Pros: It's cheap

Cons: What's the point of a 433mbps wireless connection through a device with a 10/100mbps Ethernet port?

Pros: Very easy to setup and use this device if you are familiar with basic router setup and configurations. So small that it fits in the palm of your hand! You can also create a more portable repeater with a power bank, I explained more on this under the Other Thoughts of my review for anyone that may be interested!

While many users will most likely already have a wireless router setup, as we all know there can be dead spots, or weak areas within your home. If your house is pre-wired with network cables, you could simply add this at the other end of your house, or wherever you may need a wireless connection due to weak or spotty coverage from wherever your router may be located. Or you can also just set it up as a repeater for your existing 5 GHZ AC wireless router at a midway point to saturate the weaker areas within your house.

Feature rich GUI, loaded with options for both the intermediate and advanced user. Options to run a setup wizard for quick and easy wireless setup, or configure manually for more control! Supports IPv6, WPS, and can be used as an access point, or a client. Testing of both modes worked fine for me! Under the Status Tab you will find Logs, data statistics, and wireless client details that let you check out what is going on with just a glance once logged in.

Allows up to 32 users, by default the user limit is off. Supports MAC filtering if you really want to lock down specific wireless devices as an added layer of protection, and even allows Multi-SSID configuration for up to 4 different SSID Network names. A few other useful options can be found under the Tools Tab, Ping Test, Firmware upgrading, Settings management, and even Email settings which will allow you to set up email notifications so the device will send you the log files when the logs are full.

Cons: None at all! While it is only 100Mbps, it does work well, and is very efficient for the price.

Other Thoughts: If you have a battery power bank, like the ones that are available for charging your phone while on the run, it can be powered up so that it becomes a portable repeater. I tested this with a couple of power banks, and it worked flawlessly! When running off a power bank, you could have it repeat your Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone in a vehicle to saturate a camping area, outdoor picnic, on your deck……….or wherever you may need it! This way your phone could stay connected to power in your car for instance, and with a power bank connected to the device you can place it further away to cover a larger area.

Arrived with firmware version 1.0, but a new firmware version was released in September, which is version 1.01.B01. Downloaded and upgraded the firmware with no problems, just make sure that you do not perform the firmware upgrade using wireless!

Pros: Very easy installation. Quick software setup.
Boosted Wi-fi status speed from 55Mbps to 150Mbps.
Through 3 walls over ~70' gets 4/5 bar signal strength.
Very small, easy to hide away.

Cons: Very light. Cables attached and dangling off desk keep it from laying flat on it's own.
Cables coming from 2 different sides makes an awkward desk setup. If both protruded from same side they could both hang off the desk from the back.
Gets the same 4/5 bar signal strength 5' away it gets from 60+' away. Pro & Con.

Other Thoughts: copying 4.8GB video file over Trendnet wireless took just under 2 minutes from desktop to laptop.
works great with my SmartTV's wireless connectivity, much better than my ISP provided modem/router's wireless access.
get 2/5 bars signal strength on opposite side of our house with default ISP's wireless option. this boosted to 4/5 in same location.
my ISP uses fiberoptics so we are stuck using it's provided modem/router combination for now. adding this TrendNet Wireless AC Easy-Upgrader device boosted the wireless signal strength and speed considerably.

Pros: - Very small footprint and can easily be hidden out of sight
- It works right out of the box and doesn't require a frustrating call the customer service to make it work as it should
- Decent range for what it is
- Cheap price

Cons: - Is this product really needed? Having a hard time thinking of someone that would need or chose this over a new router
- You're NOT going to get actual AC speeds out of this thing
- Slower than a very cheap router that has AC wireless built in

Other Thoughts: Bottom line, I can't think of a situation where I would ever recommend this product to someone over getting either A) good powerline adapter setup and/or B) a new router that already has AC built in and will have better range.
This product DOES work and you can find a way to make it part of your network however, there are better options out there that simply make more sense.

Pros: Small compact size

Cons: MAC filtering will not work. Cannot connect more than one device using MAC filtering. Once connected drops connection almost immediately. Horrible range, less than my older 802.11 N router.

Other Thoughts: Would not buy again or recommend to anyone else.

Manufacturer Response:

Hello,

We are sorry hear that you had an issue with the TEW-820AP. Please email adrian@trendnet.com and we will have a support representative assist you. Please include a link to this review.


Regards,

Adrian
TRENDnet Support
http://www.trendnet.com/support

Pros: Installation:
I wish every piece of electronics was this easy to install. Literally plug and play. Plug power adapter into wall and included ethernet cable into router. Instant 802.11ac.

Software:
The software allows this device to function as both an access point and a repeater.


Speed:

Time to copy a 100MB file across network to a computer in another room:

*Motorola NVG589 802.11N Router: 1 min and 8 seconds (12Mbps)

*TRENDnet TEW-820AP 802.11AC Easy-Upgrader: 19 seconds! (42Mbps)

My ping also decreased from 31ms to 22ms.

Pretty impressive!

Range:
Range is decent for a device without an antenna. I was able to surf the net from about 35 feet through a few walls.


Warranty:
3 year warranty for a device of this type is impressive. Wireless technology changes so quickly, it is nice to see vendors stand behind their products.


Physical:
This thing could not be any smaller! If size is an issue, this will not be a concern.

Cons: Software:
It takes 30-60 seconds to save any software changes, including simple changes such as adjusting the administrator password. It then requires you to login again using the password you just changed it to.

Wireless configuration settings are minimal. While they are probably fine for the majority of users, access point mode settings are limited to the basics: 802.11 mode, channel, channel width, security modes and MAC filtering. If you want to do things like packet filtering or port forwarding it looks like these would have to be done on your main router.

Other Thoughts: Excellent product for the price, with only a few minor complaints. Although the 5GHz band is already starting to get crowded, this is an affordable upgrade for condo/apartment dwellers that are looking to boost their wireless speeds. Although I did not test the repeater function, it's utility as a cheap access point alone makes it worth the price. The repeater option also future proofs it by allowing you to use it to improve your house's coverage when it outlives it's main role as an access point.

It would be nice if it increased the channel bonding to allow greater than 433Mbps, but for the price, it's tough to beat.

Pros: Very easy setup, with easy to follow instructions.

Size - Man, when they say “compact housing”, they really mean compact housing. This device is only about 2” x 2” x ⅝”. The black chassis is also aesthetically pleasing enough where it doesn’t look out of place just being on top of your existing router.

Range - this device was able to broadcast similar signal strengths as the router I have, giving decently strong/stable signals up to about 30’ away from the router.

Extenders - this played nicely with wireless range extenders, easily extending the ac 5ghz band even further.

Cons: General use - This is the first time I’ve looked at a “wireless upgrade” device, but it shares an annoying con with them; when the router goes through a power cycle, even when rebooting it through the web interface and not just a power outage, you need to set this up again. It also requires a hardline connection, using up an RJ-45 port on your router.

Cost - it’s close enough to the price points of new routers that broadcast both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands that it’s difficult to justify buying this instead of a new router. And that’s taking into account the 15% discount, bringing the price down to $35. If that goes away and they’re asking for $50 for this, don’t even bother.

Other Thoughts: The ability to add 5ghz wireless signal to legacy routers is a really nice idea, especially if your ISP requires you to use a router which doesn’t have 5ghz and wants you to cough up more money for one which does. If getting a different router isn’t an option, then I think this is a good purchase. But honestly, I’d recommend budgeting the additional $10-$15 extra and upgrading your router, instead.

Manufacturer Response:

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. When used as an access point it does require an active Ethernet connection to your network. The TEW-820AP can also be used as a client to turn a hard wired network appliance or device into a wireless capable client. When your router loses power it shouldn’t affect the TEW-820AP in any significant way. It is creating and maintaining its own wireless network parameters and is not dependent on your existing network for wireless settings. It will pull a DHCP address from your network though. Try setting the TEW-820AP up with a static IP address to see if that resolves the issue you are experiencing. If you require assistance please email adrian@trendnet.com and we’ll have a support representative contact you. Please include a link to this review.

Regards,

Adrian
TRENDnet Support
http://www.trendnet.com/support

Pros: decent speed
good range
small size
simple add-on to existing router
powered by USB port on existing router

Cons: no real use for most people as there are few devices being shipped with AC adaptors and for the cost you could buy a cheap ABGN-AC router.

Other Thoughts: I was a bit confused when Newegg first sent this. It appears as though it's an actual router, but it is not. It uses the DHCP network on your existing router, takes up one of your gigabit ports on the router, and in my tests some of the channels caused interference with my existing 5Ghz network.

Take the time to do your research.
-Do you want to build on an existing network, or replace it?
-Do you have a cheaper router? This costs as much as a cheap router that does everything this does while being backwards compatible to your older devices.
-Do you have a high end router that just lacks AC? If so keep your router and use this to add AC. Test your network and find a channel that doesn't interfere with other 5Ghz devices.

I know it sounds like I'm giving this little thing a hard time, which I am. If it was priced better, and had more to offer it wouldn't be so bad. But as is, it's just priced far too high for what little you get from it.

Pros: The trendnet 820 AC router upgrade is a very inexpensive piece of hardware, selling for $35 as of this writing. Given this low price point one cannot be surprised how cheap the device looks. However the massive drawback to this device is that it's Ethernet is limited to 100mbps whereas the AC standard goes up to 433mbps for this device. The fact that trendnet chose to not go for gigabit suggests the two possible usage scenarios they have in mind and all of the critical reviews on newegg should be taken with a grain of salt as most are reviewing from the perspective of a power user, for which the trendnet 820 is NOT intended. The purpose of the 820 is to add AC connectivity to an existing network and only two possible configurations make economic sense.

Cons: Only two uses for non-enterprise users (who might use the Trendnet 820 as cheap wireless bridges en mass due to newegg's volume discount)

The first is if you have an old 2.4Ghz single band router and want to add a 5Ghz band without buying another new router. The Trendnet 820 would make sense in this case given may customers, at least in my experience traveling across Europe, may have a router/modem combo from their ISP and either are in a contract which does not allow them to upgrade, or the customer is not comfortable upgrading. The additional 5Ghz band would be a welcome upgrade because the homes of these customers have other electronics on the 2.4Ghz band or neighborhoods filled with 2.4Ghz routers which makes for a very noisy environment given that 2.4Ghz ONLY has 3 non overlapping bands in which most routers come preconfigured to operate.

The second setup would be a user who already has an AC router which has a 5Ghz band and wants to use the Trendnet 820 as a 5Ghz wireless bridge. I personally have a linksys RE1000 2.4Ghz wireless bridge which connects to my DVD player and understand the value the Trendnet 820 provides given the linksys RE1000 costs $40-60. In this use scenario the 100mbps Ethernet limit on the Trendnet 820 is a non issue and in my testing I had no problem using the Trendnet 820 in place for my linksys RE1000 which itself also only uses 100mbps but saw no benefit between the 2.4Ghz (Linksys RE1000) and 5Ghz band (Trendnet 820).

Other Thoughts: So should you buy this device?:

If you do not fit into the two categories I discussed above the trendnet 820 will not be what you're looking for given a new router can be purchased for slightly more money. Additionally for the same money as the Trendnet 820 you could buy a used Linksys E3000 and flash DD-WRT onto it to have a decent dual band router (N band, 600mbps) which will be more suited for file transfers (via network NAS or onboard USB) and providing longer range than the Trendnet 820.

I feel that Trendnet's decision to market this device as an AC device which theoretically only goes 433mbps was a poor choice given that the N standard goes up to 600mbps. Because of this obvious illogic the inclusion of AC technology in the Trendnet 820 was only for marketing purposes for those customers who want to feel they are getting new technology without spending the high early adopter fee that true AC technology carries.

I only chose to review the Trendnet 820 because I wanted to help consumers not fall for such deceptive marketing practices and given that the first and only Trendnet product I purchased died after a year I can only strongly suggest looking into getting a router upgrade as you'll get more features for your money and maybe a product from a company with a more reliable track record.

Pros: Small, light and obscure. Can definitely hide it somewhere by your existing router.

Installation is a breeze, just plugs right in, install the software and press the WPS button. Encryption is built in so no need to worry about setting up.

I will explain speeds under cons but over all it provided a very solid connection with all my connected devices.

Cons: Speed is limited due to the 100 Mbps restriction of the ethernet port. Not sure if this was done deliberately but you really cannot utilize the full potential without having gigabit ethernet capability. Advertised speed is 433 Mbps which you will never hit due to the limitation. That being said this really negates the advantage Wireless AC provides which is speed and range.

Other Thoughts: Definitely entry level but not recommended for those looking for a solution to upgrade their older routers.