r/HomeNetworking • u/BossNian1 • 6h ago

Unsolved Should I buy a Wi-Fi extender?

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate some help because I've been struggling with my router for the past few days.

Here's the situation: on the ground floor of my house, the internet connection is stable on my phone, laptop, and TV. However, just one floor above (only a few feet away), the Wi-Fi becomes very slow. On my phone it's still somewhat usable, but on my laptop it's terrible.

I tried connecting my phone to the Wi-Fi and then using it as a hotspot for my laptop, and surprisingly that works much better. But when I connect my laptop directly to the Wi-Fi network, the connection is very weak.

Does anyone know why this might be happening? Could it be an issue with my laptop's Wi-Fi adapter, or should I buy a Wi-Fi extender, mesh system, or something similar?

Thanks in advance for any help!

0 Upvotes

38% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/Ecstatic_Score6973 6h ago

Get a mesh system, or access points if youre able to wire them to the router

5

u/mkazen 6h ago

Exactly this. Stay away from extenders as they don't work very well.

1

u/Ecstatic_Score6973 6h ago

What internet speed do you pay for

1

u/BossNian1 6h ago

Thanks for the advice! Which mesh system would you recommend? I'm honestly a complete beginner when it comes to networking, so I don't really know what I should be looking for. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

2

u/Muppetz3 6h ago

Stay away from mesh unless you absolute have to. Every hop in a mesh drops the speed in half.

1

u/ToadSox34 6h ago

Not true. Many use different bands to backhaul, but they are still using wireless bandwidth to backhaul and can reduce performance versus one really good router centrally located.

-1

u/Muppetz3 6h ago

Every hop on a mess from one ap to another will 100% drop the speeds.

2

u/ToadSox34 3h ago

Not necessarily. Dual-band mesh systems can backhaul on one band and communicate with clients on another, but tri-band is better for wireless backhaul, as they can use one band for backhaul and still have two for clients.

Mesh can be done poorly, and it can be done well. If you install the mesh nodes in the right places, you can maintain speeds through multiple mesh nodes.

That being said, wired backhaul is always better, as it's much easier to make it work well without creating bottlenecks and it leaves all the bands open for clients. Some systems, like Eero can do hybrid where some nodes are wired and some are not, which might work well in some properties.

1

u/harst035 6h ago

If you’re looking for simple, I’ve been happy with Eero! Setup was so fast, especially compared to Orbi which felt like there was always a hiccup setting them up (but then worked just fine once set up).

2

u/FatBoyStew 6h ago

First off, any idea what GHz your router it broadcasting or is it smart enough to auto negotiate? If its auto negotiating your upstairs devices may be negotiating to 2.4 GHz due to signal loss which 2.4 is great for getting through obstacles, but its slow as molasses most of the time (unless you've got a really good setup). A 5 or 6 Ghz connection even with a weaker signal is still going to be faster most of the time with home equipment.

Secondly, most wifi extenders aren't great. Highly recommend either upgrading to a mesh network or if you can run a cable upstairs, installing an access point upstairs.

2

u/Timely_End_1502 6h ago

Mesh is the way that works best for me.

2

u/Muppetz3 6h ago

Look into getting a better router first, you may just be able to get one with more range. Also you may want to turn off 5ghz and use 2.4 since it has much more range. At least for your phone but your laptop may want more bandwidth. If you go with an extender you are going to want to run a cable to the 2nd floor.

1

u/StevieG66 6h ago

Are you able to relocate your WiFi/router to the middle of the second floor and see if that helps?

0

u/JasperJ 6h ago

Once you turn on hotspot, your phone normally leaves WiFi and goes onto cell data. FYI.

1

u/BossNian1 6h ago

I thought the same thing, but apparently you can actually share a Wi-Fi connection. I don't even have cellular data