TP-Link AC750 Wifi Range Extender Not Working Properly

[Nihren]

I recently moved and I had posted up a thread before about possible Wi-Fi extenders, but the recommendation I got was to just go wired, but its going to take a while to get someone out here to run the ethernet cables(I tried to do it myself, but there's too much work involved. Have to run the ethernet cable through the floor, across the basement rafters, up through the floor again, plug it into the router, run it up a heating pipe in the living room, remove a ring from the top of the pipe to let the cable through, punch a hole in the wall in the room on the second floor to get access to the pipe there, tie it to the pipe, continue to run it up into my room on the third floor.) so I decided to use a wifi extender as a temporary solution for my connection and ping problems. There's just one issue: The extender fixed nothing.

I received it today, a TP-Link AC750, and after plugging it in one floor below me at the halfway point between me and the router, and after connecting it to the router, it has fixed absolutely nothing. My internet connection is still highly unstable, constantly fluctuating from 1 bar to 4 bars out of 5 and my ping is still ridiculously high. It also seems to fluctuate with the router itself. It has the exact same signal strength most of the time, and then sometimes the connection is actually worse. I know I'm connected to the extender because I gave it a different name so I'd know which one to connect too.

I'm not understanding the problem. All the lights on the extender are green, meaning it's in a good spot and it is exactly halfway between like it's supposed to be. I don't think its extension range is too low, its only about 6 or 7 feet between it and me. I mean, was it too far from the router when I set it up? It says to plug it in near the router at the beginning, but there were no available plugs near the router so I just put it up in the room that it was going to be in. Would that have an effect like this? Would a slow internet connection have any effect(I have a 5Mbps connection. I'm upgrading soon to a 60Mbps connection.)?

 

[Scottray]

Unfortunately, a wifi extender is going to have lower throughput by design. Think of it as a wireless repeater to router. It gets the data stream from your router wifi, than has to rebroadcast it. Also, wifi can be very fickle going thru walls and floors, especially on the 5GHz band. Do you see any difference when using the 2.4GHz band? The only other thing you can do is try different router and extender positions and see if you get better results. Download a wifi analyzer app to your cell phone and use the wifi strength meter to help with your placement. Ultimately, you'll need to run an ethernet cable.

 

[Nihren]

Unfortunately, a wifi extender is going to have lower throughput by design. Think of it as a wireless repeater to router. It gets the data stream from your router wifi, than has to rebroadcast it. Also, wifi can be very fickle going thru walls and floors, especially on the 5GHz band. Do you see any difference when using the 2.4GHz band? The only other thing you can do is try different router and extender positions and see if you get better results. Download a wifi analyzer app to your cell phone and use the wifi strength meter to help with your placement. Ultimately, you'll need to run an ethernet cable.

I'm on the 2.4G band. My older brother monopolizes the 5G band. His connection one floor below me is flawless, so it's confusing me as to why the extender isn't getting the same signal that he is and then extending that up one floor to me. The router only has to go through two ceilings to get to me. Anywhere else I place the extender would be going through multiple walls in addition to a celing and the router itself can't be moved without rerouting the ethernet.