Review on Edimax EW 7438RPn Universal Indicator Smartphone by Alan Pfeiffer

Thing works as advertised. A basic understanding of what you're dealing with will help you decide if this thing will work for you. I bought it because I had space in our bedroom with poor lighting. Using WiFi Analyzer for Android (it's a free app) I got a signal of -75dB or worse. My Xbox was buffering so much Netflix playback that it couldn't be viewed. I was hoping I could find a way to boost that signal a bit so we could stream movies without the hassle of buffering. Put simply, it's nothing more than a signal booster. With that in mind, you should be able to place this device somewhere that still has a GOOD signal from your router. Placing this in my master bedroom will only boost a poor signal which is not what you want. Of course I would have full bands (-65dB or better), but the data rate would suffer. It's no better than a signal of -75 dB or worse. So I tried three places and below are the results. Remember I have a FIOS N router and my data transfer rate from speedtestdotnet on the router is 40mb upload and 30mb upload with a ping of 15 to a server 100 miles away. The device plugs into an outlet in the master bedroom (45 feet from the router and across two walls) where the router's signal is -75 dB. The result was a signal of -45dB (great) but the data rate was less than 1 megabyte up and down and the ping was over 200ms (not good at all) The unit was plugged into an outlet in the hallway. between the router and the master bedroom (30ft from the router) where the signal is -65dB Result: -55 signal (good) and 5MB data rate up and down, the ping was just under 100ms (improvement) 15ft from Router away and in line of sight with the router and the bedroom door (use it to pick up the signal around the corner), the signal from the router at this point was -45dB. The result was a signal of -65 (still decent) and a data rate of just under 9 megabytes up and down, the ping was less than 50. The last spot seemed like the perfect spot, I get full tapes on my XBOX ( yes , this device works with XBOX) while Netflix loads faster and only buffers on startup. Netflix is also now playing HD most of the time (a sign of a better connection). By placing the extender in a location that is in direct line of sight from both the router and the bedroom and downstairs, my signal is now amazing downstairs where it really couldn't be used before. WPS didn't work by the way, but it was very easy to set it up manually. . Just follow the printed instructions. I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat. In fact, I might buy one to try and bend the signal around a different corner so I have a line of sight to my yard. I've had to restart it once since installing it on 9/11. I think the key to getting this thing to work is to make sure you put it somewhere with a signal level above -65dB or you're wasting your time. Mine is in an area where the signal from the router is -45 to -50dB and it transmits that signal speed to my backyard (in the specified direction). I've noticed that it produces the best signal from the front. device (the side where the LEDs are lit), so I used a small extension cord to make sure this device was "pointing" in the direction I needed the best signal. I also bought a cheap 110v timer ($7) that plugs into the wall. I basically set a timer to turn the device off at 4am for 15 minutes now. I doubt I'll ever have problems with it due to signal loss.