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amazon Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) reviews
With the $149.99 Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300), Netgear joins other network equipment manufacturers, including Linksys and Amped Wireless, in bringing Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output technology (MU-MIMO) into a plug-in range extender. The EX7300 is easy to set up and manage, but it’s quite large and lacks a relay socket. That said, it delivered high scores and good range performance in our 5GHz tests, and its MU-MIMO transfer rates were also solid.
Design and Features
At 6.3 x 3.2 x 1.7 inches (HWD), the EX7300 is slightly larger than the TP-Link AC1750 WiFi Range Extender (RE450) and WiFi Range Extender Linksys RE7000 Max-Stream AC1900+, but it doesn’t use an external antenna like TP-Link RE450. Instead, it packs an internal antenna array into a slightly tapered chassis, along with plenty of high-power amplifiers. It’s a dual-band AC2200 extender that can reach up to 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,733Mbps on the 5GHz band. It supports the latest performance-enhancing WiFi technologies, including beam, sending data directly to the client instead of over a wide spectrum, and streaming MU-MIMO, which transmits data to compatible clients concurrently instead of sequentially. It can be hit on duty as a wireless extender or as a wired access point.
There’s a tri-directional plug at the rear of the white and gray extender, and there’s a single Gigabit LAN port on the bottom. While the EX7300 doesn’t block a second outlet on a typical wall outlet, it lacks a through-out socket.
The left side has the Extender/Access Point switch, the On/Off button, the Reset button, and the WPS button. The front panel has LED indicators for Power, WPS activity, Router link activity, and client link activity. The Router and client LEDs are green when there is a good connection, amber when there is a good connection, and red when there is a poor connection.
To access the EX7300’s settings, type http://mywifiext.net in your browser’s address bar to launch the control panel. It opens the Status page showing the Internet and Router connection status, wireless signal strength, and SSID information for each extended radio band. The Wireless Settings page allows you to enable/disable each band, rename the SSID, change the WiFi password, and limit the rate for each band. The Connected Devices allows you to view information for each connected client, including IP address, name, and MAC address. In the Do More menu, you will find a FastLane option that allows you to dedicate one of the radio bands to Router/extender communication and the other to extender/client communication. While this can provide enhanced performance across the board, it should only be used if all your clients are 2.4GHz clients or 5GHz clients. If you have multiple clients, leave this option disabled. Other settings allow you to back up settings, create access schedules, and update the firmware.
Settings and Performance
Installing the EX7300 couldn’t be easier. I plugged it into a wall outlet in the same room as my Router and pressed the WPS button. The WPS LED starts blinking for a few seconds. Then I pressed the WPS button on my Router and waited a few seconds for the LED to glow solid green, indicating successful binding to the Router’s 2.4GHz band. I repeated this to connect to the 5GHz band, and it was ready.
The EX7300 scored some of the highest we’ve ever seen in our 5GHz transfer rate tests. Its score of 338Mbps in the close test (same room) is the highest, beating the Linksys RE7000 (310Mbps), Amped AC2600 Wireless High Power WiFi Range Extender with MU-MIMO (REC44M) (288Mbps) ), and TP-Link RE450 (192Mbps), another top pick. The EX7300’s scores of 170Mbps at 25 feet and 115Mbps at 50 feet lead the field. At 75 feet, its 66.7Mps transfer rate is behind the TP-Link RE450 (85Mbps) and Amped Wireless REC44M (81.5Mbps), but higher than the Linksys RE7000 (29.1Mbps).
In our 2.4GHz tests, the EX7300 clocked in at 57.8Mbps (close), 43.7Mbps (25 feet), 25.1Mbps (50 feet), and 12.6Mbps (75 feet). It beats the Linksys RE7000 across the board (46.1Mbps, 39.8Mbps, 18.6Mbps, and 8.4Mbps respectively), but doesn’t beat the TP-Link RE450 (47.6Mbps, 44.5Mbps, 42.5Mbps, and 32,1Mbps). The REC44M Wireless Amplifier achieves speeds of 53.6Mbps (near), 48Mbps (25 feet), 21.4Mbps (50 feet), and 18.7Mbps (75 feet).
To test MU-MIMO performance, we used three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm’s QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry and measured the transfer rates for all three clients at close range and from a distance of 30 feet. The EX7300 averaged 107Mbps in the close test, compared with the Linksys RE7000’s 115Mbps and the Amped Wireless REC44M’s 99.8Mbps transfer rate. In the 30-foot test, the EX7300 scored 90.1Mbps against the Linksys RE7000’s 92.4Mbps and the Amped Wireless REC44M’s 89.9Mbps.
Fast and feature-rich
If you’re looking to fill in those dead spots that your Router can’t reach, the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) is a great choice. It’s hard to install and offers some of the fastest transfer speeds we’ve seen from a plug-in range extender, especially when operating on the 5GHz band. It’s a bit bulky and lacks a through-out socket, but that’s not uncommon with these devices. You’ll pay about $30 more for the EX7300 than the TP-Link AC1750 WiFi Range Extender (RE450), but it offers better overall performance and MU-MIMO streaming support. The Netgear EX7300 thus replaces the TP-Link RE450 as our choice range extender. However, if your Router is about to fail, consider a WiFi system. They provide whole-house WiFi coverage.
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