TP-LinkN300 Wireless Extender, Wi-Fi Router (TL-WR841N) - 2 x 5dBi High Power Antennas, Supports Access Point, WISP, Up to 300Mbps

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.

When I recently paid for higher internet speeds, I realized I was capping my speeds due to my old router. It was making my Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player nearly useless with constant buffering, and it could not keep up with all of the devices in my household. I bought this TP-LINK N300 as a replacement. I was drawn to it because the price was right, but the specs also seemed appropriate for what I was doing.At any given time in my house, I am using a smart t.v. (hooked straight to the router), a laptop, multiple phones, a Chromebook, and the Chromecast. I don't mean I, personally...there are other people in the house. In addition, I sometimes sit outside and away from the router. My old router was great for distance, but otherwise needed an upgrade. This router has been able to handle the capacity issue. As soon as I set it up, I was getting speeds of 30 Mbps or more pretty quickly. The lag and buffering of my Chromecast also reduced by quite a bit. For a router on a budget, this worked fine for speed and just handling bandwidth.The range on it was not nearly as good as I hoped. Even from my bedroom, I would sometimes drop from wifi on my phone. I tinkered with wifi settings, but it was clearly just a distance thing. I am not a billionaire real estate tycoon with a 75 room mansion. I live in a modest three-bedroom house, so there is not much distance between the router (on one end of the house) and my bedroom. As I mentioned, my old router handled distance **much** better. Nonetheless, for the most part I was always connected.Setup was a breeze, and I feel like TP-LINK setup is a bit easier than some other brands. If you know what you are doing, anything is going to be fine, but when I was setting this up I kept my parents in mind. It was easy enough that they could do it, and that is saying something. This is a nice, efficient model that is probably best for the casual user with a few devices. I wanted something a bit nicer, but the price was right.I am speaking in past tense throughout some of this review because I ended up upgrading to D-Link DIR-813 AC750 Wi-Fi Router last week and have moved to that. I prefer it, particularly because it has a 5 gHz band for my phones. Still, this TP-LINK worked efficiently. You get a bit more than what you pay for with it, in my opinion. Still, it has a few shortcomings that might be worth considering. If price is a major factor to you, then definitely go with this one!