NETGEAR EX6100 AC750 WiFi Range Extender Reviewed

[WirelessWonk]

So I picked up one of these on sale recently for $69 CAD, which to me seemed worth the risk.. What I was really in the market for was a CHEAP 2.4/5Ghz AP that could does over 100Mbit.. Key thing to note is that the EX6100 has a Gigabit network port which makes AP/Routing speeds over 100Mbit possible unlike several other wall wart style AP capable extenders out there.

The current review only covers the device as an Extender, and doesn't really go on much about using it as an AP or router (it even has NAT support).. I would love to see it reviewed AS an AP so see what its peak performance is.

If anyone is interested I have been able to get around 80-90Mbit through it, I just have N class clients at this point, so I haven't been able to see how fast it can go in AP mode but it meets my goal of near 100Mbit so I am happy.

A few words of warning however:
- The setup wizards in AP mode are a little off as they contain a lot of "Extender" style wording.
- you CAN'T set both 2.4 and 5Ghz to the same SSID name
- Range is not great for 5Ghz but if you are like me you probably have a powerful router covering 2/3rds of your place already, this device is great for filling in a floor or a few rooms.
- there is no power adjustment so the 2.4Ghz overlap will be high, I have considered just disabling the 2.4 Ghz but I do get better speeds when my devices hop to it and are at the edge of my primary router so I just leave it on.

In my mind, being able to Set the same SSID (allow the devices to pic) and if the wizards for AP mode where cleaned up a bit I think this would be a great device... Well even in its current state and price it isn't a bad AP and you can afford to purchase two of them vs most other options in this performance range.

 

[bobsilver]

Setting both 2.4 and 5ghz bands to same SSID is not a good idea IMHO. Client devices have a hard enough time jumping from a weak signal to a stronger one as it is when using an AP. Adding the complexity of 2 bands only creates issues that can easily be avoided by 2 separate SSID's.

As a note all of the newer Netgear Extenders (that by the way is what most people look to buy. Few understand what an AP is.) have an AP and bridge mode. Many have purchased second AC routers to use as an AP. Now they can save cash by buying one of these low cost AP devices.

Bob Silver
Netgear Networking Consultant

 

[stevech]

Tell people that an access point (AP) is built into their WiFi router.

To the OP: be sure to take into account that the net yield IP speeds are about 60% of the WiFi "speed" due to WiFi being half-duplex, having CSMA/CA, and other overhead.

Rare is 2.4GHz real world use case where the WiFi transfers exceed what a 100BT ethernet port provides.

IMO, gigabit WiFi router is mostly a marketing term.

A $25 gigE switch connecting LAN devices with a 100BT link to a WiFi router is an option if you don't want to pay a premium for a so-called gigabit WiFi router.

 

[tim]

PC World in the UK currently has the Netgear EX6100 on half price sale.
Pretty good timing as I had just bought an ASUS RT-AC68U to be the center of my network.

The marketing stuff isn't totally clear on the full capabilities, so I took a gamble and got 2 of the EX6100. They are not perfect but they work better than I thought they would.

One I use as a bridge/repeater. Ethernet port links to 8 port switch that links to TV, Blueray, Wii and Slingbox. Repeater is used to feed a good signal to the Chromecast plugged into TV. I have it in Fastlane mode, 5G to router, 2.4G to devices. Works perfectly, good strong 2.4G output.

The other one I just use as a bridge. Ethernet port to PC in another room. Also in Fastlane mode, 5G to router, outgoing wifi disabled as I don't need another repeater.

Now the quirks.

1) The setup wizard is bugged. Every time I went thru it, the connection to router would fail authorization because it would try WPA2-TKIP even though I clearly put WPA2-AES. In the end I just went thru the wizard skipping as much as I could and did the manual setup. That worked ok.

2) It can't see DFS channels DOH! Had to disable DFS from the auto channel selection on the router.

3) It changes the MAC addresses to virtual MAC addresses. The first 3 parts are replaced with 02:0F:B5. Makes MAC filtering at the router a bit more difficult.

Did a speed test on the one connecting the PC, got 107Mb/s down and 6Mb/s up. That's the max speed I pay for.
EDIT: Just did a copy of a 7GB ISO, get transfer speed if 200-207Mb/s.

Overall i'm quite happy with them. Hope that was helpful.

Tim

 

[tim]

Just wanted to add extra some information:

I have been experimenting with some settings on my RT-AC86U (f/w 3.0.0.4.378_3873).

Setting "Wireless > Professional (5Ghz) > Enable WMM No-Acknowledgement" to Enabled will cause the EX6100 to disconnect every 2-3 minutes.
Dunno why, working stable with it Disabled.