Amped Wireless RE2600M

amazon Amped Wireless RE2600M reviews

Billed as Amped Wireless’ most powerful dual-band extender, the $199.99 AC2600 Athena-EX High Power WiFi Range Extender (RE2600M) lives up to the hype. Not only does it deliver top throughput scores in many of our tests, but it also supports Multi-User, Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) data transfers and offers a suite of management and gateway features Solid I/O. It’s our top pick for desktop wireless range extenders.

Design and Features

Measuring 1.5 x 10.5 x 8 inches (HWD), the RE2600M is slightly wider than its predecessor, the Titan-EX AC1900 Amped Wireless High Power WiFi Range Extender ( RE1900A). It’s a desktop-grade extender that uses four adjustable and detachable external antennas, and it has four Gigabit LAN ports on the rear and one USB 2.0 port and power buttons, LEDs Reset, and WPS. A USB 3.0 port is hidden on the right side of the device. The top of the extender has small LEDs that indicate power, both band, signal strength, and USB activity.

Under the hood are a dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 16 amplifiers, and 802.11ac networking support. RE2600M is a dual-band extender that can achieve theoretical speeds of up to 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,733Mbps on the 5GHz band. Like the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) and Linksys RE7000 Max-Stream AC1900 + WiFi Range Extender, both plugin models, the RE2600M supports MU-MIMO data transmission, providing enhanced performance high by sending data to compatible clients concurrently instead of sequentially.

The RE2600M uses the same web-based management console as the Amped Wireless High Power AC2600 WiFi Range Extender with MU-MIMO (REC44M), a plugin extender. It opens a Dashboard page that displays a network map and detailed information about the network, including each band’s SSID, channel, and IP address information. It also has a Scan button to scan for available networks. Clicking on the More Settings tab opens a drop-down menu with settings for each band, USB Storage, Network Settings (IP, Port Routing), BoostBand Technology, and Management.

Individual radio band settings include guest network, access control and scheduling, wireless coverage (output power) from 15 percent to 100 percent, and Advanced settings, for examples such as Fragmentation Threshold and RTS and Signaling Interval. BoostBand technology provides enhanced performance by routing network traffic between router and extender through a single band. Management Settings allows you to check network statistics, update firmware facilities, view system logs, and change passwords.

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Amped Wireless Athena-EX, High Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender with MU-MIMO (RE2600M): Buy it now

Settings and Performance

To install the RE2600M, choose an ideal location between your router and the dead zone. Plugin the extender’s AC adapter, connect to its SSID from your PC or tablet, open a browser, and type http://setup.ampedwireless.com to launch the Web Dashboard Dashboard. Tap Scan to find which networks (both bands) to extend. Select the network you want to connect to, make sure you have at least 70 percent signal reading, and press Next to name each SSID and specify the network security key. If you don’t see the desired signal reading, you may have to move the extender closer to the router. It takes about a minute and a half for the setup wizard to configure the extender, connect to the network, and save your settings.

The RE2600M scores quickly in our 2.4GHz performance tests. Its throughput of 83Mbps in the near-2.4GHz test (same room) outsold the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi Range Extender AC1900 (EX7000) (50.2Mbps), TP-Link RE580D (80.4Mbps), and Amped Wireless RE1900A (82.2 Mbps). Its score of 69Mbps in the 25-foot test beats the Netgear EX7000 (38.8Mbps) and Amped Wireless RE1900A (66.6Mbps), but not the TP-Link RE580D (74.2Mbps). In the 50 foot and 75-foot tests, the RE2600M’s throughput was 39.8Mbps and 30.1Mbps, respectively, leading the pack by a bit; TP-Link RE580D hit 37.6Mbps and 25.4Mbps, Amply Wireless RE1900A reached 29.3Mbps and 28.3Mbps, and Netgear EX7000 hit 28.6Mbps and 26.9Mbps.

While operating on the 5GHz band, the RE2600M clocked at 391Mbps in the short-distance test and 290Mbps in the 25-foot test. The TP-Link AC1900 WiFi Range Extender (RE580D) is faster at close range (377Mbps) but not faster at 25 feet (261Mbps), and the Netgear EX7000 is behind both with scores of 179Mbps and 137Mbps. The Amped Wireless RE1900A leads the table with 488Mbps (close) and 345Mbps (25 feet).

The RE2600M delivered fast throughput in our 5GHz long-range tests, reaching 155Mbps in the 50-foot test and 128Mbps in the 75-foot test. The Amped Wireless RE1900A came in second with 133Mbps at 50 feet and 112Mbps at 75 feet. TP-Link has throughputs of 103Mbps and 70.5Mbps, respectively, and the Netgear EX7000 has speeds of 105Mbps and 31.1Mbps.

To test the MU-MIMO performance of the RE2600M, I used three identical Acer Aspire E15 laptops equipped with the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 wireless 802.11ac network adapter as my customers. Its score was 86.3Mbps on the proximity test, behind the Linksys RE7000 (115Mbps) and Netgear EX7300 (107Mbps), both of which are plugin range extenders. In the 30-foot MU-MIMO test, the RE2600M’s 84.8Mbps throughput trailed well behind plugin extenders, but not by much; Linksys RE7000 reached 92.4Mbps, and Netgear EX7300 reached 90.1Mbps. For comparison, the D-Link AC3150 Ultra WiFi Router (DIR-885L/R) had a throughput of 237 Mbps on the proximity test and 165 Mbps at 30 feet.

Well equipped although expensive

If you’re looking for a full-featured range extender to fill in WiFi dead zones, the Amped Wireless RE2600M is a great choice. It is equipped with a rich range of ports, offers a wide range of management settings, and is very easy to set up. It outperformed its sibling, the Amped Wireless RE1900A, another top pick, in most of our 2.4GHz and 5GHz throughput tests, especially at long range, and it supports MU-MIMO data transmission (Amped Wireless RE1900A does not).

If you don’t require many LAN ports and can live without a USB connection, a plugin extender like the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) might be more suitable. It costs about $50 less than the Amped Wireless RE2600M and offers solid performance, and it also supports MU-MIMO data transmission. Prefer a simpler wireless setup that’s easy to set up and doesn’t require you to sign in as you move from place to place in your home? Then you should check out a WiFi network, like Linksys Velop ($399.99 at Amazon).