Wifi extenders any good?

Hello, do the wifi extenders I see advertise now any good? Do they really just plug into a wall outlet and make your wifi “stronger”? If so, which are the best ones out there? I see mixed reviews on all of them. Some say they work, others say they’re a waste of money? Any thoughts?
Thank you!

I tried one and it didn’t do much. Spent a decent amount on it too. It’s sitting in a drawer now. I think you’d be better off with a mesh system, like Eero.

3 Likes

Not really stronger but further. I have a couple in a box somewhere. Never liked them and never really helped. But what I found that did help was a mesh system. Always use wired when possible but I added a mesh router to hit another bedroom. Not only did it but some how the dl speed is almost as good as my wired system??? Very nice.

edit… If you do you use a wifi extender they work much better wired if possible.

edit #2… I think Steve was reading my notes :rofl:

4 Likes

@Amrygirl

If you want a decent wifi extension you really need to look into mesh system.

It’s expensive but it works better than any cheap solution. But it also depends on how much speed and range you want.

We talking upstairs downstairs? Sorta thing or all over your property?

Within the house a mesh system will work just fine.

4 Likes

Lol, yes. I said nest but meant mesh. :+1:

1 Like

Or:

1 Like

I can recommend a powerline adapter over a single or dual band extender/repeater. A small number of homes have some funky wiring (mostly older homes) but the vast majority work just fine for extending your network coverage upstairs/to the other end of the house. I’ve used the Linksys/Cisco system in my home and in my three kids homes. I found this worked better than my (temporary and free) google mesh setup.

Triple band WiFi routers and extenders may perform better if the have a dedicated “backhaul” band.

1 Like

Now I am using the pod (mesh) type system from my Isp. In past I used a wifi extender that was always a headache. I switched to a powerline extender. These are not new devices and have been around since the 80’s and work great. One by your router, wired and the other one close to the device you need. They usually have wired and wifi. Both work well. I used to use the Cisco but marketed under Dlink name. A worthwhile addition to your system.

1 Like

I tried the extender from Netgear and it worked ok but not as advertised so I went to the eero mesh network routers. Best thing I ever did. I have 400m service using Nvidia Shield, Mecool and 3 Firesticks, zero buffering with all devices on at the same time.

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.