Improve WLAN coverage: Fritz!WLAN Repeater 1750E

If the router is placed unluckily, sometimes even in smaller homes the WLAN range is not sufficient to achieve good coverage everywhere. Sometimes reception is signalled, but no data is transmitted. A WLAN repeater like the Fritz!WLAN Repeater 1750E can help here.

Since I already use a Fritz!Box 7490 as a router on a VDSL2 connection of the Telekom, it has bothered me for quite a while that the WLAN did not cover the whole apartment. Unfortunately the telephone connection is placed in a way that the WLAN of the Fritz!Box does not cover the whole flat in sufficient quality. Although a powerline connection comes with Devolo 650+ adapters for the use to connect a notebook or for the smartphone this is rather impractical.

On the search for suitable products I got stuck with the Fritz!WLAN Repeater 1750E. In principle it corresponds to the AVM FRITZ!WLAN Repeater DVB-Cbut without the DVB-C functions.When it comes to WLAN, it covers everything you could need:

• WI-FI: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz simultaneously)
• Transfer rates: max. 450 Mbps (2.4 Ghz) or 1,300 Mbps (5 GHz)
• Security: 64/128bit WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPS
• Power consumption: 5.5 watts
• LAN: 1x 1 GBit/s

Fritz!WLAN 1750E: Setup

The setup of the WLAN bridge is very simple: if WPS is used, all you have to do is press the corresponding button on the Fritz!Box (or any other router that supports Wifi Protected Setup) and set the repeater to the same mode. If the first setup was successful, you can make further settings in the repeater's user interface, e.g. which existing WLANs should be amplified. Another interesting feature is the possibility to allow overlapping WLANs: if the connection between router and repeater is better, e.g. via the 2.4 GHz WLAN, devices connecting to the repeater in the 5 GHz band can benefit from this. This is especially relevant if any backlinks between router and repeater have a negative effect on the 5 GHz network.

Alternatively, the repeater also offers the mode "LAN Bridge": here the connection to the router is established via the Gigabit-LAN port, which is especially useful if you cannot establish a WLAN connection between the two devices and want to bridge longer distances.

Fritz!WLAN 1750E: in everyday life

In everyday life the "use" is very simple: Devices that are already connected to the original router can use the repeater without further settings. The effect is - at least in my case - clearly noticeable: Services that were previously not loaded correctly on the iPhone or took very long to be displayed now work without any problems. VPN connections from a notebook are also much more stable.

Conclusion: good, but expensive extension of the WLAN

The Fritz!WLAN Repeater 1750E offers a simple extension of the home WLAN network - but at a rather high price: current 77,- Euro Amazon demands for the Fritz!WLAN Repeater 1750E. Practical is the easy setup and the interface known from other AVM products, especially if you already use a Fritz! box. Unfortunately I could not find out how well it actually works with other routers.