wifi wall plugs extenders

callmenever · 4 Jun 2020 at 12:40

Hi,

I live in a shared house but I'm on the 3rd floor so the WiFi signal is very weak because the router is on the ground floor, when I'm next to the router I get a download speed of around 200MB/s however when I'm at the top I hardly get 8MB/s and on PS4 only get about 1MB/s.

I have been looking at buying some wall plug extenders however, they seem to have a limit regarding how many devices can connect to them. The ones I looked at are TP-Link RE200 AC750, however it says 'upto 32 devices'.

They is 10 rooms here so I don't think that would work when people have phones, laptops etc, so I'm unsure what to do...

Is they any I can buy that don't have a limit or anyone know of a better idea?

Thank you,
Paul

Janesy B · 4 Jun 2020 at 13:43

Don't get a range extender, they are awful. Get a Powerline WiFi adaptor and place the WiFi end in your room and connect your devices. Don't have to share it with everyone else in the property if you don't want to.

Phil2008 · 4 Jun 2020 at 13:47

I have a large house and my main router is at 1 end of the house, so I have bought 3 unifi access points and dotted them around the house (2 unifi access point hardwired to the main router, 1 wireless connected to hardwired unifi access point) and they work flawlessly even the wireless one

But I also have a I have the TP-Link RE450 AC1750 to extend the wifi into the garden and its not great as they need over 50% strength connected to wifi or they go wrong quite often, I have mine set to reboot mine every few days to stop it going wrong, as its connected to my wifi at just under 50% strength. I certainly wouldnt recommend extenders if you have a lot of devices connecting to it as they very unreliable.

It amazes me how come my Unfi access point that Im using wirelessly doesn't go wrong, because is basically doing the same job as the TP-Link.

callmenever · 4 Jun 2020 at 14:31

Janesy B said:
Don't get a range extender, they are awful. Get a Powerline WiFi adaptor and place the WiFi end in your room and connect your devices. Don't have to share it with everyone else in the property if you don't want to.

Im looking for a solution that works for everyone, so would a powerline WiFi adapter allow that?

Would TP-Link TL-WPA4220KIT 2-Port Powerline Adapter WiFi be okay?

Janesy B · 4 Jun 2020 at 17:03

callmenever said:
Im looking for a solution that works for everyone, so would a powerline WiFi adapter allow that?

Would TP-Link TL-WPA4220KIT 2-Port Powerline Adapter WiFi be okay?

If you wanted a whole house solution you'd probably be better off with a wired access point on each floor.

callmenever · 4 Jun 2020 at 18:13

Janesy B said:
If you wanted a whole house solution you'd probably be better off with a wired access point on each floor.

When you say 'wired access point' are you still on about something like TP-Link TL-WPA4220T KIT? Because I was looking at buying the set of 3 so I can put one on 2nd and 3rd floor.

Janesy B · 5 Jun 2020 at 12:52

callmenever said:
When you say 'wired access point' are you still on about something like TP-Link TL-WPA4220T KIT? Because I was looking at buying the set of 3 so I can put one on 2nd and 3rd floor.

No I mean wireless access points that would be hardwired to your router. But that would work.

Avalon · 6 Jun 2020 at 04:07

Before you go power line, many properties of this type have each floors sockets on a different breaker, powerline tends not to like that. Wherever possible, run a cable and install an AP, beyond that, you're looking at mesh, rented house shares are one of the few times I suggest mesh, as it's not worth the agro if you may be moving on with a 6 month tenancy for example.

callmenever · 6 Jun 2020 at 14:18

Thank you Janet B.

@Avalon I'll have a check to see what the setup is like. I thought this was going to be an easy fix but turning out to be complicated and expensive.

pc-guy · 7 Jun 2020 at 17:36

get a mesh network.

powerline adaptor with wifi can fall over and desync etc.

the ideal is to get a load of wired up AP but that costs money and need wiring.

as someone said range extenders that plug into socket are terrible. they often desync or something go wrong with them.

neil_g · 7 Jun 2020 at 18:33

If suggesting mesh then at least get one with dedicated backhaul. Otherwise with mesh using bandwidth per hop it's going to slow down a good chunk by the 3rd floor.

BigT · 7 Jun 2020 at 19:42

Wired ethernet >> Wired Access Points >> Mesh >> Powerline >> WiFi extender in all my experience. And I'd only pick the first three.

neil_g · 7 Jun 2020 at 20:14

I think I've been lucky with powerline, my tplinks have worked fine* in the last two houses across multiple floors.

*Obviously the marketed speeds are complete balls but in rented accommodation unfortunately they can be a necessary evil.

Hook · 11 Jun 2020 at 08:04

TP-Link Deco M9+ Mesh system. Works for us in a similar house. Has one 5G channel dedicated to backhaul.

callmenever · 19 Jun 2020 at 12:00

Thanks for all the response.

I had a word with virgin media and they sent out a box of wifi booster plugs. They was giving good speed on two floors but at the top house it was still slow.

So I brought a Comfast CF-WR754AC and now I get about 60mb/s download on laptop.

However on PS4 I'm still only getting around 8mb/s has PS4 can't use 5ghz like my laptop. So, any advice on improving PS4?

If I was to buy one more Comfast band repeater and plug into my room then connect PS4 to it useing ethernet, would that help?

Thanks

callmenever · 22 Jun 2020 at 18:40

Any advice please? Nothing worse than lagging on games.

BigT · 22 Jun 2020 at 20:08

If you're happy getting 60mb/s with your Comfast thing then run it in bridge mode and cable it up to your PS4. I've no idea about the product, but there's an image on the product page http://en.comfast.com.cn/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=14&id=51 that claims to be able to make your wired TV to connect to WiFi. You'd use the same principle but with your PS4 instead of your TV (this is normally called bridge mode on most such devices)