Throughput testing also supported this, even in non ideal conditions, with generally higher throughput and much more stable speeds throughout the testing conducted.
For comparisons sake, here are the same tests from the same locations performed using just the EA9500
Comparing this to the results achieved using just the EA9500 alone shows why as secondary device such as the RE7000 is useful to have, even when you seem to have reasonable coverage in your home already.
Finally, when placed in a ‘sweet spot’ where the RE7000 shows good levels of signal and its positioning indicator is in the green we see the following
The spot finder shows the RE7000 to be in an ideal location here
Interestingly, performance seemed to take a hit when testing in the ideal spot for the device, however this could be attributed to transient interference or other uncontrollable variables, which are always an issue when testing Wi-Fi networks sadly. Either way, the net result is still showing overall improvement over using just the EA9500 alone.
Conclusion
Overall, the RE7000 does pretty much as expected, increased wifi coverage, with stronger signals and still good, headline hitting speeds. While I saw better performance when testing UDP than I did TCP, but I suspect this may be down to the fundamental differences between the two protocols, with UDP just throwing data at the client machine and not caring about dropped packets, while TCP has various checks in place to ensure that all the packets are received which can cause additional overhead. This does seem to be yet another solid piece of hardware. With a simple setup and multiple options for how to get the device onto your network. The interface is as slick as anything I have seen from Linksys of late and is reasonably user friendly enough that it should be usable by most users who are likely to spend the money on this device.
Like the EA9500, it does clock in with a hefty price tag, but if you need cutting edge features and lightning speeds it’s certainly worth the price.
Linksys RE7000
109.99
Pros
- Great looking bit of kit that just vanishes into the background
- Fast, reliable connectivity
- Fairly feature rich fo a device of this type
Cons
- Slightly more expensive than alternatives on the market