It is large, expensive, and lacks an Ethernet port to make it a wired access point Its Spot Finder technology makes sure it is set in the sweet spot, but it lacks a startup and configuration app Still, it's a great way to expand your home network and eliminate Wi-Fi dead zones

Our Linskys RE7310 review will help you decide if this is the best Wi-Fi extender for your needs, or if you're better off opting for something smaller and less expensive

The $120 Linksys RE7310 is one of the most expensive plug-in Wi-Fi extenders available According to the company's engineers, it is designed to add up to 2,000 square feet of coverage per unit

The Linksys RE7310 extender is a large device that plugs directly into an AC outlet with two plugs; at 52 x 39 x 18 inches, it is about twice the size of the smaller D-Link E15

The plain white RE7310 has two antennas hidden inside its case In other words, there is nothing to extend the length or make the antennas at least aimable

The extender has one LED bar near the top that tells you the status of the device It is blue when everything is OK Unlike many other Wi-Fi extenders, there is no way to turn this light off

The RE7310 has proven to be an excellent way to extend the network in my 100-year-old home The blue LEDs lit up, indicating a good connection to the Asus GT-AXE-11000 router, and I was able to send emails, play 4K video, and stream music on my iPad Pro

When it came to performance, the RE7310 was top notch When the extender was 40 feet away from the router and the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro test system was another 10 feet away from the extender, it was capable of 3224 Mbps This is six times the throughput of the E15 and close to the Nighthawk EAX80's best-in-class 3580 Mbps Still, it is not far behind the peak performance of the TP-Link RE705X at 5280 Mbps

On a Galaxy Book Pro 40 feet away from the extender, throughput dropped to 1209 Mbps, adequate for most tasks but less than half the 2481 Mbps of the RE705X With 1451 Mbps when the receiving system was installed in a second-floor bedroom, the RE7310 was a middle-class performer; the RE7310's reach is 100 feet

In contrast to the E15, the RE7310 does not have a power-saving sleep mode when not in use; at 60 watts, it consumes the most power, though not comparable to the Netgear Nighthawk EAX80's 83 watts Assuming I pay the national average of 15 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity, my estimated annual electricity bill would be about $790

In my two-week evaluation, it was warm to the touch, but not close to the E15's 115-degree Fahrenheit surface temperature, which was closer to 104 degrees Fahrenheit

The RE7310 can connect with up to 20 clients at a time, effectively extending the Wi-Fi network to previously unserved areasThe latest Wi-Fi 6 with MU-MIMO, beamforming, and 1024 QAM modulation technology to capture, amplify, and retransmit weak signals from the host network However, it is not compatible with the 6 GHz band offered by Wi-Fi 6e

A dual-band extender, the RE7310 extends the network using 2X2 streams in each band, capable of up to 600 Mbps in the 24 GHz band and 12 Gbps in the 5 GHz band, with an AX1800 throughput rating On the other hand, it lacks the dynamic adjustment and load balancing of AI that drives the D-Link E15 extender

With no USB or Ethernet wired network ports, the RE7310 cannot make the contents of its storage drives available across an extended network or act as a wired access point The larger Nighthawk EAX80 can do both; the RE7310 does not have an on/off switch, but does have a button on the side for quick connection using WPS and a reset key

To connect the RE7310 to my network, I started by plugging the device into an AC outlet about 40 feet from the Asus GT-AXE11000 gaming router There is no app for setup, so I used the Chrome browser on my Samsung Galaxy Book Pro notebook and started the process by typing "extenderlinksyscom" in the address bar

Once connected, I clicked on Start Setup, selected the host network to extend and entered the password Setup was completed by entering a new administrator password and a hint

I registered the device using my e-mail address and declined Linksys' offer to send me marketing materials The summary page shows the setup and is worth printing out for emergencies From start to finish, setup took just over 4 minutes, making it one of the fastest to fill a gap in my home network

To change the settings, I had to log in again and click on "Access range extender settings" That section showed settings for 24 GHz and 5 GHz, but I had to zoom my browser to 67% to understand everything At the bottom, if the extender is connected, there is a way to remotely reboot it

In addition to Quality of Service (QoS), the interface has a site survey for proper extender placement The spot finder is a bonus to help ensure proper distance between the router and the extender Statistics are available, but nothing visualizes the numbers like the D-Link E15 graph

The interface does not have the ability to turn off the LED lights on the extenders or set a schedule for when they operate This can be done with the Nighthawk EAX80

Linksys offers a one-year warranty and lifetime support on the RE7310 This is better than the very limited support from Netgear and D-Link or the 3-year warranty from Tenda

Linskys' support site has a reasonably complete manual for the RE7310, in addition to an extensive FAQ section However, it does not include a video to help beginners set up the extender

One of the best ways to fill Wi-Fi dead zones with data, the Linksys RE7310 may not be the smallest, fastest, or cheapest extender, but it impresses with its all-around performance and excellent way to get critical placement right On the downside, it has no setup app or ports As a plug-in extender, however, the RE7310 excels