Better to buy new router or wireless extender for range?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Better to buy new router or wireless extender for range?

toyonut

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#196608 6-Jun-2016 16:31

Just as the title says. We have had UFB put in to our house, but it went into the garage. It is pretty central in the house so should have OK coverage, but there are a few dead spots, some of which are in places I frequently use my phone. I know a couple of things about wireless, but I also know enough to know I don't know that much at all.

Should I keep using the Spark Huawei HG659 and just get a 5GHZ wireless extender to fill in some coverage? Or should I just get a new router with external antennas which will hopefully have a bit more gain?

I don't want to spend heaps on a new router and then find it won't work anyway as the problem is not signal strength from the AP, but the client struggling to return packets. In a situation like that, a closer AP should be better, but I have no idea how good a wireless extender really will be.

Also, how do you know a router will work on UFB? Looking for an xDSL modem used to be enough, do I need to see if the WAN port can do VLAN 10 and PPPOE? Anyone got any router or AP/Wireless extender recommendations?

One last separate, but slightly related question, Should I just set the router to have 2.4 and 5ghz in the same ssid and let the client choose what it connects to, or is it better to separate out the SSIDs by band and force the clients onto one or the other?

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Jase2985

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#1566579 6-Jun-2016 16:34

a wireless extender will generally half your network speed

could you run a network cable to a more central location and place an access point there?

toyonut

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#1566584 6-Jun-2016 17:00

Jase2985:

a wireless extender will generally half your network speed

could you run a network cable to a more central location and place an access point there?

Should be able to, I take it I would need to run the access point using POE? Would I just use the same SSID on the access point that I use on the spark router? I know our work one needs a central controller that manages all the APs, not sure how others work really.

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#1566627 6-Jun-2016 17:40

toyonut:

Should be able to, I take it I would need to run the access point using POE? Would I just use the same SSID on the access point that I use on the spark router? I know our work one needs a central controller that manages all the APs, not sure how others work really.

Some Wireless Access Points eg Ubiquiti use power over Ethernet (PoE). They can be tricky to set up.

A mains-powered WAP may be more suitable for your needs - eg ASUS EA-AC87 5GHz Wireless AC1800 Media Bridge Access Point

Either way you will need to run an Ethernet connection to the WAP.

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Jase2985

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#1566709 6-Jun-2016 19:44

you could use either, a POE or AP with a power pack. if you can run the cable do it, it is by far the best solution

As for SSID, you should be able to run the same one on both, as long as the password, and encryption standards are the same it should work fine.

You don't need a dedicate access point, you can repurpose an old modem/router for that. it just depends on what speed features etc you want/need.

1101

3122 posts

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#1567036 7-Jun-2016 12:31

Jase2985:

a wireless extender will generally half your network speed

... and often dont help anyway.
EOP / powerline is the way to go . Or run cables

Dont expect magic from a new wifi router or access point .
And 5Ghz is less likey to go through walls & floors etc than 2.4Ghz . Thats just the laws of physics

Ive given up with extenders, never had much success with them , Ive even turned a few off only to find it actually wasnt doing
anything usuefull anyway.
Where extenders did work, is where there was a 90degree bend in the hallway, the repeater at the bend with a clean line of site to the router & the other end.

toyonut

1508 posts

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#1569906 11-Jun-2016 10:57

Cool, thanks everyone. Will try and re-purpose one of the other spark modems I have if I can figure out how to set it up as an access point only. If it can raise the coverage in our room enough to stop the phone deciding to connect to mobile data instead of wifi, that would be all we need.

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Jase2985

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#1569936 11-Jun-2016 12:27

what device is it?

it is normally as simple as setting a static IP (can use DHCP but i find static is easier), turn off the devices internal DHCP derver, setup the wifi connection (set the SSID encryption type and password to the same as the rest of your network) then plug one of its lan ports into the lan port on the rest of your network.

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raytaylor

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#1570767 12-Jun-2016 23:19

ubiqutiti unifi is not designed for residential installations.

However I highly advise you read the guide in my signature below.

Ray Taylor

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toyonut

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#1576111 18-Jun-2016 10:22

@raytaylor and @jase2985, thanks very much that is what I ended up doing. Read about using lan, not the wan port in Rays sig and it all fell into place from there.I was having issues because I thought I had to use the wan port.

We now have a 659B in the garage doing AC wifi and the smart stuff and a Spark 630B upstairs providing a basic switch for the xbox and blu-ray player and boosting the wifi signal.

Just had to borrow the punch down tool from work to rewire the wall port upstairs. Thankfully the house had an RJ45, not just RJ11 and proper cat 6 cable even though it was for putting an ADSL port and phone jack upstairs. Now we have wifi that works through the whole house for the low low price of free. Eventually I might look at getting a better access point, but it all works fine for now. We no longer drop off the wifi in parts of the house and find ourselves using mobile data to watch netflix. We also get 50mb/s over wifi on 2.4 ghz which is 5 times faster than the old adsl connection delivered to the whole house. 5GHZ AC delivers the full 100mb/s the fiber is capable of delivering.

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Jase2985

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#1576115 18-Jun-2016 10:30

nice job :)

toyonut

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#1576191 18-Jun-2016 12:50

Jase2985:

nice job :)

Thanks very much and thanks for the help.

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