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theimortal1974's avatar
theimortal1974
Aspirant
Oct 29, 2021

connected extender with all green lights and strong connection barely the speed the router gives me

i bought this extender.  it's halfway between the router and the laptop.  i got this because my laptop is behind a wall and has unstable internet from router.  i got the extender installed.  all green lights.  strong connection according to wifiext.net.  but i get a fraction of the speed i get from my router.  top picture is comcast bottom picture is extender.  i have gig speed internet.  i usually get about 500 gigs a sec on wifi.

8 Replies

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    Oct 30, 2021

    3. issues. 

    1. Single and dual band extenders by the very nature of how they have to function drop speeds 50%. This happens because the extenders have to use the same chip to go router-----extender and then extender----devices. And they can't do both at once. So it cuts their throughput in half. 

    2. That 50% speed reduction? Its off what the extender is receiving. So because of distance/obstructions/interference, even if you're getting 300mbps right at the router, the extender isn't sitting right at the router. its a ways away from the router. So if you're getting 300mbps right at the router, you might be getting 200mbps where the extender is located. So its cutting the 200mbps in half. 

    Sadly, this is how dual/single band extenders work. The tribands don't take the same 50% because of their dedicated backhaul. That's why the triband mesh systems have done so well. 

    3. The EX3110 is an AC750 extender. meaning it only has 1x1 2.4ghz antenna and 1x1 5ghz antenna. Its a pretty base model extender. So its max 5ghz link is 433mbps. And thats link speed, not throughput speed. throughput tends to be roughly 55-65% of link speed. You might see some benefit to upgrading to a higher performing device. 

     

    So a couple things you can try doing. 

    1. move the extender around a bit and try different locations. Sometimes a lateral move helps more than moving closer. This can happen because things in the walls like hvac/plumbing/etc can block signals. So try optimizing placement so you get the best possible speeds.

    2. optimize the channel you're using. If there's interference on the channel you're on, it'll impact performance. You can try changing what channel you use for 5ghz. 

     

    Basically you have a pretty base model extender. Extenders are great when you have dead spots but they're not as good when your device can pickup service from the router because of the throughput hit they take. If you're needing faster speeds, I'd investigate upgrading to a better extender or even a triband extender