Question Wifi repeater compability?! Asking for advice.

[KarolisKamiu]

Hello,

Got this mobile router huawei B628-265. We are using 4g-LTE mobile internet. Internet is 100/60mbps speed. Wanna put wifi repeater at home, at my local shops there is some tplink link repeaters like
TP-LINK TL-WA850RE, 300Mbps 25eu.
TP-LINK AC750, RE200 750 Mbps 30eu.

Sorry i didnt added links because my local shops have my native language only.

My question is it compatible and is it worth, i think they both are wifi 4 models.

At amazon i get

TP-Link RE780X WiFi 6 WLAN Amplifier Repeater AX3000​

50eur, witch might be better if i upgrade my router in future???

https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B0D544177Z?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&psc=1

Also interested into this model because it has electrict socket integrated - 42eu
TP-Link RE365 WLAN Amplifier Repeater AC1200


I could research everything myself, but i have newborn baby, just dont have enouth power and time to research stuff. Every help appreciated, thank you for your time!! ❤️

 

[bill001g]

Huawei stuff has horrible documentation and is not generally sold in the USA so that makes getting info even worse.

In general you just click around huawei screens and hope to find stuff. I have yet to find a manual that shows all the menus so I could help you .

The feature you are looking for is called WDS. This is a hack that makes repeaters work, it technically is not part of the wifi standard but most vendors that support it now do it the same way so they all now days function between each other. This means most repeaters should work. "mesh" is a different story, these use propritary methods to solve the same issue and are not compatible between brands.

The key issue is the wifi encryption standard requires the keys to use the mac addresses of the end devices. This greatly improves the security but it also means only 1 device can be connected to any wifi connection. They use they the WDS field to pass the mac addresses even though it really has a different official use.

Because WDS is a security issue many routers either have it disabled by default and/or you must put in the mac addresses of any repeater you plan to connect to the main router. I don't know what huawei does, since they have been know to not be very careful with security it might be on by default and allow any connections.

Be aware repeaters are not some magic box that increases your signal levels. Even when properly installed you are going to lose about 1/2 the bandwidth because you now have the signal being sent twice in the same radio channels. Key to best repeater use is placement. You do not just stick them in the remote rooms like some of the digrams indicate. They must be placed where they get strong signal from the main router but can still send a signal to the remote room. If it was 1 huge open room you would say 1/2 way. When you have walls/ceilings etc it is all going to be trial and error.

I tend to recommend people only use repeaters as a last option. If you have coax cables in both rooms you can use a technology called MoCA but it is much more expensive than the reperater units you list. It can give full gigabit speeds in the remote rooms. You might also consider powerline networks but I suspect the units that also have wifi radios built in are above the pricing you are looking at for repeaters.