A better Wifi Extender?

[Merlin5]

I've been using this TP Link RE200 extender for ages (it was given to me)

but I'd like to get something better if possible. My Virgin Media Superhub 3 router is in my front room and I struggle to get wifi further down my property in my bathroom and kitchen. The extender is plugged in to the wall in my hall about half way between my front room and the back of my kitchen, about 24 feet away from each room. The bathroom is right next to the extender and also often doesn’t get a signal. I do get wifi with it and it was working quite consistently a few weeks ago. Now it's extremely inconsistent and often doesn't work and I have to reboot the router or repair with the extender. Is there a more powerful extender I can get that might work more efficiently?

 

[Jim99]

I moved over from a TP-Link mesh set up with 3 devices (Wifi 6) to an EE supplied WiFi 7 router + single extender and it's outperforming the old one.

The technology has moved on a lot, and apparently your router is on Wifi 5 which is pretty old by now. I'd expect that any Wifi 7 router and extender would outperform what you have now.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I've been using this TP Link RE200 extender for ages (it was given to me)

but I'd like to get something better if possible. My Virgin Media Superhub 3 router is in my front room and I struggle to get wifi further down my property in my bathroom and kitchen. The extender is plugged in to the wall in my hall about half way between my front room and the back of my kitchen, about 24 feet away from each room. The bathroom is right next to the extender and also often doesn’t get a signal. I do get wifi with it and it was working quite consistently a few weeks ago. Now it's extremely inconsistent and often doesn't work and I have to reboot the router or repair with the extender. Is there a more powerful extender I can get that might work more efficiently?

Your problem is that the SH3 has an absolute poop WiFi module.

Disable WiFi on the SH3 and connect just about WiFi access point made in the last decade or a basic mesh system.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks for the replies. I have a very basic 150mbps VM internet and only pay £24 a month over 18 months. I believe VM has some pod extenders that work with their latest superhub router? Maybe I need those, but then that's a lot more money per month I guess?

 

[Merlin5]

I moved over from a TP-Link mesh set up with 3 devices (Wifi 6) to an EE supplied WiFi 7 router + single extender and it's outperforming the old one.

The technology has moved on a lot, and apparently your router is on Wifi 5 which is pretty old by now. I'd expect that any Wifi 7 router and extender would outperform what you have now.

Just re-reading what you wrote. It looks like I need a WiFi 7 router from what you've said. Did you have to upgrade your contract with EE to get those devices? Otherwise can I just buy any WiFi 7 router and extender without changing my contract with VM and just bin the superhub?

 

[uscool]

Just re-reading what you wrote. It looks like I need a WiFi 7 router from what you've said. Did you have to upgrade your contract with EE to get those devices? Otherwise can I just buy any WiFi 7 router and extender without changing my contract with VM and just bin the superhub?

Maybe higher quality extender will be better

If bought own router you'll have to put the superhub into modem only mode and connect own router to it

I went with tp link router WiFi 7 and TP-Link RE705X extender WiFi 6 which I bought used from eBay for £20 it's been solid

Have it setup using easy mesh so it's 1 WiFi name connects seamlessly no reconnecting

 

[Jim99]

Just re-reading what you wrote. It looks like I need a WiFi 7 router from what you've said. Did you have to upgrade your contract with EE to get those devices? Otherwise can I just buy any WiFi 7 router and extender without changing my contract with VM and just bin the superhub?

I did, but you don't need to do that. AFAIK (and as uscool said) you can put the Superhub into a modem only mode, and then you just plug in whatever router you want (with an ethernet WAN port) downstream of the Superhub and use that to do DHCP, Wifi etc. The Superhub then is just converting the cable connection into ethernet.

 

[Merlin5]

Maybe higher quality extender will be better

If bought own router you'll have to put the superhub into modem only mode and connect own router to it

I went with tp link router WiFi 7 and TP-Link RE705X extender WiFi 6 which I bought used from eBay for £20 it's been solid

Have it setup using easy mesh so it's 1 WiFi name connects seamlessly no reconnecting

Just to be clear, do you mean just buying an extender like your RE705X will work better without necessarily changing router and just pair it with the SH3? Or do you mean buy it as well as a wifi 7 router like your tp link? This tp link Archer wifi 7 seems quite inexpensive,

TP-Link Archer BE230 Dual Band Wi-Fi 7 Router, BE3600

Buy TP-Link Archer BE230 Dual Band Wi-Fi 7 Router, BE3600 from our Computer & Tablet Accessories range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.

www.johnlewis.com

and a new RE705X is £70, so £160 all in isn't too bad I guess?

 

[Merlin5]

I did, but you don't need to do that. AFAIK (and as uscool said) you can put the Superhub into a modem only mode, and then you just plug in whatever router you want (with an ethernet WAN port) downstream of the Superhub and use that to do DHCP, Wifi etc. The Superhub then is just converting the cable connection into ethernet.

Thanks. I have no idea how to put it into modem mode lol, a flick of a switch somewhere I guess? Once I connect a router into my superhub, is it easy to get my VM internet up and running with my password or is there a load of settings to configure?

 

[Jim99]

Thanks. I have no idea how to put it into modem mode lol, a flick of a switch somewhere I guess? Once I connect a router into my superhub, is it easy to get my VM internet up and running with my password or is there a load of settings to configure?

See here: https://www.virginmedia.com/the-edit/glossary/what-is-a-modem

The modem (or in this case superhub in modem mode) should take care of everything in terms of internet, and then most off the shelf routers these days are designed to be fairly idiot proof.

 

[Monkeynut]

I also have a VM SH3 and had an RE220 - the eventual solution was to go to a TP-Link AX3600 and ethernet it to the VM router - I then got an AX1800 to replace the RE220 extender as my Tapo camera kept freezing when viewing - wireless AX backend completely changed everything.

 

[uscool]

Just to be clear, do you mean just buying an extender like your RE705X will work better without necessarily changing router and just pair it with the SH3? Or do you mean buy it as well as a wifi 7 router like your tp link? This tp link Archer wifi 7 seems quite inexpensive,

TP-Link Archer BE230 Dual Band Wi-Fi 7 Router, BE3600

Buy TP-Link Archer BE230 Dual Band Wi-Fi 7 Router, BE3600 from our Computer & Tablet Accessories range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.

www.johnlewis.com

and a new RE705X is £70, so £160 all in isn't too bad I guess?

Yeah just buying better extender might save you needing router but can't be sure till you try, also not sure what superhub you have but the older one I had to restart every other day because it couldn't handle multiple WiFi devices, but once I got my own router and put the superhub into modem only no more issues

Also the RE705X can be found cheaper on eBay

 

[Merlin5]

Yeah just buying better extender might save you needing router but can't be sure till you try, also not sure what superhub you have but the older one I had to restart every other day because it couldn't handle multiple WiFi devices, but once I got my own router and put the superhub into modem only no more issues

Also the RE705X can be found cheaper on eBay

Alright thanks, I'll search for an RE705X on ebay. I have the superhub 3 I think. In terms of multiple wifi devices, it's my phone, laptop and tv but the laptop is rarely used. It does look like I'll probably end up having to buy a new router as well but yeah, might as well try just a different extender first.

See here: https://www.virginmedia.com/the-edit/glossary/what-is-a-modem

The modem (or in this case superhub in modem mode) should take care of everything in terms of internet, and then most off the shelf routers these days are designed to be fairly idiot proof.

That's great to hear. Sounds like it should be quite straight forward for an idiot like me.

I also have a VM SH3 and had an RE220 - the eventual solution was to go to a TP-Link AX3600 and ethernet it to the VM router - I then got an AX1800 to replace the RE220 extender as my Tapo camera kept freezing when viewing - wireless AX backend completely changed everything.

Do you have a link to the AX3600 you bought? I think I saw a price of £250 unless I looked at the wrong one? Your setup is wifi 6 I think? Sounds like that's good enough according to your experience, unless anyone thinks I should skip it and go wifi 7, for just a router at least and maybe it's ok to go with a wifi 6 extender? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to get clued up lol.

 

[Monkeynut]

Sorry I'm an idiot - it's not an AX3600, it's a AX3000 RE705X.

 

[Merlin5]

Sorry I'm an idiot - it's not an AX3600, it's a AX3000 RE705X.

Now I'm really confused. I've probably got this wrong but googling The AX3000 RE705X it seems to be an extender not a router? I thought you were originally referring to the AX3600 as your new router plus an AX 1800 as your extender? But it doesn't matter as you've helped put me on the right path as to what I'll need to improve my WiFi.

 

[Monkeynut]

Now I'm really confused. I've probably got this wrong but googling The AX3000 RE705X it seems to be an extender not a router? I thought you were originally referring to the AX3600 as your new router plus an AX 1800 as your extender? But it doesn't matter as you've helped put me on the right path as to what I'll need to improve my WiFi.

The AX3000 is connected to the SH3 and is set up as a WiFi access point, so all WiFi traffic in that are of the house goes through that. The AX1800 is the extender in another room so I've got wireless AX between those points.

 

[Merlin5]

The AX3000 is connected to the SH3 and is set up as a WiFi access point, so all WiFi traffic in that are of the house goes through that. The AX1800 is the extender in another room so I've got wireless AX between those points.

Cool, I understand now. Well, I've just bought a used TP Link AX3000 RE705X extender on ebay for £39 + postage so we'll see how that goes.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I did, but you don't need to do that. AFAIK (and as uscool said) you can put the Superhub into a modem only mode, and then you just plug in whatever router you want (with an ethernet WAN port) downstream of the Superhub and use that to do DHCP, Wifi etc. The Superhub then is just converting the cable connection into ethernet.

Exactly what I did using an old Netgear router I had spare. This was a decade ago, so I’m sure there’s way better options now.

 

[Avalon]

Thanks for the replies. I have a very basic 150mbps VM internet and only pay £24 a month over 18 months. I believe VM has some pod extenders that work with their latest superhub router? Maybe I need those, but then that's a lot more money per month I guess?

For what you are paying, you could have 1Gb and Netflix.

Extenders are a technically horrible solution, and based on your description of the signal in the bathroom that appears to be mere feet away, something seems off here. What are your walls made of? Is it something incredibly dense like stone or have you got a modern build with something like foil coated boards that will block signal? They are particularly popular in bathrooms where a foil/foam/plastic laminate board can be used to ensure a waterproof membrane between plaster and any cladding to remove the cold 'bridge', I recently re-did a bathroom with such a product and it's great, but mobile/wifi signal is now significantly reduced.

Oh, and for those proclaiming wifi has improved with bigger numbers, 2.4Ghz is still vastly superior for penetration, followed by 5Ghz and it gets *worse* as you go up the spectrum, not better. It can be fast, or it can go through walls, but not both, and certainly not within our power limits.

 

[uscool]

If it was working before , it could be interference on the wireless channel from the superhub, such as neighbours WiFi or other appliances

Superhub by default is set to auto pick the best wireless channel on restart but I don't think it gets it right

What you can do is go into the superhub, you'll have sticker underneath what IP to type and login

Go into the wireless settings for 2.4ghz choose between channels 1 , 6 or 12 whichever is least used

You can check which WiFi channels are being used around you by using this app not sure for iPhone this is for Android

WiFi Analyzer - Apps on Google Play

Find a clear WiFi channel, boost signal & see who's connected to your WiFi.

play.google.com

RE705x been great for me although I got it set using easy mesh because already have tp link router so it's the same WiFi connection doesn't need to reconnect and was cheaper solution

I have router front of the house with extender in the middle so now get WiFi to the other end of the house and garden including bathroom