Tenda A23 Wi-Fi 6 Extender review: The cheap way to spread Wi-Fi 6 around the house

Just as Wi-Fi 6 has now become a given on even the most basic budget laptops, so it’s drifted down from premium and mid-range Wi-Fi extenders to cheaper, entry-level products. The Tenda A23 is a case in point. Sure, it’s basic, supporting only the lowest AX1500 spec, but it’s still a functional Wi-Fi 6 extender that could be yours for around £30. If you’ve moved to a modern Wi-Fi 6 router but need a little extra reach for a back bedroom or home office, then it might be all that you need.

Tenda A23 Wi-Fi 6 Extender review: What do you get for the money?

At the time of writing, the Tenda A23 was £33 for that you get a simple, socket-mounted AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 extender, supporting speeds of up to 1,200Mbits/sec on the 5GHz band and 300Mbits/sec on the 2.4Ghz band.

It’s a compact box measuring 123 x 72 x 47.5mm, with a single LED status indicator on the front and a meaty 5dBi high-gain antenna sticking out of either side; these can be rotated up or down if you’re stuck for space above or below your mains socket.

It also has a single Gigabit Ethernet port to provide a convenient wired connection to a desktop PC, smart TV, NAS or games console, and it can also work as a wireless access point for adding basic Wi-Fi 6 connectivity to an existing Ethernet network.

Tenda A23 Wi-Fi 6 Extender review: How easy is it to set up?

Like many Tenda products, the A23 takes the EasyJet approach to wireless networking. You’re not going to get much in the way of handholding. There’s no fancy app to take you step-by-step through setup and configuration, but as long as you can follow the supplied quick-start guide and find your network settings, you’ll be fine.

There are two ways to configure the A23. First, by using WPS to link it to your existing network. Or second, by connecting directly to the A23, then selecting your network from a list on the extender’s browser-based control panel.

From there, you simply choose which 2.4GHz and 5GHz network to extend, enter the password and then select names for your extended networks. By default, the A23 will simply add an -EXT suffix to your existing Wi-Fi network name but you can change this.

That’s basically it. Tenda’s Intelligent Path Selection feature is supposed to ensure you’re always connected through the fastest path to your router, while the LED indicator on the front glows different red, green or amber to show the strength of the signal between the extender and the router.

This gives you some help when you’re trying to find the optimal mains socket between your router and the area where you’re trying to boost the signal. However, you’ll have to wait while the extender powers up and runs through configuration, and it seems to take longer (up to a minute or two) if you’re trying to set it up in an area where the signal’s weak.

I did spot one quirk with the A23. Most Wi-Fi extenders I test are pretty flexible; I can swap one router for another and, as long as the network names and passwords I’m using are the same, the extender works. Not so with the A23, which gave a connection failure every time I plugged it in after switching routers, resulting in the need to be reset and reconfigured.

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Tenda A23 Wi-Fi 6 Extender review: How well does it work?

Given the entry-level spec, I didn’t expect too much from the A23, but speeds were actually better than anticipated. In my kitchen, where my Netgear Nighthawk RAX50 router struggles, delivering speeds of around 10-11MB/sec (downstream) and 8-9MB/sec (upstream), plugging the A23 into a nearby socket boosted speeds to 27.61MB/sec and 23.37MB/sec respectively.

That’s not as fast as I can get with Devolo’s Magic 2 Wi-Fi 6 kit in the same room, at 37.5MB/sec and 29.09MB/sec, or the TP-Link RE505X for downstream speeds (54.6MB/sec), but it’s still fast enough for 1080p or 4K video streaming, Microsoft Teams or Zoom meetings and most other requirements. I had a little lag and break-up while streaming Xbox Games Pass Ultimate games, and more of the same when using the remote play features of my Sony PlayStation 5. Still, that’s not abnormal with more affordable Wi-Fi extenders.

Performance in my upstairs office wasn’t so impressive, and I had to spend some time siting the extender to get an amber light from the LED, a green light seeming out of the question. Here, I can get speeds of 32.7MB/sec (downstream) and 26.7MB/sec (upstream) using the router, and switching to the extender saw these drop to 20.6MB/sec and 18.4MB/sec respectively. While the A23 can get you faster speeds in areas where your existing router flounders with poor speeds, it might not bring any tangible improvements where you’ve already got a half-decent signal.

The A23 has one advantage over larger and more powerful Wi-Fi extenders, however – it doesn’t use a lot of power. I measured consumption at a mere 2.5W while idle, and a maximum 3W while in use with a trio of devices all streaming video.

Tenda A23 Wi-Fi 6 Extender review: Should you buy it?

If you’re in the market for  a Wi-Fi extender, you probably don’t need huge amounts of bandwidth; you’re more than likely simply looking for a way to get a usable Wi-Fi signal to a distant corner of the house.

If that’s the case, then theTenda A23 is a decent and thoroughly affordable option. Other extenders will give you improved Wi-Fi 6 performance or more configuration features, but this one gives you all the basics at a bargain price.