Question How to extend the range of Wi-Fi in our apartment?

[dc2000]

We moved to an apartment with large concrete walls that were completely destroying the Wi-Fi signal from the router provided by the ISP. So I did some research and bought "TP-Link Archer AX10000 Wi-Fi 6 Router" after I read many reviews that it greatly extended people's Wi-Fi range.

Well, in our apartment it kinda did, but not enough. The worst of all, there's barely any Wi-Fi in the kitchen and my gf complains.

Any ideas how can I cover the entire apartment with the Wi-Fi signal? I can't really move the AX10000 router because of the way ISP installed the fiber cable.

So I'm now thinking to buy a Wi-Fi extender. But how would it work? It needs to work with the same wireless SSID. Otherwise I'm going to be in trouble 😁

 

[bill001g]

This is where the marketing guys need to work the refund desk for a week so they stop telling lies.

As you discovered there is no magic router that increases the distance the signals go. What they are saying is IF you already have wifi signal the speed might be higher. So they are doing stupid stuff like saying the distance you can get 10mbps is increased.
If you have a wall eating the signals it doesn't matter much because no matter how many times faster it might when you multiple it by zero signal you still get zero.

There is no real solution to this. If you had some massive open house you can use extender/repeaters. You would have to place them say 1/2 between where they can get a very strong signal from the main router and still provide signal to the remote location. Even in perfect conditions you are going to take a massive speed hit.

In your case a repeater will likely not work. If you place it on the side of the wall nearer the router it will get strong signal but not be able to send it through the wall. If you put it on the far side of the wall it now will not get good signal from the router even though the end device thinks it has very good signal...there just is no good data to send it.

Your only real solution is to put a hole in the wall .

What you want to do is run some kind of wire through the walls. Best of course is ethernet but most people asking your question do not have it. The next is moca if you have coax cable in both rooms. MoCA can get a full gigabit of speed. The next option would be to consider powerline networks. This is a bit slower maybe you get 130mbps but it depends on your power wire quality and the path.

You could try a repeater but it is all going to be luck if it works. You have to find that magic location that it works. A kitchen is a very hard room there are lots of things that block wifi. Something like your microwave over door can block 1000 times the power your router is allowed to transmit and you can still see through the glass.
A microwave oven runs on the same 2.4g band as the router wifi .

 

[dc2000]

This is where the marketing guys need to...

Yes, I know.

So if I get a wifi repeater and provided that it works, how would the setup be? Will we have 2 wifi SSIDs that we need to connect to if someone goes from the room with the router to the kitchen?

 

[sizzling]

I’m no expert but I had great success using one of these powerline adapters with WiFi extension. https://www.devolo.co.uk/magic-2-wifi-next

 

[bill001g]

Yes, I know.

So if I get a wifi repeater and provided that it works, how would the setup be? Will we have 2 wifi SSIDs that we need to connect to if someone goes from the room with the router to the kitchen?

Not necessarily it depends on the unit. You can use the same SSID or a different one, in many cases the default is to use the same SSID. Even with the same SSID if you have any connection to the main router at all in the kitchen it might stay connected to the main router and not switch to the repeater. The end device not the network control where it is connected. Since a end device would have to drop the connection to scan for a better radio they tend to stay connected to a weak signal when a better one is available. You many times have to stop and start the wifi client to force it to connect where you want.

Wifi was never really designed for roaming so it only "mostly" works