Review on EnGenius Technologies EAP1300 Wi-Fi 5: Quad-Core Processors, MU-MIMO, High Powered 23dBm, GigaE Port | Indoor Wireless Access Point by David Jennings

I bought this access point when my 5 year old EnGenuis ECB350 started losing signal. The ECB350 was a 300N serving the top floor of my house while my Comcast Arris wireless router served the bottom floor. I was also looking to upgrade to 802.11ac and the EAP1300 is attractively priced and has 2x2 Wave 2 wireless. Contrary to some reviews, I found the EAP1300 to be one of the easiest wireless products I have ever installed. I'm not a network guru and I don't work in the IT department. I'm an engineer who tinkers with things and has a basic understanding of networks and wireless networks. I connected the access point to my network and found its IP address from my router. Once I knew the IP address, I logged into the hotspot web interface using Chrome and proceeded with the setup. I was surprised by the abundance of functions and configuration options. What I liked: - The transmission power for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands can be set separately. This gives you more flexibility in balancing the power of the various access points and routers in your network. Automatic channel selection lets you specify which channels you want to use. You can choose between 1 and all channels and select as you like. Band Control allows you to set the signal threshold at which devices on the 5 GHz frequency must be controlled. This is useful for maximizing range and indicating when devices should be on 5GHz (less range but faster speed) or dropping to 2.4GHz (more range but slower speed). This hotspot has way more features than me. used to typical consumer devices. All settings make it a great access point for SOHO or small business. That's why I want to buy enterprise-class hardware in the future. The features are great, but it's the range that I really enjoy. I have a 3,000 square foot house with a 1,300 square foot garage. I get a 5 GHz signal throughout the house at >100 Mbps in my bedroom, living room and family room (I have 150 Mbps internet service). In the rest of the house I can still get >50Mb and in the garage I can get 20Mb. This is with the AP ceiling installed on the second floor of my house in the central hallway. I also disabled the N300 radio on the Comcast router. This hotspot made it completely obsolete. The only downside to the EAP1300 is that it doesn't include a PoE injector. Several competing models in this price range. It didn't really matter to me since I have an outlet in the attic not far from where I installed the hotspot.