wifi extender

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when my granddaughter stays at our house she struggles to get a wifi signal in the bedroom , this is the only place where it is difficult to get good wifi,im thinking of getting a plug in wifi extender to put on the landing but my question is do the plug in wifi extenders actually work, do some brands work better than others, what do you recommend and what, if any are to be avoided.
thanks in advance
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
We have the older version of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-PA411KIT-Powerline-Adapter-Starter/dp/B0084Y9N3O work well

Ooops wrong link, fixed
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
They work - we had a TP Link mains wifi extender. Give it a different wifi name as then you/she will know she's connected to it, rather than still struggling to reach the main one - We had ours in the garage. (still do but turned toe wifi off - use it as mains to CAT5 extension.

I've since upgraded to a MESH system, that automatically switches over to the best signal - it works by having additional 'wireless' discs in the house that relay the signal from the router. More expensive though.
 

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
We got one for the house extension and it works well. It was a cheapo from Maplin (who sadly dont exist now).
But......it was complicated** to set up, even my grandaughter struggled.
**I thought you just plugged it in but not so.
I am sure that if your grandaughter is over the age of 2 she can sort it out.
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
A mesh network will be far better (about £75-£150) but a wifi extender can work, but she may be fiddling a bit to get it working and it will slow down your connection. If you do get one, then only turn it on when you need it.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
it will slow down your connection. If you do get one, then only turn it on when you need it.
I have never found this & logically I see no way it can affect your connection in any way
 

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
A mesh network will be far better (about £75-£150) but a wifi extender can work, but she may be fiddling a bit to get it working and it will slow down your connection. If you do get one, then only turn it on when you need it.
Why only when you need it ?? (Serious question).
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
Our hub is upstairs and we were having signal problems downstairs so I got a wee Netgear Wi-Fi extender like this for about £15.

extender.jpg

It was easy to pair it with the main hub and it now lives in a socket in the kitchen, giving strong downstairs coverage, including out to my garage and back garden. Bizarrely, it even gives us a better signal upstairs!

There are several variations depending on the square footage you want to cover but you shouldn't need to spend >£20.
 

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Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
I have never found this & logically I see no way it can affect your connection in any way

An extender that uses WiFi will usually see some speed loss. Because they’re communicating with the router over Wi-Fi, there’s a big speed drop if the extender talks to your devices on the same band it’s using to talk to the router. A powerline version should get around this, but not always.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
I have TP Link all over the house, all different kinds, all bought for a song off ebay (people upgrade, change to different technologies). As others have said, setting them up and getting them to talk to each other properly can be a bit of a faff (generally takes me an hour give or take rather than the claimed plug 'n play+/-), but once they're up and running they work well. I've never noticed them to slow down the main connection, which generally runs at 50 give or take. Right now, using wi-fi from a tp-link adaptor three floors down, my laptop's getting....

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