[SOLVED] recommended wifi range extender?

[shmu26]

Right now, I have a TP-link TL-WA850RE. It was the lowest priced at the time.
https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/range-extender/tl-wa850re/
Not so happy with it. When a few devices connect, one of them gets dropped all the time, and lately, even one device gets a flaky connection.
Any recommendations?
My router is single band. I don't stream videos.
Is Edimax better than TP-link? Or all they all the same?
I want something reliable, and it needs to get around corners. My current laptop doesn't support ac protocol, so ac is not a major priority, but would be nice.
What's a good product, but not too pricey? What specs should I look for?

 

[bill001g]

The best so called extenders call themselves "mesh" in most cases. It is not the mesh function you really care about. The key feature is that they have a separate radio to talk back to the main router. Generally it means there are 3 radios one to talk to the router and a 2.4g and 5g radio to talk to the end users..............

So I get this far and see this all does not matter since I did not read in detail and you only have a single band router.

All will be pretty much just as bad. The problem is the repeater is re transmitting the copy of the data in the same exact radio band as your router. So in effect your repeater sends back a jamming signal to your router.

This cuts the speed by at least 1/2 and you now have 2 radio signals that can be corrupted by neighbors.

Your best option is to always run a ethernet cable to the remote location and then put in a AP to create a second source of wifi signal. One other way to do this is to buy powerline network devices that use your eleectrical cables as the ethernet. You can then plug in a AP or you can buy poweline units with a built in wifi AP in the remote end. The powerline units with the AP are ok but it works better to have them seperate.

Look for units that say av2-600 or av2-1200 on powerline equipment.

 

[shmu26]

1 Maybe I should just get a better router, and that will basically solve my problems? The router I have now provides a weak and unreliable signal to the room I need. Maybe a better router will do better?

2 Can I do the powerline equipment option if I have European-style 220-240 volt power supply?

 

[bill001g]

In general you can not buy powerline units that will not work in your country. Not sure the same part numbers come up with different unit if you for example search on amazon for the USA or ones for say the UK.

The concept of a better router is complex. The power output of a router is limited by the government. Use to be ISP would use cheap device that did not put out full legal power. Lately since the price of the radio chipsets have come down almost all router put out the maximum legal power. There are only about 3 chipset makers so the name on the outside of the router does not mean a lot.

In your case your router being single band is pretty basic but in general buy a dual band router may not help with overall coverage. The 5g band has issues penetrating walls so it has less coverage but tends to be much faster.

In addition your router is only 1/2 the wifi connection. Your end device are the other half and it could be them that are low power and the router is not receiving a strong signal from them.

Wifi is lots of trial and error because of all the unique variable involved