Amped Intros Long-Range Wireless AC Router
This Wireless AC router is packed full of amplifiers.
Amped Wireless has announced the upcoming launch of the industry's first long-range Wireless AC network router, the RTA15. It will consist of three high gain 5dBi antennas, two 2.4 GHz 700mW amplifiers, four 5 GHz 700mW amplifiers with advanced two-stage amplifiers, and four advanced, low noise amplifiers. It will also include a USB port for file sharing and five Gigabit Ethernet ports (one is for the modem) for wired networking.
"By combining our award winning high power technology with the horsepower of 802.11ac, we are able to provide fastest speeds at the greatest distances. This means faster streaming, downloading and web browsing with your Mac or PC laptop or desktop throughout your entire home, backyard or office," said Jason Owen, CEO of Amped Wireless.
According to the specs, the router's 2.4 GHz band will provide speeds up to 300 Mbps (Wireless N) and the 5 GHz band provide speeds up to 876 Mbps (Wireless AC). Naturally customers will need a Wireless AC device or adapter to access the higher speed, and will likely see up to 450 Mbps on the 5 GHz band using a Wireless N device.
"Similar to how a twin turbo works for a sports car to provide more power and speed, the RTA15 features advanced two-Stage amplifiers that boost a Wi-Fi signal twice to achieve maximum range and performance," the product description reads.
The spec list shows that the router will have one dedicated single band 2.4 GHz high gain 5dBi antenna, one dedicated 5.0 GHz high gain 5dBi antenna, and a high gain dual band antenna. Combined, the trio will provide maximum range to easily penetrate walls and help eliminate Wi-Fi dead spots. The router will even sport a 660 MHz processor for computing networking commands "at blazing speeds".
"Smart security features allow you to restrict access to specific users, set a daily time schedule for when the wireless network is available and when it is not and control how far your wireless network coverage reaches through wireless output power adjustments," the company said. "The High Power Dual Band Router also supports secure push button setup for WPS enabled devices."
As for other features, the new router will provide guest networking support, specific website blocking, SPI firewall protection, support for IPv6 Internet connections and more. The USB storage support will even include remote access by using an FTP client.
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The new RTA15 Wireless AC router from Amped Wireless ships on July 16 and can be pre-purchased for $189.99 USD here.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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luvmich Don't waste your money. They could triple the amplification again and that would not make it a bit better. Remote devices don't have amplification. So the net result will be you will be able to see the AP (router) and it will have a good signal. Only problem is you will not be able to communicate back to it. If you amp you laptop signal, battery life will suffer. If it sounds to good to be true... then it is!Reply -
rwinches Range is not the only feature relevant here. The AC spec adds many important gains. This units output power can be tailored to your environment, you can setup 8 networks and much more. This is the first to be released, so until AC devices are released not all gains will be seen right away.Reply
Read more;
http://www.ampedwireless.com/products/rta15.html -
RazorBurn The title of the article says Long-Range, yet after reading the whole article, there's no mention of an actual range in meters or feet..Reply -
razor512 higher transmit powers do improve range when you have a good wifi radio on the router which is sensitive enough to work with very weak signals.Reply
Also wifi connect rate is not uniform, the upload rate and download rate are determined separately so higher transmit powers can improve download throughput even if the range is not improved due to a client transmit power limitation.
Over the past few years transmit powers have increased significantly even though very few router companies do not advertise the transmit power.
from the days of the wrt54g's it was common to see 15-30mw transmit power, but today, your average/ mid range router will have a transmit power of 600mw, and some of the higher end ones, eg look at the fccid's of a few netgear routers (they don't advertise their transmit power on their site but they are pretty high), you will see around 600-700mw on their mid-upper mid range routers, and around 900-1000mw (the legal limit set by the FCC) for their high end routers.
Most users focus on download speeds more than upload (and confirmation packets take very little bandwidth). By boosting the transmit power, you can not only ensure that any range limitation in your network is is due to the client and not the router, but for what ever range you have, on average, you will have higher download speeds. -
soundping Range doesn't mean anything if your handheld device broadcast can't reach the wireless router.Reply -
teh_chem Reply
Not entirely. Improving the receive path on the router (either by higher power or better antennas) will yield better performance at the client even if the device doesn't have amplified transmit power. The improved router will be able to hear the device better (via its improved receive path). Though something like "3x improved power" won't necessarily correlate to 3x the range or performance for a device.11157418 said:Don't waste your money. They could triple the amplification again and that would not make it a bit better. Remote devices don't have amplification. So the net result will be you will be able to see the AP (router) and it will have a good signal. Only problem is you will not be able to communicate back to it. If you amp you laptop signal, battery life will suffer. If it sounds to good to be true... then it is!
If you improve the receiver sensitivity, you can improve the range of your network without changing the transmit power on the devices. -
COLGeek I would like to see Tom's do a bit of independent testing here. Seems more hype than usefulness, on the surface.Reply