Engineering, Product Reviews and Collaboration

In case you are into product design, sales, a startup in electronics and product and wish to make use of my services for review and guidance you may reach me on my email 

email.neerajsharma@gmail.com

- Neeraj Sharma

Bangalore 

WiFi Repeater - Experience with TP-Link RE305 AC1200 Dual-Band Wi-Fi Range Extender

Update - product working well for more 2 years now. It has been a great investment! 

Got the TP-Link RE305 AC1200 Dual-Band Wi-Fi Range Extender (White) for increasing coverage of my WiFi network in Room which was last in the apartment in terms of distance from the modem WiFi source.

This is a dual band version and works on 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands on both incoming and re-transmission side and we can configure which ones to enable through configuration.

Package

Installed in a wall socket. You can see all 4 lights blue that shows both incoming and outgoing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks are working fine

Listed Features - 

HARDWARE FEATURES
Plug Type
EU, UK, US (Indian Plug for units sold in India)

Standards and Protocols
IEEE802.11ac, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b

Interface
1 x 10/100M Ethernet Port (RJ45)

Button
WPS Button, Reset Button

Power Consumption
7.3W（max power consumption）

Dimensions ( W x D x H )
3.1 x 3.0 x 3.0 in. (80 x 78 x 77mm)

Antenna
2 x external

WIRELESS FEATURES
Frequency 2.4GHz & 5GHz(11ac)
Signal Rate
5GHz:Up to 867Mbps
2.4GHz:Up to 300Mpbs

Reception Sensitivity
5GHz：
11a 6Mbps:-91dBm@10% PER
11a 54Mbps: -74dBm@10% PER
11ac HT20 mcs8: -68dBm@10% PER
11ac HT40 mcs9: -63dBm@10% PER
11ac HT80 mcs9: -59dBm@10% PER
2.4GHz
11g 54M: -79dBm@10% PER
11n HT20 mcs7: -77dBm@10% PER
11n HT40 mcs7: -74dBm@10% PER

Wireless Modes
Range Extender/Access Point
Wireless Statistic
Concurrent Mode boost both 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi band

Wireless Functions
Wireless Statistic
Concurrent Mode boost both 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi band
Access Control
LED Control
Domain Login Function

Wireless Security
64/128-bit WEP
WPA-PSK / WPA2-PSK

Certification
CE, FCC, RoHS

Package Contents
AC1200 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE305
Quick Installation Guide

Box Dimensions (W X D X H)
6.15 x 4 x 3.7 in. (156.5 x 101.5 x 95mm)

System Requirements
Microsoft® Windows® 98SE, NT, 2000, XP, Vista or Windows 7, 8, 10, Mac® OS, NetWare®, UNIX® or Linux.

Environment
Operating Temperature: 0°C~40°C (32°F~104°F)
Storage Temperature: -40°C~70°C (-40°F~158°F)
Operating Humidity: 10%~90% non-condensing

Storage Humidity: 5%~90% non-condensing

Installation Experience 
Quick installation guide that comes in the box is well written. Unit is fairly simple to setup and I had it running within minutes using easy configuration by WPS button on my modem and then on repeater. Through this easy setup mode the repeater just replicates the SSID of existing network. Incoming signal strength is indicated through LED on top of the unit.

For more detailed settings and configuration of different network SSID names scanning and selecting signal strength or enabling disabling different bands I also tried setting through logging into the setup and that is user friendly. You can connect using address tplinkrepeater.net or the provided address through wireless or through Ethernet cable on the port provided on bottom of the unit. First thing you get is a prompt to setup password for the unit.


You can also set repeater signal strength to high medium low to set coverage. With high as well as medium settings I had all dead and low signal zones in my apartment fixed.


Speed Performance 
Coming to the question of speeds before and after repeater here are my results in few speed tests I did. My setup is dual band WiFi on JioGiga Fiber with 100Mbps link for which I typically get 90 to 95Mbps using 5G network and 30 to 50Mbps when connected to 2.4G network in line of sight within few meters of the the modem. With repeater setup around 9 to 10 meter away (not line of sight but just inside a door of a room where I have a wall socket to power the unit) and incoming signal as good as indicated by repeater I got 15 to 20 Mbps on 2.4 G network and 70 to 80 Mbps on 5 G network on the repeated network when around 3 meter away from the repeater. Results of course change with distances between repeater and source and repeater and user devices. Speed drop is more on 2.4 G repeater than on 5 G.


Overall results are satisfactory to begin with. Unit gets hot when running. Warranty is 3 years which gives peace of mind. There are power save options in setup. like we can setup time when we want to disable the repeater (like night time).


Overall a useful purchase for me. Let me know if you found this information useful.

Amazon Purchase Links 

TP-Link AC750 Wifi Range Extender | Up to 750Mbps | Dual Band WiFi Extender, Repeater,

TP-Link RE305 AC1200 Dual Band Wi-Fi Extender (Amazon India)

TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Range Extender Up to 1200Mbps Dual Band WiFi Extender, Repeater (Amazon USA).

Dell Optiplex Amber Power Button and Not Starting - CMOS Battery?

Few days back my home computer which is a Dell Optiplex 980 failed to power on and blue LED in the power button was showing Amber and the usual sequence of power on self check and sequence of blinking numbers did not appear.

I trying power cycling and the status was the same. Looked behind the computer and the power supply unit's indicator was green. 

I recalled that previous time when the machine had started the clock was reset to an older date and there was a possibility that the onboard CMOS battery would have drained. Typically a drained CMOS battery would not stop a machine from booting but it would be a thing worth trying. 

Opened up the unit, removed the CMOS button cell CR2032 and replaced it from a new one from my stock of batteries. After that the computer powered on, the amber in power button was back to blue, machine did initial configuration and powered on. I set the date to current date rebooted it once more to check that every thing works. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. If you have similar problem on a Dell PC, you may want to try this easy fix and let me know if that worked for you.

Panasonic CR3032 on Amazon India
CR2032 on Amazon.com (USA)