Hardwired To Extender Slow Than Wireless

[Slackjaw2014]

The internet comes into my house at a bad location, far at one end of it.

I have a wireless extender in the middle of my house to get full coverage.

If I stand at the far end of my house, opposite side of where the cable comes into the house, I can get 35mb/s on the extender 5ghz band but only 5mb/s on the extender 2.4ghz band.

Now when I used an Ethernet cable into the extender, to improve my gaming ping, it seems to use the 2.4ghz band to connect back to my main router. I want the ping improvements of the Ethernet, but I need the mb/s to improve.

Is this normal? Shouldnt the extender use the 5ghz band back to the main router by default? Is there any way to force it to do so? Or am I not understanding something else?

Thanks guys.

 

[BFG-9000]

In general, what you want at the end of the ethernet cable is an Access Point.

I have a range extender, and it's ethernet port only works to connect another wired network to the other one over Wifi. The extender actually hands out IPv4 DHCP addresses over that port (and obviously cannot work with IPv6), so if connected back to the original network you will end up with two devices trying to assign DHCP addresses to the same subnet to slow everything down, even the wired network.

If you cannot set your range extender to AP mode, or set it up as a Mesh type arrangement where the backhaul connection uses a different radio as you describe, then you'll need to get some new equipment.

 

[nigelivey]

BFG not sure what you are talking about here> Two DHCP servers on the same network will either cause an IP conflict and the duplicate addresses will mean a device will not function properly. There is nothing here to suggest that is the case, the hardwired port on the extender would not normally function like this, the extender merely bridges the connection. He hasnt got a hardwired connection back to router so an AP is not possible, extenders normally function poorly because they are only half duplex and if the channels are not set correctly will half your bandwidth. If you cant go hardwired to the end device a powerline kit is a better option than extenders or mesh, mesh would require replacing all his equipment.

 

[BFG-9000]

BFG not sure what you are talking about here> Two DHCP servers on the same network will either cause an IP conflict and the duplicate addresses will mean a device will not function properly. There is nothing here to suggest that is the case, the hardwired port on the extender would not normally function like this, the extender merely bridges the connection. He hasnt got a hardwired connection back to router so an AP is not possible, extenders normally function poorly because they are only half duplex and if the channels are not set correctly will half your bandwidth. If you cant go hardwired to the end device a powerline kit is a better option than extenders or mesh, mesh would require replacing all his equipment.

I refer you to the title "Hardwired To Extender Slow Than Wireless" and the OP who states "Now when I used an Ethernet cable into the extender, to improve my gaming ping, it seems to use the 2.4ghz band to connect back to my main router" which means both that things are slower when hardwired, and that OP does in fact have a hardwired connection back to the router.

The point is, the ethernet port on a range extender is not intended to be used this way, unless it can be set to either AP mode or ethernet bridge mode, either of which use the DHCP server of the gateway router instead. A cheapo range extender is not going to have such options. Its ethernet port is mostly intended for attaching a non-Wifi capable device with ethernet like a Roku or X-Box where you cannot install any drivers for a Wifi adapter, but you can also use it to extend a wired network as well with a switch if you don't need IPv6. What you can't do is what the OP tried.

 

[nigelivey]

BFG not sure what you are talking about here> Two DHCP servers on the same network will either cause an IP conflict and the duplicate addresses will mean a device will not function properly. There is nothing here to suggest that is the case, the hardwired port on the extender would not normally function like this, the extender merely bridges the connection. He hasnt got a hardwired connection back to router so an AP is not possible, extenders normally function poorly because they are only half duplex and if the channels are not set correctly will half your bandwidth. If you cant go hardwired to the end device a powerline kit is a better option than extenders or mesh, mesh would require replacing all his equipment.

I refer you to the title "Hardwired To Extender Slow Than Wireless" and the OP who states "Now when I used an Ethernet cable into the extender, to improve my gaming ping, it seems to use the 2.4ghz band to connect back to my main router" which means both that things are slower when hardwired, and that OP does in fact have a hardwired connection back to the router.

The point is, the ethernet port on a range extender is not intended to be used this way, unless it can be set to either AP mode or ethernet bridge mode, either of which use the DHCP server of the gateway router instead. A cheapo range extender is not going to have such options. Its ethernet port is mostly intended for attaching a non-Wifi capable device with ethernet like a Roku or X-Box where you cannot install any drivers for a Wifi adapter, but you can also use it to extend a wired network as well with a switch if you don't need IPv6. What you can't do is what the OP tried.

"Now when I used an Ethernet cable into the extender, to improve my gaming ping, it seems to use the 2.4ghz band to connect back to my main router." I believe, and the OP can correct me if I'm wrong, that he has an ethernet cable between the host machine and the extender which is just repeating the wireless signal. Host---ethernet cable--extender---wireless link---router.