So you want to see something on TV but the rest house wants to watch something you just don’t care for. So you move to a distant room in the house . So now you want to catch up on some work with your laptop or stream a movie but you can! Why because you are in the wi-fi black hole of your home. Well this brings us to the subject of this review a Wi-Fi Range Extender. The RE580D AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender from TP-LINK offers the latest dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi with three 700mW external antennas and 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports.
Design and Features
The RE580D sports a glossy-black, textured top and silver sides, uses three removable adjustable antennas, and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. It is a dual-band device that is capable of (theoretical) data rates of 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,300Mbps on the 5GHz band.
The top of the extender features LED indicators for each radio band, Power, signal strength, and Ethernet activity. At the rear of the cabinet are five Gigabit Ethernet ports, a WPS button, a Reset button, a Power button. Now you don’t get any USB ports with the RE580D like you do with the Amped Wireless Titan-EX.
TP-LINK have helpfully included a button to completely turn off the numerous flashing blue LEDs. This can be a big feature if you need to place in a bedroom or near a tv screen.
The device can either be laid flat or vertical, with the included stand, to best suit your requirements. As for its size, it is pretty close to that of a fully functional router coming in at 1.7 by 9.5 by 6.4 inches (HWD) (242 x 162 x 44mm) so is not small by any means.
The Web-based management console is very similar to the one used to control the TP-Link AC3150 Wireless MU-MIMO Gigabit Router Archer C3150. It has a Quick Setup tab that walks you through the initial configuration process, and a Settings tab with Status, Region, Wireless, Network, and System Tools options. The Status page displays a network map and Wi-Fi details for each band, and the Region page lets you choose your country. You can use the Wireless settings page to manually connect the extender to your router, set security parameters, and create whitelists and blacklists using the Access Control settings. The Network menu is where you go to configure DHCP settings, and the System Tools menu allows you to configure time settings, view system logs, update firmware, and control when the status LEDs will be active. Missing are parental controls that allow you to create content filters, block websites, and set time limits.
Installation and Performance
The WPS button and signal-strength indicator made it easy to set up and configure the extender. I plugged the device into an outlet near my router, pressed the WPS button on my router, and immediately pressed the WPS button on the extender. Within seconds, the signal-strength LED went from flashing to solid, indicating a connection between the two devices. I then relocated the extender to an area that was approximately halfway between my router and the dead spot, verified that the extender was receiving a strong signal from the router, and was ready to go. If your router does not support WPS, you can use the Quick Setup wizard in the management console by connecting to the extender’s SSID and typing http://tplinkrepeater.net in your browser’s address bar. The wizard will then walk you through a simple setup process that takes a minute or two to complete before you’re ready to relocate the extender.
The RE580D performed admirably in our throughput tests. Its score of 377Mbps in our 5GHz close-proximity. The RE580D scored 261Mbps on our 25-foot test and 103Mbps on our 50-foot test, beating the Netgear EX7000 on the 25-foot test (137Mbps), but not the 50-foot test (105Mbps). The Amped Wireless Titan-EX led the way with scores of 345Mbps and 133Mbps, respectively. The RE580D’s score of 70.5Mbps on our 75-foot test was faster than the Netgear EX7000 (31.1Mbps), again but was less than the Amped Wireless Titan-EX (112Mbps).
In our 2.4GHz throughput tests, the RE580D placed second in the close-proximity test, with a score of 80.4Mbps, trailing the Amped Wireless Titan-EX (82.2Mbps),. However, its scores of 74.2Mbps in the 25-foot test and 37.6Mbps in the 50-foot test beat the Amped Wireless Titan-EX (66.6Mbps and 29.3Mbps, respectively) and the Netgear EX7000 (38.8Mbps and 28.6Mbps). The RE580D managed 25.4Mbps in the 75-foot test, was slower than both the Amped Wireless Titan-EX (28.3Mbps) and the Netgear EX7000 (26.9Mbps).
Conclusion
With the TP-Link AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE580D), you can bring speedy wireless connectivity to areas of your home that your Wi-Fi router can’t reach. It’s easy to install and configure, and delivered very good throughput performance in our tests, but it’s missing USB ports and lacks parental controls. The Amped Wireless Titan-EX High Power AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE1900A) also lacks parental controls, but it delivered much better throughput in some of our tests and offers USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity. The RE580D can be found for a great price at times, and if you don’t need the USB connectivity, it could be the better value for you dollar.
