• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Wifi repeater/extender questions

8enotto

Illuminator
8
Joined
Dec 13, 2018
Messages
4,845
Location
Mexico
To try to cure a problem of poor signal at the other side of the house we installed one.
I am digitally torpe so my son downloaded an app and set it up.

It's a TP-Link AC750 dual band wall wart thing.

Of three devices only one displays a boost in signal strength. All seem to work better for not dropping signal once, which would be normal any given weekend before.

Should we be seeing higher signal on all devices?
Do the access controls on this device replace or augment the access controls of the modem itself? My wife blocks out unwanted "guests" using our WiFi when the palapa is rented out.
 
I don't know if this applies to your WiFi router, but I find that 5g connections only work when the device isn't too far from the router. Dropping the connection down to 2.4g massively extends the range and particularly around walls or through ceilings.
 
5GHz (which is different than cell phone 5G, by the way) does have less range, but tends to be much less crowded. We have a dual band router, the 2.4GHz band is very crowded and tends to perform poorly, whereas the 5Ghz has no issues.

We tried a repeater at one point, but it didn't improve anything for us. I think repeaters are very hit-and-miss.

Note that if your device has an Ethernet port there is an alternative, Ethernet over Powerline. That is also hit-and-miss, but it works for us.
 
I looked at the manual and I see it's intended to be a relay point, which you place about halfway between your router and the area with bad wifi. The device has LEDs for the two wifi bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz) which turn green if it has a good radio link to your router. ( I guess that's all okay?)

When setting up, the extender needs to be connected to your existing 2.4Ghz wifi and 5GHz wifi. I guess it's possible only one of those got set up which might result in some devices using the extender and others not using it (since some only use one band and others use either). The LED colours will probably tell you - if one is red or off then something's not right.

As it's possible for the extender's two wifi frequencies to be set up with different names, or with different passwords, it would be worth checking that in case some devices are set up on one but not the other.
 
It shows both bands active, it was set up right next to the modem.
Near everything we have is at least five years old and my TV goes offline when the service drop 3G service at the tower. Three of our phones are 4.5G, whatever that is, but those are on carrier service as well as the Telmex WiFi.

It was set up at a strong WiFi point in the upstairs hallway, the módem is two walls and a cement with white tiles floor away below in the living room.
The target devices are six yards more distant through another cement wall. Can't be putting the upstairs bathroom in line as the white tile walls (colored with titanium oxide) block every signal we use.
 
The thing I don't like about extenders is they very rarely are used for the problem they can actually solve. If you're seeing issues with WiFi signal strength indoors, it's not likely because of range, but because of intervening walls or floors. The dilemma then becomes, do you put the extender where the signal is strong, so that the repeated signal is what's attenuated, or do you put it where you need the signal but then the extender can't get a good signal from the router? They do fine if you're extending a signal over open space but that's almost never the case in a residential home.

They also cause problems if you're in an area with a lot of surrounding WiFi networks, since they use an additional set of channels for the backhaul and the repeated broadcast. When there might be channel saturation from surrounding networks, they don't have much to work with and can make the problems worse.

A far, far better option (where possible) is to put in one or more Ethernet runs from the current location of the wireless router to where you're having problems with reception and put in a second hardwired access point at that location. No issues with attenuation between the router and the extender, no additional channel overhead, no ping delays due to half-duplex signaling on the backhaul, it's just an overall better solution than an extender.

I've been installing wifi and networking now for about 18 years, and I can't once think of a circumstance where I would rather have an extender than a hardwired access point. If you can run wiring, you'll be happier.
 
It's a cement block and cast post construction house. Putting wires inside walls has to be done at the building stage of the construction. I can't rebuild the walls to smooth again, so no way I go cutting through the surfaces. My wife doesn't want exposed wires anywhere, nor do I.

This limits any options and the need is my son to play war thunder, myself to watch yt vids instead of network TV. Not exactly important goals.

There are five WiFi signal detected from our home, one is our own. Two are neighbors at least 300' distant from our yard. The rest I can't guess. The four others are too weak to connect at all.

The problem we won't fix at all is white paint and floor tiles use titanium oxide for color and this stuff messes with radio signals. We have copius amounts of this stuff in our decor and didn't plan for the side effect. We didn't know. I read labels and did research later to solve why.

One night in on a typical spotty service weekend night wasn't spotty at all. Maybe it's working for us?

I researched a bit, my wife actually suggested we just use the crapshoot method of seeing what might work. And she works computer stuff all week at her job. I can't afford that method.
 
We've had some success in the past with powerline connections, but I woldn't claim to know how reliable they are.
 
With respect to Yalius's suggestion, as Worm says you could use Ethernet over powerline to get the network to other spots in the house - and, given that you don't have an issue with the frequency being crowded, you could install WiFi access point at the other end of the Ethernet over powerline. Doesn't require any cable installation, but does depend on your house electrical wiring; how old is the wiring?

We ourselves use older Netgear devices, current ones are at https://www.netgear.com/ca-en/home/wired/powerline/. There are many other brands, of course; look up reviews. I think there are some that are specifically both a powerline connector and an access point, although Netgear doesn't show any at the link.
 
The house wiring is maybe 14 years after install. I put it all in myself so I know pretty much anything about it. It's all in plastic tubes running through cast cement. Most of the lighting is LED through the house. That should mean minimal interference there.

We will give this extender a shot for a while, it's already paid for. But in the future if it doesn't play well we can try the power line option. This TP-Link device was on clearance at HD for 450 pesos. I trust the name enough we tried it.
 
I expect you've considered other power outlets you could experimentally plug the extender into, like another downstairs location to transmit up to the rooms with weak reception without going through so many solid walls. Or in any loft space, to pass over the top of the walls if the construction permits.

I guess this is one upside of having a house with just wood and plasterboard/drywall interior walls, floors and ceilings: one wifi router floods our whole house. I still ran several wired extensions though, before every connected device got wifi as standard. And even with such a lightly built house it was less heartache to go out, around and back in with exterior grade Cat 5 cable rather than create a concealed route indoors.
 
Typical of Mexico our home has no third ground wire in the wiring. Just the two wire basics like a DC system. But it is 120 ac service.
Would that make a powerline extender not work here?

No attic space, just a flat cement roof. The design of the house is unusual as some rooms have five to six walls, they are built on angles to the main body of the back of the structure.
It's hard to describe but it looks great from a street view.
That puts a lot of walls/floors between anything and the modem.
 
Thanks all. I now feel I have enough information to go ahead with maybe upgrading to powerline. I could put the resending unit in the room with the devices.

The big test comes on xmas vacation coming up. During peak tiktok and fartbuk hours we can lose all signal until the traffic decreases.
 
Good luck. It's worked well for us, but I understand it can vary depending on the wiring.
 
Thinking as the usual sort of cheapskate here, might one other possibility be to move the router? I don't know what your source of internet to the router is, but if the signal is strong at one end of the house and weak at the other, it seems as if you might get away with moving the router to a more central location, either extending the cable/DSL input, or if your router is separate from your modem, using a longer ethernet cable between the two.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom