[SOLVED] 2 Single Band 2.4GHz WiFi Repeaters or 1 Dual Band?

[Loizos Aristides]

Hello everyone,

Since my house is pretty big, for the past 2 years, I've been using 2 TP-LINK WiFi repeaters for full WiFi coverage (TL-WA845RE for the ground floor and TL-WA850RE for upstairs). These 2 are set up using different SSIDs and work pretty nicely.

Recently, my Internet Provider has replaced our router with a Dual Band one, meaning it can transmit both 2.4 and 5GHz frequencies. However, the 2 aforementioned WiFi repeaters can only access the 2.4GHz frequency, since they are Single Band repeaters. In other words, if I want to connect to the 5GHz network from the upper floor, I am not able to, since the router is downstairs.

My question is: Is it worth it buying a Dual Band WiFi repeater, and replacing both repeaters that I have right now with that one? Ofcourse if I buy it, I will set up 2 different SSIDs once again, one for the 2.4GHz frequency, and another one for 5GHz. But, will placing it somewhere in the middle of the house provide enough coverage? I've read that a 5GHz frequency network does not provide good coverage, and you have to be quite close to the router for optimal results.

So, regarding my situation, is it worth it changing to a single Dual Band repeater? Will I have good coverage if I place the repeater in the middle of the house?

Thank you in advance!

 

[kanewolf]

Hello everyone,

Since my house is pretty big, for the past 2 years, I've been using 2 TP-LINK WiFi repeaters for full WiFi coverage (TL-WA845RE for the ground floor and TL-WA850RE for upstairs). These 2 are set up using different SSIDs and work pretty nicely.

Recently, my Internet Provider has replaced our router with a Dual Band one, meaning it can transmit both 2.4 and 5GHz frequencies. However, the 2 aforementioned WiFi repeaters can only access the 2.4GHz frequency, since they are Single Band repeaters. In other words, if I want to connect to the 5GHz network from the upper floor, I am not able to, since the router is downstairs.

My question is: Is it worth it buying a Dual Band WiFi repeater, and replacing both repeaters that I have right now with that one? Ofcourse if I buy it, I will set up 2 different SSIDs once again, one for the 2.4GHz frequency, and another one for 5GHz. But, will placing it somewhere in the middle of the house provide enough coverage? I've read that a 5GHz frequency network does not provide good coverage, and you have to be quite close to the router for optimal results.

So, regarding my situation, is it worth it changing to a single Dual Band repeater? Will I have good coverage if I place the repeater in the middle of the house?

Thank you in advance!

Probably not worth it. 5Ghz doesn't travel through walls and floors as well as 2.4. If your 5Ghz signal is not usable where the repeater is, then there would be no 5Ghz signal for the repeater to repeat.

 

[Loizos Aristides]

Probably not worth it. 5Ghz doesn't travel through walls and floors as well as 2.4. If your 5Ghz signal is not usable where the repeater is, then there would be no 5Ghz signal for the repeater to repeat.

Thank you so much!

 

[gggplaya]

What bandwidth are you getting when connected to a repeater? Did you do a speedtest. You may want to consider a Powerline or Moca extender instead.

 

[Loizos Aristides]

What bandwidth are you getting when connected to a repeater? Did you do a speedtest. You may want to consider a Powerline or Moca extender instead.

First of all, I do use a Powerline adapter but that's for 1 device only...
I did do a Speedtest which is actually the reason why I was considering the Dual Band repeater in the first place...
According to speedtest.net, I'm getting 28 - 30 Mbps while connected to the 2.4GHz network, and 75 - 80 while downstairs and connected to the 5GHz one. That's why I was thinking of making such a move, but as kanewolf pointed out, it's not really worth it.

 

[gggplaya]

What speed are you able to get with the powerline adapter?

They make powerline "wifi extenders" which use powerline as a wired backhaul to the main router. These are able to have 5ghz and you would be able to have 5ghz wireless AC in the room you would like. It would be helpful for something like a computer or game console trying to download a big update.

Also, if you have a cable coax outlet in the upstairs room, you could use MOCA which would give you full gigabit capability to the upstairs.