Tenda A23 Wi-Fi 6 Extender review: How easy is it to set up?
Like many Tenda products, the A23 takes the EasyJet approach to wireless networking. You’re not going to get much in the way of handholding. There’s no fancy app to take you step-by-step through setup and configuration, but as long as you can follow the supplied quick-start guide and find your network settings, you’ll be fine.
There are two ways to configure the A23. First, by using WPS to link it to your existing network. Or second, by connecting directly to the A23, then selecting your network from a list on the extender’s browser-based control panel.
From there, you simply choose which 2.4GHz and 5GHz network to extend, enter the password and then select names for your extended networks. By default, the A23 will simply add an -EXT suffix to your existing Wi-Fi network name but you can change this.
That’s basically it. Tenda’s Intelligent Path Selection feature is supposed to ensure you’re always connected through the fastest path to your router, while the LED indicator on the front glows different red, green or amber to show the strength of the signal between the extender and the router.
This gives you some help when you’re trying to find the optimal mains socket between your router and the area where you’re trying to boost the signal. However, you’ll have to wait while the extender powers up and runs through configuration, and it seems to take longer (up to a minute or two) if you’re trying to set it up in an area where the signal’s weak.
I did spot one quirk with the A23. Most Wi-Fi extenders I test are pretty flexible; I can swap one router for another and, as long as the network names and passwords I’m using are the same, the extender works. Not so with the A23, which gave a connection failure every time I plugged it in after switching routers, resulting in the need to be reset and reconfigured.
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