How To Set Up Netgear Wifi Extender Ex3700

Tom's Guide Verdict

Inexpensive and economic to utilise, at $40 Netgear's EX2800 is one of the best Wi-Fi buys today. It may not exist the fastest extender around merely it does a good job of filling Wi-Fi dead zones without costing an arm and a leg.

Pros

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  Small-scale

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  Like shooting fish in a barrel set up process

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  2FA and Bear on ID security

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  Cheap and economical to use

Cons

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  802.11ac only

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  No Ethernet port

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  No setup app

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800: Specs

Wi-Fi Rating: AC750
Size: ii.8 x ii.8 10 i.8 inches
Number of Antennas/Removable: two internal/No
Wi-Fi Specs: 802.11ac dual band
Ports: None
Operation at fifteen feet: 170.9Mbps
Extender Range: xc feet
Est. Almanac Costs: $1.10

Netgear's WiFi Range Extender EX2800 may be one of the simplest Wi-Fi extenders to set up and use, just it can help make full your home with information for but $40.

While it doesn't offering an Ethernet port for additional wired access, this inexpensive range extender has excellent security, and features the ability to use two-cistron authentication and Apple's Bear on ID.

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 review: Design

Netgear's EX2800 plugs right into an AC outlet, but at 2.7 ten ii.7 x one.eight inches, it won't cake an next outlet. It has a 2-prong plug, but lacks adaptable antennas to bring in the strongest bespeak.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Its design, however, does without an Ethernet port, and then the EX2800 can't exist used as a wired admission point. There are four LEDS upwards front end for Power, Router, WPS  and Device, which acts similar a crude signal strength meter to help with optimal placement. They glow green when everything is OK but in that location's no fashion to turn them off.

(Prototype credit: Tom'due south Guide)

The extender's top and bottom have cooling holes. Its side has a reset button for and there are WPS and Power buttons.

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 review: Performance

The Netgear EX2800 extender works by wirelessly connecting to the host router and retransmitting stronger ii.iv- and 5GHz signals. It uses WiFi-v technology and under ideal atmospheric condition it is theoretically capable of moving up to 750Mbps.

Based on testing with a TP-Link Archer C5400X and Ixia'due south IxChariot networking performance criterion, the EX2800 does a lot with a little merely was left in the digital dust by Wi-Fi 6-rated Netgear AX1800 Mesh Extender (EAX20), even so. With a 90-foot range, the EX2800 moved 170.9Mbps to our receiving system fifteen-feet away. This is simply slightly below what nosotros saw in the Rock Space AC1200 WiFi Extender review (175.4Mbps) at the same distance. Both were blown abroad by the Netgear EAX20's 375.4Mbps.

When the EX2800 was ready up on the same floor 40-anxiety from the router and the test organization another 50-feet away, it delivered 24.4Mbps, half that of the Rock Space Wi-Fi Range Extender and one-fifth that of the Netgear EAX20. It did better when the extender was placed a flooring above the router and the test machine 40-anxiety abroad. It delivered 124.4Mbps versus 173.1Mbps for its Wi-Fi vi cousin the EAX20.

During my week using the EX2800, it used an amazingly depression one-watt of power. If information technology's left on 24/7, it will cost nearly $1.ten per twelvemonth if you pay the average toll of electricity in U.s. of 13 cents per kilowatt-hr. Conspicuously, information technology'due south for misers with Wi-Fi dead zones.

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 review: Features

The EX2800 dual-band extender uses 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) technology to push both 2.four- and 5GHz networks into new parts of a home; it can't combine them into a single network name, though. It has the power to make full an extra 1,200 foursquare anxiety of a Wi-Fi domicile, co-ordinate to Netgear.

There are extensive customization options available that range from backing up and restoring the extender'due south settings to allowing a device to squealer the extender's entire throughput. Called Fast Lane, it'south like shooting fish in a barrel to prepare but it merely works with a single band and might antagonize the family.

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 review: Setup and software

Forget about using an app to setup and configure the Netgear EX2800 because it requires an old-school continued browser and Netgear's Genie software to install and brand changes. Using my ThinkPad T470, I typed "mywifiext.net," created a new account and picked that I wanted to apply the EX2800 as a range extender.

(Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

Next, the software scanned for the device and plant my networks. I picked the two networks I wanted to extend and entered their passwords.

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The software took a minute to prepare up the extension. Finally, I entered the names and passwords of the extended networks. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to consolidate them into a single network name. Everything worked on the first effort and the extension yielded 116Mbps out of my 200Mbps connexion. With everything working fine, I moved the extension to a spot fifty feet away.  Start to stop, it took 5 minutes.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 review: Warranty and support

Netgear backs the EX2800 with a one-year warranty merely only 90-days of support. If you take problems subsequently on, you'll need to pay for boosted customer support. Thankfully, Netgear'south site is chock full of DIY cloth to help get the about out of the extender, including help setting information technology up and enhancing its security. If yous need assistance, the Netgear staff is standing past 24/7.

Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 review: Verdict

The Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2800 does the pull a fast one on for those with lots of Wi-Fi dead zones by quickly and easily filling in gaps. At $40 information technology'southward a adept buy but lacks the features offered on something like TP-Link RE650 AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender, which boasts a wired Ethernet port for converting it into a wired admission signal and has superior performance. Nonetheless, it's a small and cheap Wi-Fi extender that can help make full a dwelling house with data.

Brian Nadel is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in engineering reporting and reviewing. He works out of the suburban New York City area and has covered topics from nuclear ability plants and Wi-Fi routers to cars and tablets. The quondam editor-in-principal of Mobile Computing and Communications, Nadel is the recipient of the TransPacific Writing Award.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/netgear-wifi-range-extender-ex2800

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