Everybody has those spots in their home where the Wi-Fi is spotty. With guests arriving for the holidays, now is a good time to eliminate those Wi-Fi dead zones to keep everyone connected. Even powerful routers can struggle to reach every corner of a multistory house. You can upgrade to a mesh Wi-Fi router system, but they can cost quite a lot and might be a bigger upgrade than you actually need.
Since we're in the middle of the holiday shopping season, you can actually score top deals on Wi-Fi extenders, making for an even cheaper upgrade. With an investment of $20, an extender can help you take your Wi-Fi range into a specific room without needing a full network overhaul. We've tested extenders over here at CNET, and our testing shows that extenders work perfectly fine when you only need to fix a Wi-Fi dead spot.
If you're looking to bring your Wi-Fi outside the house, be sure to check out our explainer on extending Wi-Fi outdoors, which includes recommendations for Wi-Fi extenders and mesh networks.
Also called a Wi-Fi signal booster, a range or Wi-Fi extender is a compact, plug-in device that is simple and hassle-free to implement. Wi-Fi extenders use built-in Wi-Fi radios and antennas to pair wirelessly with your router; no Ethernet cable required. Just plug one near the edge of your router's wireless range and pair it with the network, and it'll start rebroadcasting the signal farther out for significantly faster internet speeds throughout your home.
Wi-Fi extenders are great options when you have a single room that you want to give a speed boost, like an office or a room with a smart TV. Wi-Fi extenders are generally less expensive than upgrading to a full-fledged mesh router with its own mesh Wi-Fi systems and range-extending satellite devices. Plus, they are generally a cinch to set up, they'll work no matter what brand of router you're using, and you can typically use the same SSID and password as your original router. That creates a single, seamless connection that will give you the best Wi-Fi range available with your current setup -- all without you needing to think about it too much.
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However, signal boosters can't extend your Wi-Fi signal to an entire floor or side of the house like a mesh router can. An extender is only as good as the router it's connected to, which means you won't see huge improvements if your router is failing, outdated or in the wrong spot.
Your Cox modem should be in 'Bridge mode' so it acts just as a modem and not also as a router.
Understanding the Testing Environment
We spent weeks testing these range extenders at the CNET Smart Home. It's a much better environment for testing wireless devices at range than a personal, somewhat cramped, shotgun-style house -- and with more ground to cover, it offered a much bigger challenge for these extenders. This is the control graph, showing you the average speeds in each room we tested with no range extenders in play at all. On its own, a single, entry-level Wi-Fi 6 router in the laundry room was able to deliver decent speeds on the main floor of the home (the first four rooms in this chart), but speeds plummeted in the basement (the last four rooms), especially the upload speeds.
The CNET Smart Home has a fiber internet connection with matching upload and download speeds of up to 150Mbps. That's a far cry from the gigabit connections more and more of us have access to (not to mention the new, blazing-fast multi-gig internet plans emerging across the country). However, it's in line with the Federal Communication Commission's broadband definition, which makes it a great place to test how home networking products will work for the average consumer.
For our purposes, we started by setting up a router in the Smart Home's laundry room, where the modem is set up. We went with the Netgear R6700AX, a perfectly decent model we've reviewed in the past. It offered reliable performance but limited range when we tested it -- and that's exactly what we wanted for these range extender tests. We ran all of this year's range extender tests with a Netgear R6700AX router running the network. It's a low-power, budget-price Wi-Fi 6 model that offered consistent performance when we first tested it out, making it an ideal control router for these tests.
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Sure enough, the router delivered strong speeds on the home's main floor, but as soon as we went down to the basement level, speeds started to fall. That includes single-digit upload speeds in the bourbon room and the mud room. (Yes, the Smart Home has a bourbon room that the previous owners used to age their own barrels. We don't have any barrels of our own, but it smells amazing in there. Kentucky, ya'll!)
With our control speeds established, it was time to start adding in the range boosters and seeing which ones improved things the best. Pairing each one with the router required us only to plug it in nearby and press the WPS button on both devices -- after that, we relocated them downstairs to the basement rec room, which was the farthest point from the router that still had a decent signal and speeds. Whenever you're using a Wi-Fi range extender, that's typically the best place to put it: just shy of the edge of your router's range, where it will still receive a strong enough signal to put out a strong signal of its own. The best way to find that spot? Grab your phone or laptop and run some speed tests.
In the end, we ran at least 96 speed tests for each extender, two rounds of 24 tests to find its average speeds to a Wi-Fi 5 client device (an iPad Air 2 from 2015) and another two rounds of 24 tests to check its speeds to a Wi-Fi 6 client device (a 2021 Lenovo ThinkPad laptop). In each case, we started the first round of tests with a fresh connection in the laundry room, closest to the router, and then started the second round of tests with a fresh connection in the mud room, farthest from the router. With each test, we logged the client device's download speed, its upload speed and the latency of the connection.
Aside from our speed tests, we streamed video on each extender's network and made several video calls while connected through each one. We also spent time playing with each extender's settings. You shouldn't expect much, but most will at least make it easy to change the extension network's name or password. Some include app controls with extra features, too.
It's also worth making sure that your range extender includes at least one Ethernet port (almost all of them do). If you can directly connect your wired device (like a smart TV), then you'll enjoy speeds that are as fast as possible.
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Top Wi-Fi Extenders for Cox Panoramic
If you decide to go the Wi-Fi extender route, our vote for the best Wi-Fi extender is the Linksys RE7310. While it's slightly more expensive than other models at $80, it delivered significant speed boosts in every room we tested and offers full support for Wi-Fi 6 speeds.If you're looking for something more affordable, there are plenty of options for under $50, although not all of them have Wi-Fi 6 support. We've spent the past few years regularly testing them to find the best of the bunch. After countless tests, our data identified the range extenders that reigned supreme. Let's get right to them.
Linksys RE7310
In the CNET Smart Home, where we have a fiber internet plan with uploads and downloads of up to 150Mbps, the RE7310 returned average Wi-Fi 6 downloads throughout the entire multistory house of 132Mbps. As for the uploads, Linksys finished with an average whole-home speed to my Wi-Fi 6 test device of 124Mbps. The RE7310 finished in a virtual tie with the TP-Link RE605X on Wi-Fi 6 devices, but was slightly less impressive with earlier-gen Wi-Fi 5 devices, particularly with respect to upload speeds. Still, the performance was solid across the board, and strong enough to take video calls in the Smart Home's basement dead zones, something we would have struggled with using just the single router we ran our tests on. It's a bit bulky-looking, but the RE7310 is the best Linksys range extender we've tested yet, and it's an especially great pick if you can catch it on sale.
TP-Link makes some of the most popular picks in the range extender category, with a fairly wide variety of options to choose from at various price points.
TP-Link RE605X
At $64, it's far from the most affordable extender on the market (keep reading for the value picks), but with a highly capable AX1800 design, full support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 speeds and features, adjustable antennas and a helpful, easy-to-use control app with strong reviews on both Android and iOS, it's about as well-rounded as range extenders get. The performance is particularly sharp too. In the tests at the CNET Smart Home, an RE605X in the basement was able to extend the router's signal from upstairs just fine, giving our upload and download speeds a significant boost in every room we tested. That's better than extenders that put out an unsecured network by default -- and if you use the app to delete that "-EXT" bit, it'll automatically sync up with your original network and work invisibly to keep you better connected, which is ideal.
The TP-Link RE605X makes it easy to tweak settings via TP-Link's Tether app on an Android or iOS device. Again, the features make for slim pickings, but you can check signal strength or turn on High-Speed Mode, which dedicates the 2.4GHz band for traffic from the router to the range extender, leaving the 5GHz free for your regular Wi-Fi network traffic. That mode wasn't as fast as sharing the 5GHz band like normal when we tested it out, because those incoming 2.4GHz speeds are limited, but it still might be a helpful option in some situations.
TP-Link RE220
The TP-Link RE220 was the least expensive range extender during our first run of at-home tests, but that didn't stop it from outperforming everything else we tested at every turn. As Wi-Fi extenders go, it's fast, it's reliable, it works with just about every Wi-Fi router out there, and it's easy to use. And, as of writing this, it costs even less than we paid for it initially -- down to $15 on Amazon. Plug it in and press the WPS button to pair it with your home network, and it'll begin broadcasting its own networks on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Both offered steady Wi-Fi speeds throughout the home, including average download speeds on the 5GHz band of at least 75Mbps in every room access point we tested, along with strong upload speeds.
The RE220 never once dropped our connection, and its speeds were consistent across multiple days of tests during both daytime and evening hours. It's a little long in the tooth at this point, and it won't wow you with Wi-Fi 6 speeds, but the strong ease of use and the steady, dependable level of performance it offers mean it's still an absolute steal. It's not as fast as the top models we've tested in the years since, and we haven't had a chance to retest it at the CNET Smart Home just yet -- but it's still a great choice if you want to boost the signal from the Wi-Fi router to a back room that sits beyond the router's reach, but you'd like to pay as little as possible to get the job done.
D-Link DAP-X1870
Another strong model from our tests, the D-Link DAP-X1870, is an excellent performer that creates a single, unified network as soon as you pair it with your router. That keeps things easy, but at a retail price around $85, it feels a bit too expensive here in 2025. If you're simply looking for the best value pick, we'd probably stick with the $15 TP-Link RE220. However, we'll keep an eye out for any other good sales and update this post as we spot them.
Performance Analysis: Speed Tests
Ready to see how the range extenders did in terms of upload and download speeds? Let's take a look. These graphs show the average download speeds by room (left) and average upload speeds by room (right) for a Wi-Fi 6 laptop connected to each extender. All five models we tested delivered noticeable improvements to the connection, but some did a better job than others.
On the left, this first set of graphs shows you the average download speeds by room for each extender we tested. On the right, you're looking at the average upload speeds. All of these speeds are to our Wi-Fi 6 test device, a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop from 2021.
So what jumps out? First, all five of these extenders did a decent job of boosting speeds in those last four rooms, down in the basement. With all of them, we had a faster connection throughout the house than we had when we connected through the router alone. The D-Link EaglePro AI struggled a bit with upload speeds in the basement, but still kept things above a minimum of 20Mbps or so.
That was with a Wi-Fi 6 device, though. How did the performance look with an older Wi-Fi 5 device from several years ago? Again, this is average download speeds by room on the left, average upload speeds on the right -- this time, to an older Wi-Fi 5 device.
Meanwhile, in the basement, our top picks from TP-Link and Linksys (as well as the high-performing Asus RP-AX56) were each able to keep download speeds above 100Mbps, which is great. Uploads were another story, as all of the extenders struggled. None of them failed to deliver a usable upload connection outright, though the D-Link EaglePro AI came close with single-digit upload speeds in the basement's farthest reaches.
Additional Factors Affecting Network Speed
VPN can slow down networks depending on the one used and how it is deployed. Since VPNs puts another devices in the stream of data it does have an impact on the data speed. If the VPN is just a direct VPN between your wife's company and her PC it should not be a factor. I would try at a time when her PC is not needed, to disconnect the VPN and power down her PC. if the VPN and/or her PC is affecting the network. If you google "Cox and VPN" there appears others affected by it. Again this is a maybe, just something to check.
Sometimes other devices can cause slow downs. Selectively isolate devices by powering them down to see the affect on the network. For example an old printer may cause an issue or a PC having issues try to download data.
Interference on a WIFI channel can be a cause. Interference can be caused by many different things not related to your network such as someone else's network or things like microwaves, garage door openers, security systems, wireless phones,... Try different channels and band widths in your WIFI settings. I like to use different SSIDs and passwords for each of the WIFI bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) as it allows me more control over the devices and where they connect.
Remove and disconnect any unused devices from the network. Uploading data (backups) to the cloud can put stress on a network. Ensure the cable going into the modem is clean and tight. If your Cox connection includes TV and such, check each of those connections at the TVs and any other connection points such as switches and splitters. Get rid of any dead drops where you may have removed a TV. Note if the problem occurs when you turn on a TV. An Ethernet device or a connected USB device can slow a router down so isolating them needs to be done also. A router is just a small computer with very limited resources.
Review any logs the modem and router has and if anything appears to occur at the time of the start of the issue, check with the vendors to see what it means. The messages are not well documented for the end user. If it appears not to be any devices causing the issue, and an extended test bypassing the router does not cause the issue, then I would try a factory reset on the router. That means you need to re-enter all your router settings.
Very rare, but your network may have been hacked. Change your SSIDs including the guest networks and the passwords using a long and strong password.
Another key takeaway from these tests is that Wi-Fi 6 delivers some of its most noticeable speed boosts on the upload side of things. If you're looking to make lots of video calls, upload lots of large files to the web or anything else requiring sturdy upload performance, then upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 hardware should be high on your list of priorities (assuming you haven't already made the jump).
For our first batch of range extender tests a few years back, we tested four bargain-priced models to see which one offered the most bang for the buck. It was the start of the pandemic and people were scrambling to bolster their home networks -- we wanted to be sure we could point them to a good, budget-friendly pick that would do the best job as a signal booster offering an extra room's worth of coverage in a pinch. In the end, the aforementioned TP-Link RE220 was the runaway winner. Currently available for $15, it remains a solid value pick.
Let us know if you find something so it helps others.