My expectations concerning. Coverage not met ...

My apartment consists of basement, ground and first floor. In the basement is the Fritzbox 7390, the wireless signal comes (2.4 and 5 GHz) with sorrow and distress through the reinforced concrete floor to the ground floor.
Why is the ground for a long time an old Fritz box 7240, which is operated via a D500 devolo powerline lan adapter as an access point. Although you can "only" 2.4 GHz, but for the stable and satisfactory. Unfortunately, the 7240 does not cover my bedroom on the 1st floor, on the verge of the signal died. Therefore, running upstairs, a second D500 WiFi for an additional WLAN.
After the many positive reviews ("reinforced concrete breakers", "super reach" etc.) I have decided to buy the Nighthawks, with correspondingly high expectations. I wanted to replace my wireless device with the individual solutions and finally fast and stable Wi-Fi in the whole house incl. Terrace above the 5 GHz band have.
The Nighthawk was operated in Access Point mode on the dLAN 500.
Profit after extensive tests and measurements over 4h afternoon:
+ My expectations concerning. Speed ​​were met 100%, but only on the ground floor
+ Interestingly, the coverage of the 5 GHz band was equal to or higher than the 2.4 Ghz band

But: the signal strength is still not enough to come to my bedroom upstairs. The reception is a bit better, after all, 0-2 bar, but only at a rate of 1Mbps, making it sensible surfing the Internet is not possible.

As the scope and coverage were my main buying criteria, I am sorry to return the device and go back to my "old" d500 WiFi WLAN solution upstairs. For surfing the Internet (my DSL currently offers 25Mbit) ranging from the performance of the Fritz box. Do I need maximum speed, I sit down in the basement next to the 7390 with 5GHz.
All other gimmicks and features of the Netgear I have not tested due to lack of demand.

My test method was:
Select Use the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active and the WiFi Manager App, there "Continuous update", then read off the transmission rate.
I have placed for the Netgear measurements at different locations on the ground and align the antenna in accordance with instructions.
I have furthermore played with the region, hoping to be able to increase the maximum transmission power, among other things, I have also tested Singapore, India, USA and Africa in addition to Europe.
I have no alternative firmware (Tomato, ddwrt) tested.

Bottom line:
5 * for speed
1 * for coverage
= 3 *

Too Bad. 'm A bit disappointed that the coverage has not really improved since the Year of the Fritzbox 7240 (5 years ago?), Only the throughput by using multiple antennas. Apparently, in fact with the capping of transmitting power to 100mw no longer there.

Update 12/2014:
have now a used Fritzbox 3390 for 60.- auctioned on EBay - Range actually better than the Nighthawk, prima speed in the 2.4 and 5 GHz range, easy to configure. am satisfied. That the box no AC can, is ok - for surfing and streaming from my NAS reichts.