EX7000

WOW - triples the speed at the far end of my apartment. I purchased the NightHawk AC 5300, X8 about two months ago and was blown away by its power to reach the far end of my apartment without an extender. Prior to this I had the very well respected Apple Extreme and an Apple extender to get that far. But as the weeks went by I became frustrated because although the Router kept me connected, it was very slow. I had to settle for a 2.4 connection and even that was sometimes pretty slow on my tablet and on my phone. I finally gave in to my craving to get the extender to go with the very good router. It has made an enormous difference and has surprising reach. At least half of my house now gets a stronger signal from the extender than from the router itself. Netgear's instructions say that an amber light means an ok signal. I kept wandering all around trying to get a blue light for both 2.4 and 5, which would be an "excellent" signal. I would suggest not spending a lot of time trying to get blue lights - when I finally gave in to one amber and one blue, I discovered that the amber signal was more than "ok" - it was 2+ times faster. And then tonight, I suddenly found that both 2.4 and 5 were blue. Not sure I will always get such a good signal, even on the 5 band, but it's held all night. I would suggest getting the best amber you can (if you can't get blue), and let it settle in. Also, check your speed, you might be very happy with amber. If I could, I would have docked half a star for the poor placement of the power cord into the extender. It actually prevents me from placing the lowest antenna where I'd like. But overall performance was too good to dock a whole star for something this minor by comparison. I also found it a pleasure to set up with another Netgear product. The extender and router found each other within a minute and contact was stabilized in another 20 or so seconds.

UPDATE: I left the below review of this item. Netgear again responded that I contact customer support providing the below link. I did. Netgear reached out to me and left me a telephone message with a direct dial phone number. (How civilized). I called. The Tech actually read my problem and treated me very courteously. He then took over my computer (with my permission), went into the router and changed the 5.4 band from automatically selecting a channel to a fixed manual channel 157. I had the same problem the next day. I rebooted and it has now worked correctly for over a week now with no problems or reboots. The Mbps for the 5GHz band is an outstanding 1300 (even better than the whopping 1170 previously reported). So, why did Netgear take over my computer? I could have changed the channel myself. All they had to do was tell me that there is a solution to my problem. What a waste of time and money. The happy ending is that now that this Extender is working it is everything I expected and needed. Moving from 1 start to 5 stars and no return. Like others, I have a similar problem although it manifests itself in a little different way. Almost every morning it appears that sometime during the night I have lost my connection to the Internet and even though I am reconnected I awake to find the 5.4 band light on the extender is red. Even though I have full internet connectivity, the light stays red. When I check the router using the very good Netgear Wifi Analytics app it shows the router sending out 100% signal strength and -39 dBM. The test shows 866 Mbps. When I use the very good Netgear wifi Genie is says that the Mbps from the Extender for the 5.4 channel is 59. If I reboot the Wi-Fi Range Extender the light turns green and the Genie now reports the Mbps at a whopping 1170. So I contact Netgrear technical support. I explain the problem and share when him the analytics. The technician does not listen to my problem, and has me do a full factory reboot and complete reinstall including the firmware update. Of course the unit is now working, it has been rebooted. At the end of the call I finally am able to communicate with the technician that the red light does not turn to green when full connectivity returns. The technician argues with me that when I you have full connectivity the light will be green and describes the Mbps levels that the colors (red, yellow and green) reflect. When he finally understands that my unit is not working, he advises me to call back after a few days to see if I still have the same problem after our factory reboot. Next morning, deja view all over again. I get a replacement from Amazon. BTW, what a civilized process Amazon has for exchanges. 5 stars for their process. I installed the new unit and it behaves exactly the same. While the Negear technician denied that my unit was flawed, when I took the Netgear customer satisfaction survey it had as one of the questions if you have any problems “I lost my connection to the Internet, and the WiFi Range Extender needed to be reset or rebooted”. Looks like Negear has institutionalized the problem in their survey. Unfortunately this unit too will be returned to Amazon. I am disappointed because when the Extender works, it is great. It is unreasonable to have to reboot everyday.

I’m a technical dude, working in video games and needed a fast reliable router that could cope with a demanding household during COVID. I’m streaming meetings all day, working with cloud services, have two teenage gamers in the house, plus wife is also working. I upgraded the whole network at the same time. I did a lot of research and ended up settling on Netgear Nighthawk equipment throughout. Big mistake, less than 6 months later I’m replacing all of it. At the same time I bought: Netgear CM1100 modem Netgear XR500 router Netgear EX7000 extender Netgear S8000 switch First issue was the modem. I have a gigabit line and initially we where able to get ~650mbps down. But after a few weeks the modem started requiring constant restarts. Eventually download speeds dropped to 0-30mbps. Resets didn’t help. I replaced the unit with a Motorola MB8600, has been rock solid ever since. The EX7000 has been useless as an extender since the day I first set it up. It constantly loses backhaul connection to the router, leaving all connected clients offline. I’ve tried it in several parts of the house, even in the same room with line of sight of the XR500. A restart would and it’d work for 24 hours, at best. In the end I wired the backhaul and ran it as an access point. The performance was poor, so eventually I just unplugged it. The XR500 hasn’t ever been a great performer, wireless speeds top about a 300mbps down and 30mbps up. At best. Even wire clients would rarely get over 500. It also needs to be restarted weekly. There are large parts of the house the signal can’t penetrate. And, as we’re getting ready of school to start, in need some parental controls. The Nighthawks don’t have any. Like at all. So I just about two weeks ago installed a Gryphon router. Immediate improvement. It’s faster, more reliable and has a way better admin setup. Wired I’m now getting 930mbps down, latency around 10ms and a health 40mbps up. Wireless clients around 650mbps. So far it’s been rock solid and has a way, way, way better admin interface. It’s also caught and blocked several bits of malware entering my network. The S8000 switch is fine, but expensive. I’ll keep it, but a cheaper box would have been just as good. So I’m done with Netgear. Hundreds of dollars wasted. Work was hard. I’m sending all of this junk to the charity shop. Never buying from Netgear again.

Even the Verizon tech was shocked. I know little about how to set up a router but I did know I had full WiFi coverage with Time Warner/Spectrum and lousy Wifi now with Verizon. My apartment is tiny. Verizon wouldn't help. Told me to get my own extender. I studdied options for hours and went with the one with a manual I could comprehend about 85% of. It didn't disappoint. With fast setup using just the WPA button the 2.4 speed connected immediately. Got a snag with the 5G transmission. Might have been me. Verizon's router went red. It didn't with the 1st wpa button press. Perhaps it was going through a set up routine. Flashing red scared me. Netgear tech support just as useless as Verizon's. An agent outside the US put me through repeat install steps via Netgear's online platform. Telling her I had done all that already was pointless. Her advice was to return it. Back online I went to study blogs. Found a couple which infered a simple change of the router's channel number is all it takes to get the 5G band up. Back to Verizon to ask them to do just that. Of course the agent resisted since this device isn't theirs. Then she took the 2 seconds it takes to change the 5g channel -now I know how to do it on my own. She chose 36. 5g light came up in seconds on the Nighthawk! Eureka. Has now worked for months with no issues. Roku, LG cell, Galaxy and Kindle tablets connect without any problems whatsoever. Brick building. Steel beams. Concrete and plaster walls. 20-30ft from router sig strength is Strong. The Verizon tech said they have their own extender but it would have taken running wire from router to it. I'm thrilled Verizon didn't give a damn enough to offer it to me. Star off for lousy tech support. And its gooood looking, blk glass, with the niftiest pull out permanently lodged spec sheet I've ever seen!

I hesitated purchasing this Extender as it was kind of expensive considering almost everyone else that reviewed it, got it for free from Netgear. However, I bit the bullet and decided to order it. I have Amazon Prime so two day shipping is free. Not only that but I ordered in on Friday and it arrived on Sunday. Amazon Prime is great. If you can afford it, and you purchase a lot of items on-line, you need to consider getting it. I've probably saved the cost just on the two day shipping. Not to mention the free movies I get to watch. Anyway, I installed the Extender this morning and agree that it was very simple to install. I don't have the WPS button on my router so I had to use the install wizard using my tablet. Attaching to the Extender was easy and setup was simple. Though I had to do it twice (messed up on the 5G side and had to reconfigure it. So I used the reset button and started over) it was fast and simple. Don't know that I have ever setup a router that easily. After setting it up I ran a few tests using the Netgear WiFi Analyzer. Neat app. The Extender stands up to the hype. It transmits a strong signal as well as enhances the wired connection with a 10/100/1000 connection. I own a Samsung Smart TV as well as a Samsung 3D Blu-ray player. Both are capable of Wifi connections. The TV signal was fantastic. I had a strong signal for the player but when I ran the Speedtest, it was really slow, so I connected the player to a wired connection. I needed a good connection in another part of the house where I have my exercise equipment but the router wasn't providing a very good signal. With the Nighthawk extender, that issue has been resolved. I am very pleased with this product. I would highly recommend it if you need a stronger wireless signal in your home. Just be sure to use a good security password and lock it down so your neighbors can't use your internet connection.

This is a very impressive piece of kit for the purpose I bought it for: a very long-range signal booster. I have the blessing (and curse) of living within sight of work (sitting on my back patio looking at it right now actually). My living room window has a 738 feet (according to Google Maps) obstruction-free view of the window of my office at work. Most of the professional reviews maxed out their testing range at 150 feet, which made me doubt that this booster would work for the purpose I intended, but I figured I would take a chance. The WiFi at work is atrocious, mine at home is pretty good (ASUS RT-AC68U, local cable internet provider that is pretty decent). Using my phone (2016 Google Pixel XL), and using the OOKLA Speedtest app I measured my performance. I moved my home router into the window at home prior to going to work. A single test was performed for each situation, since I didn't have the time or inclination to perform multiple tests. The differences were significant enough that broad conclusions can be reached without additional data. Also, it's a fairly cluttered area for network activity; I see 17 WiFi networks at this moment. At home, about 5 feet away from the router, my phone had a ping of 18 ms, download of 50.6 Mbps, and upload of 10.25 Mbps. I was able to see my home network with just my phone (barely), resulting in a ping of 86 ms, download 0.04 Mbps, upload of 0.27 Mbps. I was actually pretty impressed with that, considering the 738 feet and two panes of glass separating my phone from the router. However, the signal dropped as soon as I moved the phone out of direct line of sight (thick concrete block walls at work). Since those results were obviously inadequate, I hooked up the Nighthawk. The results were dramatic: 19 ms latency, 28.86 Mbps download, 10.78 upload. I tested the Nighthawk in several areas at work; it was generally consistent. The area covered by the new WiFi network was adequate. Hard to say exactly how large, since interior walls and work equipment was obstructing the signal in places. But definitely adequate for my purposes. So, to summarize, this is a great piece of gear if you have need to get a WiFi signal to an area 700 feet from your router. Unquestionably a 5-star purchase.

Finally worked with Asus RT-N66U 5GHz band after workaround for terrible indefinite reboot cycling I'm keeping my Netgear EX7000 but only 3 stars until they figure out how to resolve the problem below. I have an open support ticket with Netgear currently. Support is good and got a response within ~2 hours of opening my ticket. Netgear EX7000 is amazing though when it works flawlessly with my router. I'm hoping the content below helps other owners. There was a problem connecting my Asus RT-N66U 5GHz band to the Netgear EX7000. This is true even if the Asus RT-N66U router and EX7000 are just inches from each other. While I can connect my laptop directly to my Asus RT-N66U router 5GHz band, the EX7000 could not no matter what I do. The worst part is that if I try to configure my Asus RT-N66U 5GHz with the Netgear EX7000 Extender mode using both bands 2.4GHz and 5GHz, the Netgear would reboot to solid then blinking amber 2.4GHz, 5GHz, Device to Extender LED lights. The Netgear logo light will also blink with the amber lights. Then it would reboot again and will light up all LEDs to green for a few seconds then go back to the amber 2.4GHz, 5GHz, Device to Extender LED lights. It will cycle like this indefinitely. While it is cycling in this bad state, reset will not work consistently, WPS buttons do not work, I can't connect to Netgear EX7000's mywifiext.net wired or wifi. It would take me a couple of tries just to do a successful reset and can only confirm that the reset worked by turning off the EX7000, turn back on, and see if it will boot up with the Device to Extender LED lit green by itself. 2.4GHz and 5GHz are not lit green on a successful reset though (no lights at all). Most resets though just goes back to the bad state mentioned. The funny thing is if I just configure the Netgear EX7000 to just use my Asus 2.4GHz band, everything works fine. Configure with just 5GHz or with both then the bad behaving reboot cycle starts again. Just by luck, somehow I managed to configure both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. For some reason in one of my troubleshooting trials, it couldn't accept my WPA2-PSK password on 5GHz even though it was correct so I skipped it (it saved my 5GHz Extender config though). It rebooted and it showed that the EX7000 was connected to the Asus RT-N66U 2.4GHz band only and not 5GHz. No more bad behavior reboot cycle behavior. After a couple of hours I logged back into the Netgear EX7000 mywifiext.net, amazingly the 5GHz was finally getting extended and shows as connected! Perplexingly, the next day the 5GHz Extender was disconnected again. But with this, it gave me the idea to try changing channels. This led me to suspect my Asus RT-N66U as having some signal problems even though I can connect my laptop to the 5GHz SSID of the Asus RT-N66U router. [Solution] The solution was to change my Asus RT-N66U channel bandwidth from 20/40MHz to just 20MHz and the control channel to something my neighbors are not using or is not overlapped by other routers (from Auto to 36). I chose those numbers by using my Mac OSX native wifi scanner tool: http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/31/wi-fi-scanner-mac-os-x-mountain-lion/ Note: Just google "Windows Wifi Analyzer" for similar tools for Windows. It gave recommendations on the best control channels to use for my Asus RT-N66U router. I found that my neighborhood was saturated with so many router signals as well using my Android's phone Wifi Analyzer app. All channels were actually crowded. I scanned for the best channels near my Asus RT-N66U router and near the Netgear EX7000, then used the channel that is recommended or is in common in both locations. Previously if the control channel was set to Auto, it still picked a somewhat crowded channel. By manually setting the control channel to a less crowded one, the Netgear EX7000 finally connected to the Asus RT-N66U. This is probably the reason it just happened to work once for me intermittently since my Asus RT-N66U probably auto-switched to a control channel that was less likely overlapping with my neighbors'...at least that is my best guess. Finally, I can now use Fastlane mode with "Router > 5GHz > EX7000 > 2.4GHz > Devices" and all other modes that uses the 5GHz band as well with my Netgear EX7000. I have Comcast Xfinity Blast! 100Mbps/10Mbps. Late at night I can get 125Mbps/15Mbps ethernet wired to my ASUS RT-N66U router directly. With the Netgear EX7000 situated 50ft away through 3 walls, a laptop connected 20ft away from the Netgear EX7000 Fastlane also gives me 125Mbps/15Mbps. That is is pretty amazing! At that same distance connected to just the Asus RT-N66U wifi, I can only get speeds of 40Mbps/11Mbps even with new configured channel solution (I used to only get 12Mbps/8Mbps with bad channels). By the way do try different control channels. Choosing an optimal channel for my Asus RT-N66U router from let's say 48 to 36 changed my speeds from 40Mbps to 100Mbps in one room so do experiment with channels. [Still Unresolved Issue] Let us just say that my Asus RT-N66U router was using a crowded channel bandwidth and control channel, it still doesn't make sense on why the Netgear EX7000 would get in a bad state if it cannot connect to the router's 5GHz band due to channel bandwidth and control channel interference??? Configuring with 5GHz Extender makes it reboot with amber lights on 2.4GHz, 5GHz, Device to Extender LEDs then reboot. It will then cycle in this manner indefinitely. Note: The bad state condition occurs on both the original firmware and the latest firmware. Netgear I think you should add this test case: 1) Get a couple of popular named brand dual band routers and have them located in a grid comprised of 9 rooms (3x3) with walls in each room. 2) Each room should be sized 75ft by 75ft square or maybe even 100ft by 100ft. 3) Place each router in the middle of that 75 square foot room. This way each router's signal will overlap with each other just like in a real world scenario. 4) Configure each router to use Channel bandwidth 40MHz and all routers use the same channel like 165. Expand test cases by using Auto or 20/40MHz or explicitly set to a crowded channel. 5) Configure a single Netgear EX7000 at a chosen corner at each of the 75 square foot room. 6) See if you can reproduce the scenario above. Or better yet, do the testing at your own homes.

I was looking for a quality range extender and the Nighhawk had good reviews on CNET. I wanted to by a Linksys extender but it was only an AC1200. (to my understanding the higher the AC the more data can flow through the network). I like to stay current on technology and try not to buy top of the line until they go on sale. The price was good and I needed a solution now or keep paying Verizon for cellphone data overages. My router = Linksys WRT1900AC. (top of the line early 2014) Install = easy, less than 5 minutes. Unwrap, add antennas, plug to power, press Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ (WPS) button on Range Extender and Press WPS button on Linksys router within 2 minutes. All green lights = ok to unplug and move. It will automatically create a network with same name as existing network and password and will add _2GEXT i.e."yournetwork"_2GEXT. You have to place the extender where there is a good signal strength and then it increases the range. I place mine upstairs and there are no dead spots in the house. I even get that signal downstairs at full strength. I've seen some negative reviews about extender not working, and it's most likely being placed too far from the router. You can't boost/extend a poor signal or your router needs to be upgraded also. Connectivity = connecting to iPhones and other devices very easy easy. The iPhone5 automatically found the _2GEXT network, but the iPhone6 had to select _2GEXT and input password. Performance = faster upload speed to my iPhone6. My games load quickly. Reliable, no rebooting/no disconnections. Pros: Easy of install. Easy of connectivity. Value = worth the upgrade Cons: none

I added this to my home network to extend the range. I have paired this with Netgear Nighthawk X6 router and together, I am getting coverage of over 2000 sq.feet. the extender is very stable and the signal strength is uniform. I have tested it in all corners of my house and there is no drop in signal. it is a bit pricey, so go for it if you need large areas to be covered only. This will do the job.

It works fantastic, before we struggled with wifi into the bedrooms from the modem, now we get identical speeds throughout the home with multiple devices, easy set up too

Me da buena señal a toda la casa y es muy simple su uso, estoy muy contento con este repetidor

This has worked wonders on my NETFLIX as it no longer stalls.

I have a netgear router which is placed in the 4th floor and I have placed nighhawk in the 2nd floor now the entire home is covered with wifi. This is working excellent. A great product by Netgear. Hats off Netgear, Hats of Amazon and Hats of the chat support of Amazon for recommending this product. You guys rock