Netgear EX6200 WiFi Range Extender Review

Is it time to banish those WiFi blackspots forever?

by Greg Hook
Tech Review

2

Netgear EX6200 WiFi Range Extender Review
MSRP: £90.00

Introduction

In the modern home it is becoming almost a necessity to have internet and network coverage in all areas with pretty much every device now screaming out for fast network access. There's currently a boom in online streaming services from providers such as Netflix, Amazon and Sky, all available via a plethora of devices including your TV, Blu-ray player or Apple TV to name but a few. Once you include streaming HD movies from your own network storage, making sure you can keep all these devices happy and fulfilled with the speed they desire can be a very tricky task to accomplish.

There are plenty of solutions to this problem. If you don't mind wires all over the place and your devices are in close proximity you can look to a Gigabyte 4 port switch, or to cover other rooms the powerline convertors are a very simple and cheap solution. Some of these now even offer wireless extender capabilities, although you are still limited to the quality of your home wiring. Another possible solution is something like Netgear's EX6200 WiFi Range Extender which, at £90, offers dual band 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi with the latest IEEE 802.11ac standard offering up to 1200Mbps speeds along with 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 700mW high power antennas. Let's see how it fares...

Design and Connections

If you are a fan of Netgear's current crop of routers then the design of this WiFi range extender will be a familiar one to you. Keeping the same wedge shaped look with a glossy red and black finish, you get a product with a modern design and one that won't look out of place in a gadget filled home. It's about the size of a small hardback book at 252 x 174 x 31 mm, weighing just 302g and can be mounted vertically on the included red mount or horizontally once you've stuck on the 4 little triangular feet.

To the front (or side depending which way you look at it) of the device we have an array of LED lights to show how the device is correctly setup, whether it's using the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz band, what the link rate is of those connections and whether you are using any of the Ethernet or USB ports. Around the front side we have a single USB 3.0 port used to access USB storage drives and to the rear side we find the power connector, on/off, WPS and reset buttons and the 5 x Gigabit Ethernet ports. The two 5dBi Wireless Antennas are also mounted on this side, the manual claims they are pre-installed, but I guess whomever assembled our review sample forgot to do that bit.

Netgear EX6200


Setup and Features

As we have found with previous Netgear products and many other Networking devices from other manufacturers, the setup and installation procedure is generally very simple and quick. On the whole this applied here, although there were a few minor issues which we will come to later. The initial setup is as easy as you could hope for. You simply place the extender close to your WiFi router, turn it on and follow the simple instructions via the Netgear Genie interface and within 2 minutes or so, your WiFi range extender is up and running. Your next step is to then move the extender to a location of your choice whilst keeping an eye on the Link Rate LEDs, making sure they are green which indicates the best connection between the extender and the router.

The extender offers two main operating modes. Firstly the 'Internet Surfing' mode which extends both the 2.4 and 5Ghz WiFi bands at the same time but also claims to reduce the WiFi performance and then the 'Fastlane Technology' mode which limits the connection to just one band but offers optimal performance and confusingly it limits it to different bands. You can have it setup as 5Ghz from your router to the extender and then just 2.4Ghz to your devices or vice versa. It seems an odd omission that you can't set it to exclusively use just the 5Ghz band for example. As our test results later in this review show the 5Ghz band offers far better speeds although with the sacrifice of range, but it seems whichever Fastlane mode you choose you are limiting the connection at one point.

The Netgear Genie interface itself offers many of the options you would find on most routers and is very easy and simple to follow. The basic status welcome screen shows you the connection information such as the signal strength and link rate for example. The other available screens are to configure the USB drive access using the Netgear ReadyShare interface or even configure the drive to allow access by a TiVo box or to act as a Media Server. The other options are as you would expect such as configuring the wireless connections, upgrading firmware and configuring the backup settings. There is also a free app (Android only) called WiFi Analytics which allows you to check your network status, WiFi signal strength, identify crowded WiFi channels and more, but as this reviewer is an Apple fan boy, we were unable to test this feature!

Most of the options we would like to see are covered here, although our main gripe with the setup is that if you change between the 'Internet Surfing' and 'Fastlane Technology' modes, you have to start the installation from scratch. Even if you have used the options before, the extender will not remember the settings or the wireless keys for example. Not something we would have expected to see on a Netgear device and it makes it quite a chore changing between the different modes to see which one gives you the best connection. Particularly as when changing the modes whichever device you are doing it on will then lose the connection which occasionally causes the whole setup to restart from scratch.

Netgear EX6200


Performance and Testing

Our review location is a very tough one for wireless devices. For example, we currently we have both a BT HomeHub5 as the main Router and a BT HomeHub4 as a wireless extender and still we can find several WiFi blackspots. For our testing we turned off the HomeHub4 and any other wireless transmitters to minimise any interference and just used the HomeHub5 with a basic wireless laptop, a BT 802.11ac wireless dongle and a PC connected to the HomeHub5 via Gigabit Ethernet. The tests were carried out in 5 locations and with all the different operating modes set. For the tests themselves we used Totusoft's LANTest v3.

As a baseline, we carried out several tests using our existing HomeHub5. Firstly a wired test to see what the maximum results from our setup would be and this gave 516Mbps up and 596Mbps down. Then a whole bunch of wireless tests in our 5 chosen locations to again see what our current setup could provide. Both using the BT 802.11ac wireless dongle on both bands and then using the laptops own wireless on 2.4Ghz only as our laptop does not have 5Ghz capability. From the baseline tests in our current setup we can see from the table below the furthest location gave no signal in any test and our best result was 211.03 Mbps with the laptop using the 802.11ac dongle on the floor directly above the router.

Now onto the tests with the range extender installed. We carried out these tests both with and without the dongle and using the 3 different operating modes where possible. We firstly connected our laptop to one of the Gigabit Ethernet ports to find the maximum speed the extender would likely give and for this we had 276.7Mbps up and 134.19Mbps down. The tests with the range extender were all carried out with our laptop in the exact same locations as our baseline tests and with the extender located between the destination and the router.

Firstly with the dual band mode, they call it 'Internet Surfing' mode and using just 802.11n we see the results roughly all under the 40Mbps mark which is just under our actual internet speed, except for the furthest location at just under 10Mbps. These improved significantly using the 802.11ac dongle to peaks of over 100Mbps and on the furthest location where we previously only received under 10Mbps, we now got over 70Mbps.

Then onto the two Fastlane Modes and the results were pretty terrible. Yes, these will be more than acceptable for streaming services such as Netflix, streaming HD movies etc but when you move on to multiple HD streams and several people using the wireless, it could become a problem. As we mentioned above, we can't understand why Netgear have limited the Fastlane modes to using different bands. A test purely with 5Ghz from router to extender, then 5Ghz from extender to device would hopefully have given some impressive results, but the only options you have here are 2.4Ghz from router to extender and 5Ghz from extender to your devices (and vice versa).

Netgear EX6200

Testing Results

Netgear EX6200

Conclusion

Pros

  • Good Value
  • Easy to setup and install
  • Good wireless range

Cons

  • Poor speeds
  • Confusing 'Fastlane' options
  • Requires initial setup again when changing modes

Netgear EX6200 WiFi Range Extender Review

Before starting our review we knew that our current location would provide a very tough test for anything wireless and that we may not see speeds anywhere near the quoted rates, but the results from the Netgear EX6200 Range Extender were rather disappointing. With the new 802.11ac standard we had hoped to see lightning fast speeds (USB dongle limitations apply of course) but what we actually got in some cases was worse than our existing equipment. We may be being a little harsh here as the results on the whole were far above the speeds you would need for the likes of streaming Netflix and even for Streaming HD movies to your Home Cinema System, but when you start getting into the realms of multiple streams, then those speeds may not be sufficient.

The installation and initial setup is again what we have come to expect from Netgear, a very simple and quick routine with easy to follow instructions via their Netgear Genie interface with just one let down. When changing between the main operating modes, the system failed to remember any settings meaning you had to go through the installation from scratch again, which was rather time consuming.

The usual Netgear features are present, including Netgear ReadyShare for accessing a USB storage drive connected to the Extender and this worked very well when tested. Netgear have definitely got their software interfaces down to a tee and all the options you would expect to see were present. As for value coming in at £90 from most outlets, compared to basic wireless extenders such as Netgear's own £65 (up to 750Mbps) EX6100 and up to 300Mbps offerings from the likes of TP-Link at £30 it does seem slightly expensive. But when you add in the additional features such as 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and the USB 3.0 port for accessing additional storage it starts to sound like pretty good value.

Excluding the relatively low speeds encountered, which our test environment may have had a large impact on, as a range extender it does the job very well and if our walls weren't lined with 'anti-wireless stuffing' then the speeds may have increased significantly, but of course we have no way to be sure of that. One location where previously we couldn't even get a signal, with the extender installed we received over 70Mbps so there we had no complaints and this range extender would certainly help to banish any Wi-Fi blackspots you may have. Offering good value and the usual Netgear build quality, setup, installation and interfaces this product looks very promising but it's not an award winner due to the few issues mentioned above. However if you are looking for a range extender that offers additional wired connections and top level speeds are not an issue, then this might be worth considering.

Scores

Build Quality

.
.
8

Connectivity

.
.
8

Ease of Use

.
.
8

Connection Speed

.
.
.
.
6

Value for Money

.
.
8

Verdict

.
.
.
7
7
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

Our Review Ethos

Read about our review ethos and the meaning of our review badges.

To comment on what you've read here, click the Discussion tab and post a reply.

Related Content

ASUS ZenWiFi Pro XT12 WiFi 6 Mesh WiFi System Review
  • By Greg Hook
  • Published
ASUS TUF-AX5400 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gaming Router Review
  • By Greg Hook
  • Published
TP-Link RE605X Wi-Fi 6 Range Extender Review
  • By Greg Hook
  • Published

Latest Headlines

Ring video doorbell users facing a 40% price hike
  • By Ian Collen
  • Published
Samsung officially unveils the S24 smartphone series
  • By Ian Collen
  • Published
CES VIDEO: Sony Stand Tour
  • By Phil Hinton
  • Published
Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi Certified 7
  • By Ian Collen
  • Published
Apple Vision Pro set to launch in February
  • By Ian Collen
  • Published
Back
Top Bottom