Region : Spain

Model : TL-WA830RE

Hardware Version : V2

Firmware Version : 3.13.26 Build 121008 Rel. 61364n

ISP : Telefonica

TP-Link, you should do something to solve the problems! I have used products from other vendors successfully to extend range by using Bridge+AP mode – some have been working over four years and never needed even reboot!

This time I made a mistake and bought TD-W8961ND modem router and two TL-WA830RE range extenders as I wanted to connect one ADSL line to two other buildings wireless. I like TP-Link ADSL modems as they work fine even in some demanding environments but Extenders.....!!!!!!! TP-Link should not sell TL-WA830RE at all or rewrite the firmware!

Even with one extender the system is very unstable and adding more PC clients finally blocks access to internet totally. Some Windows PC's hang when connected to the extender – MAC and Android devices work better.

With two extenders connected to the modem router, you get nowhere – well you can use the system with one PC from either extender but this is not what I want.


The extender has two modes: Ranger Extender Mode 1 and Range Extender Mode 2. The latter uses WDS – otherwise identical. If you use WDS, there is no place where you can input WDS key in the extender – it was not even intended to work! The modem/router has separate keys for WDS and clients. This means that in theory only Mode 1 is possible.

I was able to get a little better results when using WEB security key but.... 802.11n doesn't officially support WEB. WDS doesn't support officially WPA or WPA2 etc. I tried even with no security and again the results are not good.

Well, I throw two TL-WA830REs to the bin and I will never ever again touch any extender from any vendor. I had recently stability problems with Belkin extender, too, but it, however, worked most of the time. I ordered Bridge+AP products from another vendor to replace TP-Link Extenders and I know from the past that I can make them work very well.