ISO Wifi range extender, that doesn't just create a new network
November 1, 2015 4:57 PM Subscribe
I need a device on one side of my condo to connect to a device on the other side of my condo via wifi. The wifi does not reach. I have bought two range extenders from Amazon and both of them just create a new network instead of making the original network signal cover more area. I expected it to just repeat the signal and stay one network. Help me buy a wifi range extender that does that.
These are the two extenders that I have thus far purchased and rejected:
1, 2
In both cases they want to create a new network that is basically a hot spot off my old network. It would obviously be a pain in the butt to be switching between networks as I wander through my not-that-gigantic-apartment. Further, I do need devices that are stationary at each end of the condo to connect to one another (a desktop computer and a printer). I suppose I could just connect them to the extended network both but that would suck for the desktop which would then be a degree further removed from the internet for no reason at all.
Up until now (when my phone died) I was printing by setting up a wifi hot spot with my phone and temporarily connecting my laptop and my printer up to that. I'm kind of tired of the jury-rigged solution and would like to just have my one wifi-network reach the entire condo. Which wifi extender will do that?
I would really prefer one in the style where the actual device is fully attached to the plug, since I don't have any piece of furniture near a suitable plug where I could set down some extra modem-like box.
These are the two extenders that I have thus far purchased and rejected:
1, 2
In both cases they want to create a new network that is basically a hot spot off my old network. It would obviously be a pain in the butt to be switching between networks as I wander through my not-that-gigantic-apartment. Further, I do need devices that are stationary at each end of the condo to connect to one another (a desktop computer and a printer). I suppose I could just connect them to the extended network both but that would suck for the desktop which would then be a degree further removed from the internet for no reason at all.
Up until now (when my phone died) I was printing by setting up a wifi hot spot with my phone and temporarily connecting my laptop and my printer up to that. I'm kind of tired of the jury-rigged solution and would like to just have my one wifi-network reach the entire condo. Which wifi extender will do that?
I would really prefer one in the style where the actual device is fully attached to the plug, since I don't have any piece of furniture near a suitable plug where I could set down some extra modem-like box.
Response by poster: Sorry to threadsit, but I just searched amazon for wifi repeater and got the exact same results I get for searching extender. In fact, both models I already got are called (wrongly, perhaps, but called, nonetheless) repeaters. I'm hoping someone who actually owns one model or other could confirm that it is what I want.
Oh, and I should add, in addition to printing, I wouldn't mind lessening the odds of my chromecast cutting out, so something fast enough for streaming would be good.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:15 PM on November 1, 2015
Oh, and I should add, in addition to printing, I wouldn't mind lessening the odds of my chromecast cutting out, so something fast enough for streaming would be good.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:15 PM on November 1, 2015
Response by poster: Sorry (don't beat me mods!) but now that I've read that article more carefully. What I bought wasn't doing what that article called "bridging". With bridging, devices on the two networks are visible to one another. That isn't the case with these devices that I purchased. It's more like it did the kind of tethering thing that a phone does. It sets up a hot spot and that hot spot is being fed by my wifi (instead of a 4G network like a phone would use).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:22 PM on November 1, 2015
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:22 PM on November 1, 2015
I think I remember having this problem, and IIRC the solution was just to rename the new network to the same name (and same password) as the original. Have you tried just doing that?
And on preview, yes, bridging was the magic word.
posted by quinndexter at 5:23 PM on November 1, 2015
And on preview, yes, bridging was the magic word.
posted by quinndexter at 5:23 PM on November 1, 2015
Well, we do this with Apple gear, where the feature is built it. Set up an Airport Extreme base station, fire up an Airport Express base station elsewhere and you'll be asked if you want to extend your existing network. Once you say yes, you're done.
It sounds like you may already have a primary AP you want to keep. You might want to look into similar extension tech from that vendor. IME, when you want to do things like this, sticking with one vendor is easier.
But, beyond that, a big part of the answer is about how your network is wired, generally. If your backhaul from the new AP to the network is via a Wi-Fi link to your primary AP, you're going to be sending a lot of data over the air twice, and are going to take a serious speed hit.
Ideally, you can hook the WAN port of the new AP to a wired LAN port on the primary AP, bridge the AP (so that the main AP provides DHCP and the gateway) and make sure the password is the same and you're in business...
As long as your secondary AP has a bridging mode that can work with your main one, you can make this work.
posted by Mad_Carew at 5:26 PM on November 1, 2015
It sounds like you may already have a primary AP you want to keep. You might want to look into similar extension tech from that vendor. IME, when you want to do things like this, sticking with one vendor is easier.
But, beyond that, a big part of the answer is about how your network is wired, generally. If your backhaul from the new AP to the network is via a Wi-Fi link to your primary AP, you're going to be sending a lot of data over the air twice, and are going to take a serious speed hit.
Ideally, you can hook the WAN port of the new AP to a wired LAN port on the primary AP, bridge the AP (so that the main AP provides DHCP and the gateway) and make sure the password is the same and you're in business...
As long as your secondary AP has a bridging mode that can work with your main one, you can make this work.
posted by Mad_Carew at 5:26 PM on November 1, 2015
Response by poster: COD: which one?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:16 PM on November 1, 2015
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:16 PM on November 1, 2015
@COD, I've tried this one and it does the same thing that the ones OP is describing which is to create a new network. I believe what @quinndexter said about naming the networks the same and having the same password would work, but when I tried it it worked poorly. It would only switch one the signal got really poor so it wasn't a great experience.
I'm not sure what your budget is, but I highly suggest getting a new stronger router. I upgrade mine and it works great. I'm sure if you ask in the Green you'll get lots of suggestions. Maybe look at the Nighthawk, though they're pricy.
posted by pyro979 at 6:32 PM on November 1, 2015
I'm not sure what your budget is, but I highly suggest getting a new stronger router. I upgrade mine and it works great. I'm sure if you ask in the Green you'll get lots of suggestions. Maybe look at the Nighthawk, though they're pricy.
posted by pyro979 at 6:32 PM on November 1, 2015
The generally-accepted way to do this is to have each AP run on a different channel but with the same SSID (network name), encryption settings, and password. And on the backend they should be in bridge mode.
However, it's up to the client device to switch between the two APs in an intelligent way. Some do a better job than others.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:42 PM on November 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
However, it's up to the client device to switch between the two APs in an intelligent way. Some do a better job than others.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:42 PM on November 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
FWIW, I have a different TP-Link extender, and it's effectively worthless. It has next to no range and even when it would bridge the networks it would induce huge latency, far beyond the expected performance drop was.
If your circuitry allows, you might use a network over power line adapter to get networking to the far side of the condo and then use a second access point rather than trying to to extend it.
posted by Candleman at 12:27 AM on November 2, 2015
If your circuitry allows, you might use a network over power line adapter to get networking to the far side of the condo and then use a second access point rather than trying to to extend it.
posted by Candleman at 12:27 AM on November 2, 2015
I have this Netis WF2416, purchased a while back on sale for about $10. The device uses our existing wireless network SSID and is pretty compact.
This was purchased to allow us to use our tablets on the back porch of an old brick home that has lath and plaster walls inside. The only caveat is that there is a bit of latency, but we've used it both to surf the web and stream YouTube and are happy with the results.
posted by SteveInMaine at 2:55 AM on November 2, 2015
This was purchased to allow us to use our tablets on the back porch of an old brick home that has lath and plaster walls inside. The only caveat is that there is a bit of latency, but we've used it both to surf the web and stream YouTube and are happy with the results.
posted by SteveInMaine at 2:55 AM on November 2, 2015
The Wirecutter article has a good description and review of options.
If I were you, I'd start by looking at my primary wifi access point. Is it also your router? If it's really old, you should upgrade it first. 802.11n on 2.4GHz is the bare minimum. 802.11ac over 5.0GHz is the current hotness. I just installed a TP-Link Archer C7 on Wirecutter's recommendation and am quite happy with it. The new wifi may well just make everything work, in case you're done!
If not, then you need a second wifi access point. The main trick is getting network from your primary to your secondary. An ethernet cable is best, powerline ethernet is second best. If neither are possible then you want a fully wireless solution, a repeater (or extender, they're the same thing). As the Wirecutter article notes, there are advantages to using both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz to make the extension, although really it's not essential unless you're worried about 50MBps+ speeds.
As folks have said above, the primary and secondary should form a bridged network. And if you put both devices on the same SSID then smart clients will indeed switch between them as you move around. Not all clients are great at this, MacOS laptops are surprisingly bad for instance. I find I still have to turn my wifi off and on briefly to make it switch sometimes. (Closing the lid and reopening it is sufficient.)
I'd never pay less than $60 for any wifi network gear. Quality really does matter. Also numbers of antennas matter; those tiny little devices really don't work as well as some ugly alien spaceship with 3+ antennas sticking out.
One other quick tip: on your primary access point, fan your antennas out so they aren't all parallel. Ie, make them into a W shape, not an E shape. Makes a significant difference in signal quality.
posted by Nelson at 6:48 AM on November 2, 2015
If I were you, I'd start by looking at my primary wifi access point. Is it also your router? If it's really old, you should upgrade it first. 802.11n on 2.4GHz is the bare minimum. 802.11ac over 5.0GHz is the current hotness. I just installed a TP-Link Archer C7 on Wirecutter's recommendation and am quite happy with it. The new wifi may well just make everything work, in case you're done!
If not, then you need a second wifi access point. The main trick is getting network from your primary to your secondary. An ethernet cable is best, powerline ethernet is second best. If neither are possible then you want a fully wireless solution, a repeater (or extender, they're the same thing). As the Wirecutter article notes, there are advantages to using both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz to make the extension, although really it's not essential unless you're worried about 50MBps+ speeds.
As folks have said above, the primary and secondary should form a bridged network. And if you put both devices on the same SSID then smart clients will indeed switch between them as you move around. Not all clients are great at this, MacOS laptops are surprisingly bad for instance. I find I still have to turn my wifi off and on briefly to make it switch sometimes. (Closing the lid and reopening it is sufficient.)
I'd never pay less than $60 for any wifi network gear. Quality really does matter. Also numbers of antennas matter; those tiny little devices really don't work as well as some ugly alien spaceship with 3+ antennas sticking out.
One other quick tip: on your primary access point, fan your antennas out so they aren't all parallel. Ie, make them into a W shape, not an E shape. Makes a significant difference in signal quality.
posted by Nelson at 6:48 AM on November 2, 2015
Seconding-- You should really just pick up a powerline ethernet adapter. You plug one of the boxes into the wall and then into your access point with an ethernet cable, and then you plug the other box into an outlet near the computer & printer then you plug the computer & printer into the box with ethernet cables. You'll need to buy a few short ethernet cables.
I've done work for a bunch of folks with big houses and bad wifi signal. I've never had the range extenders/repeaters work. I would set them up, and then a week later they'd stop working. I would end up setting up a second access point with a powerline adapter or running ethernet to setup another access point.
posted by gregr at 7:14 AM on November 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've done work for a bunch of folks with big houses and bad wifi signal. I've never had the range extenders/repeaters work. I would set them up, and then a week later they'd stop working. I would end up setting up a second access point with a powerline adapter or running ethernet to setup another access point.
posted by gregr at 7:14 AM on November 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by andrewcooke at 5:05 PM on November 1, 2015