WiFi range extender
Discussion
HappyMidget said:
PositronicRay said:
sgrimshaw said:
Each hop has a big impact on speed though.
Overall speed or just the extended bit?Say your wifi access point (built into your isp’s modem/fw/router/access point ‘box’) does 500Mb/s, the first extender will do 250Mb/s, the second 125Mb/s etc
If you only have 70Mb/s incoming line then you’ll not see the speed issues on internet traffic.
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Saturday 9th July 18:52
Has anyone experimented with Netgear's "Fastlane" arrangement? It lets you specify that an extender uses one band for traffic to the AP whose range you are extending, and the other for clients.
I can imagine that daisychaining those, alternating bands could result in less impact but have never had the hardware to test.
I can imagine that daisychaining those, alternating bands could result in less impact but have never had the hardware to test.
Captain_Morgan said:
Though it depends on the speed of your isp line as to if you’ll notice it or not.
Say your wifi access point (built into your isp’s modem/fw/router/access point ‘box’) does 500Mb/s, the first extender will do 250Mb/s, the second 125Mb/s etc
If you only have 70Mb/s incoming line then you’ll not see the speed issues on internet traffic.
My understanding is that at each step you "lose" 50% of the throughput speed, so if the incoming is 70mbs, the the first step it will be 35mbs, the second 17.5mbs and so on.Say your wifi access point (built into your isp’s modem/fw/router/access point ‘box’) does 500Mb/s, the first extender will do 250Mb/s, the second 125Mb/s etc
If you only have 70Mb/s incoming line then you’ll not see the speed issues on internet traffic.
sgrimshaw said:
My understanding is that at each step you "lose" 50% of the throughput speed, so if the incoming is 70mbs, the the first step it will be 35mbs, the second 17.5mbs and so on.
Not quite. Forget the internet speed for a moment. If your primary Wi-Fi router is rated at 500Mbits/s then if using an extender the first hop will be a max of approx 250 Mbit/s - the next hop 125 Mbit/s etc,If these hop speeds are greater than the max internet ISP speed then you will not notice an issue.
This changes somewhat with Mesh systems as they can have dedicated Wi-Fi or fixed ethernet for the backhaul. For example I have 900Mbit in at the router and I can still get over 600Mbit on devices 2 or 3 nodes away from the main router.
sgrimshaw said:
My understanding is that at each step you "lose" 50% of the throughput speed, so if the incoming is 70mbs, the the first step it will be 35mbs, the second 17.5mbs and so on.
The Wifi link will have a speed, dictated by the path loss.An extender may need to spend half its time sending and half receiving, so that may halve the speed of that link.
You may be able to avoid that by setting the extender to use a different channel, or even band, for the extended link.
The router's bandwidth to the internet doesn't come into it, unless it limits everything, which is the case here.
I get very similar speed test results whether I connect direct to the broadband router with an ethernet cable, direct by wifi at short range, or upstairs via an extender. It's a 300Mbps extender and our broadband is in the 30Mbps area. If I take the laptop outdoors speed test results get slower, because the Wifi folds back to lower bit rates.
If the extender has a good path to the router, you won't notice it unless your broadband is nearly as fast as your wifi and only then if you're pushing the limits If the extender is too far from the router then it will throttle everything.
All working ok addition TP extender plugged in 1\2 way up the garden with decent exterior coverage.
A question for you guys in the know.
It shows as an ext so needs password. The original TP extender doesn't, so devices have to toggle between the two.
ie I have 2 access points (is that the right term?)
TMX9 which covers router and TP1
TMX9 ext which covers TP2 (garden)
As I say no real Biggie just wondering.
A question for you guys in the know.
It shows as an ext so needs password. The original TP extender doesn't, so devices have to toggle between the two.
ie I have 2 access points (is that the right term?)
TMX9 which covers router and TP1
TMX9 ext which covers TP2 (garden)
As I say no real Biggie just wondering.
Try connecting to the Extender #2, change it's SSID and password to be the same as the Extender #1.
The "problem" you may experience with using Extenders like this is that your device will likely "hold onto" the router for as long as it can, then connect to Extender #1 when the connection gets very poor, then it'll do the same to Extender #2 when it loses #1.
The issue is that this sometimes fails to happen and it's just hangs onto the poor connection. The solution is to simply drop off and back on to the network, it will (should) then connect to the strongest connection.
A mesh setup would be a much better solution.
The "problem" you may experience with using Extenders like this is that your device will likely "hold onto" the router for as long as it can, then connect to Extender #1 when the connection gets very poor, then it'll do the same to Extender #2 when it loses #1.
The issue is that this sometimes fails to happen and it's just hangs onto the poor connection. The solution is to simply drop off and back on to the network, it will (should) then connect to the strongest connection.
A mesh setup would be a much better solution.
Edited by sgrimshaw on Monday 11th July 08:26
Captain_Morgan said:
HappyMidget said:
PositronicRay said:
sgrimshaw said:
Each hop has a big impact on speed though.
Overall speed or just the extended bit?Say your wifi access point (built into your isp’s modem/fw/router/access point ‘box’) does 500Mb/s, the first extender will do 250Mb/s, the second 125Mb/s etc
If you only have 70Mb/s incoming line then you’ll not see the speed issues on internet traffic.
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Saturday 9th July 18:52
The reality is you end up with something like a 10mb ethernet link more often than not, often less. You won't notice browsing but things like large file transfers can be very painful.
They do work mind you, and plenty enough for connected appliances but not something like a peloton with video. There are defo exceptions to this but my experience with several of them has been "fine for a printer" and that's it.
Griffith4ever said:
Captain_Morgan said:
HappyMidget said:
PositronicRay said:
sgrimshaw said:
Each hop has a big impact on speed though.
Overall speed or just the extended bit?Say your wifi access point (built into your isp’s modem/fw/router/access point ‘box’) does 500Mb/s, the first extender will do 250Mb/s, the second 125Mb/s etc
If you only have 70Mb/s incoming line then you’ll not see the speed issues on internet traffic.
Edited by Captain_Morgan on Saturday 9th July 18:52
The reality is you end up with something like a 10mb ethernet link more often than not, often less. You won't notice browsing but things like large file transfers can be very painful.
They do work mind you, and plenty enough for connected appliances but not something like a peloton with video. There are defo exceptions to this but my experience with several of them has been "fine for a printer" and that's it.
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