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Forum Discussion
Best PowerLine Model to Extend/Boost WiFi in House
Last night we purchased the PLP2000 Powerline 2000 for our home to extend our internet downstairs. I did not realize until we got home that this model seems to only be for adding connections via ethe...
After trying a few features on the Extender in "Extender" mode, I think I am going to stick to the Basic Mode in regards to the FastLane Technology. I tried both, I tried each setting (2.4 vs 5) in FastLane Tech Mode, I did see a slight increase in speeds throughout the house... but then something happened and my EX7000 either lost connection to my modem/router, or it was just confused but I could not connect to the internet and was having issues.
I reset the device, and have it back in Basic Mode. I thought it'd be easier just to have one extension network available... but whatever happened I'm not sure. I am back to having both the 2GEXT and 5GEXT... I will be leaving it like that for now. As for the speeds in our "dead" zones that were barely pulling 20mbps downstream, they are getting 80mbps + in those spots now while connected to either 2GEXT or 5GEXT, which was exactly what I was seeking.
I am still convinced our house is possessed, while connecting back to the main modem/router I noticed the strength of our main network at 80%sh drop to 35%sh, without moving anything. Right now it's sitting in the mid to high 70%'s downstairs in it's new home. I do notice the green lights go amber every now and then, which is just odd. I guess there is a ghost floating around this house... or maybe our modem is just that shotty, because I know the newly purchased Netgear Extender is working 100% as it should.
If I had more time I would try Access Point mode while connected to the hardline ran on the far side of the house. I am not sure if that will make the WiFi even stronger, or just extend a bit further.. I am really curious to see what it does and how it performs... but I have done enough today for my brain, maybe next weekend. If anyone has any feedback regarding Extender Mode vs AP Mode for a situation like ours, where the ISP's Modem/Router is stuck all the way to one side of the house, giving us issues on the far-side of the house/kitchen please let me know what you think would be best. We are fortunate enough to have a hardline ran to the other side of the house that I could test.
jayburn84 wrote:
If I had more time I would try Access Point mode while connected to the hardline ran on the far side of the house. I am not sure if that will make the WiFi even stronger, or just extend a bit further..
In extender mode the EX7000 relays all the client traffic over WiFi to the router. In AP mode, the EX7000 relays all the client traffic over ethernet to the router.
Gigabit ethernet gives you a faster EX7000 <-> Router connection, and also lets you put the EX7000 further away from the router if that is needed.
After only a day I believe the spot I picked is probably the best place to have it placed if we continue to use it in Extender mode. Our modem is the Xfinity TG1682G which is god awful for WiFi output which is the consensus from basically everyone on the ISP's forums, lots of upset customers... just so many complaints very similar to mine.
I am intrigued by the AP mode, I would honestly prefer to go that route for WiFi needs in our house, but the EX7000 seems to be doing quite a good job in Extender mode... So I'm going to leave it alone for about a week and see how it continues to perform.
I do not know much about AP mode besides from what you've stated in this post and from what I've read in the Owner's Manual. I would probably would have tried AP mode if I had not seen the boost/increase in our "dead" zones of the house, but the EX7000 certainly more than tripled the slow speeds in the 2-3 rooms we had issues.
I will only game with my PC and PS4 while connected through hardlines, luckily both my gaming PC and Console are in the same room as the Arris TG1682G Modem/Router... so I just run a short cable from the Arris to the PS4, and ran and concealed a longer cable to my main PC. Nobody else in this house games, I was getting a lot of grief about the slow connections in the kitchen and living room (both downstairs far side of house from the Arris Modem's location). I set everyone up to the 5GEXT for now and they seem happy.
I am definitely glad I purchased the EX7000, I kind of wish I had just sprung the extra money for the EX7700 Mesh Nighthawk. I am not sure but I do not believe the EX7000 has the One Name WiFi Feature which would be something my family could probably use (they like it as simple as possible).
I've left our 2 new networks the 2G & 5G EXT's public, our main Xfinity WiFi network is private, as is the god awful Public WiFi Xfinity feature they added 1-2 years ago that could literally let anyone with a Comcast/Xfinity account log-in to your router as long as they had an account with the ISP (yeah shut that off ASAP... no freeloaders ty!). I will most likely make the two new networks private soon enough once everyone is connected.. not many of us living here, just too many darn devices... I honestly need to purge all the random "connected" and "offline" devices listed on the Router's Admin Page.
We have not had any issues, but there is noway we have half these devices listed anymore, mostly old cell phones etc... sorry for rambling, I always enjoy a new piece of technology in the house and like to give credit where due... and the EX7000 has certainly done that. I would like to get more devices connected to the EX7000 downstairs, I am going to try and play the Xbox1 we have downstairs that is on the same media stand where I placed the EX7000 via a short ethernet cable. We've never had issues with the XB1 downstairs over WiFi directly to the main network, but I do not see how it could hurt to hardline it to the EX7000... I kind of want to get more than 2 cell phones, 1 laptop, and 1 Roku stick connected to it and see how it performs heh. Thanks for your support!