Cheap & Cheerful Wi-Fi Extender

The Rock House AC1200 is affordable Wi-Fi 5 extender that’s priced at round £30. Whilst it’s a moderately unknown emblem right here in the United Kingdom, the AC1200 is recently being closely promoted on Amazon, and due to this fact could also be a tempting purchase for Top account holders who can temporarily grasp this and get it delivered the following day.

Whilst it’s very affordable and simple to pay money for, right here’s the way it stood up all over checking out.

Options & Design

The Rock House AC1200 is a moderately typical-looking Wi-Fi extender, with the exception of that it’s black as an alternative of the standard white and light-weight gray.  

It options dual exterior antennas which turn upwards, a unmarried Ethernet port (10/100Mbps RJ45) beneath, WPS button, and the standard standing lighting fixtures for sign, WPS, and tool. There’s no passthrough for mains energy, so anywhere you put in the Rock House AC1200 will likely be taken up by way of that tool.  

The chassis is sort of just like that of the Tenda A18 – and the cyber web UI for the setup is nearly similar – however they’re now not fairly the similar factor. 

For one, the spec sheet claims that each the Rock House AC1200’s antennas are Wi-Fi 5-compliant, and in checking out, that declare stands up. Secondly, the Rock House emblem is owned by way of Shenzhen Renqing Very good Era Co and Tenda is owned by way of Tenda.

Those Wi-Fi extenders may have very identical jackets, however they’re a little other beneath. 

Set up 

Putting in the Rock House AC1200 is so simple as any affordable Wi-Fi extender – plug it right into a mains socket in the similar room as your major router to finish the preliminary pairing, and as soon as that’s performed, you’re then unfastened to set it up anywhere you favor in the house. 

You’ll pair the whole lot by way of WPS, which is accomplished by way of merely urgent and conserving the WPS buttons on each your router and the Rock House AC1200, however the best choice is to make use of the web-based interface, by way of heading to re.rockspace.native in your browser as soon as the extender’s SSID seems in your tool’s checklist of to be had wi-fi networks. 

From there, you’ll be capable to assign an admin password for when you wish to have to get entry to the Rock House AC1200’s keep an eye on panel, after which select your wi-fi community from the checklist which seems, and enter your major community’s password. As soon as the Rock House AC1200 has attached for your router, you’ll be able to make a choice to call the prolonged SSID.

You’re then unfastened to unplug the Rock House AC1200 and set it up in a room equidistant for your major router and your own home’s Wi-Fi not-spot.

Efficiency

I set the Rock House AC1200 in a spare room one flooring up and one room alongside from the place my major router, a Netgear RBK750 sits, attached to a Virgin Media Tremendous Hub that’s set to modem mode. My Web carrier (Virgin Media M200) continuously offers me between 180-210Mbps, and I will get on the subject of those speeds over Wi-Fi when operating in the similar room because the router. 

I ran two units of assessments, one in a room subsequent to the place the Rock House AC1200 used to be arrange, with a forged brick wall in the way in which, and the opposite two rooms away, with two non load-bearing partitions in between the shoppers and the Rock House AC1200.

I wasn’t in a position to care for a strong connection at the 5GHz band two rooms away, which is infrequently sudden, for the reason that the two.4GHz frequency is healthier at penetrating bodily boundaries over distance.

The consequences beneath display the adaptation the usage of the Rock House AC1200 made when operating in Wi-Fi not-spots:

Wi-Fi 5 consumer check: One room away

	Rock House AC1200 (2.4GHz)	Rock House AC1200 (5GHz)	Primary router (2.4GHz)	Primary router (5GHz)
Reasonable Wi-Fi hyperlink speeds	120.77Mbps	278.57Mbps	70.84Mbps	140.26Mbps
Reasonable obtain pace	82.41Mbps	125.92Mbps	67.20Mbps	150.73Mbps
Reasonable add pace	17.06Mbps	19.23Mbps	21.33Mbps	21.54Mbps

Wi-Fi 5 consumer check: Two rooms away

	Rock House AC1200 (2.4GHz)	Rock House AC1200 (5GHz)	Primary router (2.4GHz)	Primary router (5GHz)
Reasonable Wi-Fi hyperlink speeds	93.86Mbps	n/a	29.35Mbps	n/a
Reasonable obtain pace	44.06Mbps	n/a	45.79Mbps	n/a
Reasonable add pace	16.03Mbps	n/a	6.54Mbps	n/a

Efficiency here’s extensively on par with what I noticed with the TP-Hyperlink RE305, nice 5GHz speeds should you’re inside vary, if now not, you’re going to be shunted over to the slower, however extra widely-reaching 2.4GHz radio frequency, and on each gadgets, in each rooms, speeds had been conveniently throughout the 80-90Mbps vary.

That’s about just right sufficient for you so that you can paintings remotely a few rooms away, however you simply received’t take pleasure in the ones upper speeds.

Value & Availability 

The Rock House AC1200 is that can be purchased immediately from Rock House now for US$45.99 – irrespective of the place you’re having access to the web page from, all costs are indexed in US bucks.

In the United Kingdom, Amazon is promoting the Rock House AC1200 for £29.99. On the time of writing, a number of eBay distributors are promoting new or used Rock House AC1200’s for approximately the similar worth, however be warned, some are promoting those for up to £75. 

The one different UK dealer promoting those on the minute is OnBuy, which desires £60.21 for a Rock House AC1200, which is totally unreasonable.

In america, you’ll be able to get a Rock House AC1200 from Amazon for a much more smart $45.99, the similar as Rock House’s personal RRP. 

It’s recently now not in inventory from some other U.S. outlets so once more, your absolute best guess is to take a look at eBay, even supposing once more, some dealers try their good fortune with costs there.

No shopper electronics distributors in Australia stocked the Rock House AC1200 on the time of writing. 

Verdict 

The Rock House AC1200 is an overly affordable and simple to arrange Wi-Fi extender which, in the suitable instances, is usually a just right quick time period Wi-Fi resolution.

For £30-odd, you in large part do get what you pay for, and so so long as you’re operating someplace on the subject of the extender, and also you’re now not anticipating miracles, it’ll as regards to do, however you could wish to grasp on for your cash and put it in opposition to one thing a little extra helpful just like the TP-Hyperlink RE505X.

However, the Tenda A18 is sort of similar and less expensive.

Specifications

Rock House AC1200 WiFi Vary Extender: Specifications

• 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) on 2.4GHz and 5GHz 2×2 dual-band
• 1 x Ethernet
• WPS
• Repeater Mode
• AP Mode
• 80 x 58 x 48mm

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