TP-LINK TL-WA850RE 300Mbps Universal Wi-Fi Range Extender. Wi-Fi Booster

Pros: • 2 year Warranty
• 24/7 7 days Unlimited technical support via toll free number
• Easy setup, you have a few options to connect to your router
• Slim modern design, also like the white color
• Does not obstruct the second outlet when plugged into a dual wall power outlet, some other WiFi extenders do
• Price is really very reasonable for a 300 Mbps
• Upload and downloads speeds very impressive for a $30 extender
• Has an Ethernet port so you can hardwire other devices such as Tivo, TV, Roku etc
• Once you have set it up you can unplug it and move to anywhere in the house
• Very good range when connecting to your router
• Blue LED lights in front gives you network strength, wireless status as well as Ethernet connection status

I'm putting the 1st part of my review here as I ran out of character space under the "Other Thoughts" section below.

Newegg delivered the sample for review promptly as usual via USPS.
After opening the brown Newegg box I was impressed to see the stylish and quality packaging, it has the look and feel of an iPhone box. The packaging consisted of an outer sleeve, inside was a box with the extender device, a white envelope with the quick installation guide and mini CD.
The TP-Link device is pretty slick, nice modern design, all white except for the ring of LED’s on the front lower right around the WPS button. One LED marked “Power” indicating the unit is powered up, another LED lighting up when the wireless is active, it is marked “Wireless”. A LED marked “RE” that lights up solid indicating the unit is connected to the router. Then a LED that lights up if you connect a device to the extender via Ethernet cable. On the right side of the button are six LED’s that light up to show the signal strength coming from the router, the closer the extender is to the router more LED’s will light up, less when you move the extender further away from the router.
At the bottom of the unit you will find the Ethernet port as well as a reset button, you can use a pencil to wipe any settings if you messed something up during setup
On the back is the two prongs for the power outlet.

Cons: • Not dual band, for the price I did not expect that however
• When connecting to your router via WPS option the extender assumes the same SSID as your router which is annoying, you don’t know if the extender is working unless you ran a signal baseline without it at some distance away from the router before you connect it

Overall Review: The quick setup guide folds out and covers a couple of installation methods I will go over below.
Method 1:
• This is the simplest and quickest method and make use of WPS protocol
• Plug the extender device in a power outlet near your router, does not have to be that close for this method, I actually plugged in the hallway outside my office where the router was situated.
• Wait until the wireless LED in the front of the unit is flashing, then press the WPS button on your router, normally at the back of the router
• Push the button on the front lower right of the extender, the RE LED will light up solid which indicates it is connected to your router, you will also notice the signal strength LED’s will light up.
• You can now relocate the router to any area, I would say within 30 feet or so, if the signal strength LED’s drop down to below three you are too far and it will impact you extending capability.
• Only problem here is that the extender will assume your router’s SSID, I suggest you change that following the instructions below.
Method 2:
• For this method you need to be close to your desktop or laptop as you will use it for option A
• Connect the device to wall power outlet, wait for LED marked “Wireless” to flash.
• You now have two ways of setting it up manually

Option A :
Connect the extender via Ethernet cable to your desktop or laptop, make sure the PC or laptop is not connected to your wireless network either via wireless or network cable.
Option B:
Connect to the powered up extender via your laptop wireless, it will appear as TP-Link_Extender
• The rest of the setup is the same for option A and B above
• Go to your PC/Laptop’s browser and type in http://tplinkextender.net into your browser
• You will see a TP Link setup page appear, enter the username and password, both is admit by default, you can change it later if you’d like
• After logging in you just follow the quick setup guide, when you get to the area to select your router you want to connect to it will ask for a password, you need to enter your router’s password, once you have completed the setup you can go back and enter the extender’s password, you can also change the SSID.
• You can now move the extender to another power outlet in your house where you need to boost your wireless signal. I have mine in the master bedroom on the 1st floor where I also have other devices connected via Ethernet cable
• As in method 1 you will see the LED’s for the signal strength light up going from one to six, stay close enough to the router so you have at least three LED’s on the right side of the LED ring lit up.
I ran OOKLA speed test from my cellphone, about 30 feet away from both my router and the extender and I got the following transfer speeds (average of 3 runs)
Connecter to router : 24.9 Mbps download, 6.67 Mbps upload
Connected to the TP-Link range extender : 12.9 Mbps download, 5.88 Mbps upload

Pros: -Works well to extend the range of your wireless network.
-Small form factor allows you to plug it in and still have access to the other outlet.
-Excellent packaging. Similar to high end smartphones.

Cons: - The TP-Link automatically copies your SSID. Unfortunately, my phone, my PS4, and my tablet all would freak out and constantly pick up and drop the signal. I had to change the SSID of the repeater and set up my wi-fi connections to connect to the new SSID to avoid the connection dropping in and out. In that regard, it doesn't work so well as a signal booster.
- Blue LEDs - they're popular because they look cool, but they are way too bright for a dark room.

Overall Review: For the money you could do a lot worse. I was able to plug this into my neighbors outlets and roam down the block with a strong signal. They are a lot of options if you take the time to hook it up through the Ethernet port and configure it.