Amped Wireless Athena-EX High Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE2600M) - Review 2022

Touted as Amped Wireless'due south most powerful dual-ring range extender, the $199.99 Athena-EX High Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE2600M) lives up to the hype. Non merely did it deliver form-leading throughput scores in many of our tests, it also supports Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data streaming and offers a solid prepare of direction features and I/O ports. Information technology'southward our acme pick for desktop wireless range extenders.

Design and Features

At ane.5 by ten.5 by eight inches (HWD), the RE2600M is only a tad wider than its predecessor, the Amped Wireless Titan-EX High Power AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE1900A). It'south a desktop-grade extender that uses four external antennas that are adaptable and removable, and it has four Gigabit LAN ports around dorsum, equally well as a USB 2.0 port and power, LED, Reset, and WPS buttons. A USB three.0 port is tucked away on the right side of the device. The summit of the extender has small LED indicators for power, both radio bands, signal force, and USB activity.

Under the hood are a dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 16 amplifiers, and circuitry that supports 802.11ac networking. The RE2600M is a dual-band extender that can reach theoretical speeds of up to 800Mbps on the two.4GHz ring and upwardly to ane,733Mbps on the 5GHz band. Like the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) and the Linksys RE7000 Max-Stream AC1900+ Wi-Fi Range Extender, both of which are plug-in models, the RE2600M supports MU-MIMO data streaming, which offers enhanced performance by sending information to uniform clients simultaneously, rather than sequentially.

The RE2600M uses the same spider web-based management console as the Amped Wireless High Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender with MU-MIMO (REC44M), a plug-in extender. It opens to a Dashboard page that displays a network map and network details, including SSID, channel, and IP accost data for each band. It also has a Browse push button that scans for available networks. Clicking the More than Settings tab opens a drop-downwards menu with settings for each radio ring, USB Storage, Network (IP, Port Routing) Settings, Management, and BoostBand Technology.

Individual radio band settings include guest networking, access command and access scheduling, wireless coverage (output power) ranging from 15 per centum to 100 percent, and Advanced Settings, such as Fragment and RTS Thresholds and Beacon Intervals. BoostBand Technology offers enhanced performance past routing network traffic between the router and the extender through a unmarried band, and Management Settings allow you to check network statistics, update firmware, view system logs, and modify passwords.

Installation and Performance

To install the RE2600M, choice a location that is ideally halfway betwixt your router and the dead zone area. Plug in the extender'southward AC adapter, connect to its SSID from your PC or tablet, open a browser, and type http://setup.ampedwireless.com to launch the web console'southward Dashboard. Hit Browse to detect which networks (both bands) to extend. Select the network you want to connect to, making sure you have at least a 70-percent bespeak reading, and hit Side by side to name each SSID and assign a network security fundamental. If you don't encounter a satisfactory signal reading, you may have to relocate the extender closer to the router. It takes about a minute and a half for the setup wizard to configure the extender, connect to the network, and salve your settings.

The RE2600M turned in speedy scores in our two.4GHz performance tests. Its throughput of 83Mbps in the ii.4GHz shut-proximity (same-room) test outpaced the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (EX7000) (fifty.2Mbps), the TP-Link RE580D (eighty.4Mbps), and the Amped Wireless RE1900A (82.2Mbps). Its score of 69Mbps in the 25-pes test beat the Netgear EX7000 (38.8Mbps) and the Amped Wireless RE1900A (66.6Mbps), but not the TP-Link RE580D (74.2Mbps). In the 50-foot and 75-foot tests, the RE2600M's throughput of 39.8Mbps and 30.1Mbps, respectively, led the pack by a slight margin; the TP-Link RE580D scored 37.6Mbps and 25.4Mbps, the Amped Wireless RE1900A garnered 29.3Mbps and 28.3Mbps, and the Netgear EX7000 scored 28.6Mbps and 26.9Mbps.

While operating on the 5GHz ring, the RE2600M scored 391Mbps in the close-proximity test and 290Mbps in the 25-human foot exam. The TP-Link AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE580D) was faster at close proximity (377Mbps), but not at 25 feet (261Mbps), and the Netgear EX7000 trailed them both with scores of 179Mbps and 137Mbps, respectively. The Amped Wireless RE1900A led the pack with scores of 488Mbps (shut proximity) and 345Mbps (25 feet).

The RE2600M provided very fast throughput in our 5GHz long-range tests, scoring 155Mbps in the 50-pes exam and 128Mbps in the 75-foot test. The Amped Wireless RE1900A came in second with scores of 133Mbps at 50 anxiety and 112Mbps at 75 feet. The TP-Link had throughputs of 103Mbps and 70.5Mbps, respectively, and the Netgear EX7000 managed 105Mbps and 31.1Mbps.

To test the RE2600M'southward MU-MIMO performance, I used 3 identical Acer Aspire E15 laptops equipped with Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 wireless 802.11ac network adapters as my clients. Its score of 86.3Mbps in the close-proximity exam came in backside the Linksys RE7000 (115Mbps) and the Netgear EX7300 (107Mbps), both of which are plug-in range extenders. In the thirty-foot MU-MIMO test, the RE2600M's throughput of 84.8Mbps also trailed the plug-in extenders, but not by much; the Linksys RE7000 garnered 92.4Mbps, and the Netgear EX7300 scored 90.1Mbps. By style of comparison, our Editors' Choice for midrange routers, the D-Link AC3150 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-885L/R), had a throughput of 237Mbps in the shut-proximity test and 165Mbps at 30 feet.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a total-featured range extender to fill in Wi-Fi expressionless zones, the Amped Wireless Athena-EX Loftier Power AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE2600M) is an excellent option. It is equipped with a generous assortment of ports, and offers lots of management settings, and it'southward like shooting fish in a barrel to install. It outperformed its sibling, the Amped Wireless RE1900A, another meridian choice, in about of our 2.4GHz and 5GHz throughput tests, especially at long range, and information technology supports MU-MIMO data streaming (the Amped Wireless RE1900A doesn't). As such, the RE2600M is our Editors' Selection for desktop-form range extenders.

If y'all don't crave multiple LAN ports and can live without USB connectivity, a plug-in extender such as the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) may be a amend fit. It costs around $50 less than the Amped Wireless RE2600M and offers solid performance, and it, too, supports MU-MIMO data streaming. Prefer a simpler wireless setup that'south easy to install and doesn't require yous to log in as you move to one function of your home to another? And so it'south worth checking out a Wi-Fi mesh network, similar the Editors' Choice Linksys Velop.