Wifi Extenders

texansfan · Aug 3, 2015

I'm looking for something to place upstairs to make the Wifi signal better. Everything is currently downstairs, and the signal isn't as strong in certain areas of the house.

I'm wondering if I buy one of those plug in types if it will help.

Has anyone here bought and used one with great results?

mrwho · Aug 3, 2015

i have bought the ones from walmart and they work great. you will lose signal sometimes once in a long time but the speed is pretty nice

texansfan · Aug 3, 2015

mrwho said:
i have bought the ones from walmart and they work great. you will lose signal sometimes once in a long time but the speed is pretty nice

Which brand did you buy? Will I need more than one for upstairs?

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

I have had one for years, and also talked my parents into getting one.

I have a Netgear WN2000RPT

It works great. In addition to boosting my wifi signal it acts as an 4-port ethernet hub, which is nice. I have a medium-sized place right now and it's one floor, so I don't even need the range extension, but I have my Sonos connect hooked through my living room sound system. I have an old school Sonos, the kind where your connect needs to be hard wired, so it's necessary.

But I have used it at a bigger 3-story house and it helped a lot with signal.

My parents' router is in their basement and they get horrible signal upstairs without it, and one did the trick. They have a Netgear but a newer model.

If you are having wifi struggle the further away you get from your router, I highly recommend it.

texansfan · Aug 3, 2015

Thanks Harry. Is it something that plugs in or uses a battery? I want something easy to use and can be moved around if needed. I'm assuming just one will do the job?

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

texansfan said:
Thanks Harry. Is it something that plugs in or uses a battery? I want something easy to use and can be moved around if needed. I'm assuming just one will do the job?

Yeah just one should do the job, and you shouldn't need to move it around. It should sit halfway between your router and the area in which you are having trouble. Find a good spot and you should be good - it does plug into the wall and is not really designed to be moved around. You would experience network interruption during the time it was unplugged, and then it would have to reboot when you re-plugged it, and all your devices would have to reconnect to it.

That said it is small and sleek and can fit into your decor nicely.

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

And it is super easy to set up and use. If my mom figured it out, you can figure it out.

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

Just in case you didn't know, there is a difference between a repeater and an extender. I assume you're talking about an extender, which is more common and will solve your issue.

What it does is take your existing wireless network and re-broadcast it as a different network. It extends your range, it doesn't improve the strength of your existing signal.

So if your wifi network is named TexansFan, it actually creates a new network called TexansFan_EXT (or whatever you want to name it). Then you connect your devices to TexansFan_EXT. The TexansFan network would not now be any stronger, but your TexansFan_EXT network would cover area that previously was out of range of the original network.

I suppose if you had a REALLY big house you'd have to switch your device between TexansFan and TexansFan_EXT depending on which side of the house you are in, which would be a pain. But I've never encountered that situation.

My house is like 1500 sq ft and I can connect everything to the _EXT network no matter where I'm at in my house, and it works just fine, even outside on the patio.

Just wanted to give you the full info.

texansfan · Aug 3, 2015

Thanks again Harry. My house is around 2600 sq ft. My router and everything is set up downstairs, and I seem to have some trouble in certain areas of the house. I get a signal, it's just not as strong as I would like it. My son runs an Xbox 1 in his room, and it runs a little slow when he's using the Wifi.

I think I'm going to name it FBI Surveillance Van and freak out the neighbors.

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

texansfan said:
Thanks again Harry. My house is around 2600 sq ft. My router and everything is set up downstairs, and I seem to have some trouble in certain areas of the house. I get a signal, it's just not as strong as I would like it. My son runs an Xbox 1 in his room, and it runs a little slow when he's using the Wifi.

I think I'm going to name it FBI Surveillance Van and freak out the neighbors.

Hahaha yeah. That's about the size of my folks' place and one did the trick. Your son could just always connect his xbox to the extended network.

I haven't connected anything directly to my regular network in years.

texansfan · Aug 3, 2015

HarryCaray said:
Hahaha yeah. That's about the size of my folks' place and one did the trick. Your son could just always connect his xbox to the extended network.

I haven't connected anything directly to my regular network in years.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond. :toast:

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

texansfan said:
Appreciate you taking the time to respond. :toast:

My pleasure

mrwho · Aug 3, 2015

sorry been knocked out. the brand i got is netgear..think they only had that brand when i went. the setup comes with two device. one your plug into your main router and into an outlet. the other one plugs into another outlet where you have your other computer or device. i went a more complicated route and had another router plugged into the 2nd device so my wifi is strong throughout the house downstairs while my main router is upstairs. keep in mind the outlet that you plug these extenders into, you cannot have anything else plug into it or it will interfere with your signal.

texansfan · Aug 3, 2015

mrwho said:
sorry been knocked out. the brand i got is netgear..think they only had that brand when i went. the setup comes with two device. one your plug into your main router and into an outlet. the other one plugs into another outlet where you have your other computer or device. i went a more complicated route and had another router plugged into the 2nd device so my wifi is strong throughout the house downstairs while my main router is upstairs. keep in mind the outlet that you plug these extenders into, you cannot have anything else plug into it or it will interfere with your signal.

Same brand that Harry recommended. I think I'll go with Netgear, they rate pretty well. I'm wondering if I plug it into the outlet in the hallway upstairs if that will work best. The hallway connects all four bedrooms.

Thanks mrwho for responding.

HarryCaray · Aug 3, 2015

texansfan said:
Same brand that Harry recommended. I think I'll go with Netgear, they rate pretty well. I'm wondering if I plug it into the outlet in the hallway upstairs if that will work best. The hallway connects all four bedrooms.

Thanks mrwho for responding.

FWIW I have my extender plugged into a power strip next to 5 other things and have no issues with it.

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