Top 5 Wi-Fi extenders in 2020
Internet connectivity is considered an absolute necessity for every person in the house. Whether you want to work or play, having a stable internet connection is a must-have. Lets say for example you have a multi-floor building maybe a dedicated workspace or a home-based system and you have chosen an internet solution such as Spectrum packages that are available or some other service. They have installed with a Wi-Fi router/modem. For everyone in your building to get the best download/upload speeds they need to have a good connection with the wifi router. The only option you have is either to place it in the middle of the building and hope that everyone gets a good enough signal.
Or the other option (which is probably the right one in most cases) is to get some devices to help extend signals so they reach every corner of the building. These devices that help in doing that are known as Wi-Fi Extenders, Repeaters, and/or signal Boosters.
Wi-Fi Extenders, Repeaters, and/or signal Boosters
There are different types of Wi-Fi extenders, some are wall plug units that you can plug into walls behind furniture or shelves, while some are bigger units that may be unpleasant aesthetically but have more power and may be used of the wider area of coverage. The key features you should be looking for when choosing a Wi-Fi extender are the design of the device, the range of the extended Wi-Fi signal, how easy it is to set up and configure, and finally the price.
Some of the best Wi-Fi extenders available right now are:
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Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000 Tri-band
Netgear has numerous Wi-Fi extenders for every type of setup. The Nighthawk X6S EX8000 Tri-band Wi-Fi Extender is the best extender that offers the highest data transfer speeds with a Tri-Band coverage are an extension of up to 168 feet. The device is itself is quite bulky containing 6 antennas and needs a proper tabletop like position to be placed. One of these devices would be enough to cover a large house and will provide a stable internet connection to every corner. Even if the building you want to place it in is much larger than that it has the option to be set up in a mesh network, meaning you can buy another one of these and can make a mesh network among them to get an even larger coverage area. The Wi-Fi extender has 4 Gigabit Ethernet slots as well if you need to have wired internet connections.
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TP-Link RE650 AC2600
TP-Link is a well-known brand that manufactures a lot of incredible networking products. Unlike the Netgear Nighthawk, this is a dual-band Wi-Fi range extender with 4 Antennas. It has a plug-in design that is convenient to install in a household or offices as it just needs a wall socket to plug into. It delivers stable speeds up to 75 feet. The extender comes with an easy to use app designed for large homes and can be managed by your phone or tablet. The price of the Wi-Fi extender is almost half of the Netgear one but gives a lot of features for the little price you pay. Monitoring your home network would be easy with this because of the app.
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D-Link DAP-1720 Wi-Fi AC1750
If you have a multi-floor building and you need an extender that can send signals on the floor above then this extender will be great for that purpose as the 3 antenna setup of the extender provides vertical signal extension way better than any of the other extenders.
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Linksys RE7000 Max-Stream AC1900+
It is a dual-band Wi-Fi extender that just doesn’t stand out at all. It has the most minimalistic design which helps it blend into the wall. It won’t block other outlets nearby because it is not that big or obtrusive. It doesn’t have any antenna sticking but is hidden inside its compact design. 4 antennas provide excellent coverage. The only issue that we had was with the setup process as it is not very easy to use compared to the other Wi-Fi extenders on our list. The compact design is the strong selling point of this Wi-Fi extender.
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TP-Link AC750 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE220
If you are on a budget and are in the lookout for a cheap Wi-Fi extender than look no further, with the 20USD price tag this is the cheapest extender on our list. It is easy to install extender and while not the best range but for basic home use it is good enough to extend the signals to a couple of more rooms.
If you want to go even cheaper than 20 USD then you can use an old or a second-hand router and there are many tutorials with which you can make a regular old router into an extender. But that is a hassle that works or not is a guarantee. The only certain solution is to buy an extender from a reputable brand like the ones we have mentioned before.