FRITZ!Repeater 600: Decent Coverage at the Right Price

Having reviewed the brain of my home network, the FRITZ!Box 7590, and its two main helpers, the FRITZ!Repeater 3000 and the FRITZ!Repeater 2400, today we look at the latest addition I've made to my Mesh network, so that I could cover the basement room with Wi-Fi too without giving up a stable, decent connection.

Today we look at the smallest and least powerful of the FRITZ!Repeaters, yet still a useful and functional one: the 600.

PACKAGING

In the box we find the repeater, which has the plug built into its body, so it is awkward for anyone short of space, as it forces the user to use an extension lead or power strip to put it anywhere other than right at the power socket.

As for the components, we have:
– A red front button that lets you communicate with the modem and, thanks to Mesh technology, connect automatically to the modem to act as a repeater for the network.
– A front LED that tells you whether or not the Wi-Fi connection is working

SETUP

Setting up the FRITZ!Repeater 600, as with the 3000, is really simple and quick. By following the initial guided setup, it is fast and easy to configure the repeater and add it to the existing Mesh network. Press the button on the repeater and the WPS button on the modem and they will pair completely automatically. Once connected, we can access the small repeater to update the firmware and set any parameters we want to change.

USER INTERFACE

The user interface is the same as that of the modem and the other repeaters. In this case there isn't much we can change, since the 600 has no special functions other than extending the power and signal of the modem's network, and only on the 2.4 GHz band.

THOUGHTS

The product is not designed for heavy use, given the lack of LAN ports and of a 5 GHz connection. I certainly find it sensible for those parts of the house where Wi-Fi use is more for fun and relaxation, such as listening to music or browsing the internet for video content. So the connection speed remains decent, letting us surf the web, watch Netflix or shop on Amazon without having to give up home Wi-Fi.

I'm using it in the basement room, a part of the house where I don't spend much time, but where every now and then, when there is work to do or you want to relax a bit, a decent connection was missing. With the FRITZ!Repeater 600 I solved the problem, covering the whole room with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. The price is around €40, which is why I highly recommend buying this product to anyone who doesn't need high performance or LAN ports.

CONCLUSIONS

The connection has always proved stable, and the browsing speed and power are enough to watch films or TV series via streaming and to listen to music without lag or interruptions. Bear in mind, however, that the satellite extender doesn't have the same power and speed as the modem. It has a 2.4 GHz radio with a speed of 600 Mbps. This means that at high speeds coming into the modem, the repeater won't be able to deliver the same performance, but it will still be enough to do everything you normally need to do.