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Forum Discussion
Will using multiple extenders improve reliability of internet connection?
Hi - Will installing more than one WN3000RP extender between router and destination improve connection reliability? My friend is insisting I try two extenders in series, and I don't think they are designed to work that way. Who is correct? Is it a waste of time to try installing multiple extenders, when one does not work?
--thanks!
3 Replies
Here's the issue you're going to run into. Standard extenders drop throughput 50% of what they're recieving where they're located. N300 are worse because 2.4ghz is slow.
Reason why is they have to send and recieve between router----extender and then extender----device and they can't do both at once.
So say you have a 100mbps service. 2.4ghz is slow anyway so its max speed is usually 20-30mbps on extenders that are n300.
Say you max out and get the full 30mbps (doubtfull) on the 1st extender.
then you introduce a 2nd extender which cuts the speed its getting in half again.
you're 2nd extender is going to have AT BEST 15mbps. and it'll have a higher latency because of the several hops.
If your first extender doesn't have decent speeds due to interference/obstructions, say its starting at 15mbps, then you're 2nd one at best has a 7.5mbps speed.
dual bands suffer from this same problem.
Tribands are able to mitigate it quite a bit because they reserve a 5ghz chip just for router---extender communicaiton.
so my question is, how far are you trying to reach?
Whats actually going on?
maybe there's other solutions like a point to point system, powerline, or moca adapters.
Details of what you're doing and setup help us to help you more than vague hints of connecting mulitple extenders.
Hi - Thanks very much for your reply.
More specifically, my situation is that I am trying to get wi-fi to my laptop inside a studio outbuilding located directly behind a two-storey house. The wi-fi router is in the upstairs floor of the house perhaps 50' in a direct line from my laptop, through at least five wood/plaster walls and a wood floor.
Because of the difficulty of locating it near the halfway point, the extender (WN3000RP v3) has always been placed either outside the door of the studio, or just inside the back room of the house. Either position can 'work', but signal strength is mediocre at best, and too often almost non-existent.
I suppose I could try a more central position for the extender, but there would still be two or more walls either side of it to transmit/receive through.
A couple of questions:
a/ I notice there is a socket for an Ethernet cable on the side of the extender. Could the extender be hard-wired to the router, then mounted externally to the back of the house? If so, it would only have to penetrate a single wall only thirty feet away.
b/ Would it make sense to try installing a second extender in the back area of the house, not to work in series with the first, but as 'back-up' in a weak zone?
Answers and any other suggestions would be welome.
--Thanks again
.
You can hardwire in the extenders to the router and run them in access point mode.
https://kb.netgear.com/25715/How-do-I-install-the-WN3000RPv3-as-an-access-point
That'd preserve speed at the hardwired in devices.
Other options? depends on budget.
1. Run a ethernet/coax line to the studio and hardwire in an access point. always a good option as wired connections don't take the speed hit and are useful in the future.
2. try a triband extender
3. upgrade to a triband mesh system. They tolerate distances and seperation better. As well as you can add satellites as needed.
4. use a point to point system like netgear airbridge.
