A few months ago my family and I moved into a bigger house to accomodate combining households with my in-laws. My son quickly claimed the converted garage as his own little man pit and gawked at how much real estate he could call his own.
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All was well until he tried to watch videos in bed on his iPhone. The head of his bed was just on the edge of the household's WiFi router, so it was dropping the signal and reconnecting in a loop. While he figured out that if he slept with his head at the foot of the bed his signal stability improved, this was not a long-term solution.
As a recent Amazon Prime member, I started searching around for an extender that was both cheap and included in the free two-day shipping benefit. I found one by TP-Link (model TL-WA850RE) for $30. This is on the low end of the price range for WiFi extenders and offers an adequate 300Mbps signal.
The unit plugs into a standard two-prong outlet and has an ethernet port so you can plug a laptop directly into it to set it up (which worked the first time). You can also set it up wirelessly, but I found that a little difficult to accomplish. Once it is plugged in and set up, you can move the extender to any plug within the WiFi range and it will automatically log into your wireless network and begin repeating the signal.
Suddenly, my son could stand in the farthest corner of his young man pit and still access WiFi. And all was well in the world.
The unit has a blue LED ring to indicate the status of the device and the sleek white case is unobtrusive and even a little attractive. TP-Link offers a two year warranty and 24/7 unlimited tech support. All in all, well worth the $30.
from Developer
Extend Your Range
TP-LINK's TL-WA850RE is designed to conveniently extend the coverage and improve the signal strength of an existing wireless network to eliminate “dead zones”. With 300Mbps wireless N speeds, Range Extender button, miniature size and wall mounting design, extending a wireless network has never been easier. What's more, its Ethernet port allows the TL-WA850RE to act as a wireless adapter to turn a wired device into a wireless one.
TL-WA850RE can vastly expand the coverage of the existing wireless network. With 300Mbps wireless 802.11n speeds, it is ideal for smooth HD video, music streaming, and online gaming.
Setup with Your Fingertip
To set up the device, users can simply push the WPS button on their router and within two minutes push the RE button on the TL-WA850RE or vice versa. If your router does not have a WPS button, you can access the quick setup mode through the web browser-based user interface. Login credentials are retained internally after setup, allowing you to relocate as needed to generate ideal coverage.
WiFi Your Wired Gadgets
After the range extender is set up, users can connect wired devices such as Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, DVRs, and Internet TVs to the extender via the ethernet port. As a result, those devices are added to the whole wireless network and can access the internet.
Five signal lights represent the current signal strength that TL-WA850RE receives from the existing router. They can help to find the right location to place the range extender and to achieve the best possible coverage and performance.
Other Features
Works seamlessly with other 802.11 b/g/n wireless devices
Miniature size and wall-mounted design make it easy to deploy and move flexibly
Supports domain name-based login for advanced management
Advanced 64/128/152-bit WEP, WPA-PSK / WPA2-PSK encryptions protect your network from security threats
