[MonarchX]

I am a bit confused about Wi-Fi repeaters/extenders. Do they just increase the distance of the signal OR do they additionally BOOST the signal? Some of the rooms in my house get only 2-3 bars @ 54mbps @ 2.4Ghz regardless of the channel. iPad and other devices used do not support 5Ghz band anyway and use only B/G protocols, but not the faster N or AC protocols. Those rooms where Wi-Fi devices get only 2-3 bars @ 54mbps @ 2.4Ghz can't achieve download speeds past 15mbps (on 60mbps cable connection), while those rooms close to the Wi-Fi router with 4-5 bars @ 54-72.2mbps @ 2.4Ghz can download as fast as 45mbps.

I assume a Wi-Fi repeater or extender would actually IMPROVE the download speed in those poorly covered rooms, but several Internet sources say that such extenders and repeaters can actually REDUCE download speeds. I don't know what to believe! I wanted to get 1-2 inexpensive Wi-Fi extenders/repeaters to boost the signal and the download speed in those poorly covered rooms, but now I don't know... Are there any inexpensive devices that can do that? I see some "High-Powered" and "Amped" devices, like this one, but I don't know if they are simply a gimmick. Which ones would you recommend? I'd also rather buy 1 higher-quality device that can actually increase download speeds in poorly covered rooms than buy 2 lower-quality devices that will extend the range of coverage at the cost of reducing download speeds.

 

[coachmark2]

Moved to Networking Hardware.

Check out the Wireless Master thread in my sig and go to the the Transmit Power Myth and Extender/Repeater Myth. I would not suggest an extender or repeater.

The ONLY circumstance where a repeater would work would be the following:

1. The extender is a dual-band model
2. You are using ONE band to link up to your main Wi-Fi network and the OTHER band for clients to access. The usual setup is to put the extender attached to your 5GHz network and devices accessing the extender over the 2.4GHz network.
3. You find some extra latency acceptable.
4. Your repeater can talk to your main router at a good signal level and there is little/no interference.

If you're running a 5GHz network and install a 5GHz repeater, you will cut your speed in half. Install another extender, and you cut it in half AGAIN. Same if it's an all 2.4GHz.

I STRONGLY suggest running ethernet cable and an Access Point. Don't mentally check all the boxes in my post above and say "eh, it'll probably be okay". It probably won't, and you'll have spent money on something that didn't work.

Let me know if you have further questions.

 

[Nilareon]

give a powerline adapter a try. worst case scenario you can return it if you don't like it. I bought a 40 dollar 500mbps powerline adapter and it feels like I have a hard wire from my computer on the second floor directly into the modem on the 1st floor. I love it. A million times better than wireless.

I've had it for a week now, never dropped connection, game on it with NO issues, download speeds are GREAT compared to wireless.

The only variable that exsists I believe is the integrity of the electrical wiring in your house, but as I said, give it a shot! If you don't like it return it. I wouldn't mess with repeaters or extenders. Wireless is bad and adding more access points only makes it worse, in no case could it "strengthen" your speed but rather only make the connection from you and your access point more reliable distance wise.

Currently, I have a wireless router hooked up to my powerline. I have two PCs, and an xbox one directly connected to the router, and I have maybe 3 phones and a tablet connected to the wireless. I can stream multiple 4k videos on youtube and game all at the same time without issues. Prior to this setup, anytime someone downloaded something on the second floor it would cripple the entire internet.

Here's a link to a thread I made a few days ago if you want to know more about what I was dealing with and my current setup:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1584600/router-question#post_24719174

i'm not an expert on these devices, just a person with some experience, take my advice how you'd like.

 

[MonarchX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirus2012

give a powerline adapter a try. worst case scenario you can return it if you don't like it. I bought a 40 dollar 500mbps powerline adapter and it feels like I have a hard wire from my computer on the second floor directly into the modem on the 1st floor. I love it. A million times better than wireless.

I've had it for a week now, never dropped connection, game on it with NO issues, download speeds are GREAT compared to wireless.

The only variable that exsists I believe is the integrity of the electrical wiring in your house, but as I said, give it a shot! If you don't like it return it. I wouldn't mess with repeaters or extenders. Wireless is bad and adding more access points only makes it worse, in no case could it "strengthen" your speed but rather only make the connection from you and your access point more reliable distance wise.

Currently, I have a wireless router hooked up to my powerline. I have two PCs, and an xbox one directly connected to the router, and I have maybe 3 phones and a tablet connected to the wireless. I can stream multiple 4k videos on youtube and game all at the same time without issues. Prior to this setup, anytime someone downloaded something on the second floor it would cripple the entire internet.

Here's a link to a thread I made a few days ago if you want to know more about what I was dealing with and my current setup:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1584600/router-question#post_24719174

i'm not an expert on these devices, just a person with some experience, take my advice how you'd like.

I tried those and they were TERRIBLE. They created super-severe lag and I have no idea why anyone would advise them. No matter how good your wiring is, packet loss and lag is super-bad. I should have researched ahead of time. A buddy of mine works as a network administrator and he LOL'ed when I told him about these crap-peaters. Even with the best-ever electric wiring, you'll get really bad packet loss and lag. I had to re-try opening websites 2-3 times before they would. Anyway - NOT BUYING THOSE AGAIN.

 

[Quesoblanco]

Sounds like an isolated incident. There are numerous cases where a powerline adapter works perfectly. I used to use one in an old 50s build apartment and I have a friend who uses one in his condo. You need to run an ethernet so you can hook up a wireless access point. Extenders are garbage. Give it another shot, buy a powerline adapter from Amazon for hassle free returns.

I have the same adapter that Kirus mentioned. They ran so well.

 

[coachmark2]

I, too, had awful experiences with powerline networking adapters nearly ten years ago. But that's just the thing: It was 10 years ago. The technology has improved massively since then.

No, it's not going to be perfect, but it will be one heck of alot better than trying to jury rig something with extenders/repeaters, etc. Depends on your home wiring, but I'd at least give it a try.

Otherwise you can try the extender if you follow the guidelines I posted above. Since you have a 2.4GHz-only router, an extender will not work for you. You need a different dual band router if you wanted to try it.

 

[MonarchX]

No offense, but do people even read posts before they reply these days? I have a DUAL-BAND ROUTER, but all Wi-Fi devices are compatible only with 2.4Ghz. Those Power-Line repeaters were purchased less than a year ago and we made a simple test where one of them was connected to the router via cable and the other one was connected to the first via a short and modern 1m power-line. The results were awful. There was too much lag.and you had to refresh a page 2-3 times before it would actually load. It was only "OK" for Netflix because Netflix depended on buffering and didn't require immediate content download. ASIDE from that, our house IS OLD and except for that one modern electric wire, the rest of the wires are also OLD and we may have MORE THAN ONE set of wires, so its possible they don't connect at all. Because of all this I stated NOT BUYING THOSE AGAIN. Again, I am SINCERELY SORRY if I sound offensive, but there is no point in trying those things in my house again.

Let's get back to normal Wi-Fi extenders/repeaters. When they say that such devices can HALF your speed, do they mean they can HALF the speed that is present in that location already (15mbps @ 72.2mbps Wi-Fi connection with 2-3 bars on 60mbps cable Internet) OR that they can HALF the Wi-Fi connection speed only, possible increasing the actual download speed???

Present state:
Poorly covered rooms with devices that connect to Wi-Fi router @ 72.2mbps with 2-3 bars pull only 15mbps.

Possible Future state with Wi-Fi extenders/repeaters:
Those same poorly covered rooms with devices that connected to Wi-Fi router @ 72.2mbps with 2-3 bars would connect to Wi-Fi router at 36mbps (HALF of 72.2mbps), but with 4-5 bars (instead of 2-3) and pull HIGHER speeds than 15mbps.

Is this how it would work?

EDIT:
What exactly does "HALF THE SPEED" mean? Half the CONNECTION speed or HALF THE ACTUAL DOWNLOAD SPEED? Those are 2 entirely different things. There is one PC in the same room as the Wi-Fi router and that PC connects to that Wi-Fi router through 54mbps connection with 5 bars and manages to pull 45mbps download from the internet. Obviously the distance matters. If those distance rooms would get the same 4-5 bars and HALF the actual download speed as that 54mbps connection, then it would be a huge increase from15mbps 23mbps. I keep going round and round trying to explain the same thing 50 different ways - I can't do that anymore.

 

[Redwoodz]

I will say this. I just bought and installed a $45 N300 repeater for my dad's house,because the guest room ,while getting 3 bars would download around 2mb on a 5mb connection and also drop frequently. Now it gets 5mb and 5 bars in that room. Latency is increased slightly but higher latency is better than dropping connections.

For a dual band router the AC repeater's are recommended.

 

[MonarchX]

i don't own this house and the owner is an elderly man who doesn't want or even allow to move furniture. His PC is 2 feet from the router and yet he cannot be bothered connecting to it through cable because that would require moving a super-heavy desk which would take 4-5 hours. There is only ONE lucky person who connects the router via Ethernet cable and that is me. That Ethernet cable goes from my distant room, under the house, and comes out in the same room as the router and connects to it. There are NO OTHER Ethernet cables in the house and there will not be, which means Wi-Fi point connected to the router is NOT POSSIBLE.

All that is possible are Electric-Wired repeaters that SUCK SUPER-BAD in this house and normal Wi-Fi repeaters and extenders. I do not care whether they HALF the connection speed in those distant low-coverage rooms, but I do want for those distant low-coverage rooms to have faster DOWNLOAD SPEEDS. Connection speed from Device to Wi-Fi router is NOT the same as the actual speed you get. 72.2mbps with 2-3 bars can still be slower than 36mbps with 4-5 bars, can't it?

 

[MonarchX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redwoodz

I will say this. I just bought and installed a $45 N300 repeater for my dad's house,because the guest room ,while getting 3 bars would download around 2mb on a 5mb connection and also drop frequently. Now it gets 5mb and 5 bars in that room. Latency is increased slightly but higher latency is better than dropping connections.

For a dual band router the AC repeater's are recommended.

I am not sure that our Dual-Band router (LinkSys E2500) even supports AC and does it even matter if there NO 5Ghz devices in the house? There are NONE - all are 2.4Ghz, although the router supports both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

 

[MonarchX]

I remember living in an area that setup a HUGE 5-mile-long internet services through Wi-Fi repeaters for all the apartment complexes that were located on that 5-mile Wi-Fi strip (not a surrounding area, but a single linear strip). I used to connect at 100-300mbps to that service from my apartment building and get very high download speeds. I asked them how they made it possible and they said they just used industrial high-tech super-repeaters. I guess those don't half speeds, do they???

That was 5 years ago. I thought by now such high-tech industrial repeaters would hit the consumer market and be available... I guess not!

 

[DzillaXx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonarchX

I tried those and they were TERRIBLE. They created super-severe lag and I have no idea why anyone would advise them. No matter how good your wiring is, packet loss and lag is super-bad. I should have researched ahead of time. A buddy of mine works as a network administrator and he LOL'ed when I told him about these crap-peaters. Even with the best-ever electric wiring, you'll get really bad packet loss and lag. I had to re-try opening websites 2-3 times before they would. Anyway - NOT BUYING THOSE AGAIN.

Normally Latency isn't the problem with Power Line Adapters, it is throughput. Which wouldn't effect Game performance.

I would guess the wiring in your house just didn't work to your favor.

As you have a Ethernet cable ran to your room, why not toss in a switch and add a AP/router in AP mode to that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonarchX

I remember living in an area that setup a HUGE 5-mile-long internet services through Wi-Fi repeaters for all the apartment complexes that were located on that 5-mile Wi-Fi strip (not a surrounding area, but a single linear strip). I used to connect at 100-300mbps to that service from my apartment building and get very high download speeds. I asked them how they made it possible and they said they just used industrial high-tech super-repeaters. I guess those don't half speeds, do they???

That was 5 years ago. I thought by now such high-tech industrial repeaters would hit the consumer market and be available... I guess not!

They were probably dual band. Where the 5ghz spectrum was probably used as the backbone of the network.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonarchX

I am not sure that our Dual-Band router (LinkSys E2500) even supports AC and does it even matter if there NO 5Ghz devices in the house? There are NONE - all are 2.4Ghz, although the router supports both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

\

Pretty much all phones built over the last 4 or more years have 5ghz built into them, also pretty much any modern streaming device (like a Fire TV Stick), and pretty much all tablets. Low end laptops will not have it, but any decent midrange or better will have 5ghz. Almost every wireless device in my house supports 5ghz, but some may have devices that do and not even know it. I keep all my phones and tablets on the 2.4ghz network. I use my 5ghz network for streaming content, like 1080p Blu-ray rips with DTS-MA.

 

[coachmark2]

We are all interested in helping you solve your problem. The best option is to run Ethernet cables to everything, which you've said you can't do. The second best option is to run an ethernet cable to the area where the devices are and connect a wireless Access point to that cable, which you've said you can't do. The third best option is to use powerline adapters which you've said you will not do.

We're presenting options for you to solve your problem and you are insisting on the worst possible option that has the very highest chance of not working well. With that being said,

Get a dual-band repeater. Attach the repeater to the 5GHz band of your main router. Use the repeater's 2.4GHz band for client access. This is what you want to do if you want to solve your problem.