Most people are told never to use a Wi-Fi extender, and in most cases this is sound advice. Many Wi-Fi extenders cut the bandwidth in halfit increases latency, can interfere with your main router’s Wi-Fi signal, can be unreliable, often has limited range, and is usually the worst way to extend Wi-Fi to dead spots in your home.
But about a year ago, when I needed to provide Wi-Fi coverage for my mother’s house, I chose a Wi-Fi extender, and it turned out to be the right choice. Here’s why.
I had a unique problem
My mom needed Wi-Fi
My mother and my uncle (brother) live in a small village in two different houses that share the same yard. My uncle’s house has a landline, but my mother doesn’t, and neither house has cable TV or internet.
For years they used a 20Mbps DSL connection, which was enough for them because they are not demanding. The router was in my uncle’s living room, the room closest to my mom’s house, so it had a solid Wi-Fi signal of about 10 Mbps and pretty good coverage of the rooms where it needed internet—the kitchen, dining room, and bedroom.
But about a year ago, my cousin who lives in the same village was able to get a contract for them with a local ISP that offers fixed wireless internet. They would buy a 50Mbps plan that is cheaper than a 20Mbps DSL service that sounds great. So the technicians came, installed the antenna on the roof of my uncle’s house (it’s a two-story house, my mother lives in a one-story house), dug the floors to run the cable downstairs, and installed the router there.
The thing was, for some reason, they placed the router in the middle of the dining room, the farthest room from my mother’s house. This was too far for the router’s Wi-Fi signal to reliably reach his home. He had to go outside to get a usable signal, which was less than ideal to say the least.
Since the router couldn’t be relocated without drilling a few more holes through the concrete walls, there were several options on the table for extending Wi-Fi to my mom’s house that didn’t involve such drastic measures.
I decided to try a Wi-Fi extender and see how it went
It couldn’t hurt, right?
For starters, I couldn’t install an access point to my mom’s house that could run an Ethernet cable or provide Wi-Fi coverage because that would have required drilling lots of holes through thick concrete walls. As I already said, moving the router was out of the question and we agreed that we would only use this option as a last resort if nothing else worked.
Buying a mesh system was a possibility, but before going that route, I decided to try the Wi-Fi extender that everyone hates. It couldn’t hurt to shoot it and I could get it for about $25. I went out and bought a budget single-band (2.4GHz) Tenda Wi-Fi extender. I went back and installed it, which was easy thanks to the mobile app. But when I went to my mom’s house to connect it, I ran into a problem: the router’s Wi-Fi signal was too weak at her house to get an extender, so I had to improvise.
Her home is attached to the garage-summer kitchen, which they use to store their single car, cooking in the warmer months, and a large freezer. The garage gets a serviceable signal from the router and has several power outlets, so I took an extension cord, hung it around a structural beam and plugged it into the extender. And what do you know, it worked. The signal was strong enough to deliver about 15 Mbps to his home, although the signal light was yellow instead of green, indicating that the router’s signal was not particularly strong.
Testing the signal around his house showed that the extender handled everything without a hitch. Even in my old room furthest from the garage, the signal was stable and delivered the same 15Mbps throughput.
So I went back home and left it with the extender to test it out for a few weeks. If things went south, I’d get a mesh Wi-Fi system and call it a day. But he was happy with the speed and didn’t experience any dropouts or bandwidth issues. It turns out that Wi-Fi extenders can be the right choice – but only in special cases.
A Wi-Fi extender was the right choice for this particular use
It’s a solid choice when you don’t need a fast, low-latency connection
Due to the perfect storm of conditions, a Wi-Fi extender was the right choice for this use. For starters, they live in a small village that doesn’t drown in Wi-Fi signals. There is a vacant lot next to my mom’s house and they have only one neighbor with wifi next to my uncle’s house. However, that neighbor’s Wi-Fi doesn’t reach my mom’s house or the garage where the extender is located, so interference isn’t an issue.
Then, the Wi-Fi signal of the router only reaches the garage, so my mother’s tablet does not pick up the router’s network – only the signal from the extender. His tablet is the only client device the extender has to handle, which helps explain why the connection is so stable and doesn’t slow down. He also only uses WhatsApp and YouTube, so about 15 Mbps is more than enough for his needs, especially since there are no other devices competing for bandwidth.
It also doesn’t need a low-latency connection, so just because the extender provides less than half the available bandwidth and adds some latency isn’t squatting in its performance. Finally, the extender covers her whole house, so I didn’t need to chain multiple extenders together, which would likely have severely reduced both the speed and quality of the Wi-Fi connection.
So, yes, I understand that Wi-Fi extenders are not complete garbage, but only in special cases. It can be a solid choice for covering Wi-Fi dead spots when the area you want to cover is not drowned in Wi-Fi signals, you don’t need fast internet, client devices can’t see the main router’s network, and the extender only needs to manage one device or a few.
You should completely ignore Wi-Fi extenders
Just be aware of their limitations
In the end, choosing a Wi-Fi extender was probably the right choice due to the right combination of factors:
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Minimal interference from the main router or nearby Wi-Fi networks
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Client devices connected to the extender do not have access to a usable signal from the main router
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An extender should only manage one or more client devices
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No need for fast or low latency connectivity
You can even make it work with a Wi-Fi repeater if you have a similar combination of factors. For example, if you live in a rural or suburban area with little Wi-Fi coverage, plan to connect only one or a few devices to the extender at a time, and don’t care about fast, low-latency internet, an extender is worth a try. But if you need high-speed, stable Wi-Fi and your home or apartment is drowning in Wi-Fi and other wireless signals, consider a different solution.
Old router set as a wireless access point can be a great choice as well as a proper entry point with a wired rear carrier. A mesh Wi-Fi system is a better solution, even when using a wireless backload. If you have coaxial cable, you should look into it MoCA adapters. Even power line adapters in many cases it may be a better solution than a Wi-Fi extender.
A year later, it’s still going strong
I have had zero complaints from my mom since installing it. I’ve also visited a few times and slept in my old room farthest from the extender (about 16 feet and lots of concrete walls between the extender and my room) and the connection was solid, not particularly strong. I was able to browse Reddit and listen to Spotify at the same time, watch YouTube in 720p and 1080p, and even download a few small indie games on my PC without any signal drops or lag.
In most cases, Wi-Fi extenders are the last option you should turn to to bring Wi-Fi to dead spots in your home. But when the stars align like they did in my case, a Wi-Fi repeater can be a cheap and cheerful solution to your Wi-Fi woes.
