TP-Link AC2600 Dual Band Mesh Wi-Fi Range Extender, Wi-Fi
TP-Link AC2600 Dual Band Mesh Wi-Fi Range Extender, Wi-Fi Booster/Hotspot with 1 Gigabit Port, Dual-Core CPU, Built-In Access Point Mode, Works with Any Wi-Fi Router, Easy setup, UK Plug (RE650)
From the brand
AV1000 Gigabit Powerline Kit
- HomePlug AV2 Standard – high-speed data transfer rates of up to 1000 Mbps
- Gigabit port
- Up to 300 Meters
| Weight: | 400 g |
| Dimensions: | 8.6 x 7 x 16.3 cm; 400 Grams |
| Brand: | TP-Link |
| Model: | RE650 |
| Colour: | White |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | TP-Link |
| Dimensions: | 8.6 x 7 x 16.3 cm; 400 Grams |
Plugged this into a mains socket close to my BT router, allowed it time to boot, pressed the WPS button and a minute later it is up and running.
Could not ask for anything more.
My room is far from the main router . I tried different Wi-Fi extender. But this one is working better. Now I am able to get signal . Happy for this product.
This has boosted my Wi-Fi signal throughout the house, whereas the cheaper one with 2 aerials was just not man enough even to pick up the signal from the router yet alone “boost” it. As the old saying goes buy cheap buy twice
Bought this to replace a Net Gear extender I’d had for 15 months. I’d gotten used to the ritual of turning the Net Gear on and off up to 5 times per day to return signal to the upper part of my house but it turns out that’s not normal.
This one just works, have not had to reset this one in a month + of ownership. Thoroughly recommended for anyone else who thought they had to compromise with rubbish alternatives; Worth the money and then some
Had a Netgear but struggled to pickup signal from router sat next to it and although just adequate for my outside ring cameras only just and very very slow.. then tried another but again so slow. This one is big size .. but has no problem setting up and picking up signal and beaming far and wide at a fast speed .. when beside the router it was blazing fast but just fast once at the far range of pickup ready to beam WiFi out to the cameras.
With a logical positioning between the router and the end device it helped increase the 5ghz speed from 100mbps to 220mbps (out of 360mbps). Between my desktop PC and the router was a solid block wall, however, by placing the extender at the entrance on the doorway through the block wall at the back of the house I was able to get much faster and reliable speeds whilst gaming and streaming with only a 1ms increase in delay in the garage conversion.
Great solution.
Not had any wifi issues since installing this product. Previously couldn’t watch a programme without it buffering in my bedroom due to the wifi not reaching there. Haven’t had any issues since
I have this one AX3000 and AC1900 non wifi6, in theory slightly lower spec connected both to old Archer 80, have to say that AC 1900 gives me a bit better speeds in exact same environment, (position) even if archer recognises AX3000 as a faster one. But overall i just bought it as I will switch to wifi 6 router eventually. As per prime prices it’s ok, but for full price AC1900 is better option (again, for non wifi6 users)
Have been using this device for over 1 year to solve issue with poor range from BT home hub – but was not convinced the Samsung TV was connecting to it over WiFi – so after many attempts at setting up the TV I just purchased a 5m patch cable and stuck the cable in the socket on device – instant results ! Don’t know why I didn’t do this a year ago
For the first day, I could see that it was sending a better signal to my tablet, but there was little change in internet reception on my television.
On the second day I realised that this was happening because I needed to take the following action.
If using this to connect television to internet, open Settings on your television, bring up Network, then set wifi network to the network one ending with EXT
This will make sure that your television internet access is running off the Extender signal (strong) and not your old Hub signal (weak).
Don’t normally do reviews, but this is so brilliant I felt obliged! Incredibly simple to install, and has increased my wifi speed by 11 times. Work that took me half a day now takes half an hour. Highly recommend.
Does exactly what is says on the tin. Easy to set up and have wifi service all over my dormer bungalow.
Good quality unit. Feels solid in your hand.
Its quite large had reservations about being able to plug something in beside it but this isnt an issue.
Very speedy delivery. Plug in, easy set up. Utilises the same password as the broadband connection, just need to make sure all your devices are set up to receive the new “EXT”
Works well and is easy to install. I am using it as an access point. The Wi-Fi signal is much better than my previous extender. It’s expensive and overpriced in my view but it’s the only Wi-Fi 6e extender available at the time of this review. Works with various routers.
Easy to set up, looks good when plugged in and lights up. Slightly higher price range in comparison to some other similar products, but works perfectly and increased Wi-Fi to the back of the house where the signal was previously very poor. Not had any issues and would definitely recommend
Packed well and delivered to schedule. I’ve always been sceptical about these extenders but I took the plunge and this piece of kit does exactly what it says it should do. Simple to install and in under 5 minutes it was up and running. Goodbye to the wi-fi dead zone in the house.
I was battling with Netgear extenders which would not update their firmware. Bought this and installed it in minutes. It has a great range. My upload and download speeds from my main router are 21/89 mbps. At the furthest point of my house the speeds from the extender are 19/73 mbps. Thank you, TP Link
This extender was bought to replace an older extender unable to handle 5G.
Installation and setup are easy. However my devices kept disconnecting from the extender.
According to the TP-Link site, the extender was already on the latest driver. As it’s using Realtek wlan, I went ahead and found a newer version and working like a charm since.
Speed is excellent and it’s extending the wifi well to cover the bedroom, about 10m.
We always had problems with the WiFi downstairs as the modem is upstairs. This is brilliant, it is in the downstairs hall and the WiFi is now everywhere in the house.
Until recently I used TP Link powerline extenders. 2.4ghz without issue. As my Broadband was around 35mb all was well. I have just upgraded to ultrafast broadband and discovered that whilst my powerline extenders theoretically can handle high speeds my home electric circuitry could not. My providers routers wifi signal is not the best so I needed a solution to get a decent speed throughout the house. I tried newer 5ghz powerline devices but they just confirmed the limitations of my home electric circuit. I tried a wifi 6 signal booster as well as this one. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this device did the trick. My house is 1950s solid brick wall with an extension as far away from the router as you could get. My providers router is in a small upstairs room close to the gable end of the house. I sited this booster on my upstairs landing in line of sight of my router. About 5 metres away. In the extension furthest from this booster I now get around 70mb rather than the 10 to 15 beforehand. Upstairs I always had 150mb from the router but downstairs it varied from 50 to 70. Now I get up to 150 mb down to 120mb depending on how far I am from the booster.
I didnt want a mesh system which requires a specific router so now just login wirelessly to the booster. It shares the same password as the router and is identified with -EXT at the end. I dont need to connect to my actual router as all of my devices now connect wirelessly to the booster.
Finally as regards setting it up in the first place. Unless you want to start downloading apps and messing with the settings, providing you have a WPS button on your router you just plug the booster in close to the router. Press the big round button on the front then the WPS button on the router. It links very quickly and starts to share the routers password. Its then just a case of finding the best place to site it. I tried various spots using a speedchecker on my ipad before settling on the upstairs landing.
Unless your house is huge one of these should suffice.
I am very happy with i
I purchased this as my WiFi connection kept dropping, very irritating and every few minutes. I got this booster and it has been fantastic ever since! Quick and easy set up too!
So after a bit of research and wanting something that could be moved around to find the best spots to cover all areas, I settled on two of these plug in WiFi extenders.
I was not immediately aware that you need a mesh compatible router in order to set up a mesh network (my fault not fully reading into it) so I have just set up both units with the same SSID and passwords – one downstairs and the other upstairs.
I was very pleased with the ease of setup using the app and once installed the speed was amazing considering only connected via WiFi!
We are now getting 340Mbps down and 35 up in a previous WiFi blackspot in a far upstairs bedroom.
It even reaches to the back of our garden, with around 180Mbps down and 25Mbps up.
Very pleased!
Boosted speed and area plugged and play withing mins no messing abou
it didn’t do what i thought should do. signal not great.
Was suffering with dead spots on first bedrooms reducing speed from 140ish to 30-40 at best sometimes single figures.
Bought this extender really easy setup 3-4 minutes (I am deffo not technically minded) and speed was up to 140ish in the dead spots. Great simple piece of equipme
I used this product to set up a stand alone wi-fi access point in an outbuilding some way from my house. It was easy to configure via a mobile app. Works just fine.
Bought this to replace the To-Link re550 as I have moved to a new house and it wasn’t quite doing the job. Filled the whole house. Haven’t tested the Onemesh or wifi 6 capabilities as I don’t have a Mesh router and don’t need wifi 6 at present. Would recommend.
Two floor house with this extension has given me a coverage with a velocity as where taken from the living room
I purchased to extend my Wi-Fi very easy to install
We bought this as we have an L-shaped house and my daughter’s room wasn’t getting any signal. This was causing problems especially when my son was home from uni and back on his games. Easy to set up and it works really well! Teen daughter happy again.
It took 5 minutes to set up. I am not very tech savvy but with the clear instructions I now have excellent signal throughout the house which has thick stone walls . Saved having having to upgrade e to expensive BT package. Highly recommended and value for money.
I cannot believe what’s happened as a sceptic of these things being very effective. My whole house has top signal everywhere but not only that I can go right to the bottom of our garden which is very long and get a full signal too! (Both 2.4ghz and 5ghz) It’s amazing how brilliant this is. All I will say is get one if your frustrated with your internet dead spots you’ll never have to suffer again!!!
It was quite difficult to get a WiFi signal in some area of our house. I bought this extender and its amazing. Now mobile and my laptop received a very strong WiFi signal and does not stop any video. Very easy to setup.
Worth to buy it. Moreover this product sale in 100 pound everywhere. Great price at amazone. Product definitely recommended.
Ordered 2, one works fine but the other only seems to register the 2.4GHz signal and not the 5GHz signal. Not an issue with my particular use case as I’m just using that one to extend baseline signal to cover an outdoor CCTV, but worth being aware of.
At first i set up a return for this item. It wasnt working and it was always disconnecting. At the same time we had our internet provider come and upgrade our hub. Once that was done it worked. Just goes to show you need good/stable internet as it now works amazing.
It picks up WiFi well from my Asus router and the extended WiFi from the RE700X is excellent in terms of range and speed. In determining how far a usable WiFi range is put out by the RE700X, it out-paced my WiFi6 gaming router for range on 5GHz and was almost equal at 2.4GHz – see the image attached to the review. It can be used as a competent access point, which gives out very fast WiFi, but you can have a faster extender, by using one frequency to connect to the router and the other to extend your network (“High Speed Mode”).
Boot-up time is longer than I had expected for the RE700X. From receiving power, to all 4 LEDS being illuminated, my RE605X boots-up in 1 minute 3 seconds. The RE700X takes 2 minutes 8 seconds, so boot-up time is doubled from the previous model. This is relevant to some people, including myself, as I switch on my range extender only when I use it, which is occasionally. It is situated in a brick-built double garage, which is remote from the house, being about 30 feet from the front of my house. The WiFi signal from my house gets into the garage, but is not usable at the opposite end of the double garage leaving a dead-spot — right where my garage doubles as a gym and where I want my phone to get the WiFi. I need the extender to throw the signal across the garage, which both the RE605X and the RE700X do very well, but there is a difference. I currently have 80Mb/sec FTTC service, of which I see 73Mb/sec into the house. The RE605X gives me a perfectly usable 69Mb/sec at the opposite end of the garage and there is a tiny bit of initial variance in that speed as the test progresses. The RE700X provides the full 73Mb/sec, without any discernible variance in speed during the test – this is using a different brand of router (an Asus) — I cannot comment if there is better performance using TP-Link router (there are certainly added features, like One-mesh), as I do not have one to try, however, I cannot imagine how I could possibly improve on the performance of the RE700X, it gives everything my connection has to offer! There is an image of these tests attached to the review.
The extra performance from the RE700X is illustrated on the box, suggesting that 8K smart TVs are catered for, whereas the RE605X box suggests 4K smart TVs are catered for. To be honest, I think this does under-sell the performance of the RE605X. I wanted to see if the additional performance in the RE700X came at an energy cost, so I used my Amazon purchased Besvic power meter to run a couple of basic, not very scientific, tests to get an indication. Both range extenders were set at Maximum WiFi coverage — there are three settings to choose from (Maximum, Intermediate and Minimum — power use without clients attached did not vary if this setting was varied, it only altered WiFi range).
The RE700X draws 4.4 Watts when plugged in without any clients using the WiFi. With a single client conducting a speed test, power use peaked at 6.1 Watts, but watching a HD video on Amazon Prime Video saw power consumption remaining at 4.4 Watts, occasionally peaking for a second or so at 5.1 Watts, then moving down to 4.4 again. This would put annual power costs (at 34p per KWH) in the region of 13 a year if not used or under light use. For heavy constant use from a single client, costs could be as much as 18.10p — but constant speed tests obviously exceed realistic use.
The RE605X draws 2.7 Watts when plugged in without any clients using the WiFi. With a single client conducting a speed test, power use peaked at 4.7 Watts, but watching a HD video on Amazon Prime Video saw power consumption moving equally between 2.7 — 3.0 Watts. This would put annual power costs (at 34p per KWH) from 8.04 a year if not used and under heavy use from a single client as much as 14 — but constant speed tests obviously exceed realistic use.
These tests only give an indication. The idle power consumption would be reasonably accurate and for the most part, would give the approximate price for running the range extender. If power consumption was an issue and you only used the range extender during a certain time of day, there is a power schedule in the firmware, which could be considered as an option. I have my range extender in the loft area of my garage on a switch. I only switch it on when I need that WiFi dead-spot covered, so it uses very little power at all.
The boot-up time for me is relevant, as the RE700X is double that of the RE605X, but it is not a deal breaker, as the gain in performance is significant.
I found the RE700X to be an excellent range extender/access point, but when the price is considered, it is nothing short of outstanding.
I have a single criticism with both extenders, which is that both do not give you the option to change WiFi channel, they take the channel that your router uses. This does put both in “competition” and it would be ideal to set the Router to something like channel 11 and the range extender to channel 6, so that co-existence is improved.
You may hit an issue with the warranty. There is nothing underhand with TP-Link, but I encountered an issue. The box clearly shows it has a 3-year warranty, however, when you register, it is cut down to 2 years. I contacted customer support via chat and explained the issue and to be fair, they were responsive and told me it had a 3-year warranty, but wanted a copy of my registration page and a photo of the box (presumably to see the 3-year warranty sticker on it) — I had already uploaded my Amazon receipt when registering earlier. They escalated the issue and responded by e-mail, amending my registration page with the 3-year warranty. It all took just over 12 hours on a Sunday (the manager they needed to solve this issue immediately was not in that day), so I class that as responsive. Hopefully, this has sorted the issue for everyone else, but I cannot confirm that, so check how many years of the warranty you get.
I immediately hit two major snags:
1. Impossible to update the firmware on the extender, by following the instructions in the manual
2. The Halo projector would not reliably handshake with the extender, even though other devices could.
Dozens of errors occurred, where the firmware would not update to spec, and the Halo would not handshake with the extender under the current firmware version, and I kept TP-Link and XGIMI informed of my problems from the purchase date in April up to early July 2021.
Meanwhile there was a firmware update released by XGMI for the Halo.
Finally, last week, I got two personal tech support calls in a row direct from TP-Link in China, the first being to talk me through updating the firmware, this time adding the crucial intermediary step of switching off the router first during the update, with the extender connected via Ethernet to a PC. However, after the firmware at last was updated successfully, the device could no longer be configured through the PC.
A few hours later, a second senior technician called me from TP-Link in China and walked me through the re-configuration, using the Tether app on my iPhone, after rebooting the router. Apparently, once a wrong password is entered, everything has to be reset from scratch.
From that point on, the Halo projector connected to the TP-Link extender successfully for the first time, and after experimenting with several different settings, I found the optimal setup on the 2.4GHz band as in the picture from the Halo:
TOP (shown as ‘_EXT’) – Halo is connected to the extender via the 2.4GHz band – 5 bars signal strength (set now as default)
MIDDLE – Halo to the extender signal strength on the 5GHz band – 4 bars
BOTTOM – Halo signal strength directly to the router on the 5GHz band, bypassing the extender – 3 bars
The location of the wifi extender is as pictured in the attached image, roughly halfway between the router and the projector and other devices.
From this, it is obvious that the optimal signal to the Halo projector is coming from the extender using the 2.4GHz setting. In addition to the greatly improved reception on the Halo projector itself, signal received by my Amazon 4K Firestick plugged directly into the Halo’s HDMI port, previously plagued by frequent dropouts, is also now strong and stable, as shown in the image for the Firestick Network Settings. Meanwhile, my iPhone, MacBook Pro get the best reception on the 5GHz setting on the extender, while other devices adjacent to the router (iPad Pro and Windows PC), remain connected direct to the router, since they’re in the same room.
In all, the wifi extender is finally now doing all the things I expected it should do, way back in April when I first took it out of the box and set it up.
I would love to have given this product 5 stars, not only because of the first-rate technical support, but also the eventual high grade performance of the extender itself, however it is also obvious that there needs to be written a comprehensive, step-by-step operation manual, foolproof enough to allow non technically minded people to set up and install the device. Likewise, far more detailed prompting needs to be given for fields, than just “Enter password”, without saying which password is required. I work in IT myself, and problems like this stumped me for months.