TP-Link N300 Wi-Fi Range Extender (TL-WA850RE)

We have a 60 x 40 metal building workshop located 50 yards from our house. Because of the metal skin, WiFi and cellular signal is nearly non-existent inside the workshop except for an area of less than 1 foot away from the small window facing the house. Even then right on the window sill showed only one bar on most devices, and if you moved more than a few inches from the glass it was gone all together so completely useless for all intents and purposes. We had been using an an extension WiFi antenna mounted in that same window for our shop PC to link to our home network out there with marginal success for the last couple years, but the speeds were lousy and we really wanted a router in the building for our phones and multiple devices to connect to. So, we were about to bite the bullet and just trench in an underground cat 5 cable out there to supply the wan for a second wireless router when I saw this and figured for 20 bucks it was totally worth a try. It is about 15% of what the competition and is charging for what is advertised as the same thing so I was a not expecting it to work well, even with our high end router. Happily, I was completely wrong, at least for our application it actually works wonderfully. We set it up first in our house right across the room from our existing router using the WPS push button option (available on most routers) and it took literally less than a minute to set up, automatically cloned our existing SSID so most devices already on your network will use it automatically wherever you put it. We then took it out to our shop and tested it by first hooking it to an extension cord in our shop and finding where it could actually pick up our weak WiFi signal at all using its led bar display, in our case that was unsurprisingly only available inside inches from the window facing our home. It worked so well there that I immediately installed an electrical outlet for it right above the window frame inside our shop so that the bottom of the unit hangs into the window facing the house. For the non electrically inclined, worry not, any small two prong extension cord should let you put this item anywhere you may need to for best reception if available outlets are in dead zones. For us we took advantage of the window letting some tiny signal into the building so from the outside and plugged it in upside down directly above the window so just an inch or two of the unit hangs down and is is actually visible though the glass from outside a small price to pay for strong WiFi in the building. We went from zero bars of WiFi in our workshop to 5 bars on every device, absolutely anywhere in or around the shop. Our iPhones and iPads switch seamlessly and automatically when coming in and out of the shop with both Facetime and iMessaging working flawlessly inside. Multiple devices can stream video and audio flawlessly in the previously WiFi dead zone. The LAN port also now gives us the ability to connect any other wired devices in the building to our home network as well, and I would assume a simple 10 dollar switch could expand that single wired connection plug to as many LAN ports as you need (example a TP-LINK TL-SF1005D 5-port 10/100Mbps Desktop Switch $9.95). I would use this for a remote LAN drop for an older non WiFi-Xbox 360, Blu-ray player, or anything at this price point, since it is easier than fishing a LAN wire just about anywhere, and will provide a strong WiFi signal wherever you install it to boot.

Original Review: Setup this yesterday...worked like a charm. Does what it is supposed to do...extended the range of my AT&T DSL router from one end of the house to the other...approximately 80 feet. The TP Link has to pick up the router signal that has to travel through a closed door, through the dining, kitchen areas, a foyer and finally a corridor. The TP Link picks it up with 3 lights. The speed on my laptop shows 144Mbps...very good. My cellphone shows 4 bars. Earlier, my entire wifi setup was in my daughter's room - the DSL modem, wireless router, MagicTalk box, phone unit...was a mess. Now, the only thing in her room is this TP Link...wife happy, kids happy...what else is there to life.Reason for 5 stars:- Delivered a day earlier than promised (1-day delivery)- Setup was easy...though pressing the WPS button on my router did not help in connecting. No issue though.. the instructions were clear and easy on how to do this with a wireless connection to the TP Link.- Had to re-plugin my AT&T router to the wall phone jack at first because it did not pick up the internet connection. Nothing to do with the TP Link.- It's been 15 hours and no issues with the connection yet...its stayed up.Will post an update if I see any issues.UPDATE April 29, 2014: After approx 2 weeks of use: Am reducing this to 2 stars. The connection hiccups frequently, keeps dropping. I updated the firmware to the latest version and it has not helped. Extremely frustrating, as I work from home and need a consistent connection for online meetings, downloads, etc. I am looking for another product and will be returning this.2nd UPDATE MAY 23: BACK TO 5 STAR-RATING: OK, so when I had initially installed the TPLinkextender, at the same time I switched from my old DSL modem to the ATT/Netgear 7500 that ATT had recently shipped to me. As part of troubleshooting after experiencing the connectivity problems, I decided to try switching off the wireless capabilities of this new ATT modem, and use an older wireless router for the wireless. Bingo!! The whole setup has been stable for the past week or so since that change...not one instance of dropped connection. I researched the Netgear/ATT 7500 modem further, and it turns out that ATT is shipping lousy, crappy modems that have a TON of complaints.So I am back to giving the TPLinkextender 5-star rating. Great value!