Help with wifi repeater

Loobylou72 · Wednesday at 15:29

Hi

I have just bought a wifi repeater (Netboost Pro) to see if it will help with an intermittent connection dropping issue. My router is in a bedroom upstairs. I have plugged in the wifi repeater near the router on the landing of the house. It has created another network in the same name as my router but with EXT at the end. If I join my devices to that EXT network the speed drops dramatically. The wifi light on the repeater should I think be solid green which it is but it does flicker as well. As you can probably tell I am not very technical so any help anyone can give would be appreciated.

Firegod · Wednesday at 16:41

Ouch. Extenders are not the best, but reading the spec on that Netboost Pro (never heard of it before) it is only a WiFi 4 extender. :eek:

I know you say your not technical but for info we're up to WiFi 7 now. So it shows how old that thing is.

Is there no way to move the router to a more centralised location? Are you struggling for WiFi upstairs or downstairs?

Loobylou72 · Wednesday at 21:06

unfortunately I can’t move the router as that is where the connection comes into the house

Loobylou72 · Wednesday at 21:42

Any other ideas anyone?

the-evaluator · 2024-12-12T06:18:17+0000

Bin the repeater - they're terrible at the best of times. Even when they work you'll find that your devices will hang onto either the router network or the extender network for too long. The network will be visible, but not exactly usable.

If the router can't be moved then I'd consider disabling the Wi-Fi on the router completely and buying a Wi-Fi Access Point instead. I like UniFi AP's, there s a big UniFi thread here if you have questions about them. Connect that to a LAN port on your router and put the AP somewhere centrally in your house. Depending on the structure and layout of your house you may need more than 1 AP but I'd start with 1 and see.

You've now got a Wi-Fi Access Point that's better located and a single network so no problems with devices hanging onto the wrong network.

If you did need a second AP then that'd broadcast the same Wi-Fi network as the first so still just a single network and devices will hop from AP to AP as needed.

spile · 2024-12-12T09:54:02+0000

I'd recommend installing a wired wireless access point to extend coverage into parts of the building that need it. I use a repurposed router for this and it can be a simple and cost effective option.