I'm a little confused as to what the best method is for improving the WiFi in my house. I have WiFi already through ATT U-Verse (router is on 2nd floor). The WiFi coverage on the ground floor isn't great. I have an EX6100 that is set up as an extender right now downstairs but the extended networks have different names than the SSID broadcast by the router. It's a little annoying. Is a better solution to use the EX6100 as an access point and run a network cable to the ground floor to accomplish this? I have no issues running the cable. Is there a better, cost effective solution instead?
I have an EX6100 that is set up as an extender right now downstairs but the extended networks have different names than the SSID broadcast by the router. It's a little annoying.
Since you only need one extender, you should be able to set up the EX6100 client networks to use the same name and password as the router. One caveat is that your client devices might not consistently roam to the extender (or router network) - you might need to toggle wifi on/off in the devices sometimes. That is probably a bit less annoying than different network names...
Roaming would improve with one of the mesh extender models (because they support 802.11k). But even with them, the decision to switch to a network with a stronger signal is made by the clients. The mesh extenders are still new, and there are clearly some stability issues in the current firmware that still need some work. Orbi went through similar growing pains in the beginning.
Is a better solution to use the EX6100 as an access point and run a network cable to the ground floor to accomplish this? I have no issues running the cable. Is there a better, cost effective solution instead?
A wired backhaul will certainly give better performance than a wireless backhaul, especially with a dual-band extender that uses the same radio(s) for the client network and the backhaul. So if it's easy to run the ethernet cable, then you should certainly do that.
Setting aside the cost, in my opinion the best options (in order of performance and stability) are
Orbi with wired backhaul
Orbi with wireless backhaul
Extenders in AP mode or actual Access Points
Triband Mesh extenders or powerline
Extenders in WiFi mode or powerline
Extenders are usually the most cost effective, but if you have large coverage area that needs multiple extenders then Orbi often turns out to be less expensive.
If you can't run a wired ethernet backhaul then of course this turns into
Orbi
Triband Mesh extenders
extenders
Powerline is a bit tricky to prioritize - sometimes it is the only good solution. But it also can be hit-or-miss, depending on your house wiring and circuit loads.
