Netgear Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Mesh Extender (EX8000) Review - Review 2022

Range extenders are great for bringing Wi-Fi connectivity to areas of your firm that your router can't attain, but to practise and then they usually create a split network that you have to manually connect to equally you lot motion from room to room. Non and so with the Netgear Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Mesh Extender (EX8000) ($228). Much like Netgear's Orbi mesh Wi-Fi systems, this tri-band range extender uses a dedicated 5GHz radio band to communicate with your router. It also uses the aforementioned SSID as your router, which means you don't have to connect to different networks as you roam through your house. Information technology's a decent performer, if a scrap pricey, but it tin can't friction match the speed and range of our Editors' Choice, the Amped Wireless Athena-EX Loftier Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE2600M).

Habitation-Friendly Design

The EX8000 ($199.99 at Amazon) is a fairly large extender at viii.9 past 6.6 by iii.6 inches (HWD). The black enclosure stands upright on a permanent semi-circular base and cannot be mounted on a wall. There are no external antennas similar you get on the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (EX7000) ($139.97 at Amazon) ; instead, all 6 antennas are internal, which gives the extender a more living room-friendly look.

In that location are viii small LED indicators on the front of the extender. The Link Condition LED tells you the point strength between the extender and the router and is very useful when deciding where to place it. A solid white light indicates the best connectedness while solid amber means you have a good connectedness and solid blood-red means y'all take a poor connection. The Maximum Throughput LED glows solid white when the extender is using the 5GHz band for backhaul and is off when using the 2.4GHz band. At that place are action indicators for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, WPS, and the USB port, and in that location's a Client Link LED that glows white when a Wi-Fi client is continued to the extender and an Ethernet LED that indicates that a device is connected to 1 of the LAN ports. Around back are four gigabit LAN ports, a USB ii.0 port, a WPS button, a power button, and a reset button.

The EX8000 is an AC3000 tri-band extender capable of speeds of upwards to 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, 866Mbps on one of the 5GHz bands, and 1,733Mbps on the other 5GHz band. Information technology is powered past a quad-core CPU and supports the latest 802.11ac technology including MU-MIMO (Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output) data streaming and beamforming. What sets this extender apart from others is that it uses Netgear's FastLane3 technology (the aforementioned technology used past the Orbi Wi-Fi system) to connect to your router over a defended 5GHz radio. Other range extenders typically employ the same radio bands as wireless clients and are therefore competing with clients for bandwidth. The EX8000 too gives yous the same seamless roaming experience that you get with a Wi-Fi system considering information technology can use the same SSID as your router and automatically connects your device to the strongest signal as y'all travel from room to room when Smart Connect is enabled.

You don't get as many settings with the EX8000 every bit you do with the Amped Wireless RE2600M. The web-based management console opens to a Status screen that displays information such as signal strength, connection status, SSID name, and security type for each band.

There'due south a Smart Setup wizard at the superlative of the page and a menu on the left with Settings, Firmware Update, and Do More options. In Settings yous can configure wireless settings such every bit SSID, Countersign, Wi-Fi Channel, and Wi-Fi Speed, but you don't get the advanced settings like Fragment and RTS Thresholds, Beacon Intervals, and the ability to create guest networks that you get with the Amped Wireless RE2600M range extender.

The Connected Devices screen displays IP and MAC Accost data for the extender and all connected clients, and the Password screen is where you go to modify the extender'south countersign and security questions.

You can use the Other section to back up the extender'south settings and restore it to its manufacturing plant default settings. The Firmware Update folio allows you lot to search for and install the latest firmware, and the Do More screen has options to create access schedules, enable/disable the USB port, configure Media Server settings, and configure WPS settings. Netgear offers a free Wi-Fi Analytics mobile app that lets y'all monitor Wi-Fi signal force and identify the all-time channels for optimal performance.

Easy Installation

Y'all can install the EX8000 using the WPS push method, which is simply a matter of pressing the WPS button on the extender and then pressing the WPS push button on your router within two minutes. If your router does not back up WPS, employ the Netgear Installation Banana, which is as well quick and easy and is the method I used. To start, I placed the extender shut to my router, plugged it in, and continued my desktop to i of the extender's LAN ports (yous can also do this wirelessly by connecting to the extender's SSID). I typed world wide web.mywifiext.cyberspace into my browser's address bar, which launched the extender setup wizard. I clicked New Extender Setup, created an account using my email accost, password, and ii security questions, and selected WIFI Range Extender when asked how I wanted to utilize the extender (it can also be configured for employ as an admission point).

I and so chose my home network from the list of scanned networks that I wanted to extend (you can extend both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, or just ane), and made sure the Enable One WiFi Name box was checked. This allows the extender to use the same proper name and password as the master network. You lot can opt to create a separate extended network with different SSIDs and countersign if you prefer. Later a 90-2nd filibuster while the settings were practical, the installation was consummate. At this point you can unplug the extender and relocate information technology halfway between the router and the dead zone, simply make certain the Link Status LED is white to ensure the best possible connexion.

Good at Close Range

The EX8000 delivered respectable close-range scores in our throughput testing, but long-range performance was mixed. On our two.4GHz close-proximity (aforementioned room) exam, the EX8000'due south score of 78Mbps trounce the Netgear EX7300 (a plug-in extender) and was right backside the Amped Wireless RE2600M and the TP-Link RE580D. At a distance of 50 feet, the EX8000 led the pack and beat the Amped RE2600M by a few points, and at 75 feet its score of 20Mbps crush the EX7300, but trailed the TP-Link RE580D and the Amped RE2600M.

While operating on the 5GHz band, the EX8000'southward score of 367Mbps at shut proximity was very close to the TP-Link RE580D and faster than the Netgear EX7300, simply the Amped RE2600M took the top score. At 50 anxiety, the EX8000 trailed the pack with a score of 80Mbps, only its score of 75Mbps on the 75-foot exam bested the Netgear EX7300 and the TP-Link RE580D. The Amped RE2600M took top honors with a score of 128Mbps on this test.

To test the EX8000's MU-MIMO performance, I used iii identical Acer Aspire E15 laptops equipped with Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 wireless 802.11ac network adapters as my clients. It garnered 78Mbps on the close-proximity examination, coming in behind the Netgear EX7300, the Linksys RE7000, and the Amped RE2600M. Results were like at a distance of 30 anxiety: The EX8000'due south score of 73Mbps wasn't very far off from the residuum of the pack, but it was the everyman score in the bunch.

An Extender With the Perks of a Mesh System

With the Netgear Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Mesh Extender (EX8000) you can get the same kind of seamless Wi-Fi coverage that you lot get from a mesh Wi-Fi organisation without having to supervene upon your current router. It uses a dedicated 5GHz radio band to communicate with your router, which frees up the other two bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz) for client traffic, and it supports MU-MIMO data streaming and beamforming. Wireless throughput performance was good in our testing, but not stellar. If y'all desire a range extender that delivers superior throughput, consider our Editor's Choice, the Amped Wireless Athena-EX High Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE2600M. You lot'll have to deal with separate SSIDs, but yous get better all-around performance and more settings for less money.

All-time Wi-Fi Range Extender Picks

• The All-time Wireless Range Extenders for 2022
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Further Reading

• Which College Campuses Have the Fastest Wi-Fi?

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/migrated-53264-networking/19622/netgear-nighthawk-x6s-tri-band-wifi-mesh-extender-ex8000-review

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