Solved Best Wi-Fi Range Extenders

hdmi · Jan 21, 2023

Stigg said:
Obviously with the wireless connection, the satellites can't be too far from the router.

Yes, but in a mesh the satellites also communicate with each other. (Even, if the backhaul is wireless.) If the backhaul is wireless, then the satellite that is farthest from the router is held back more due to it having to depend on other nearby satellites, wirelessly that is, to still be able to reach the router. BUT... placing a satellite too close to the router and/or too close to another satellite causes interference in that area to be so severe that it is what effectively becomes the dominant factor, enough for it to degrade performance. Distance is not the only factor, though. There exist quite a few other things that either weaken the signal or block it completely. So, exactly because it is so multifactorial, wired backhaul very often proves to be the only way to get a mesh system to perform well enough for it to be truly worth.

Stigg · Jan 21, 2023

hdmi said:
Yes, but in a mesh the satellites also communicate with each other. (Even, if the backhaul is wireless.) If the backhaul is wireless, then the satellite that is farthest from the router is held back more due to it having to depend on other nearby satellites, wirelessly that is, to still be able to reach the router. BUT... placing a satellite too close to the router and/or too close to another satellite causes interference in that area to be so severe that it is what effectively becomes the dominant factor, enough for it to degrade performance. Distance is not the only factor, though. There exist quite a few other things that either weaken the signal or block it completely. So, exactly because it is so multifactorial, wired backhaul very often proves to be the only way to get a mesh system to perform well enough for it to be truly worth.

I could wire them together, as I have Ethernet ports in a few places in my house.
Right now, I'm not sure if I'll switch to a mesh system. The TP-Link RE650 AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender is currently working superbly in the one low signal area that I had prior to installing it. I'll see how it continues to perform.

cereberus · Jan 21, 2023

Stigg said:
Yeah, the NETGEAR Orbis look good.
I don't know much about the Tomato firmware, and I'm not really interested in messing with stuff like that.

This thread is becoming a real fruitfest.
Someone mentioned a lemon, and you mentioned a tomato.

Yeah this thread is bananas now lol.

Maybe OP should mark it as solved.

Stigg · Jan 21, 2023

cereberus said:
Yeah this thread is bananas now lol.

You're sending this thread pear shaped.

By the way. I think it'd be a bit premature to mark a thread about what's the best wi-fi range extender after two days.

cereberus · Jan 21, 2023

Stigg said:
You're sending this thread pear shaped.

By the way. I think it'd be a bit premature to mark a thread about what's the best wi-fi range extender after two days.

Yeah perhaps I suppose we need to keep upto DATE with CURRANT design, RAISIN our awareness so we can CHERRY pick a PLUM device.

hdmi · Jan 21, 2023

Stigg said:
Right now, I'm not sure if I'll switch to a mesh system.

With what you currently already have, I am fairly convinced that switching to mesh is not worth the investment. For most people, mesh is simply not needed, and I wouldn't have bought my mesh system (nor would I have bought any other mesh system, for that matter...) had it been possible for me to achieve very similar WiFi performance at a significantly lower cost (i.e. by going for just a single "normal" wireless router and a wireless AP). It's just that this 2 Pack from Asus performs better (and has better features) with just two nodes, when compared to an Orbi with three nodes. The main reason why the Asus still gets overlooked by many, in spite of the fact that firmware issues have properly been fixed, is because many continue to wrongfully believe that it will underperform. That is, due to it having only two nodes (because it is a 2 Pack) instead of three and due to a few other things (like not being able to aim the antennae and it not being truly tri-band, etc.) so then they buy the Orbi from Netgear or something similar, and they get average performance with it, yet they still continue to believe that performance is great, like, even when it quite simply is not. lol

jvickers · Jan 21, 2023

hdmi said:
With what you currently already have, I am fairly convinced that switching to mesh is not worth the investment. For most people, mesh is simply not needed, and I wouldn't have bought my mesh system (nor would I have bought any other mesh system, for that matter...) had it been possible for me to achieve very similar WiFi performance at a significantly lower cost (i.e. by going for just a single "normal" wireless router and a wireless AP). It's just that this 2 Pack from Asus performs better (and has better features) with just two nodes, when compared to an Orbi with three nodes. The main reason why the Asus still gets overlooked by many, in spite of the fact that firmware issues have properly been fixed, is because many continue to wrongfully believe that it will underperform. That is, due to it having only two nodes (because it is a 2 Pack) instead of three and due to a few other things (like not being able to aim the antennae and it not being truly tri-band, etc.) so then they buy the Orbi from Netgear or something similar, and they get average performance with it, yet they still continue to believe that performance is great, like, even when it quite simply is not. lol

I have an ASUS mesh system and love it. It was pricy, so I'm thankful my wife got it for me as a gift last year.

mccnavy · Jan 21, 2023

This past Christmas I was interested in updating our Wif-Fi...nothing caught my interest in price range. Still on Wifi 5 with a Linksys EA9500 router, (2) Linksys RE7000 range extenders, and (1) Linksys RE9000 range extender. On a 1Gbps Internet connection the RE7000s provide great "coverage" but I figured download speed would be faster...they top out at about 110 Mbps on a 2 x 2 802.11ac laptop card. My desktop has a 3 x 3 PCIE card (also 802.11ac) and I average around 300 Mbps off of the RE9000. The router itself is in the center of the house (living room) and I get about 450 Mbps off of a 2 x 2 802.11ax laptop card. For comparison, at our old house the router and desktop were in the same room and I could hit 800+ Mbps. I've never found any settings that could improve both range and speed using the range extenders. I read that while I could see increased speed with an upgraded Wifi 6 or 6e setup it might not be that dramatic. I'm hoping that with Wifi 7 devices come out I might take advantage of that (and upgrade my desktop PCIE card) or see prices of WiFi 6e come down.

hdmi · Jan 21, 2023

jvickers said:
I have an ASUS mesh system and love it. It was pricy, so I'm thankful my wife got it for me as a gift last year.

The ZenWiFi AX (XT8), or?

jvickers · Jan 21, 2023

hdmi said:
The ZenWiFi AX (XT8), or?

The ZenWifi AX

johnlgalt · Jan 21, 2023

hdmi said:
Do you mean that the mesh functionality on each mesh satellite is disabled? I don't think I understand.

Nope, the system still has all of that available, but the backhaul is wired. Node Steering, DFS and client Steering are all also on.

I have a 2 story house with an additional 'story' in the basement, and the basement is where my entire networking setup is, including where the fiber runs in to the house.

johnlgalt · Jan 21, 2023

hdmi said:
With what you currently already have, I am fairly convinced that switching to mesh is not worth the investment. For most people, mesh is simply not needed, and I wouldn't have bought my mesh system (nor would I have bought any other mesh system, for that matter...) had it been possible for me to achieve very similar WiFi performance at a significantly lower cost (i.e. by going for just a single "normal" wireless router and a wireless AP).

This. You've got it working as it is - leave it alone.

hdmi · Jan 21, 2023

johnlgalt said:
Nope, the system still has all of that available, but the backhaul is wired. Node Steering, DFS and client Steering are all also on.

I have a 2 story house with an additional 'story' in the basement, and the basement is where my entire networking setup is, including where the fiber runs in to the house.

Still curious, what did you mean by "glorified AP"? When in mesh mode, if I turn AP mode on, essentially it makes the router function of each node behave just like a network switch. Still in mesh mode, if I turn AP mode off, then the primary node keeps its router function, the secondary node makes its router function behave just like a network switch that sits behind the router function of the primary node.

Stigg · Jan 21, 2023

hdmi said:
With what you currently already have, I am fairly convinced that switching to mesh is not worth the investment. For most people, mesh is simply not needed, and I wouldn't have bought my mesh system (nor would I have bought any other mesh system, for that matter...) had it been possible for me to achieve very similar WiFi performance at a significantly lower cost (i.e. by going for just a single "normal" wireless router and a wireless AP).

Thanks for the tip.

johnlgalt · Jan 23, 2023

hdmi said:
Still curious, what did you mean by "glorified AP"? When in mesh mode, if I turn AP mode on, essentially it makes the router function of each node behave just like a network switch. Still in mesh mode, if I turn AP mode off, then the primary node keeps its router function, the secondary node makes its router function behave just like a network switch that sits behind the router function of the primary node.

It's LinkSys - and they want to try to do everything *for* you. So there are no real settings to control this, but it works as I have them set up and wired.

Stigg · Mar 11, 2023

Thanks all for your invaluable input. I've now marked this thread "Solved".

I've been running the TP-Link RE650 V2 AC2600 Wi-Fi Range Extender for almost two months now, and it's been rock solid.
I updated the firmware to the latest version shortly after setting it up, even though I wasn't experiencing any issues.

PGHammer · Apr 14, 2023

cereberus said:
There are many factors with wifi extenders - distance, wall thicknesses etc. and it difficult to say how well one will work. In the end, it is trial and error.

If it is all indoors in same building, a pair of homeplugs may be a better solution.

I went mesh because I faced the same problems. Too many areas where wiring was a nonstarter. I now have whole-house coverage - and bandwidth up the Yin-yang - without wires. And I bought the equipment last year! Even more embarrassing - it's not gone anywhere - it's the Netgear Nighthawk 64AX. Despite it not being current - current is the Netgear Nighthawk 84AX - which uses the same extenders - why overspend when you don't have to?

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