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AC1750 (R6700) with new EAX20 extender expectations of range
Purchased EAX20 to provide more range on a FiOS 75/75 speed network in a 2500 SQFT house. The router is a netgear AC1750 first generation (R6700) bought 2 years ago located at front entry to house in home office and where the ISP set it up 15 years ago. Located EAX20 extender 25ft away in living room (central location with TV) but not line of site. Successful setup with all lights white and shows up in Nigthawk app's network map. Wifi is about half (30/30) or less next to extender. Bedroom, 40ft away, 20/10 or less. Laptops and phones excellent (80/80) when within 6ft or so from router, about the same when laptops wired direct. Selecting 5gz network does help about 10-20% but is intermittent in living and bedroom where we need another temporary office. In other words speedtests fluctuate considerably. In master bedroom which is 15ft from the new extender but not line of sight, my devices get about the same that is in the living room or less--sometimes as poor as the other bedroom.
My questions:
Is this what I should expect with this setup?
Do I need a Wifi-5 or -6 router?
Did I buy the wrong extender?
And why do I have to change from 2.4 to 5gz everywhere I go to get a "good enough" signal?
Marketing materials make it sound seamless moving around the house without having to change the networks or jack with channels. Thought this would be a game changer but it is not so far. I would greatly appreciate any feedback, resources and/or links.
1. Why does Netgear advertise this mesh extender as a seamless, walk around the house, never change the network, type device when in essence I'd have to move between a 2.4 and a 5 to get a good enough signal? For optimal useage it is seamless and devices roam fine. Problem is when you're in an area with congested wireless signals. Then its more challenging. In my area, due to congestion, 2.4ghz is pretty much worthless and when a device ends up on it, my devices struggles .
2. Is the EAX20 Mesh Extender a good choice? If so, do I dump the AC1750 router for something newer and more powerful?
3. Should I dump both and get an Orbi Mesh System?
It would seem I am not the only person that lives in a neighborhood where everyone is basically at home working right now. Just looking for some answers for a good WiFi setup for a 2500SF house where the router is at the entry.
I can't tell you which router to go. I can say that I've used orbi and I've used a "more powerful (rax200 + ex8000)" setup and prefered the orbi setup. It was more stable, seamless, and just worked. But again, my 2.4ghz still leaves some to be desired.
Re: AC1750 (R6700) with new EAX20 extender expectations of range
The problem is with how extenders work. They have to send and then recieve using the same wireless chip. And they can't do both at once. This cuts their throughput 50% from what they're recieving.
Or they couldn't on AC. I haven't had an AX extender to test yet.
the triband extenders mitigate that speed hit by having a 2nd 5ghz chip just for router----extender communcation.
If you hardwire into the extender, what speeds do you get? That'll tell you if its functioning as it should. If it can pull the full speed (or close) its functioning as it should and its because of the way extenders have to work to function.
Re: AC1750 (R6700) with new EAX20 extender expectations of range
Thanks Plemans for your response, appreciate the help. I hardwired two separate computers but before I did I checked wirelessly first, in the living room where the extender is located. Did tests a few times and these are the maximums--no significant changes however.
WiFi
Macbook on 2.4 35/43 and 5G 54/84
Dell 2.4 59/84 and 5g 59/78
Ethernet
Macbook 80/82
Dell 61/79
Interesting I took the Mac around the corner through a doorway to the bedroom not more than 10ft from the extender and got 9/10 on Wifi 2.4 but on 5G got 81/82. The extender seems like it is getting a good signal from hardwiring but inconsistent on WiFi. I did notice that I saw close to 30 networks picking up around the house some from same houselhold though.
Re: AC1750 (R6700) with new EAX20 extender expectations of range
Plemans--thanks for the info.
I am back to my original question(s) I suppose.
1. Why does Netgear advertise this mesh extender as a seamless, walk around the house, never change the network, type device when in essence I'd have to move between a 2.4 and a 5 to get a good enough signal?
2. Is the EAX20 Mesh Extender a good choice? If so, do I dump the AC1750 router for something newer and more powerful?
3. Should I dump both and get an Orbi Mesh System?
It would seem I am not the only person that lives in a neighborhood where everyone is basically at home working right now. Just looking for some answers for a good WiFi setup for a 2500SF house where the router is at the entry.
1. Why does Netgear advertise this mesh extender as a seamless, walk around the house, never change the network, type device when in essence I'd have to move between a 2.4 and a 5 to get a good enough signal? For optimal useage it is seamless and devices roam fine. Problem is when you're in an area with congested wireless signals. Then its more challenging. In my area, due to congestion, 2.4ghz is pretty much worthless and when a device ends up on it, my devices struggles .
2. Is the EAX20 Mesh Extender a good choice? If so, do I dump the AC1750 router for something newer and more powerful?
3. Should I dump both and get an Orbi Mesh System?
It would seem I am not the only person that lives in a neighborhood where everyone is basically at home working right now. Just looking for some answers for a good WiFi setup for a 2500SF house where the router is at the entry.
I can't tell you which router to go. I can say that I've used orbi and I've used a "more powerful (rax200 + ex8000)" setup and prefered the orbi setup. It was more stable, seamless, and just worked. But again, my 2.4ghz still leaves some to be desired.
