Netgear Wi Fi Range Extender N300 A3 Review

IF you have  WiFi items (TVs, Blu-Ray players, smart phones) throughout your house, but your cable company's WiFi router emits a weak signal, then the Netgear N300 WiFi range extender is for you. I have a cable company WiFi router in my upstairs office. In the office it puts out a great signal, but downstairs in the family room the signal is one iffy bar or less. So when we got a Blu-ray player with WiFi and tried to watch Netflix, is was Buffer city. Constant messages about not being connected to the Internet and so on.

So, after some research, I found this extender. Do note that there are three versions, all designated N300. The A1 version has a different packaging, The Best Buy nearest my house was selling the A1 l when I asked. Amazon is selling the A3, which is what I bought.

Wow. I plugged it into the wall outlet at the entrance to the family room, configured it, and presto, Netflix in the family room. Then I got a new Blu-ray player with WiFi also, so I moved the old player to the garage (next to the tv at the treadmill), and presto again, we now can watch Netflix while exercising. Then, finally, semi-forced by the cable company to get rid of the old analog TV in the upstairs bedroom, we got a new TV with built-in WiFi. Presto, even still yet once more again, we now can watch Netflix in the bedroom.

All this was made possible by this little signal amplifier. If you want to strengthen your WiFi service, this is the device.

There is even an app for measuring signal strength in various areas of your house Here are the results for the Netgear 300 measured along with the cable company's WiFi router in my office:

Office
Cable WiFi:100%
N300 86%

Bedroom
Cable 62%
N300 88%

Family Room
Cable 22%
N300 100%

Garage
Cable 22%
N300 95%

Living Room
Cable 95%
N300 95%

Bedroom  2 (directly under office)
Cable 100%
N300 100%

Kitchen
Cable 35%
N300 95%

Library
Cable 42%
N300 95%

Backyard
Cable 35%
N300 75%

Setup was easy. The N300 creates a new WiFi hotspot named the same as your original, with the extension EXT added, making it easy to find and easy to distinguish from the WiFi system it is amplifying. So, for example, if your WiFi router network name is "NSA_Black_Ops," the N300 creates one named "NSA_Black_Ops_EXT." Use the same password that you use for your original WiFi setup.

I recommend this product highly. It's economical, unobtrusive (plugs into a wall outlet like a fragrance bottle), and powerfully effective.