Hi All! Ive been using a WNDR4700 Router for a while. Working like a charm. However, Ive been experiencing poor wifi signal in areas of my home. To solve this i bought two EX6100 repeaters. I set them up as "cascading extenders" and everything's working. But, it seems that the signal is very unreliable.
I just want to make sure that: 1. It IS supported to set them up cascading? Or have i just been lucky to have it working. 2. Do you suggest me using one SSID or multiple?
This is how it is setup: - Basement - WNDR4700 broadcasting 2 wifinetworks: - MyNetwork2, Channel 1 (2,4ghz) - MyNetwork5, Channel 44 (5ghz)
- 1st floor - Ex6100:1, Setup in Fastlane mode, Broadcasting 1 wifinetwork - MyNetwork2, Channel 6 (2,4ghz)(setup name was MyNetwork2_Ext2) - MyNetwork5, Channel 44 (5ghz) (Fastlane to the WNDR4700)
- 2st floor - Ex6100:1, Setup in Internet Surfing Mode, Broadcasting 1 wifinetwork) - MyNetwork2, Channel Auto (2,4ghz)(setup name was MyNetwork2_MyNetwork2_Ext2) The Channel is greyed out in this Extender for some reason, would prefer to set it to 11 if possible...
So, my goal here is for our devices (ipads, iphones, android and laptops) always using the best possible connection. Preferrably switching seamlessly (or as seamlessly as possible) to the "right" wifi broadcasting device. I choose NOT to have 3 unique separate networks (to avoid having us choose manually whenever we move around in the house)
So - is there anything I could/should do differently? I appreciate all possible help and feedback in this matter. Regards Ronnie, Sweden
You're probably not going to like this recommendation but, you asked for it ...
Starting with a WiFi source in the basement puts you, literally & figuratively, "in a hole" - ideally you want your WiFi source located centrally in the area it is intended to serve - for this reason I do not recommend the use of wireless routers - preferring a wired router with a wireless access point connected via Ethernet.
I'm also not in favor of wireless repeaters (or extenders), however, Netgear's "fastlane" technology negates the main argument I have against them, which is the 50% degradation that occurs when they are deployed - by the way - the reason you can't use fast lane on the second extender is because you're using it on the first, and cascading the second from it - that prevents any devices from connecting to it on the 5GHz band - I would prefer to see, if necessary, a second wireless access point, wired back to the main router.
If maximum performance (which I equate with best possible connection) is the goal, wired Ethernet connections are unavoidable - you will get the best performance (network throughput) over a wired connection.
Wired connections are not always possible (iphones & ipads don't have Ethernet ports) and not always convenient, but when you choose convenience, it's a choice with a sacrifice, you can minimize that sacrifice by using wired connections where possible, so wireless access points, appropriately situated for the environment and hard wired back to the router will give you best connections.
Just so that it's clear - I have implemented wireless routers - when appropriate - for example a 2 bedroom college housing apartment covering a few hundred square feet on a single level - where I don't need a lot of coverage, and in fact prefer not to have it.
What can you do with what you have? Not much - I'd say you've done a fair job - but if you could relocate the router centrally, you might be able to get more coverage out of that, and also relocate both extenders so that they could both connect to the router rather than being cascaded, and that would/should allow the use of the fastlane technology to push the throughput up.
Well thanx a bunch! Let me start with - im totally with you and I agree with what you said. I didnt put my entire network out, but I do have several wired ethernet connections (to Playstations, stationary PC etc) - i also have a couple of Netgear Powerlines thats working very well.
The main problem is, that i have the fibrechannel coming into my basement and a lot of other "stuff" going on down there so its not really possible to move my main router.
Speaking with Netgear support (superb by the way!) they came to same conclusion as you. It IS possible to do what ive done, and Ive pretty much maxed performance and coverage with what I have. Theres pros and cons of most solutions..
Speed isnt really an issue, its stability. With older stuff, and other repeaters/access points - Ive had the problem with dropped connections. Thats an even worse scenario. When i do a speedtest now (different areas of the house and different repeaters) Im somwhere between 5-40 Mbit/s - even on the "second repeater" in my setup.
I'd prefer a stable connection at lets say 10 Mbit/s, over one changing from 5-40 like mine is now. That was i was hoping for.
Nevertheless - a big thanks for the input. I appreciate it alot.
You don't HAVE to move the main router - you can disable the WiFi on it and wire it to a dual band access point and locate that centrally - it will improve signal strength to the extenders.
Honestly speaking, as a networking professional, I'm not a big fan of WiFi, even though I use it every day, it's for convenience & mobility - my desktop is wired gigabit, and so are pretty much everything else in my home - servers, printers, NAS, surveillance cameras, set top boxes - the only WiFi connected devices are tablets & laptops.
The entire WiFi industry is hype & hot air, has been ever since the first 802.11 devices (that's right - no suffix), none of the standards - a,b,g or n - has ever delivered the claimed speeds, and the big problem with ac is going to be the attenuation that the 5GHz band suffers from with every wall or floor the signal passes through.
There were all sorts of wildly exaggerated claims about wireless-n delivering 15x the speed, and 12x the coverage, the best I ever got with wireless-n was 2x the speed of the wireless-g it replaced - when the products failed to live up to the hype, the industry quietly moved on to the next greatest thing - extenders - and here you are ...
Incidentally - I just took those numbers off of an old Netgear datasheet - not surprisingly - those claims are missing from the current data sheet for the same product.
Before I get too far off topic - if running cable is an option for you - I believe the EX6100 can be configured as an access point - try it cabled back to the main router - use different "non overlapping" channels on the router and each extender to avoid interference - I'll bet you see an improvement in stability.
