With more and more devices connecting wirelessly in homes and businesses, it can be difficult for your wireless router to keep up and provide adequate coverage. Our TITAN-EX review takes a look at a high power AC1900 Wi-Fi range extender from Amped Wireless which boosts your Wi-Fi experience with expanded range and speeds.
Specifications
The Amped Wireless TITAN-EX High Power AC1900 Wi-Fi range extender includes the following specifications and features:
- Wireless Standard: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
- Frequency Band: 2.4/5GHz Simultaneous
- Wireless Speed: 2.4GHz: 600Mbps; 5GHz: 1300Mbps
- Amplifiers: 3 x 2.4GHz Amplifiers; 3 x 5GHz Amplifiers; 8 x Low Noise Amplifiers
- Processor: 1GHz Dual-Core Processor
- Memory: 128MB DDR3
- Wireless Coverage Control: 15% – 100% Output Power (Adjustable individually for 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks)
- Antennas: 4 x Detachable High Gain 5dBi Dual Band Antennas
- Ports: 5 x RJ-45 10/100/1000M LAN Ports (Local Ports); 1 x USB 3.0 Port for USB Storage; 1 x USB 2.0 Port for USB Storage
- Power Adapter Rating: Switching Adapter (Input: 100-240v, Output: 12v, 2.5A)
- Mounting: Wall or Desktop
- Warranty: 1 Year
- Setup Requirements: Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n or ac 2.4GHz or 5GHz Network; Computer, tablet or smartphone with a web browser
What’s in the Box
- 1x TITAN-EX High Power AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender
- 4x Detachable High Gain Dual Band Antennas
- 1x Power Adapter (100-240v)
- 1x Setup Guide
- 1x CD With User’s Guide & Installation Video
Design
The TITAN-EX is a sleek looking black rectangular box. The front has two vents with white inlays and black grilles on either side of the Amped Wireless logo which sits in the middle. The top has another vent, also with a white inlay and black grill. Below the vent is a strip with five LEDs that light up to indicate power, 5.0GHz connection, 2.4GHz connection, wireless signal strength, and USB connection. The back of the TITAN-EX is where your connections are, and from left to right include: power button, power connection port, USB 2.0 port, 5 Gigabit network ports, LED on/off button, WPS 1-touch setup button, and a reset pinhole. The four antennas attach to gold plated RJ-SMA connections — one on each end, and one on either side of the 5 Gigabit network ports. A second USB port, this time USB 3.0, sits on the right hand side of the Wi-Fi extender, and the bottom includes vented slits running horizontally with two long rubber strips that act as feet, and a screw mounting hole on either side which allow for the extender to be mounted in four different directions — with the antennas pointing up, down, right, or left.
I had the TITAN-EX set up for most of the time in my living room, and it didn’t look all that out of place sitting on top of my PVR box.
Ease of Use
The TITAN-EX was very easy to set up and use. Setup consists of unboxing the extender, attaching the antennas, and plugging it in. Once plugged in and powered on, connect your computer, tablet, or smartphone to one of the two default networks (Amped_TitanEX_2.4 or Amped_TitanEX_5.0), open your web browser, and visit the web menu provided to access the dashboard. After a simple configuration which consists of scanning for available networks to extend and entering your home wireless password into the TITAN-EX, simply reboot the extender and you’re good to go.
You can also clone the settings from your home network, or set up custom SSIDs for the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz extended networks. It’s a good idea to check the signal strength LED on the top of the TITAN-EX at this time to make sure you are getting an excellent signal. The light will be green (excellent), yellow (moderate), or red (poor) depending on your signal strength. For best results you’ll obviously want it to be green, and the signal strength LED is an easy way to tell what the best place for your extender is.
Software
We touched briefly on the web menu dashboard in the previous section. After you’ve connected the extender to your home wireless network, you can reconnect to it at any time for further configuration. To do so, you must be connected wirelessly to either of the extender networks. Once there, you’ll see the main dashboard which displays your home and extended network statuses. Selecting the More Settings tab on the menu allows you to further configure 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi settings including changing the password, enabling/disabling WPS, enabling MAC filtering, adjusting the wireless output power to tweak coverage range, set up an access schedule, and advance settings for advanced use.
Through the web interface you can also set up local USB sharing when you have a USB flash drive or USB external drive attached to the USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port, enable BoostBand Technology which increases the overall speed and performance of the Range Extender by streamlining dual band network traffic through a single Wi-Fi frequency band between the Router and the Range Extender, change IP settings, and check device settings including device status, network statistics, set the time on the extender, check system logs, upgrade the firmware, save or reload settings to a file, and change your access password. Another nice feature is the ability to add up to eight additional wireless networks for other rooms or offices. Each network can be customized with unique passwords and bandwidth restrictions for those connected to it.
Performance
As I mentioned previously, for most of the time I tested the TITAN-EX, I had it sitting in my living room which is on the main floor and my main wireless router is on the second floor. Without the extender, Wi-Fi signal strength in our basement is somewhat lacking, between 25-50% and I’ve been meaning to move my Wi-Fi router to the main floor. With the TITAN-EX, it didn’t matter where we were in the house, we always had full Wi-Fi bars on all our devices. For a quick test I moved the extender to the second floor beside the main wireless router and was still able to get full bars in the basement.
Amped Wireless claims up to 14,000 sq ft of extended Wi-Fi coverage, and while I didn’t measure distance with a tape measure, with the wireless output power set to 100% I could still get a full signal past the house next door, and it was four houses down before the signal finally dropped. Based on that, you’ll definitely want to play with the wireless output power settings and decrease it until you get the coverage you desire within your house without blanketing the neighbourhood. On the other hand, should you be picking one of these up for a business environment, you should be able to cover quite a large area with this extender.
Price/Value
Priced at $189.99USD, the TITAN-EX isn’t the most expensive extender you can get, but it’s not the cheapest either. There are also AC1900 wireless routers in this price range, however if you want to keep your existing router or have a very large area you need to cover, the TITAN-EX Wi-Fi Range Extender from Amped Wireless should definitely be on your list of considerations.
Wrap-up
The Amped Wireless TITAN-EX High Power AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender is easy to set up, and does an excellent job of extending the Wi-Fi coverage in your home or office with fast access speeds.
[rwp-review id=”0″]*We were sent a demo unit of the Amped Wireless TITAN-EX High Power AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on June 28, 2016.
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