Cisco Linksys’ Wireless-N Range/Extender Bridge (RE1000) is one of the best wireless extenders we’ve tested to date. Still, like many extenders we’ve tested, it’s going to be pretty useless for distances exceeding 150 feet from a wireless router. However, unlike other products tested, it still gave a signal and connection (although not a speedy one) at 150 feet—as long as you're transmitting in the 2.4 GHz band.

Design and Specs

The RE1000 is a small, rectangular box with a two-prong electrical plug. The device has a WPS and a reset button on its top panel and a Fast Ethernet 10/100 network port on the bottom to serve as a wireless bridge for a wired device. There’s also a removable panel on the underside that lifts off to reveal a C7 AC power port. The RE1000 only supports the 2.4 GHz band, which is a shame, given the numbers of 5 GHz and dual-band routers out there.   

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Installation:

The RE1000 extender ships with a setup CD. Enclosed instructions direct users to set up the device close to the computer being used for install to the router to ensure a strong signal and that the extender can be moved after setup.

When the install kicks off, Cisco's software immediately discovered a newer version of setup was available, which means you’ll want to set this device up from a computer that is online, preferably connected to the wireless network you are trying to extend.

Next, the instructions have you plug the extender into an outlet. The setup software “searches” for the extender. In about a minute, the software discovered the extender and discovered the names of all the wireless networks in proximity. I selected the network I wanted to place the extender, entered the passphrase when prompted and that’s all it took to get the extender setup.

Without question, the RE1000 has the easiest setup of any wireless extender I’ve tested: efficient and drop-dead simple.

Configuration and Features

The RE1000 has a browser-based utility that can be used to configure the device. The interface follows the same design as Cisco Linksys' E-series routers.  Within the interface, users can get a view at the status of the extender and information such as channel width, signal strength and quality, as well as packet information.

The extender also supports some Quality of Service (QoS) functionality with WMM (Wireless Multimedia) for improving the quality of video, voice, and other types of network traffic.  Other features include diagnostics and enabling log files.

Performance:

Using Ixia’s IXChariot testing suite, I measured the RE1000’s throughput at distances of 50, 75, 100 and 150 feet away from the router as well as right next to the server room the router is located in. Besides measuring throughput, I also noted how many signal bars the operating systemthe wireless client used for testing is reporting, whether it’s possible to connect to the wireless LAN at greater distance, and if it’s possible to browse the Internet at greater distances.

While the RE1000 did not give us the best throughput numbers (that distinction goes to the BearExtender PC Long Range 802.11n USB WiFi Booster) the RE1000 allowed connecting the wireless network and surfing the web from 150 feet away from the router—although surfing was slow. That's an ability I didn't observe with the BearExtender device. Here are benchmark results:

Click here for benchmark scores

Why the RE1000 is Editor’s Choice for Extenders:

Wireless extenders are notorious for frustrating setup and not actually offering much in extending a wireless signal. While BearExtender’s device had better throughput testing with Ixia, by 150 feet, it was no longer possible to even connect to the WLAN, much less surf the Internet. I had the same issue with the D-Link Amplifi DAP-1525 Wi-Fi Booster.

The RE1000 was able to extend the signal to 150 feet, although, as mentioned, the connection was painfully slow. This could be due to the heavy interference in our testing area, so those without such RF noise may get better results.

In addition, the RE1000 incorporates solid features and the amazingly uncomplicated setup of Cisco Linksys’ latest routers. These factors weighed all together, make the Cisco Linksys Wireless-N Range Extender/Bridge (RE1000) a four-star Editors' Choice pick. We can hardly wait for the version that supports the 5 GHz band as well.

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