WiFi is used indoors in most cases, but if you are a service provider, or own property with a park or beach, you may want to extend your WiFi coverage outdoors. The only problem is that more routers are not designed to be placed outdoors, and it’s not always easy to protect them from raining, humidity or even sunlight.
So ideally in those case, you’d want a weatherproof / waterproof WiFi repeater or touter, and one of those is Wavlink AC600 dual band AC repeater / router which I first found on Banggood for $69.99.
Wavlink WL-WN570HA1 AC600 router specifications:
- Connectivity
- WiFI
- Dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi up to ~600 Mbps: 150Mbps @ 2.4 GHz, 433Mbps @ 5 Ghz
- Encryption mode – WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK
- Transmission distance – 2km Max
- Functions – WDS & WPS (No VPN)
- “Up to 1000 mW of power and enhanced receiver design”
- Ethernet – Waterproof 10/100Mbps Ethernet port (RJ45)
- WiFI
- Misc – 3x LEDs for signal strength indication
- Power Supply – PoE via Ethernet connector
- Safety – Built-in lightning protection (15kV ESD).
- Ingress Protection Rating – IP65
The device supports both router and repeater modes.
It ships with two antennas, a power adapter, a PoE converter, an Ethernet cable
a main body holder, screw fitting, cable ties, and a Quick Installation Guide. So interestingly installation is somewhat similar to the one for MatchX LoRa weatherproof gateway since it relies on PoE, which should be much safer than bringing out cables connected to the mains under the rain.
You’ll need to find a pole or a tree, and secure the router with the provided ties, connect the Ethernet cable between the router and PoE adapter, and finally connect the power supply to the latter.
If the maximum range of 2km is to be believed, you could also easily connect to houses/buildings a few hundred meters away, and share a single broadband connection. Wavlink WL-WN570HA1 is actually sold on many websites including eBay, Amazon, and Newegg. That also means we already have some user reviews. The main problem appears it does not work well / at all as a WiFi repeater (without Ethernet cable), but for other use cases people who purchased the router seem happy, including for the weatherproofness of the unit.
Negative review first about repeater mode:
After many, many hours of trying, with my company’s network specialist, we determined that this unit WILL NOT wirelessly repeat or extend a wifi network … it does not re-assign it’s IP to match the host router, and therefor will not relay DHCP IP assignments, does not connect with the internet, etc … HUGE waste of time … Unfortunately the “return window” had expired before we had a chance to test .. so into the garbage bin … Strongly advise against buying unless you want a wired repeater/extension unit … which we did not test .. so beware!!
Some information about range from a separate reviewer:
I own a few acres and we have full hook up for a couple campers at the back of the property which is about 600 ft from the main house. I mounted the unit on my old TV tower about 10 feet high. Our internet service is 60 by 5 in the house and our guests and family are seeing 35 by 5 in their campers. Keep in mind what the dbi actually means… At that level you have a directional cone so if your placement and height is correct you should be very happy.
600 feet is almost 200 meters. It’s probably not realistic to expect a usable connection at over 2km with this device.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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this is read like its a warning to not buy it
200 meter is probably feasible if you live in a very rural area, but if you try this in the city the signal will be “overshouted” by other AP’s in the same channel.
Remember that for unidirectional wifi the power drop is proportional to the square of the distance.
Also a bit odd: it is an AC device, they claim up to 600 Mbps, but the wired link is only 10/100
wl-wn570ha1 is nice hardware, with terrible firmware.
Stock firmware wont allow ip address to be changed (stuck on 192.168.10.1) and there are numerous bugs, fields and buttons that don’t work.
The wavlink_wl-wn570ha1 is also sold by Meco and others. Nobody has decent firmware for it.
Wavlink support wont send a working firmware just questions about which version have you got.
I have several versions from each of the vendors and they all suck really bad.
Maybe DD-WRT will write a decent firmware, cause these repeater/routers gonna be sold in quantity…
I 100% agree with this, shitty bad javascript issues on their firmware.
The 192.168.10.1 bug can be bypassed by temporary switching it over to “static IP” and there you can change it. After a reboot, change it back to “dynamic IP” and you have the gateway IP of your choice.
2km or 200 meters its a fake. I bought wavlink ac600 i test from my office balcony to my house garage around 51Meter I cant connect. But if i sit behind the wavlink ac600 i got connected. Not design for long range. And it wont penetrate walls and trees.
The OP is right it will not work as a wireless repeater. I have used this product as a wired LAN bridge for a a few months and it has a major problem. IE. when using as a bridge the DHCP server should not be active but one day it just started handing out incorrect IP address and prevented clients from accessing anything on the LAN/Internet. To get it operational again it had to be powered off/off.
With such horrible firmware it is definitely not suitable for a commercial application and not even worth the headache for residential applications.
worked perfect for me using as a Wireless repeater
At what height is it Ideal to set this up? We need it to cover a 100 foot circle of campers out side if possible
I have 2 of this device. One connected by wired and the other one as a wireless repeater, internet work, but the wireless repeater perform DHCP instead of bridging the connection to the other one.
That’s what we call WISP
12/11/2020 cannot even get the logon website cannot be found waste of money worked for a fortnight. Rural South Australia Mid north
At first I had issue with it.. I tried to play with the settings and finally works great . For AP mode Let the security be WAP2-PSK and disable Short IG ,make sure wifi signal range you set to maximum (high) ..thanks me later!
We cannot get the unit installed. Directions are terrible. We have had this for 3 days and cannot get it to work. Returning it.
It should be easy to install.
I have owned the 2.4 gigahertz Wavelink for over 5-years. Excellent performance and good coverage.