Attributes
- This booster can be considered the best budget Wi-Fi range extender.
- Wi-Fi performance: AC1900
- Coverage: 10,000sq/ft
- 2.4GHz speed: 55Mbps
- 5GHz speed: 90Mbps
- Antennae: N/A
- Dedicated backhaul
- Simple to setup
- Single SSID with a Linksys router
- Supports MU-MIMO
- Slower download speed on the 2.4GHz
- Not the lowest dropped frame rate during the streaming video.
Details
The Linksys RE7000 wireless extender provides users with AC1900 (N300 + AC1733) speeds and can boost range by up to 10,000 square feet. The antennas are internal, offering the RE7000 a compact size. The device also supports the same SSID, but only when connected to a Linksys router, which supplies it the behavior more like a mesh node, than a typical add on the extender. An integrated Gigabit Ethernet port is also included to allow the RE7000 to function as a wireless bridge or as a wired access point giving flexibility in deployment. Finally, it supports Beamforming, MU-MIMO, and holds dedicated backhaul to the router on the alternate frequency via Linksys’ Cross Band technology.
The RE7000 performed well during the 2.4GHz download test with a speed of 55.32 Mbps, even though it lagged the competition at 5GHz, but still showed serviceable 90.57 Mbps of download speed. During the network congestion testing, with a simultaneous video stream, the RE7000 operated on FPS on the 5 GHz frequency at 54.443 FPS. The simultaneously streamed 4K video produced low dropped frames of 1.14% on 5GHz. The RE7000 can be considered original best pick among wireless extenders, and it remains a capable product, despite being weaker on some benchmarks. The lower price also makes the RE7000 a good budget pick.
