TP-LINK TL-WA801ND Wireless N300 Access Point, 300Mbps, Multifunction, Multiple SSID TP-LINK TL-WA801ND Wireless N300 Access Point, 300Mbps, Multifunction, Multiple SSID

Pros: Unit's been in service for about a month. Works fine. Primarily used as an access point, but was also tested and proven as a client. No resets required.

Runs cool. Nice web GUI. Decent value.

Cons: None really.

Other Thoughts: For reliability, I always assign a static IP address on the LAN to my APs and other wireless network peripherals.

Pros: Never required a reboot, always had good connections

Cons: Died completely after 6 months of use.

Other Thoughts: I loved this AP right up until it died.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear James,
We're happy to hear you like the AP.

I think this is just a special case. maybe the PoE injector or the power adapter is defective.
TP-LINK USA provides 2-year warranty for this AP.
We would like to provide you a RMA upon your request.

Please feel free to contact me if you need it:
howard.he@tp-link.com

We really appreciate you taking the time to check out our TP-Link products and we hope that you will be able to check out more in the future.

Best Regards!

TP-LINK Support Team
support@tp-link.com
(866) 225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: DHCP at setup for easy connection, ping watch to maintain connection. 5 min setup time.

Cons: Haven't found any yet....

Other Thoughts: Setup was as fast and easy as could be. Other "high tech level" reviews that had trouble could not have been very high in the tech level department.... just saying

Pros: Good range, no reboots so far (2 weeks), Fairly easy to setup

Cons: Web interface isn't that great, instructions weren't the best

Other Thoughts: I use this as a Wireless Access point only, so I cannot comment on other features. I wanted to have Wireless-N, as my general Verizon FIOS router only does B/G. I turned off the wireless portion of the FIOS router and used it's SSID/WPA2 key on the new WAP. All my devices connected without any issues or me needing to change anything on their end. The range is a bit better than the G, which was pretty good. It defiantly gets through walls/furniture better. I use it in a B/G/N mixed mode for one legacy G device, and I don't experience any slowdowns when the G device is connected.

Pros: Right now, I can't think of any redeeming qualities.

Cons: This AP has hung countless times since I purchased it in 2011. I read other reviews that indicated the same behavior, but I figured they must be on old firmware. Not so. I have updated the firmware every time a new version is available. Even so, the AP hangs and I can't connect to the web console and, while the SSID is still broadcasting, nothing can associate with it. The only way to remedy the situation is to walk to the AP, unplug it, and plug it back in. Just next to worthless. I will never buy TP-LINK again and I will share my opinion with anyone who asks. I am an IT Network professional of 12 years and many people ask my opinion on these things. You may ask why I would buy such an item if I'm such an expert. Well, all I can say is, fool me once...

Other Thoughts: There are better options out there. This is not the AP you're looking for.

Manufacturer Response:

Hello Customer,

We're sorry to see that you are still having issues with this Access Point after all this time. We know how frustrating it can be to constantly reboot when signal is being lost. There is a function in this AP that may help called 'Ping Watchdog'. You can assign an ip address for the AP to ping at a specific time interval, and it will automatically reboot if it is unable to see the pinging device after a certain amount of time. This can at least help you from having to Reboot the device physically as the AP will try to do it on its own. We appreciate you taking the time to try our product and we hope you will be able to check out TP-Link in the future.


Best Regards!

TP-LINK Support Team
support@tp-link.com
(866) 225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: very easy to setup as a access point. Just follow the web based wizard and you will be up in no time.

Cons: NON!

Other Thoughts: I am very happy with TP-Link. I have a router, switch, access points all from them and not a single issue with any of there devices.

Pros: None Impossible to set up

Cons: Please see Pro's

Other Thoughts: Sorry I purchased it, it now sits in the dung heap......

Manufacturer Response:

Hello Customer,

We're sorry to see that you are having issues with this device. We know that these products can sometimes be frustraing to configure, ecspeically if this is your first time setting up something like this.
We would really love to help you configure this device and get it up and running. If you would like to contact me personally then we can assist you further and get this product working as it should.
My email is howard.he@tp-link.com.

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Team
support@tp-link.com
(866) 225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINKmail is howard.he@tp-link.com.

Pros: Small footprint, seemingly lots of options for the price

Cons: I am hardly a computer novice, but could not get this to work. Read the instructions several times over, which were not much help. Spent days rebooting, retrying the setup etc (as both WDS repeater and universal repeater).

The "failure" was always that once I got the device to recognize my router and rebroadcast the SSID, the signal would drop out. I was using WiFi analyzer on my android device and would watch the signal graph drop to zero then return then drop off again every few seconds. Could never get it to hold a signal.

Two other problems worth noting, it was set up out of the box to act as a DHCP server so at one point, it was actually distributing IP addresses to other devices on my network (like the blu-ray player) which then made the blu-ray unable to access the internet (until I reminded it where to look for an IP address). Also, if you choose to try to setup manually, search for your router, and then tell it to become a repeater, it does not ask you for the WPA password before you save the settings. Once you do that, it begins re-broadcasting the main SSID, but cannot actually access it, since it does not know the password.

Manufacturer Response:

Hello customer,

We are sorry to see that you are having issues with this device. The easiest way to set up this device would be with the WPS button located on the device. This Wireless protective set-up will allow you to pair the devices with the push of a button. We've started to turn on the DHCP recently by default to allow users to connect to it without a static ip address. We've found that the average user has a hard time setting up the Range extender with the DHCP off. Once the RE is connected then the device is told to disable the DHCP to prevent any conflicts. You may find that the firmware can help with your wireless stability too. The firmware can be found based on your version at:
http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=tl-wa801nd#down

We hope the experience with your Access point gets better and we hope that you will be able to check out more TP-Link products later on.

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Team
support@tp-link.com
(866) 225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: Lots of options in the configuration. Seemed like a good Access Point.

Cons: I am writing this review after having the AP for a little while and it has started periodically dropping the connection to the network. This requires a hard reset and then it works like a charm..... until it has to be reset again.

Other Thoughts: I still like this device quite a lot. I am a little disheartened by the recent drops and thought they should be mentioned.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

We are glad that you are happy with the performance of the device, however, it is unsatisfactory that the device drops your connection often.

In many cases, a firmware update may solve this issue. Please visit the software page on our site for you device to check and see if you have the latest firmware for your hardware version.

Hardware version 1:
http://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/?model=TL-WA801ND&version=V1#tbl_j

Hardware version 2:
http://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/?model=TL-WA801ND&version=V2#tbl_j

Please feel free to contact us if you need any assistance with this.

Thank you for supporting TP-LINK!

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Team
marc.elliott@tp-link.com
(866)225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: The device works well.

Cons: The GUI is confusing and not very intuitive. It took me a while to figure out how to turn the device into a bridge and receive an WiFi signal from another router.