Question Constantly lose connection with repeater.

Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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Ok so this is a tad complex. I'm in a 2 story home, with a modem/router located in a corner on the bottom floor. My own position in the house is just too far to get a good signal so I got a wifi extender. Now I personally HATE using wireless connections. Too unreliable, too finicky but I can't change the circumstance, nor can I move the router. But most repeaters including this one, have an ethernet port so I just connected a cable (35 foot long) so I don't have to rely on the wireless connection. Just the repeater getting the house's signal. Problem is, the repeater STILL constantly drops the signal. It isn't for long but since I'm gaming, I can't keep having these disconnects that drop me every 5-10 minutes completely out of my game.

Is there any solution to this? Do I just need to get a better repeater/extender like a netgear? The item in question is:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HGV81ZD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Before I go complaining, I just want to know if there's anything I can do to solve it. Bear with me as networking is something i'm very ignorant of and will need some help in changing settings and the like but I would definitely appreciate the help.
 

Supahos

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Try moving the repeater a bit closer to the router and connect to it wirelessly. Ideally you honestly want the repeater closer than half way to where you want to be with it. They're very finicky about their signal strength. Also try to place it somewhere that there's no bathroom or kitchen walls between it and source, or it and yourself
 

Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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I really REALLY would rather not connect to it wirelessly but I guess I may have to. Also a small update, I watched the repeater for about 10 minutes and the connection was lost entirely but came back in about a second (though that still was enough to drop me from a game). I guess moving it is my best bet but the router is on another floor making it hard to see what "halfway" really is. Will return with any update.
 

Supahos

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Yeah I understand your hesitation, but if you're having problems doing what you are now then there's no magic bullet. If your router has dual antennas aim one straight up and one horizontal and turn the back of it towards your extender ;)
 

Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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Yeah I understand your hesitation, but if you're having problems doing what you are now then there's no magic bullet. If your router has dual antennas aim one straight up and one horizontal and turn the back of it towards your extender ;)


Router is one of those provided by the ISP (Comcast) and has no antenna. It's the modem/router combo.
I connected to it but despite my phone saying it's a strong connection my pc is ABYSMALLY slow at less than 1 mbps when before i had 19mbps or so. Also, I think the connection STILL drops from the repeater.
 

Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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Update: so now the dc's happen about once every minute or so. I'm convinced the repeater is just trash. Getting a brand one with Netgear. Any other possible trouble shoots? Recommendations?
 
You are in effect using a repeater as a wifi nic on a ethernet card. This technically is called a client-bridge. The problem is the "repeater" is no different than a nic in your pc. If you can not place it in a location that gets good signal it will perform poorly.

You could try a actual client-bridge used for outdoor use. These are not higher power but they are directional so all the signal goes the same way. May not help though if the problem is the floor/ceiling is eating all the signals.

If you are going to spend more money I would look at powerline solutions. If you need wifi on the remote end the make models that do that also but since you say you want ethernet simpler models will work good too. You want units that are based on the newer AV2 standards.
 

Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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You are in effect using a repeater as a wifi nic on a ethernet card. This technically is called a client-bridge. The problem is the "repeater" is no different than a nic in your pc. If you can not place it in a location that gets good signal it will perform poorly.

You could try a actual client-bridge used for outdoor use. These are not higher power but they are directional so all the signal goes the same way. May not help though if the problem is the floor/ceiling is eating all the signals.

If you are going to spend more money I would look at powerline solutions. If you need wifi on the remote end the make models that do that also but since you say you want ethernet simpler models will work good too. You want units that are based on the newer AV2 standards.
Any chance you could provide a link? Again, I'm not knowledgeable in this regard and don't really understand a lot of what you're saying. I know they have something like https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...=powerline_adapter_kit-_-33-704-200-_-Product

Which is rather pricy at $149 but those are the ones you're talking about, right? things you plug into the electrical outlets that use them as your signal carrier? After reading some reviews (and knowing what S**ty luck I have) I saw many saying they fizzle out or don't work well if on different walls.
 
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Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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That is what I mean. They work pretty good for most people.

Not sure on that price that is kinda high for that unit.

This is the site I like for reviews. TPlink tend to be highly rated devices.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/powerline/view
Ok the good thing is that seems really simple to use, except when it comes to the whole "phasing" thing and making sure youre plugging the adapters to the same phases. I sorta get how that works but not sure how to make sure which plugs are on what phases and how to know which outlets that corresponds to.

Another update, this entire morning i didn't have a single drop in connection as opposed to last night where it increased in frequency to maybe every minute or less. I think I'm going to buy them from a nearby best buy, and see which works best then just return everything else that I ended up not using. Still want to know i'm using the powerline adapters correctly though.
 

Kcesar68

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Jun 11, 2013
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The problem of phasing is not a issue in most house. The new AV2 technology also uses the grounding line so it tends to work better than that older stuff.
Ok good. And the home i'm in is pretty damn new. (like less than 10 years I think) Going to try it out and get refunded for everything else. Hopefully it works.
 
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