Forum Discussion

LeeBee1947's avatar
LeeBee1947
Aspirant
Jan 20, 2018
Solved

Will my WNDR3400v3 Router work with an N300 range extender?

I am using a WNDR3400v3 N600 wireless router in my apartment and only get four (4) bars reception.  If I get a range extender, does it have to be an N600 as well or will an N300 work also?  There is a wall between the router and my PC.  There seems to be a number of N300 extenders available online and they appear to be cheaper than the N600 that I saw listed.  I am still using Windows 7 with IE11

 

LeeBee1947

  • An N300 extender will work. But it's likely to be single band, which means it will only connect at 2.4 GHz. In an apartment, 2.4 GHz will likely be cluttered with a lot of neighboring Wi-Fi networks, so speeds probably won't be good. It's better to get a dual band extender and use the 5 GHz band.

    There is a big downside to extenders. Most of them cut Wi-Fi speeds in half because they have to retransmit everything they receive. A single band extender may only be able to provide 15 to 30 Mbps, without factoring in interference from other Wi-Fi networks. If your Internet connection is slower than that, then this may not be a be a problem. Just something to keep in mind.

2 Replies

  • An N300 extender will work. But it's likely to be single band, which means it will only connect at 2.4 GHz. In an apartment, 2.4 GHz will likely be cluttered with a lot of neighboring Wi-Fi networks, so speeds probably won't be good. It's better to get a dual band extender and use the 5 GHz band.

    There is a big downside to extenders. Most of them cut Wi-Fi speeds in half because they have to retransmit everything they receive. A single band extender may only be able to provide 15 to 30 Mbps, without factoring in interference from other Wi-Fi networks. If your Internet connection is slower than that, then this may not be a be a problem. Just something to keep in mind.
    • LeeBee1947's avatar
      LeeBee1947
      Aspirant

      ATT:  TheEther

       

      Many thanks for your reply (1/21) to my problem and I want to report that I am now back to a 5 bar response as per your suggestion.

       

      LeeBee