Vodafone WiFi Extenders - How do they work?

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WellingtonBoy

44 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#224382 15-Nov-2017 15:12

If you already have wifi from a Vodafone ULTRA hub and you add a Vodafone Wifi Extender:

I thought, the WiFi extender would simply extend the existing wifi network, to increase it's range.

But, unless I'm mistaken, the Vodafone wifi extender appears to create a new seperate Wifi network. ie: You end up with two Wifi Networks - one from the original ULTRA Hub and running in parallel, a new wifi network with a different name, from the extenders.

Or am I doing it wrong?

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Morm

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 20

#1902583 16-Nov-2017 09:43

WellingtonBoy:

Thanks - but that's the same information I was referencing.

One of the options listed describes "extending the existing network", but even that option says at the end:

"On your wireless device, search and connect to the Wi-Fi name (indicated on the Ultra Extender's sticker)"

ie: After choosing to "extend the existing network" it tells you to connect to a different network name, from the sticker.

They run slightly differently depending on the setup, but they all run as 192.168.1.240-244, with the main ap as 192.168.1.240

They sit on the same subnet as the router, and use the ultrahub/hg659 as the dhcp server etc which I prefer, rather than run their own network

Single AP set to AP mode - you connect to the SSID and PW as indicated on the sticker. You can set ssid in the menu, but it isn't a mesh system, so its not really necessary

With two APs, 1st as AP and 2nd as extender - they have different SSIDs (one has _ext on the end), but then they both share the same password as the main AP once paired. (note, when there is an ethernet connected device in the extender, the extenders wif iis disabled to form the dedicated bridge which is awesome for xbox, tv etc with no ethernet to them otherwise)

These are similar to other wifi extenders whereby they add _ext or similar to the wifi ssid to extend the network.

The difference with this system though is that it doesn't latch onto your existing wifi and rebroadcast it. By having an AP unit at the router and using its own channel to extend to the other unit gives higher performance. Especially as both ends become a 4x4 5ghz beamformed connection between each other. These little APs are wifi rocketships. Much faster than rebroadcasting what could be a slower 5g wifi or somesuch from your router.

A speedtest I ran on 2 of these in bridge mode to my desktop PC got 800Mbit and regularly get 600+

Morm

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 20

#1903116 17-Nov-2017 08:30

WellingtonBoy:

Thanks Morm. That was interesting information.

Since the extenders aren't extending my original ULTRA Wifi, does that mean I should disable wifi on the ultra hub and use the wifi from extenders only?

And I'm guessing my set-up is (A) Access point mode from the Vodafone brochure:

[Vodafone] ------- [Modem] --------- [ Ultra hub] --------- cable across house -------[Switch]---------- [ Extender in AP mode]

|_ [Extender in AP Mode]

Yes turn it off as that stops extra interference on 5Ghz

I have the 2.4G left turned on the router as the extenders only do 5ghz and I have some 2.4g devices, but all the 5g devices run solely off the Wifi extenders no problem. they have good coverage.