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Can you use 2 wifi extenders at the same time?
Can you use multiple wifi extenders?
Hello there, I just purchased a Wi-Fi extender 7000 and it works great downstairs but the signal is weak upstairs. My question is if I bought another wifi exten...
Yes, you can use 2 extenders with a few caveats.
- Do not wirelessly connect one extender to another. Performance for the second extender will usually be unsatisfactory. Therefore, each extender should connect to the main router.
- Both extenders should not broadcast the same SSID as the main router. This is the default setting but many people often set up an extender to broadcast the same SSID to avoid programming devices with two separate SSIDs. You won't be able to do this with two extenders because there is a risk of them connecting to each other instead of the main router. This restriction doesn't apply if you are able to wire the extenders to the main router via Ethernet (or Powerline).
.Enmassa wrote:
1) given the EX7500 support MESH connectivity, is it possible to connect two extenders without loosing too much speed?
You will lose some speed. The signal needs to be relayed twice, and there is a cost to that.
Enmassa wrote:
2) can both extenders keep the SSID of the routers?
You should be able to do that - the EX7500 does support the one WiFi name feature. If it misbehaves, you can try different SSIDs and see if that helps.
Enmassa wrote:
3) how to i actually connect the two extenders? do i press the WPS bottons on both at the same time?
No, pressing them at the same time won't work. With one WiFi name, you can connect one extender to the router (placing it nearby the router). Then connect the second. Then move the extenders to their final locations. The farthest extender should connect to the strongest signal (which will be the middle extender).
Without one WiFi name, you'd connect one extender to the router, and then connect the second extender to the first extender's client network.
Personally I don't use WPS, I'd rather use the web interface to set it up.
many thanks for your reply
To clarify: I connect both extenders to the router first and then move them as needed (R-E-E) and the furthest extender would connect to the closest extender despite it was originally connected to the router?
Enmassa wrote:
many thanks for your reply
To clarify: I connect both extenders to the router first and then move them as needed (R-E-E) and the furthest extender would connect to the closest extender despite it was originally connected to the router?
Yes, if you are in one wifi name mode. At least that's what I've been told by Netgear. Definitely check the speeds through the farthest extender.
If you aren't in that mode, you use different client networks for each extender, and set the farthest extender to connect to the closest extender's SSID.