Netgear WiFi Range Extender EX2700 – N300 Review

Product Rating

74%

81%

79%

78%

Reliability

Easy to Use

Price

Durability

Total Rating

78 %

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The Netgear Range Extender N300 is a WiFi booster that I had been wanting to try for a long time. It gets rave reviews from users, and setup is a breeze. But I wasn’t sure that it was going to live up to the hype.
If you’re on a tight budget, this extender may be a good option for you, but I think there are better models out there.

I want to share my experience with you so that you can decide whether this extender is a good fit for your home network.

Whenever I buy new electronics, one of my biggest concerns is setting it up. Fortunately, most modern devices are basically plug-and-play, but there are exceptions. Sometimes, WiFi extenders can be complicated and difficult to get up and running.

I’ve tried a lot of extenders, including the RangeXTD WiFi Extender, and most are easy to set up. The Netgear WiFi Extender EX2700 is no exception.

Setup is as easy as unboxing, plugging the device in and pressing a button. I’m not joking. It’s a nice, little discreet device, too. It’s not an eyesore by any means. No one will even notice that it’s plugged into your wall.

What I really love about this WiFi range extender is that it is universally compatible, so you can use it with any WiFi router. I had no issues connecting and getting everything up and running in just a few minutes.
Here’s how it works:

1. Plug in the range extender close to your modem.
2. Wait for the green light.
3. Push the WPS button, and another LED light should start blinking.
4. Push the WPS on your modem, and they should connect.
5. Once the light turns solid green, unplug the extender and move it to wherever you want to extend your WiFi coverage.
6. When you go to connet your devices, look for the net network name created by the extender.
7. Enter your WiFi network’s password, and you’re good to go.

If you hide your IP, it may complicate your setup a little bit, but it shouldn’t be anything that you can’t handle.

Another nice feature of this model is that it actually has a 10/100M ethernet port built into it. This means that you can get a faster, uninterrupted connection for some of your devices.

We have one extender plugged into our living room, and we did this on purpose. It wasn’t that our connection was poor in the living room. We did it so that the kids could plug in their gaming consoles directly into the ethernet port. This allows them to enjoy a strong, uninterrupted connection for online gaming.

Now, with this extender, you can connect up to ten devices. If you’re like me and have a family with multiple devices, then this is welcomed news. We easily have ten devices between the four of us.

If you’re worried about security, don’t be. The Netgear WiFi range extender supports the most common security protocols.

Setup was my first concern when I got this extender. My next concern was the speed. Would this WiFi extender slow down my network? Would it give me just enough of a signal in dead zones to load a web page?

The answer is maybe. Keep in mind that the name of this extender is Netgear WiFi Extender N300. The 300 refers to the 300Mbps performance that this extender offers, but don’t expect speeds this high.

There are a few dead zones in my house. My bedroom is, unfortunately, one of them. I was a bit disappointed to find that the signal in my room hadn’t improved as much as I had hoped. I got a signal, which was a good start, but it was still pretty weak. My speeds were only marginally improved. At least I could get the apps on my phone to finally load up and start working.

When you install the Netgear Wireless N300, you’re probably wondering how far it can extend your signal.
Netgear says that this model can extend your coverage by 800 square feet. That’s a lot of extra coverage. Most people will only need one extender, but if you have a really big house and want coverage everywhere (including outside), then you may need two or three extenders.

We have two, and that’s only because we wanted the ability to plug a gaming console into an ethernet port without having to move the router or modem.

This Netgear WiFi extender can achieve such long ranges because it has two external antennas, and you can adjust the position of them to boost your signal in different directions.

Netgear did well with the range extension and easy installation, but the speed issue is really what turned me off.

If you do some research on this WiFi extender, you’ll find a few people claiming the Netgear N300 stops working after 4-5 months. While that has not been my personal experience, a friend of mine had his stop working after just a few months.

I was disappointed when he told me that he had to replace it. He wound up going with a more expensive and reliable model. Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to save money when you’re talking about something as important as your WiFi connection.

Rating: 78%

Overall, the Netgear EX2700 – N300 is a decent, low-cost option for people who are on a shoestring budget. But in my opinion, there are better options out there. The slow speeds and weak signal strength are what really turned me off with this extender.

It’s easy to install and I like that there’s an ethernet port, but it’s just not an extender that I can see myself using forever.