TP-Link AC1200 Wireless Gigabit Access Point Desktop Wi-Fi Bridge MU-MIMO & Beamforming Supports Multi-SSID/Client/Range Extender Mode 4 Fixed Antennas Passive PoE Powered (TL-WA1201)

I bought one of these to install at my mother-in-law's house to give her a more modern WiFi experience than she was getting with an ancient NetGear WAP. The cable provider upgraded her service from 50 Mbps to 300 Mbps and her WAP became a bottleneck.The performance is incredible!! Speed test prior to install showed 16 Mbps, after was 235 Mbps. Her streaming TV is much more stable and responsive with this upgrade!It was such an improvement that I ordered a second one for our home. We have a fiber connection and the modem serves as a wireless access point. It is 8 years old. Speed test on our WiFi ran around 50 Mbps. I installed this today and turned off the WiFi functions in the modem. Speed test now shows 400 Mbps or more, reliably.I set both of them up as Access Points with auto selection between 2.4GHz and 5GHz managed by the access point and I provided both with guest networks. Setup was easy and error-free. WPA3 is a nice security upgrade as well.Very happy with these access points!!

TL;dr -- this AP is another case of good hardware, awful firmware. The OEM firmware makes this device unusable, but flashing OpenWRT makes it useful again.Full Review:I bought this access point to use as a wireless client bridge for a computer in my house that gets an extremely poor wireless signal. Initially, I was disappointed because I was limited to a 2.4GHz connection, as the 5GHz connection was too unstable to be used. I'd regularly run into issues watching YouTube videos, browsing the web, or making Zoom calls.The solution was to use the 2.4GHz radio instead. This meant that my connection was limited to ~45-60mbps, which pales in comparison to a typical 5GHz connection speed of ~250-300mbps. For reference, my iPhone 11 is able to pull ~560-620mbps when placed next to the hardwired access point.i initially considered returning the AP, but then I found someone online had ported OpenWRT to this access point. Although this may void the warranty, it solved my issue. No longer do I have stability issues with the 5GHz radio, which means that I have both a reliable and fast connection to the Internet again my home office.OpenWRT is great, although it's far more complicated of an interface than the default TP-Link one. I would not recommend using this device in this configuration unless you're familiar with more advanced networking concepts or are willing to learn.Pros:- Inexpensive- Supports wireless client bridge mode.- Supports PoE using the provided injector. This is extremely beneficial to my setup, since I can place the AP where I best receive a signal, even though I don't have a power outlet nearby.- The Qualcomm Atheros QCA9886 802.11acn wireless radio has excellent performance- Gigabit LAN port (to the reviewer claiming it doesn't have one, this is simply not the case; there's no way I'd be able to pull 300mbps if it had a 10/100 interface).- The default firmware supports bridge mode with DHCP & NAT disabled, which means that every device connected through this AP has its real Ethernet MAC address exposed. If you plan to use this on a college campus or want your connected device(s) to be bridged to the parent network, this is very useful. If you use this mode, you can still control the AP's settings using the assign IP address for the access point itself.Cons:- Default firmware means that the 5GHz radio is unstable. I also had problems with controlling the LEDs and updating settings.Bonus Pro-tip:I only used this device with one computer, but you could easily use an Ethernet switch with the single port on the back of this device to connect multiple computers/devices.

This is my forth device trial. I'm trying to set up an ethernet client to connect to wireless GUEST Network. This is intended to isolate some IoT devices from the rest of my Network assets. I've been trying various models of extenders and running into all sorts of problems from not being able to connect to Guest Networks, to various instabilities, including not reconnecting automatically. Well, this model has a client mode that is trivial to configure and in this mode doesn't transmit any repeater signals, just what I wanted. Its working perfectly now, I'll update if any problems pop up

I'm using this as a true access point. There are actually 4 different modes this unit can be used in. As a range extender, it gathers and repeats your wifi network to cover dead spots in your home. Used in client mode, it's antennae capture signals from your wifi and allow you to run a connected device via ethernet port. In multi-SSID mode create multiple SSIDs an VLANs, useful if you have devices you want to be able to communicate together, but separate from other devices on different VLANs (which wouldn't see each other from a connectivity standpoint).I had hoped to use it as an access point and connect it to my primary router via CAT6 cable that runs from one end of the house to the other. From there, I set up a different SSID from my primary router so that I could run a small office wirelessly. I have a 1 GB fiber connection as my main internet source. Speedtest rates it as 950mb- 1GB both upload and download. The ehternet connection to my router brings the full 1 GB back to the access point over hard wire, but testing the wifi from this access point only gives about 50mb up/down on Speedtest.net. Fortunately, 50 mb per device is sufficient for everything I do (video calls, internet browsing, access to web based apps like Teams), but I had hoped for better wifi speed.Easy to install and setup, the directions are very good. The price is very attractive, and you can use it in multiple modes. Of course, I may be an extreme case. If you are only getting 50mb from your primary internet connection, this works great.