’ve separated these fashions from the opposite six as a result of the check setup was totally different in my preliminary assessments and it would not be truthful to make direct comparisons with these outcomes. You’ve got already learn in regards to the TP-Hyperlink RE220, however listed below are my takeaways from the others I examined:
With two adjustable exterior antennas, the D-Hyperlink DAP-1620 is fairly highly effective for a budget-priced vary extender, nevertheless it wasn’t as constant as our prime choose.
D-Hyperlink DAP-1620: This was the one vary extender that ever managed to hit triple digits throughout my assessments, with a median pace of 104Mbps in my bed room throughout night hours. Setup was simply so simple as what I skilled with TP-Hyperlink, too. I used to be in a position to stream HD video, browse the net and make video calls on the extender’s community with none concern.
Community speeds had been inconsistent although — and far slower in daytime hours, with a much bigger dropoff than I noticed with TP-Hyperlink. The machine additionally dropped my connection at one level throughout my pace assessments. On prime of that, the app was too finicky for my tastes, refusing to let me log in and tweak settings with the equipped machine password, one thing that finally pressured me to reset the machine. That is an excessive amount of trouble for me to advocate outright, however in case you can seize it on sale for lower than $30, it could possibly be an honest various to the TP-Hyperlink RE220.
The Netgear EX3700 wasn’t highly effective sufficient for the worth.
Netgear EX3700: It is a dated-looking machine and it wasn’t a robust performer in my assessments. The two.4GHz band was in a position to maintain workable speeds between 30 and 40Mbps all through most of my residence, which was sturdy sufficient to stream video with minimal buffering, or to carry a fast video name with a slight delay. However the 5GHz band was surprisingly weak, typically dropping into single digits with solely a single wall separating my PC or related machine from the vary extender.
I wasn’t a fan of the net interface, because it appeared extra taken with getting me to register for the guarantee (and choose in to advertising emails) than in really providing me any form of management over the connection. WPS button-based setup helps you to skip all of that, which is useful, and a few retailers now have it listed for lower than $30, besides, that is one you may safely move by.
Most plug-in vary extenders solely supply fundamental options at greatest, however the TP-Hyperlink Tether app features a sign power tester and a Excessive-Velocity Mode within the app.
Backside line
Earlier than investing in a Wi-Fi extender, consider the Wi-Fi issues you are attempting to repair. Are you attempting to enhance web entry in a single room or lengthen the web to a complete ground? Wi-Fi extenders aren’t as efficient as mesh Wi-Fi techniques in enhancing sign all through the home, however they nonetheless supply spectacular pace boosts in rooms that want them. Our prime choose was the Linksys RE7310w, with the TP-Hyperlink RE605X coming in as an in depth second. If you wish to keep inside a finances, our prime competitively priced choose is the TP-Hyperlink RE220.
Wi-Fi vary extender FAQs
How efficient are Wi-Fi vary extenders?
Plug-in vary extenders like these can assist increase your speeds whenever you’re connecting removed from the router, however they’ll solely achieve this a lot. The precise pace increase will depend upon a mess of various elements, together with the structure of your own home, the kind of router you are utilizing, the kind of machine you are attempting to attach with and your web plan’s speeds.
If your own home’s web connection gives prime speeds of 100Mbps or greater, then an honest, well-placed vary extender ought to be capable to increase your obtain speeds in a useless zone or whenever you’re in vary by at the very least 50Mbps, if not 100Mbps. That is sufficient to browse the net or stream video on-line. Add boosts are usually a bit decrease, however ought to nonetheless be sufficient to make sure that you may make a video name or add a file to the cloud.
Do Wi-Fi extenders decelerate your Wi-Fi?
Most vary extenders will put out their very own separate community — normally the title of your authentic community with “_EXT” added to the top or one thing like that. Having a separate community like that beneath the identical roof as your most important community may probably trigger a small quantity of interference, however I have not seen any noticeable slowdowns on my most important community throughout any of those assessments. And, generally, you may rename the extender’s community and password to match your most important community, at which level you will have a single, seamless community that robotically passes your connection forwards and backwards as you progress all through your own home.
That mentioned, hold an eye fixed out for consumer gadgets (telephones, laptops and so forth) that robotically hook up with whichever community gives one of the best sign on the time. Should you’ve used a tool like that on each your most important community and the extender’s community, then it is potential that your machine will soar from one to the opposite with out you realizing it. For example, in case your laptop computer is in your most important community and you progress a bit nearer to the extender than the router, then your laptop computer may lose its connection and soar over to the vary extender’s community for the stronger sign power, despite the fact that the speeds on that extender community could be slower.
What is the distinction between a Wi-Fi sign booster and community extender?
There is no such thing as a purposeful distinction between a Wi-Fi sign booster and a community extender. Producers use totally different phrases to explain the identical merchandise, and all of those gadgets work the identical method — by re-broadcasting your router’s sign by means of a wired connection (your energy outlet). A Wi-Fi repeater is barely totally different. It connects to your router wirelessly and re-broadcasts the sign in one other room.
Is a Wi-Fi extender higher than a mesh router?
Most often, no. Should you’re dwelling in a bigger residence or in case you want speeds which can be reliably sooner than 100Mbps at vary, then it is in all probability price it to go forward and improve to a mesh router with its personal range-extending satellite tv for pc gadgets. You’ve got acquired extra choices than ever today, and nearly all of them would seemingly outperform a stand-alone router paired with a plug-in vary extender like those examined right here.
Wi-Fi extenders are higher suited to conditions the place you’ve got simply acquired a single room or possibly two the place you need speeds to be barely greater. They will not work miracles, however in a scenario like that, they’re going to get the job achieved.
The place ought to I put my Wi-Fi extender?
One of the best strategy is to plug the extender in someplace near the useless zone you are attempting to repair, however not inside that useless zone. That is since you want the extender to have an honest connection together with your router in an effort to put out a worthwhile sign of its personal.
To seek out a great place, seize your cellphone or laptop computer, hook up with your own home community and run some web pace assessments in numerous spots which can be adjoining to the useless zone in query. As soon as you’ve got discovered a spot close to the useless zone that also hits usable add and obtain speeds (ideally at the very least 50% of no matter you are in a position to hit up near the router), then you definitely’re in all probability in an excellent location.
How do I arrange my Wi-Fi extender?
Organising a Wi-Fi extender is about as painless because it will get. Most fashions assist Wi-Fi Protected Setup, or WPS, which is a common protocol that wi-fi networking gadgets can use to attach with one another. Simply plug the extender in, await it besides up, press the extender’s WPS button after which press the WPS button in your router inside 2 minutes. Voila, related.
What’s one of the best finances Wi-Fi extender beneath $100?
Most Wi-Fi extenders value effectively beneath $100, and our runner-up choose, the TP-Hyperlink RE605X, is priced just under that at some retailers. Should you’re on the lookout for an ultra-affordable mannequin, the TP-Hyperlink RE220 prices beneath $20 and outperformed virtually each different extender in our preliminary assessments. It is a bit outdated at this level — you will not get Wi-Fi 6 assist, for instance — nevertheless it nonetheless will get the job achieved for a really low funding.
