6.7.2011

review for: TP Link TL WA901NDHave been running this for the last couple of months now as an Access Point - very happy with its performance - great value for money.Its a cheap and cheerful box - I didn't get my hopes up with this box, I wanted a cheap wifi solution to replace my old g DLink WiFi AP, so i wasn't surprised that I didn't get full N speeds connecting to N clients, even when they were the only wifi devices connecting to the AP, placed right next to it, with the router set and client both set to N only.However I was completely surprised with the good solid performance - and even though I only get 65mbs duplex, the user experience for surfing, streaming and downloading was as good as wired.I only had one N device to test this with, so the speed being fixed at 65Mbs, may just be the device I was using - it was certainly streaming and downloading as fast as other devices on wired. The AP runs a little hot on heavy use, but no more than my old DLink AP.Installation was okay, connected directly to it using a laptop to configure it. The web administration is functional and straight forward enough to avoid reading up on if you've configured a lot of APs before. It does a very good job offering value for money adding many functions, qss, vlan etc, as well as the usual gamut of functions such as AP, bridge, repeater etc. My review is based on its performance as an Access Point, as this is all I am using it for. I have QSS disabled as I'm old fashioned and paranoid in nature as well :-) so I'm not using wep or wpa as they are too easily cracked nowadays, wpa2 with a good pass phrase is what I usually go for. I expect the qss functions could be useful for others for quickly adding devices to the network.It may be worth checking if the unit you receive is hardware version 1 or 2 (at time of writing v2 is the current version for this model), and should we be paying paying the full price if they're going to give you an old version 1 box, even though you are getting a great price with this box already? You can check the hardware version under status in the web management or flipping over the unit and looking at the serial/bar code. I got mines direct from Amazon and it was v2, but its worth checking if your buying from an Amazon merchant, although most of them seem to be fine. I noticed a newer firmware available than one on my box, so upgraded the firmware. You can get the firmware from the tplink site, which at the time of writing is: [...] . Firmware upgrade is pretty straight forward through the web management.Streaming dvd/video files from a nas box via unc or streamed through the twonky/dnla media server is perfect, even in areas my old AP couldnt reach. I was hoping the new box would eliminate a couple of dead spots I had downstairs and give me some wifi in the loft conversion (I have two massive steel girders running across the house in the roof for the loft conversion, and couldn't get wifi upstairs before). The new AP has no problems, and we now have reliable wifi upstairs and downstairs - very impressed. I was initially considering buying another as a repeater for upstairs depending on the performance of this one, but it works so well that I don't need another one! :-)I've connected about nine different clients to it, ranging from windows xp home, xp pro, win 7, android 2.2 and 2.3, including laptops, android phones, tablet all different speeds,(I have a lot of old laptops which come in useful when the nephews and nieces come around.For some reasons half of the client devices took a few attempts before connecting properly, probably down to my long passkey and a little quirk that when adding new devices - if you put the wrong passkey the client appears to connect successfully (but your not really connected and you sometimes you get an ip address but no internet connection)With the clients I had problems connecting with, removing and adding the connection until I got internet access seemed to solve this issue. Once each device connected successfully, all had no problems reconnecting (and I've checked with most of them over the last couple of months - this connection issue only happens the first time you add a device. Not quite sure if its the device or firmware issue? As I never had any problems after the initial set up and no problem with multiple clients connecting, I haven't pursued this further.To date up till now, the unit hasn't been switched off or rebooted, and gets used regularly now that we have decent wifi access for our mobiles, and we regularly stream multimedia to the phones/tablet/net book (for the little ones to watch their collection of kids dvds).The addition of PoE is very refreshing, they even include an poe power injector for you. I didn't need to use this as the AP was near both the network switch and mains, but it would have been useful had I needed to install a tplink upstairs, as there would no need to worry about an extra mains socket/extension lead, which we are short on upstairs, or the extra trailing power wires. Great feature for future proofing.I got a uk main adapter supplied with this, and the aerials on this unit are removable (in case you want to upgrade the aerials, luckily I had some spare 9dbi aerials, but it didn't make that much difference to the stock ones that were supplied with the device with my set up/positioning - its more about the position and direction of where you are pointing each aerial, although in the right circumstances it could make a difference). The stock aerials are 4dbi gain.Overall an excellent buy. So far, very stable, from the last two months, hopefully it should stay this way. Would definitely recommend.

28.12.2013

I have just finished setting this up a few hours ago, having needed to quickly replace an unreliable Tenda W311R 150Mbps Wireless Broadband Router that I ordered for my parents to replace an old Sweex .G router.I was looking for:- Easy initial setup- Easy configuration once set up- Performance- ReliabilitySo far this ticks all boxes.*Initial setup*- Plug it in to your existing network- Connect to the default wireless network it creates (TP-LINK_AP_XXXXXX)- Access it via a browser @ [...]- Follow the easy setup steps and then click Finish (if you've changed the Wireless SSID or added a password during this stage, then you'll need to reconnect to the Wireless network with the new name,or newly-added password)-- I use this as an Access Point (AP). My parents have BT Business broadband in their home office, in a different building to the house. This access point is coupled with the excellent TP-Link PA411KIT AV500 500 Mbps Powerline Adapter - Twin Pack to bring the broadband from the existing Netgear router in the office, across into the house about 25 metres away.- I use these settings:-- Mode: Access Point-- Network Settings: Type: "Smart IP(DHCP)" (instead of having its own range of IPs to serve over DHCP, this AP uses IPs from the Netgear DHCP server, which works fine for me - I simply made sure that the existing Netgear router was serving enough IPs for the existing computers in the office, plus all the devices I wanted to connect in the house via this AP). The other option would be to give this a Static IP within the range of the Netgear DHCP server and then configure a different DHCP range for devices in the house, but I didn't see the point as the Smart IP works great out the boxSome of the reviews here talk about needing to connect your PC directly to this and manually setting the PC to have an IP of 192.168.0.254 in order to set this up. This is only required if your existing network that you're trying to extend is using this IP. As the Netgear router in the office was configured to serve IPs over DHCP between 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.10 I was simply able to plug this in, connect to the default unsecured wireless network it creates (TP-LINK_AP_XXXXXX) and configure it via [...] Factor this in before you start messing around connecting it to your PC / Mac. A lot of people simply won't need to do this and could use it out the box.I was also pleased to see that this access point shipped with the latest firmware already installed, so I didn't need to go installing anything. Quite often routers etc arrive with old and unreliable firmware that you need to upgrade before they become usable.*Configuration*Once set up, it was a doddle to set up additional security, such as wireless MAC filtering, accessible via Wireless -> Wireless MAC Filtering. First I had to click the Enable button, then add my MAC addresses one by one. One minor feature, but something I like, is being able to put a description along with the MAC address, so as you replace devices it's easy to see which ones to change / remove. Luckily this router gives you that. I've found quite a few that don't, leaving you with a big list of MAC addresses and more work trying to find what to change.There are lots of other modes of operation that this device has, but for my needs Access Point is exactly what I want, so I've not explored all the other settings.*Performance*I haven't run any tests using the old powerline adapters that I also replaced, but on pure network speeds and range in the house, this is excellent for the money. Although I haven't used this functionality yet, being able to use power over ethernet is excellent - so for instance, you could connect the supplied ethernet cable from a powerline adapter into the supplied power-injector, along with plugging the power injector into the mains via the supplied power block that you'd normally plug into the AP. Then, run an additional ethernet cable from the power injector to the AP, which will let you install the AP somewhere more convenient for getting the best signal in your house, without worrying about not having a long enough power lead.Coupled with the excellent TP-Link powerline adapters I mentioned above, I am getting the maximum possible performance in the house over a broadband speed test, with not a fraction of speed being lost from the office 25 metres away.*Reliability*It's still early days, but so far, so good - very reliable in a few hours of constant hammering. I've been downloading movies on Sky+HD solidly since setting this up, using my MacBook Pro, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and PS3, Mum using her iPad, Dad using his MacBook Pro etc etc and absolutely no issues and rock-solid performance throughout all of this.I would definitely recommend this to anyone in the market for an Access Point.

14.2.2013

This Wireless Access Point is amazing value for money. It does it's job perfectly. Before getting this device I was using Virgin Media's Super Hub for broadcasting the wireless signal which is as weak as piss and couldn't reach the room in the loft. Now I have disabled the wireless on the WM Super Hub and I am just using this device as a Access Point.Along with buying this device I did go along and get 3, 8dbi omni directional antennas from TP (TL-ANT2408CL), they were in the 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought' section. At around £5 a pop I thought to my self why not and just went with it. These antennas are double the power than the ones which come with it; personally I feel that its a good upgrade and Im even ordering more so I can use them at the receiving end.Anyway,this review is about the Access Point itself. Firstly this can be quit hard to set up if you aren't good with your networks. I wouldn't let this put you off as TP-Link have great customer support. The problem that I was having was that to gain access to the Access Point I had to enter '192.168.1.254' in the web browser. The problem was that my internal IP address for my network runs on 192.168.0.XXX; this meant that I couldn't access it to configure the device. If any other people are having this problem the solution is to disconnect a computer from your current network, change your computers network adapter IP setting to static (meaning you enter your own IP address in) making sure that the first three sections of the IP is the same as the device (192.168.1.XXX -->Set XXX to what ever you like ). Once you have the same IP scheme for the device and computer connect it via an ethernet cable and then try to connect to the device by entering in it's IP address in the web browser (192.168.1.254). Enter in the user credentials (default is - User Name: admin - Password: admin). Next you need click the 'Network' link in the side bar and then making sure the type is 'static' type in your preferred IP scheme. (Virgin Media routers I believe is "192.168.0.XXX"); I kept everything the same but changed the '1' to a '0'. Now you need to save the changes, reboot the device, change your network adapter settings back to usual (select - Obtain an IP address automatically --> the router will dish out an IP address which uses the same IP scheme). Finally you now can connect to the Access Point (wired or wireless) and enter in its new IP address so you can finally configure the device to your liking.The steps broken down are:1. Change your network card IP to static and enter in the appropriate IP matching the device.2. Connect computer to the device via an ethernet cable (using wired connections on setup seem easier)3. Access the device by entering the devices IP in your browser4. Change the static IP of the device to your current IP scheme which you use for all local computers on your network5. Save changes and reboot device6. Change back your computers network card to automatically obtain the IP address8. Connect to the device again using the new IP Address you set along with entering user credentials when needed9. Finally configure the device to your needs!Thats probably a lot to take in although it can take around 5mins if you know what you are doing. If you still don't understand contact TP-Link using their support numbers provided in the manual. Or your could get a techie friend to do it for you.Over all the product is brilliant. I really recommend getting those upgraded omni direction antennas for added performance. And finally, if your want the best possible wireless connection available you may also want to think about the receiving end (the computer). Think about it as throwing a ball to your friend who is 100 meters away were as your friend can only throw the ball back 50 meters and not 100. What I am trying to get at is that its not only the router/wireless access point that you may need to upgrade but also your wireless dongles and wifi cards.Any way, this review/whatever you want to call it is dragging on... Enjoy your improved, reliable and stable wireless connection.Andrew.

9.3.2013

I had trouble setting up this range extender. Moreover, most of the reviews I read, hoping to sort out what Iwas doing wrong, were baffling. Eventually I spoke to TP-Link Support, who phoned me (from China!). Once it works, the connection is superb, so it's worth the effort. If you do speak to technical support, it's worth recording the conversation! This is what I remember of what I was told. Doubtless it'll have some minor inaccuracies...I have a Belkin router (management URL is 192.168.2.1) about 30 metres from the range extender.1. Connect the supplied CAT-5 cable to the TP-Link (and then check it is connected by looking to see all 4 lights on the front of the TP-Link are on).2.Create a static IP address -- instructions how to do this are easily found on the net. My machine is Windows 7.Go to Network and Sharing Center> Change adapter settings> Right click local area connection> properties> IPv4 -double click - replace automatic with 192.168.1.100; subnet 255.255.255.0; click and close3. Then open your browser> enter address 192.168.1.254That should give you a Login window for TP-Link management - User name and Password are Admin both times. On the TP-Link Management page look at the left hand side menu:Check the Firmware version is the latest; Wireless section> set up Universal Repeater, region, 20/40, and enable wireless radio.Wireless settings> Click on Survey. That should give you a list of nearby Wifi which includes your own (mine is named Belkin in this example, and the MAC address should be correct for the Belkin router). Click on connect (right hand column) to Belkin. I have already changed the channel on the Belkin from automatic to Channel 6, which I know from a nifty free programme, INSIDDer, isn't much used by the neighbours. Click Save. Don't reboot yet.Wireless Security> in my case it is WPA2-PSK; make sure that encryption and password is the same as the base router (in my case the Belkin).Click Network> Change IP Address of TP-Link to same subset as Belkin. So in this example, the management URL of the Belkin is 192.168.2.1 so I changed the IP address of the TP-Link to 192.168.2.254; subset to 255.255.255.0; change Gateway to 192.168.2.1 as per the Belkin router.Click Save. The TP-Link restarts. Exit browser.4. Lift off. Remove the CAT-5 cable and your USB modem should now associate with the TP-Link, giving you a strong 5 bar signal.5. If you switch on the following day and don't get the TP-Link, then boot up so that your USB modem is working, and switch the TP-Link off and then (10 seconds later) on again. That should allow the TP-Link to associate with your modem. If the signal isn't strong, try going to the management URL of your base router (in my case the Belkin) and changing the Channel from automatic to 1,6,12 or 11, and see if that improves the signal.It's worth going through this rigmarole, because once it works, it's great! I hope this proves useful for users. Tony

10.1.2012

I wanted to use this device as a repeater in a room where the router (a netgear DGN1000) is giving a poor signal. I read and reread the instructions as advised in an earlier post, they are pretty awful.Then tried to set it up, I connected an ethernet cable and then changed its IP address to 192.168.1.3 to suit my needs and changed it to UNIVERSAL REPEATER and reserved the IP 192.168.1.3 address on my router.Rebooted the repeater and router it then showed up on my router as an attached device.I then removed the ethernet cable and then the repeater disappeared from the router list, after trying a few times sometimes pressing the button on the front and sometimes not,I gave up and contacted support who emailed me some instructions, which were basically what I had already done, but this time after pulling out the cable the repeater IP address stayed on the router. There is actually no need to press the QSS button on the WA901ND.So I now removed it and switched it back on in the remote location and then after about 30 seconds it appeared on the attached devices list on the router and now works exactly as required. We currently connect two Galaxy S phones, a KOBO reader,a windows laptop and occasional visitors phones/laptops and all work perfectly. While some of this was going on I could not login to the router (while the cable was connected to the repeater) and later after disconnecting the cable I could not access the router.to summarise the installationconnect the WA901ND to the wireless router using an ethernet cablethen open the software for the repeater by typing the default 192.168.1.254 into a web browserchange the WA901ND IP address to be a static address you could leave it as 192.168.1.254 if you wishchange the mode to UNIVERSAL REPEATERthen open the software in the router by typing its IP address into the browserreserve the IP address used on the routerreboot both router and repeaterremove cable from router once it has showed up on the router, it should then connect by wirelessswitch off and take WA901ND to its intended location and switch it onwait about 30 seconds and all should be well.I assigned a static IP address for my main computer as wellRouter 192.168.1.1Main Computer 192.168.1.2Repeater 192.168.1.3Then any other devices pick up an IP address from the router as long as you have it set to be a DHCP server.Once working, as someone else commented, for about £20 the device is brilliant our phones were showing a minimal signal from the router and now with the repeater they are getting maximum signal and all work infinitely better. It can now be switched off when not in use and reconnects in a few seconds when required again.Thus I have given it 5 stars despite the problems with installation.

6.12.2011

Bought this to add to my home network and to use as a simple access point so that wireless devices can access the internet.First step out of the box was to assign a different IP address to fit with my network. My existing Netgear router is acting as the DHCP server, so I had already reduced the range of IP addresses is dishes out and then assigned the TP Link access point a static IP address outside of this range. Actually accessing the access point's admin pages was a little tricky and I had to first assign a static IP address to my laptop's network point (the instructions explain how to do this, if you don't know how)

8.6.2011

The TPLink TL-WA901ND Wireless N Access Point completely fixed the problems i was having.1. i had a dead zone in my kitchen where the signal was was poor and dropped out often2. Transferring data over wifi to my Synology DiskStation NAS box was also poor (sub 100kbps)i bought the tp-link TL-WA901ND in the hope that it would fix these issues and it does. I figured that if the repeater function didn't work very well with my Netgear DG834Gv1 then i'd just disable the wifi on the Netgear and use the TPLink AP instead.Once the TPLink AP arrived i tried enabling it as a repeater, which while boosted the signal in the kitchen i was still getting poor transfer speeds to the NAS box; still sub 100kbps.

20.4.2015

Ok so I had had enough of my BT Home Hub3's crappy WiFi. Its insistence on disconnecting every connected device when it changed channel (which was occurring more and more frequently as the airwaves get all the more crowded), and the incredibly slow transfer rate which appeared to degrade over time forcing a manual reset of the hub every few days (much to the family's annoyance)Since I was planning to replace the router at some point with a dedicated device, I wanted to just replace the WiFi right now, hence this purchase.I cannot fault the unit. Not only does it look like its capable of rendering you sterile if you stand too close,

24.5.2012

This item was bought to replace the wireless function of my BT Hub3 router on BT Fibre connection. I had found the WiFi performance of the supplied BT product to be useless in my large(ish) but new house, especially as my BT input to the house had not been centrally situated (minimal connection 2 rooms away - might as well have been back on dial-up from speed point of view). Homeplug 200 (by DLink) excellent to supply distant static computer, but not for laptop used throughout all rooms and garden.TL-WA901ND was easy to configure AFTER connecting it to a computer with a fixed IP address in range 192.168.1.xxx first; then changing its IP address away from 192.168.1.254 (factory default,

8.11.2012

We bought this access point to extend the range of a BT Homehub 3 because we live in a long flat with some thicker walls. The Homehub's signal reached only half-way through the flat.Having installed the wireless access point we now have full signal all through the flat and the connection speed is nice and quick.The set-up process requires reasonable patience and some technical ability - particularly the first stage. If you're using an Ethernet cable you are required to set up a static IP when connecting to the access point. If this is going to be a problem for you, I would stop reading here.It's also worth noting that the default IP address for this access point is likely going to be the same as your router,

6.1.2012

My main broadband router (BT Homehub) is in one corner of my house, so to boost the signal I previously used a Belkin access point in the opposite corner of the house connected via powerline kit. It was OK, but was only 802.11g and still meant a weak and unreliable signal upstairs for the 802.11n adapter on my bedroom TV. I primarily bought the TP-Link AP to get a decent 802.11n connection for my TV.The AP was really easy to setup (I only used the documentation to get the admin password!) and the messages issued during configuration were all the help I needed to avoid a few traps and pitfalls. Once up and running (took about 10 mins), I switched off my old Belkin and starting running with the TP-Link.

21.10.2013

I work in IT so thought this would be an easy setup. The instructions tell you to connect to this device either by Ethernet cable or by wireless using the built in SSID. Then you type in a URL and get the setup page and choose what you want to do with the device.After 20 minutes of getting know where I called the UK support number and was connected to somebody who understood little about the device as well as English! I was constantly asked to use a CD that didn’t come with my device and in the end the great suggestion was to return it to Amazon!In the end it was easy enough to set up as long as you did it right1. Plug this device into your router via Ethernet or you can use a Power over Ethernet plug but need to use an extra bit of hardware (supplied)2.

10.6.2013

I've purchased two of these units. I live in a large (almost) bungalow, with all of my network gear in the basement areas of the house, so my wifi has a lot of work to do. I had a Virgin Superhub (huge misnomer) installed about a year ago and I struggled to get a good wifi signal in all but a couple of rooms, which lead me to install the first of these TP-Link devices at the other end of the property linked via ethernet. Great coverage inside the house, though it's worth noting that the TP-Link covers about 80% of the house with a decent signal, while the Virgin Supergrub covers only about 40% of the house with a decent signal.Anyhow,

3.1.2012

I had been using a Belkin box that had served me very well for a couple of years but just couldnt get a good signal on my son's new pc or xbox 360 downstairs. I tried a Belkin range extender but to no avail. All PC equipment around the house had N1 wireless cards fitted, so started looking for an alternative N1 wireless router. I saw a few good reviews for the TP-Link TL-WA901ND Advanced Wireless N Access Point so decided to give it a go as it was a good price.Did as I was told in the instruction booklet, but because I didnt believe everything in the booklet (I thought I knew most things about networking and wifi (as a consequence couldnt get the thing to work).

13.4.2014

I bought this to extend the range of one of our two routers. We have two ISPs currently - and the cost of this router more than offsets the savings in download charges from BT - one of our two ISPs. Coverage is generally good, and we use this with a pair of TP-Link AV powerline adapters to extend the range from the router close to the entry point to our house.It does require a little configuration, and some knowledge of networks and subnetting is helpful. I have changed the IP address and SSID, and also changed the wireless channel to reduce conflicts with neighbours. It seems also to be necessary to ensure that the DNS is set up. Sometimes the settings need to be reset, which can be annoying,

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