AVM FRITZ!Repeater 1200 – Hardware Review
We’ll have to face the music and admit that the internet is all around us now. We can’t live without browsing the worldwide web, even for very necessities like looking up prices of products, ordering food, checking when your train will depart and so on. While all these things can be done outside with your smartphone, we have to admit that browsing the internet from the comfort of our homes is still the most enjoyable experience. Sadly, not everyone is blessed with a proper router or a house that is built to properly let through WiFi signals. This presents us with solutions, like the Devolo Magic kit we reviewed some time ago. Unfortunately, the Devolo kit is already quite pricey and is more of a solution when you need more contact points than one. Finding a more affordable option brought us to the FRITZ!Repeater 600 and 1200, which are the same product, albeit with different performance rates and with the 600 model only supporting 2.4 GHz. We were able to try out the 1200 version, and we were surprised by how much power this small repeater had to offer.
When opening the very small and compact box, we were greeted by a square-ish object with a white front plate, a remarkable red connect button and a grey backside. The device sports the FRITZ! name in the bottom left corner and doesn’t have that many special features. The device will blend in with many different designs and doesn’t look like a bothersome part of your interior. There is a small LED light on the front side of the device that will let you know its connection status. There is also a small adapter you can support the power plug with, allowing more stability. That being said, the device itself is quite small with its 80mm x 80mm x 37mm and its weight of 160 grams.
The device sports impressive numbers when it comes to its Mbps, ranging up to 400Mbps for a 2.4GHz network and 866Mbps for a 5GHz network. Having said that, it eventually all depends on your actual internet connection and the company that provides you with your internet. As we are based in Belgium, it has to be said that we are somewhat behind when it comes to the quality of our providers, compared to countries such as The Netherlands. This means that your internet speed won’t be enhanced if your connection is as fast as browsing the internet on your toaster. Yet, the Mesh functionalities of this device (if your router supports it) are interesting as there is hardly any delay and the different connection parts (if you have more repeaters) work together seamlessly. While this is somewhat of a basic explanation, it’s basically that the devices will remain up-to-date and keep in contact with each other to make sure the best connection is ensured.
If we have to be completely honest, we immediately noticed that the FRITZ! products are somewhat centered around working with other products of the same company. It will allow for easy connection with the press of a button, for example with the FRITZ!box 7530, which we’ll be discussing at a later date. You can also opt to connect the device via other ways, but we can’t explain all of them in such a short review. You can, of course, connect this device to other routers of different brands, but even in the manual, only one page is dedicated to this, while for the basic options you’ll already have more than ten pages of content. Those sentiments aside, connecting is quite easy and you’ll be up and running in no time if you look up a bit of the device. You can also fiddle around with the control options, and with the FRITZ! devices the password changes and general updates will be implemented automatically. If you happen to work with a router of a different brand, you’ll probably have to do some manual upkeep once in a while.
The overall connection quality is great, there is hardly any data loss when it comes to the general speed and it also expands your range with a lot. If you have a somewhat less powerful router, the 1200 model can also serve as a central hub to expand your signal strength if you have a limited budget and aren’t ready to replace your (standard) router. Of course, this isn’t an ideal solution, but it can help you as well.
Conclusion
The FRITZ!Repeater 1200 is a very affordable and interesting solution if you wish to expand your home network. It will properly convey the speeds of your original router, it will work well with other FRITZ! products and in most scenarios it’s very easy to set up. The mesh functionalities and the overall interesting features the FRITZ! OS can offer to make a home network revolving around FRITZ! products very interesting. While this repeater will still play nicely with other brands, it works best with its legitimate siblings.
AVM FRITZ!Repeater 1200 - Hardware Review,
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[…] been over two years since AVM gave us the opportunity to try out the FRITZ!Repeater 1200. This little repeater proved to be a great addition to our internet setup at home, even though it […]