NETGEAR WiFi Mesh Range Extender (EX6250) - Covers up to 2,100 sq.ft. and 35 Devices with AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Signal Booster & Repeater (up to 1750 Mbps Speed), Plus Mesh Smart Roaming

NETGEAR WiFi Mesh Range Extender EX6250 Price as of 11/11/2020 List Price: 119.99 Discount Price I paid: $89.00 _______________________________ 2.4Ghz is slower speed wifi but the signal travels farther 5Ghz is faster speed wifi but the signal doesn't travel as far _______________________________ My Goal: Extend my verizon fios router wifi signal for both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz to my entire NYC apartment. (Large apartment with many bedrooms, many walls, some of those walls are concrete) My Verison fios wifi router is on one end of my apartment and i need to boost the signal from that to the other end of the apartment. _______________________________ Currently: I have a Linksys wifi extender i bought years ago but it's too weak to boost both 2.4ghz & 5ghz to the other side of my apartment, it's not strong enough to penetrate all the walls. All the walls in my apartment eat up the wifi signal. _______________________________ New Setup: With this new Netgear wifi extender, i was able to remove my older wifi extender and i plugged this new Netgear wifi extender into an outlet on the other end of the apartment and now i get FULL BARS for both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz in the ENTIRE apartment! _______________________________ The Netgear status shows me the signal strength the extender is picking up: 2.4Ghz signal strength: 162Mbps 5Ghz signal strength: 585Mbps _______________________________ INSTALLATION (setup): (It comes with a paper instructions booklet plus the instructions are online) Google: EX6250 The instructions are on the Netgear website. Very basic simple instructions. Connect to the netgear extender using a device that has wifi (i used a windows 10 PC), connect it to the netgear wifi extender and then in your web browser go enter this URL address: http://192.168.1.250 (You should be able to do this same thing on a mobile phone or tablet) That will take you to the Netgear admin page where you can follow the steps to configure your device. _______________________________ Additional options: There is an ethernet port on the device if you want to hardwire an ethernet cable to the wifi extender to configure the admin settings and as another way to connect the wifi extender to your network. Fastlane option. From what i read, that will boost your 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz signal. You have to turn this option on and then you need to pick which signal to boost. You can only do one. So have to pick 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz. So if you only need 5Ghz then you can use fastlane on the 5Ghz and the 2.4Ghz will be turned off. And now your 5Ghz will be faster. NOTE: I would not use the "fastlane" option because Amazon Alexa smart plugs use 2.4Ghz. They won't work with 5Ghz unless you can find ones that do. There is a 1 button quick setup. (WPS) but i don't use that. That basically lets you configure your home router so that if you press the WPS button on two devices (router and wifi extender). They will quickly sync together (quick setup) but you need to have that WPS option on your home router for it to work and that option needs to be enabled to allow it. NOTE: I don't use that because that will also allow anyone to walk over to your router and connect themselves to your network without needing any passwords. (bad security) Access point option. I don't plan to use that option. The wifi extender has a ethernet port on it, for the access point to work you need to use an ethernet cable and connect your router and this wifi extender together. I'm not 100% sure what the access point would be good for because the wifi extender option works really well. It's all you really need. I don't know much about how that access point would work or how you should or could use it so i wont comment much on that. In the end i ended up using the Ethernet port on the WIFI Extender to connect an ethernet cable from the WIFI Extender to my Roku. Another good option, buy a small 8 or less port Ethernet Hub. Connect an Ethernet cable from the WIFI extender into the Hub. Now you can connect devices with an Ethernet cable (laptop, ethernet printer, etc), directly to the WIFI extender (assuming you need / want a wired connection) The only reason to do this? Possibly a more stable internet connection? If all else fails. Try that. _______________________________ CONCLUSION: This Netgear wifi extender is POWERFUL while being very compact. No external antennas required. Looks very clean when installed into a wall outlet. If you install at the top outlet, the bottom outlet will NOT be blocked. I highly recommend buying it. A little pricey but it works well! Now it may be overkill if your apartment is very tiny. But if you have a ton of bedrooms with lots of walls & weak wifi signal. This should easily fix it. If you have a big home especially with a big backyard and you currently have a weak signal. This might also be useful to cover a huge range and get wifi across your whole home and yard. BUT check the specs first. The specs show the range it covers. It looks like you can connect two of these wifi extenders together if you need a bigger range but start with only 1 because it works so well you might only need 1.

My need was to supply an internet connection to two devices which required a hard-wired ethernet connection (no Wifi built into them). My home was already served by a WiFi 6 Netgear Nighthawk router - and that (excellent router) provided plenty of signal throughout the house, but I had no ethernet wiring. So, at first, I was not looking for WiFi "extenders." As many may know, adding an extender where it is not *needed*, can result in a *decrease* in performance, as the extender(s) and main router can "fight." I tried other products configured as dedicated WiFi bridges and was disappointed by sketchy, unreliable performance (which provided no joy listening to a streaming music player!). Reading the manual for these Netgear Range Extenders, I learned that once they are configured to your network, you can turn the broadcast antennas (both 2.5 and 5.0 Ghz) OFF. This, however, leaves the ethernet port on the extender ACTIVE. Now, you don't have a WiFi extender, you have a WiFi (hardwire) bridge. Bought two of these and they are working brilliantly! Since both my older (WiFi 6) Nighthawk Router and these new extenders both support WPS (WiFi Protected Setup), configuration was quick and easy. Performance speed has been excellent (have not measured it, but I've experienced no dropouts or glitches). Been going for months now, no trouble just joy. If you have needs like mine, this product will make you happy.

This is not my first extender but I was due for an upgrade and decided to take a chance on this one, the E6250. I'll start here, it was real close to going back and still might. The app for the set up was a miss for me, didn't work any of the 5 or 6 times I tried it, I'm using an android phone with the app if that helps anyone? Plugged it in directly and went through the set-up process and it connected, everything was pretty good at this point, the frustration of the app took a backseat to the fact at least I got it. Got everything hooked up and it seemed to really be working pretty well. The next day and it wasnt broadcasting anything on the 5G band? Logged in and sure enough, nothing broadcast on 5G even though it was set to on. 2.4 Broadcast was still fine. Factory reset again and doing the same process, it worked again, 6 hrs later, no signal..... again? Repeat, go out to the trash to recover the box its going back in only to get caught up doing stuff with the kids, At this point it hasn't lost its mind or the 5g signal again so there's that. The pros to this is when it works, it seems to really works well, its nice I can pick and choose if the item needs 5.0 or 2.4. Coverage seems to be just fine and about what they claim, I have no dead spots in the house so that's great. Given the issues I've had with it so far I just can't give it a higher rating, I had a Netgear repeater for like 5 years before this and it finally dawned on me an upgrade was badly needed but had -0- issues with it the entire time. Went with another Netgear because it was so good. But, For now its working and seems to be doing ok, Should anything happen in the near future I'll stop back by and append, Hope this helps somebody. *** Okay, Update: changing my 2 star to a one star, after two tries I'm going to just say either I have no idea what I'm doing or these just are not very good. For the life of me I cant figure out why it will not stay broadcasting in 5G? I've reset, I've redone, I've even returned and gotten another one, neither would stay broadcasting in 5G? also I'm not sure how I can log onto my router wi-fi, have a 70mpbs download speed, log onto the repeater which is logged onto the router wi-fi signal and get between 20-28mpbs? same signal? even with the "Fastlane" option enabled its less than half of what its receiving? Weird to because my 6yr old netgear repeater was awesome? guess I'll go back to that.......

It is working well for us. Setup had a couple of headaches and the app will not allow as much control as the built-in web portal, which is a failure imo. That should never be the case. Especially when they force you so heavily to use the app. There are important features in the web portal! Overall, good deal, good Wi-Fi, could improve the UI/UX.

I own a really old big house so getting wifi in all areas was a struggle. Was skeptical that this would help but tried it anyways. I am very impressed. getting full speeds on other side of house and no more lag in my camera system. Definitely 10 steps above the mesh system spectrum provided. Easy set up and so far no stability issues!

3 right now based on the seal being undone. Don't know if it was used or not. 😡 The plastic package in the box still taped but everyone has tape. Not impressed that it showed basically opened. I will update once I set it up.

2.4G and 5.6G signals were very weak on patio and deck .. the EX6250 boosted BOTH bands by at least 20dB ! Unit is very easy to setup (as repeater using same SSID as main router) using the Netgear Nighthawk app ... BUT ... make sure to deactivate any existing extenders that you won't be using after the install (my first attempt boosted both signal bands, until I unplugged a small TPLink 2.4G unit used as a repeater, which caused problems with connections in that band. Second attempt (after hard resetting EX6250) was successful. Be patient during the setup .. it takes a few minutes for this extender to figure out your network configuration! Configuration has EX6250 about 20ft from router (thru 3 walls and highly metal populated utility room) and about 10ft to devices on patio and deck (with the 20dB signal improvement on both bands). Even the 5GHz signal is solid. Usual 2GHz wireless speed is about 80Mbps close to router .. am getting well over 40Mbps thru repeater (the 5GHz band is yielding 350Mbps via repeater!). While noting that this is an early review by a seasoned EE (time will tell), I see no indications of heat related impacts on circuit reliability (EX6250 surface temp is below 100deg F). Reviews indicating accelerated degradation in performance could be caused by other environmental factors (poor air circulation, electrical line surges and dips, and worst of all .. frequent power on/off events .. electronic devices don't like to be power cycled). The only downside .. so far .. is the amount of space this unit takes in a typical electrical outlet (I have it plugged into the upper outlet with barely enough room for a short 3 prong extension cord) . This is a tough design issue, since you need enough room below the unit to support the freestanding device with only the outlet as support (you could always use an extension cord to move the repeater out of the way of the outlet). One more note .. there's a lot of arguments made by network experts as to the advisability of using the same SSID as your main router. Be advised that the Nighthawk app sets up this EX6250 extender on the same SSID (this is a WiFi MESH extender) .. and uses the same physical RF channels for both bands. I, personally, prefer this setup to simplify device roaming connections .. and to be able to use common network resources (such as a central network drive used for general storage and video streaming) from anywhere in the house .. different extender SSID assignments will make this more difficult. Operational switchover in areas where the main router and EX6250 extender signal levels are similar is device dependent (some devices will switch over cleanly .. some will "hiccup") .. this is a function of each devices network chipset .. and the particular device drivers used. Bottom line .. after a lot of research for a capable extender that keeps my main SSID intact (on both bands) .. and avoids replacing a very nice TPLink router with an expensive mesh network setup ... the Netgear EX6250 is a perfect fit for ME! I used the "EX6250" identifier, repeatedly, throughout this review, since I have noted often confusing Amazon reviews that reference different product models ... unfairly impacting the reviews for the product model in question. There may be other WiFi extenders with setup, reliability and performance issues that have "cross-pollinated" with reviews for this device ... so take those reviews with a "grain of salt" (good, or bad reviews).

I bought the NETGEAR Nighthawk Tri-Band WiFi 7 Router (RS600) last year and it has been a great router as our ISP can deliver up to 10 GB/s...now if only our PCs could consume that speed. Anyhow, my office is downstairs and on the opposite side of the house and by adding this range extender, I have eliminated randomly occurring lag time when streaming to my smartTV in my office. The installation wasn't perfect, but their Support line was good and got me past the hiccups I experienced. Could have bought less expensive range extenders but having a career in IT, I never want to save a buck when potential compatibility issues could exist, so I stayed in the Netgear series of my router. Very good signal strength .