Extending Wi-Fi Network

[NativeTxn]

I currently have an Apple Airport Time Capsule that is the main router and it is set up in our guest room.

I have a late 2013 15" rMBP, and my wife and I each have iPhone 6's and iPad Air 2's.

I was considering buying either an Airport Express or Airport Extreme (since it has AC) to extend the range in our house. However, I know that if you connect the main router and the "extender" router wirelessLY, you lose some bandwidth and overall speed.

So, I was curious if anyone knows if it would work this way:

1) Keep the TC as the main router
2) Get one of these TP-LINK extenders to plug an ethernet cable from the TC into the "master" and then put the "receiver" in the desired location
3) Run an ethernet cable from the "receiver" unit to the Express/Extreme

Provided that set up is an option, would it help any with the reduction in bandwidth that I would experience if I just connected the TC to the express/extreme wirelessly?

Also, assuming that I got an additional unit regardless of whether the above idea would work, would the Extreme be worth the additional cost since all of our devices can operate on 801.11ac?

 

[alex0002]

I currently have an Apple Airport Time Capsule that is the main router and it is set up in our guest room.

I have a late 2013 15" rMBP, and my wife and I each have iPhone 6's and iPad Air 2's.

I was considering buying either an Airport Express or Airport Extreme (since it has AC) to extend the range in our house. However, I know that if you connect the main router and the "extender" router wirelessLY, you lose some bandwidth and overall speed.

So, I was curious if anyone knows if it would work this way:

1) Keep the TC as the main router
2) Get one of these TP-LINK extenders to plug an ethernet cable from the TC into the "master" and then put the "receiver" in the desired location
3) Run an ethernet cable from the "receiver" unit to the Express/Extreme

Provided that set up is an option, would it help any with the reduction in bandwidth that I would experience if I just connected the TC to the express/extreme wirelessly?

Also, assuming that I got an additional unit regardless of whether the above idea would work, would the Extreme be worth the additional cost since all of our devices can operate on 801.11ac?

Depending on your house wiring, those powerline extenders like the TP-LINK AV500 Nano, are unlikely to offer high throughputs. That is not to say that the TP-LINK AV500 Nano is a bad product, as it appears to get some good reviews. But when the powerline extender says 500Mbps, that isn't the throughput that any user will experience.

You will notice that the ethernet ports on most of these powerline extenders are 10/100 and not 10/100/1000. That should give you a clue about the real world performance.

If you decide to get a powerline extender, you are probably wasting money by putting a 801.11ac wireless device on the end of it.

If you can afford it, run ethernet cables to each room that you need a wireless access point.

 

[rigormortis]

there is no wireless standard or wireless testing when it comes with extending. WDS is a technology and not a standard. because of this, it is recommended to only use the same brand or make or similar model when extending wireless networks. this means using apple gear to extend your apple router, heh

you can ask them, the wifi alliance does not touch wds. it is not certified. we have been waiting for 802.11s for 5 years.



if you run ethernet from the TC to an airport extreme, you could put the airport extreme on different channels.

if you extend the TC to an airport extreme over wireless, then they both have to be on the same channel

having the TC and AE on different channels, with the same name, will let your laptop or whatever client , steer to the stronger signal as you walk around the house, this is called roaming.

if you use wireless, then you have to disconnect your laptop and reconnect it as you get closer to the TC or AE for maximum throughput

 

[Freyqq]

The easiest solution is to just get a router with a stronger signal. One of the best right now is the Asus ac66u. For all the devices you would have to buy to extend the signal, this would probably be cheaper and better.

You can still Ethernet connect your time capsule to a new router and have it on your network as a device.

 

[rigormortis]

The easiest solution is to just get a router with a stronger signal. One of the best right now is the Asus ac66u. For all the devices you would have to buy to extend the signal, this would probably be cheaper and better.

You can still Ethernet connect your time capsule to a new router and have it on your network as a device.

theres also that little known thing, that channel 35 is "indoor" and 149-161 are "outdoor" and the fcc used to put limits on how much power you could put on 35.

but i heard they removed those limits and if you dig around wifi routers you can find a newer one without those restrictions