WAVLINK AX3000 Outdoor WiFi 6 Repeater, Long-Range

I ordered this router / access point / repeater to help with dead spots around my house. It’s a bit overkill for that purpose but it kinda made sense to me.

I’m using this in access point mode. My home network is kind of a mess. I have 30 to 40 devices all connected to like 4 or so access point names because I was adding things to two different networks when I first moved here and then decided to consolidate with a different router with the ability to handle multiple SSIDs – so they’re all connected to random SSIDs but the same router.

I have several dead spots in front of my house and in the rear that cause issues with wifi and I was hoping this would solve that issue.

For comparison my main router is about 10 feet from me in a utility closet and this new WAVLINK device is about 10 feet below me currently. Both are Wifi 6 devices. My main router (TP-Link AX11000) gets about 650Mbit/second off my gig connection to my cell phone (S23 Ultra) and the WAVLINK is hitting 918. That’s pretty impressive. Wired connection to my desktop is getting 935Mbit/s down. The WAVLINK is connected to a wired connection.

The device itself is kinda chunky but not much more than my main router with it’s bazillion antennas. I like that this one has no external antennas. It comes with a short network cable and a POE adapter. I have a Cat 5E or Cat 6 cable plugged into the POE adapter and into the WAVLINK. The single cable connection is nice. It comes with some mounting hardware as well.

The only con I’ve experienced is the interface. It’s extremely basic. I would never use this as a main router, there’s no DMZ / port forwarding or other basic functions you’d find in any modern router. This is beyond basic. I am updated to the latest firmware, it has AP mode, repeater mode, mesh router and mesh extender modes.

Also note, this has about 256MB ram and it’s showing a 1.3ghz cpu. My main router is 1GB ram and 1.8ghz. I’m not sure what type of CPU though which may make the speed irrelevant.

For an access point / repeater / mesh satellite it’s fine. I highly recommend against using this as a main router facing the internet. There’s just not enough functionality / visibility on basic security that I’ve seen.

I works really well to extend your Wifi.

Supports Mesh/AP/ Router/ Repeater/ AP+Repeater and Other Modes but for my needs I am using the repeater mode. I have outside security cameras. In this 1955 built house with cinderblock and stone outer walls the Wi-Fi signal doesn’t get through very strongly. In the back of the house near the Verizon FIOS router it gets through strong enough, as well as the side of the kitchens wall close to the router. The front of the house is where it is a problem. It has to go through an internal block wall plus the outer block wall. I get a signal but it is weak, and sometimes drops out altogether. That is where this WAVLINK AX3000 comes in.
Essentially, what you are doing is hooking an ethernet cable directly to your router, or even through a direct wired switch to your router, running that POE ethernet cable to the outside and insert it into this Wavlink extender.
People who have large multi-acreage properties are getting astounding results in terms of distance up to hundreds of feet in open air direct in-line connection. In order for me to take advantage of that I am mounting it under the eaves in front of my garage, which will provide a great direct in line Wi-Fi connection with my several devices without any obstacles to weaken the connection. So, I go from a typically weaker connection in the house going through walls to an even stronger connection completely outside of the house, or even into an adjoining property literally up to hundreds of feet away.
In repeater mode the WiFi name will change from WAVLINK-XXXX to default the same SSID with an extension of _ext2.4G or ext5G as your host signal. (The WiFi password of the extender must be the same as your main routers Wi-Fi.) This setup automatically solves a problem found in some other repeater networks. Some repeaters allow you to set up the network name (SSID) during the setup process. If you are using a mobile device this can lead to confusion from the signal senders. (router or extender) Overlap can occur because the device may not switch to the stronger signal leading to sub-optimal signals. Since I am using this for fixed cameras outside there is no challenge as to which signal I am switching too. Set it and forget it.
The thing that has to be understood is that inside of a house, using an extender can be helpful in getting a stronger signal on a different floor area, but overall it still has to deal with the limitations of not going through walls very well.
No complicated hook up. By the way the listing states that the LAN(POE) is not included, but it is so you don’t have to buy one. It’s a small box that connects to your WAVLINK box with a single POE/Ethernet cable. In that cable is combined the ethernet connection, as well as power.
I like this WAVLINK version that has built in antennae’s without the 4 outside of the box antennae’s. It is a lot less obtrusive which is preferable in a residential environment on the outside of the house. All in all, highly recommended.