My friend is looking to extend the wifi coverage of his restaurant, the router is the TP-Link TD-W9970 which is in the office at the front and it provides good signal at the front and middle however there is no signal at the back or the function room upstairs so I'm wondering whether wifi powerline adapter (TP-Link TL-WPA4220T or devolo dLAN 500 Wi-Fi Powerline) or a mesh system (Tenda Nova MW3) will work better to extend the signal?
Wifi powerline adapter or mesh system?
- Thread starter Swiftz
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Soldato
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- 20 Oct 2008
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Powerline will depend on how well the wiring happens to suit them. No way to know without trying them.
For mesh it's also going to guesswork without knowing the layout and structure of the building (and there's still no way to really know without trying them).
The one solution guaranteed to work reliably is running a network cable and hanging an access point off the end.
For mesh it's also going to guesswork without knowing the layout and structure of the building (and there's still no way to really know without trying them).
The one solution guaranteed to work reliably is running a network cable and hanging an access point off the end.
He currently has the Tenda PH5 wifi powerline kit in the middle of the restaurant which extends the signal to the back and works however the adapter has a power saving mode which drops/slows down the connection so he is looking at getting a different brand wifi powerline adapter (TP-Link or Devolo) or a mesh system but both of us haven't used one before so don't know whether they are better than the adapter.
Soldato
Best of both worlds and get a DECO P9 kit cheap. Wifi mesh with powerline as backbone when needed.
He doesn't want to spend more than £80 on the kit and the Deco P9 is around £170, the current Tenda PH5 wifi powerline kit he is using is £25 but the adapter goes into power saving mode which drops/slows down the connection.
Out of wifi powerline adapter and mesh system, which would work the best?
Soldato
I would say mesh. if your quick you can find a 3 pack Tp link mesh kit E4 for £90 quid. I have fitted two of these in the last few months and found them really great if your not planning on them going through 100 year old stone walls. Probably best to buy it and give it a try and send it back if its's pants.
Soldato
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So you know, if you ignore the power saving issue, that Powerline adapters will work?
If so, that seems like the safest option if you can buy a set where power saving can be disabled. I installed a set of TP-Link adapters (TP-PA9020) for someone a couple of days ago and they had an option to disable power saving.
IMO you'd still be better off with a cabled option.
Don
Neither.
Ethernet to multiple access points is the correct and only way you should tackle this.
Ethernet to multiple access points is the correct and only way you should tackle this.
Yes, the Tenda PH5 wifi powerline adapters works perfectly just the power saving mode is an issue. I'm looking between the TP-Link TL-WPA4220T or Devolo dLAN 500 Wi-Fi Powerline but not sure which one is better but I know both have the option to disable power saving.
Also, he will switch to the cable option with access points later on in the year when he install some IP cameras.