TP-Link N300 Wireless Extender, Wi-Fi Router

10 reviews for TP-Link N300 Wireless Extender, Wi-Fi Router

1. 

   thomasterrible

   Reviewer

   August 13, 2020

   Rated 5 out of 5

   This is a great basic router well worth the $20. The 5 star rating is based upon the value for price and accuracy of advertised performance.I think it is also worthy of noting that this is a new router and not refurbished. Reading reviews on various refurbished routers being sold here and elsewhere gives evidence it is much better to buy a new router.I bought this because recently my Linksys E4200 dual band router I purchased two years ago stop working properly. Since it was out of warranty Linksys would not even help me with attempting a firmware update or check the settings unless I paid them $30 for a one time assistance or $40 for six months worth of support. I was not going to do that and subsequently figured out a physical part of the router is damaged. I decided instead to invest a minimal amount in a new router instead and am very happy I made that decision, especially as I subsequently figured out defective hardware was the cause of the old router malfunction.Since I needed to have my WiFi up and running while deciding what new high end router to purchase and at a sale price I decided to buy this router to see if it would fill the gap. So far it has done so extremely well.RANGE: The two omni-directional external 5dB gain antennas do a great job getting the signal at full strength to anywhere in my 3 level over 3,000 square foot house.SPEED: I have Comcast cable broadband with “blaster” service which is supposed to provide me with internet speeds of up to 50Mbps.When I measure the speed through the LAN port connected to my desktop downstairs, not using the WiFi signal but going through the router to the computer via ethernet connection I get a download speed of 72Mbps. When I measure the speed of the WiFi signal on my laptop with is on the top floor of the house it fluctuates between 50-60Mbps plus. These are the highest speeds I have measured with my service to date. Considering this is the least expensive router I have used and a 2.4 Ghz router I am quite impressed by this.I have Panasonic Blu Ray players which have WiFi apps and I have connected and watched some streaming HD video such as Netflix with this router and had no issues such as buffering. This was with the Blu Ray plus two laptops with internet being used for browsing.FEATURES: This is a basic router. It does have what is necessary for a secure and functional network however. For security it has a built in firewall, SSID broadcast control, MAC address access control, WEP encryption, WPA/WPA2, and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK authentication.The IP QoS is good to have to help ensure no one user/device degrades other users service by hogging bandwidth. It also has WPS which doubles as a reset button depending upon how long you hold it down. To add devices to the WiFi network one needs only to push the WPS button on the router and then connect each device, the easiest way to add devices. Having the ON/OFF button allows one to easily turn the router on and off without having to disconnect the power cable which while simple is not a given for a router. There is also a web based interface for setting parental controls to applying firmware updates.SETUP: The router comes with a mini DVD set up disk. It is very simple and easy for anyone to set up the router in just a few minutes.WARRANTY: This router has a two year warranty with 24 hour support. I have not yet had the need to test the quality of the support however for a router that costs this little it is very encouraging.So far there are only a couple very minor design issues that I think could be improved. First the row of LED lights on the top front of the router that show status etc. could be brighter. With room or desk lighting they are noticeably more dim than other routers and modems and thus are more difficult to read. Secondly the power supply cord that plugs in to the router would be better if a bit longer and the “wall wart” type plug is small and rectangular but the prongs are oriented in such a way that if being plugged in to a power strip it either needs to be plugged in to a spot on the end or it will take up two outlet spaces.Overall I think this is a great router for the price and manages to do what I need it to do right now.Although it lacks most of the bells and whistles found on higher end routers they only become important if you actually use them.A dual band router would give both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies which would allow for potentially faster speeds with the 5Ghz as well as allowing for more users and more bandwidth intensive usage such as gaming/gaming consoles and HD media streaming with multiple users and devices using the network at the same time. It also does not have the ability to plug in storage cards to share data and/or media. It is also not compatible with the newest “ac” standard. It does not support Gigbit ethernet. However as a simple and inexpensive router it is providing a strong signal and fast speeds for what I am using it for. This is my first TP-Link router and I am hoping it will be reliable long term as well as having better customer service than I have experienced by NetGear and Linksys which have both been dismal. As long as this router continues to perform as it is now I will consider it a great bargain and well worth the $20 paid (with free shipping) and since it was sold by Amazon and not a third party I am confident if an issue were to arise that Amazon would be helpful in resolving the problem as needed which is another plus in my book.

2. 

   Eric C

   Reviewer

   August 6, 2020

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Instructions for setting up the TPLink WR841N wireless router as a repeater:This is a great unit for a ridiculously low price. It can be used as a repeater (a.k.a. WiFi range extender). Setting this unit up as a repeater is pretty simple, but the manufacturer doesn’t provide step-by-step instructions. I noticed some other instructions posted in these reviews had a number of steps that were not necessary, and were missing some steps. Being an Engineer, I couldn’t help but proposing an improvement…These instructions assume you are connecting to a WiFi access point (AP) with a working Internet connection.Abbreviations:[example] = example values used during my setup. Yours might be a bit different.SOURCE-AP = the access point / router generating the wireless signal you want to repeat.REPEATER-AP = the access point / router repeating the wireless signal, the one that we are setting up.SOURCE-NET = the SSID (network name) of the wireless signal you want to repeat.REPEATER-NET = the SSID (network name) of the repeated wireless signal.Before starting, gather the following information:- the LAN/wireless side IP address of the control interface for the SOURCE-AP [192.168.3.1]- the subnet the SOURCE-AP is using on the LAN/wireless side. [192.168.3.x]- the SOURCE-NET name [GROUND]- the encryption type and password [WPA-2 PERSONAL, xxxx]- the channel the wireless signal to be repeated is on. [3]To determine the LAN/wireless IP address and subnet of the SOURCE-AP, look at the IP address and default gateway of a device directly connected to the SOURCE-AP. (Open the Network connections folder, click change adapter settings, and view status and then details in Windows).For the channel, it is preferable to go to the SOURCE-AP and set the channel to 3 instead of “auto” so it does not change, and uses an unpopular channel likely to have less interference. If you don’t control the SOURCE-AP (e.g. you are connecting to your neighbor’s WiFi), you can find out what the channel is during the setup steps below.Here we go:1. Plug the power into the REPEATER-AP. If any settings have already been changed on the device, press and hold the reset button on the back for ten seconds until all lights are illuminated to indicate reset happening. Reset is not necessary if the unit is fresh out of the box.2. Plug a PC into a LAN port on the REPEATER-AP with the supplied LAN patch cable. I used my laptop. Make sure the LAN adapter is set to get an IP address automatically. (Open the Network connections folder, click change adapter settings, and view properties in Windows). Make sure the LAN adapter is the only one enabled. Disable the wireless adapter.3. Open a browser and go to tplinklogin dot net (replace dot with a . – amazon doesn’t allow URLs here…) or 192.168.0.1, the default address of the control interface of REPEATER-AP. The default username, password is admin, admin. Don’t do the quick setup.4. Click “Wireless” on the left column menu. On the Wireless Settings page that appears:a. Under the dropdown list for “Channel”, select the channel the wireless signal to be repeated is on. [3] If you don’t know, skip this step and the unit will force you to select the correct one after the “Survey” step below.b. Click the “Enable WDS bridging” checkbox.c. Click “Survey”. A list of SSIDs appears. Click “connect” on the one that is SOURCE-NET. [GROUND] All of the fields are automatically populated except for the password.d. Enter the password and click Save. Wait ten seconds for the processing to finish.e. At the top of the page beside Wireless Network Name, enter an name for REPEATER-NET [R1] and click Save.5. Click “Wireless Security” on the left column menu. Select Personal WPA2-PSK, AES encryption and enter a password for REPEATER-NET.6. Click “DHCP” on the left column menu. Click the DHCP disable radio button. Click Save. Ignore the reboot warning.7. Click “Network” on the left column menu.8. Click LAN. Change the IP address to one in the SOURCE-AP subnet that is not being used by any other device and click Save [192.168.3.200]. A reboot warning will appear. Click OK and let the unit reboot.9. The address in the browser will magically change to the IP address you entered in the previous step. This is the new IP address for the control interface on REPEATER-AP. You will be prompted to log in again.You should now have Internet connectivity! There is no “half-hour waiting period” others have noted. Perhaps that was due to misconfiguration.Open a new tab in your browser and go to news.google.com to verify.Wireless devices can now connect to REPEATER-NET. Wired devices can connect to REPEATER-AP. Both get Internet access through SOURCE-AP. Ain’t life grand?Troubleshooting:It is possible that it may take some time to negotiate the wireless link between SOURCE-AP and REPEATER-AP. Wait two minutes, then refresh the news page.If that doesn’t work, power REPEATER-AP off and on. Try news.google.com again. If that doesn’t work, wait two minutes, then refresh again.If it still doesn’t work, enter the LAN/wireless side IP address of the control interface for the SOURCE-AP [192.168.3.1] in a browser and hit Enter. If you see the control interface for SOURCE-AP, the wireless link is working! Try entering an Internet IP address, like […] (one of my sites). If you see a page with content loaded, you have Internet connectivity (hooray), but your computer needs to be told a DNS server to use. In Windows, open the Network connections folder, click change adapter settings, properties, IPv4 properties, advanced, and in the Gateway area type in the IP address of the SOURCE-AP [192.168.3.1], click OK, OK, Close and try again.But none of that should be necessary. I have written these instructions with the unit beside me, following my own instructions and it worked first time.I have actually gone beyond these instructions to set up a chain of four of these units to provide wireless coverage from the basement to the fourth floor of a 150-year-old church with stone walls. And it worked!Good luck!P.S. Don’t forget to go back in to REPEATER-AP and change the password. The menu item is hiding under System Tools on the left.

3. 

   Ken G

   Reviewer

   July 12, 2020

   Rated 5 out of 5

   For what ever reason, the WiFi environment in my living room recently changed. I live in a high rise in Manhattan. Think lots of concrete and steel. MY ISP’s modem and my router (Linksys/Cisco E3000) are located in a back bedroom. The Wifi signal in the living room was weak to nonexistent. I bought a Netgear WiFi extender and that pretty much gave me enough signal strength to stream HD video on my or my wife’s iPads & phones. Worked fine for well over a year. But like I said something recently changed and I was getting little to no signal from the extender. At first I thought the extender had fried but that doesn’t seem to be the case. My wife and I had just recently signed up for HBO Now so we could stream Game of Thrones. I’d connect an iPad to my TV with an adapter and HDMI cable. An occasional glitch here and there but the it was still watchable but then it went to hell. I’m thinking that one of my neighbors is running some 2.4 or 5.0 Ghz device that’s interfering with my WiFi signal. I had to find a way to get a robust signal out in the living room and in a hurry. I get a LAN ethernet signal to both my TVs, two Blue-ray players, two Roku boxes and my Tablo DVR (highly recommended by the way) via a Netgear Powerline AV500. Slow as I am, it dawned on me that if a buy another Powerline module I can get an ethernet signal at any electrical outlet in the living room. I bought the TP-Link Powerline adapter because I had purchased one for our primary bedroom over a year ago and have had no complaints/problems with it. It truly is plug and play; plus, it seems to run cooler than the Netgear Powerline module (and it’s smaller as well). So now I needed to find a router to use as an access point. Went on line (here and other places) and this unit seem to come with a slew of good reviews. Admittedly there are some clinkers in there as well but for $19.99 I thought: “What the hell.”. Let me say that on a scale of one to ten (one being the lowest) in computer savvy, I rate about a four. Yeah, I can set up a router and a couple of other rudimentary things but I don’t try to push it. But I found a couple of questions answered on this sight and others that made me think this was within my range. The support page on TP-Link also has detailed (detailed for me anyway) instructions on how to use this unit in several different ways including how to set it up as an access point. After the third or fourth try (all my fault as I didn’t understand setting up the IP address range) the unit fired up and I was getting 24 Mbs download in the living room. I only pay my ISP for 25 Mbs. Needless to say, I was happy as a pig in poop. That night my wife & I streamed two episodes of GoT flawlessly. Not a hitch. Not even a hiccup. As good a signal as I get through the ethernet. Some of the biggest complaints that I’ve seen about this router is it’s longevity. I’ve only had this thing up & running for about 2 weeks now and so far no problems. I have it in a spot where I think it shouldn’t get too hot so hopefully that’ll help. If this thing fails prematurely, I’ll be sure to post an update. But my thinking right now is: “$19.99! You can’t beat that with a stick.”.

4. 

   Amazon Customer

   Reviewer

   May 17, 2020

   Rated 5 out of 5

   For all those that are concerned because the V9 hardware won’t support DD-WRT – stop it. DD-WRT supports the V9 version of this router. It really does.Just go to the DD-WRT site and use the router database search feature and search on TP-Link or something like that to to find the DD-WRT build for the TL-WRT841 V8 version. Yes, I said v8. It will take you to a download page for v8. Then choose “Other downloads”, then there are folders broken up into years. Then choose the 2014 folder, and look for the latest release date. Once you select that, a number of router models will display (which seems counterintuitive, I know) – find the link to “tplink_tl-wr841ndv9”. That will lead you to the factory-to-ddwrt.bin you need. I installed the 06-23-2014-r24461 package. That is for V9 hardware.And a few seconds later – wham! A super cheap DD-WRT router. I have purchased a number of routers, and although I use an Asus RT66U AC1750 router mostly in my house, I do have a TP-Link range extender (using powerline networking to feed it) and a TP-Link travel router – and I really like both of those – which led me to purchase this router.Unlike the Asus, which commands a premium price, the TP-Link equipment seems to lead the bang for the buck category, giving solid, reliable performance for not much money. 80% of the performance of my Asus for 15% of the price.Anyway, I only flashed the router last week and turned it over to my daughter, so I am not able to comment on the longevity, but I absolutely like what I see so far, and I’m a fairly picky fellow when it comes to these sorts of things. I’m thinking of buying 1 or 2 more for spares. For $20, this is an unbelievable deal.*UPDATE* 09/26/14A month or so later, this router still works great. Please note, I recommended this router to a friend, and he had issues, and they came down to simply not doing the 30-30-30 reset when he flashed. You MUST DO THIS. Every router, every flash, just follow the 30-30-30 reset rule (Google it).*UPDATE* 03/30/15Router still works great – good throughput, rock solid, never needs to be cycled. One note of caution – my daughter called me and said the router stopped working right around the time she got a new printer. I asked her if she used the WPS feature to try and set up the new printer and she indicated she had. Problem is, one button on the back does double duty – press it for under 5 seconds and it initiates the WPS feature. Press it for longer than 5 seconds and (you guessed it) you will enjoy a factory reset to defaults. One of the truly stupid ideas in terms of design engineering. Really, I’m speechless.That being said, since I’ve never dreamed of using WPS and would never trust it, I suppose it wouldn’t matter to many people who feel like I do about WPS, but it’s something to think about.Also, reference a recent comment, I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that you should use dd-wrt version r24461 as an absolute – it was the latest available at the time of my deployment, so it was appropriate to use and name specifically. I would think most people who feel comfortable enough to think about flashing their router with dd-wrt would understand that it is somewhat implied that one should start with the latest version of any software (assuming it’s in the same release class, not alpha versus RC, for example). The latest version I found for that router as of today is r25697 (dated 12-22-14).

5. 

   Rommers Hernandez

   Reviewer

   April 23, 2020

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Excellent

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