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This is not true for me. I connect to my repeater & get the exact speed I get that I get when I directly connect to the primary router which is the max speed I pay for. Why would speed be reduced by having a repeater (anything other than a minor reduction).

What this means is if you have a 802.11n WiFi router, which translates to 300 Mbps maximum speeds, and you use a 802.11n capable WiFi repeater paired to this router, then the maximum throughput of the router gets reduced to 150 Mbps. The other 150 Mbps is theoretically used for the router - repeater uplink.

I have a TP-Link TL-WR841N 300Mbps Wifi Router. I also have Netgear WN3000RP-200PES Universal Wi-Fi Range Extender.
My ISP Plan is 15 Mbps & I get 15 Mbps even when I connect through the extender.

And you would, given that 15 Mbps is < 150 Mbps. Installation of the repeater will not halve your broadband link's performance summarily. You will only see some affect when you start approaching the theoretical limit of the device's capabilities itself.

As far as I know, the router-repeater link is nothing special; it is just like any other device-router link with steady and burst data transfer capabilities as per the specifications. There is no concept of "dedicating" bandwidth for router-repeater links (unless a specific vendor does it for their specific product pool).

I'd like to see some references for the claim you make.

We should not be dismissive, we seek references of external sites written by unknown people and we are not ready to pay attention to our own FMs.please:

The internet is full of such info like this one https://amp.reddit.com/r/HomeNetwork...width_in_half/

In essence, the basic concept of signal transmission over a channel is at play here which is similar to a single core cpu doing one task at a time but it does it so fast (switches between tasks, time multiplexing) that it appears to us as multi tasking. In router also, all single band routers only transmit of receive from / to one client at a time, if there are multiple clients transmitting data the bandwidth is shared (as if every second it transmits some data from one client, some data for others so that no one gets blocked even if they slow down). If you have multiband router when in reality it can support multiple streams at the same time yet when it could have given multiple streams for the same client it will end up splitting streams to multiple clients so effective bandwidth drops again.

Now consider repeater, it uses the same stream (s) to communicate to your primary router as to you as a client. So if you are watching a youtube stream the repeater is receiving it from primary router and also sending it to you at the same time assuming you are connected to internet using the repeater and not directly in range of primary router and thereby ending up in time multiplexing again thereby reducing your bandwidth. Situation worsens for multiple clients.

What can be done to circumvent, one way is to setup the second router as acess point with a different wifi channel as the primary router and connect them via lan wires, single DHCP server will be primary router.

Like I said, "theoritically". Different equipment manufacturers do it different, especially in the enterprise segment so as to minimize repeater losses. However, it is pretty much a given that some losses do occur in a router - repeater scenario, especially in the low cost home segment of such equipment. The router mentioned, TL-WR841N is a good example :

https://www.waveform.com/pages/wifi-...er-differences

:OTCan someone please suggest a decent wifi extender? I have airtel fibrenet connection which has good speed(~200mbps) but the range is really limited to the room where the modem is installed. My home-desk was setup in the bedroom and sadly the reception there is very bleak. Looking for some extender to fix this issue. Never bothered till now as WFH was usually once a week affair for which drawing room sofa was enough but now since its a daily thing for atleast a few weeks , looking forward to address this issue.


Appreciate some suggestions? TIA:thumbs up

There is only one real solution to your problem. You have to get mesh Wi-Fi router. Only way is to use 5GHz band which has less range so you need in 2-3 rooms. Below are my suggestions.

Many have bought this based on my recommendation and are very happy. I have the Orbi with Airtel FTTH fiber for more than a year now.

https://www.flipkart.com/netgear-orb...01584425805367

https://www.amazon.in/TP-Link-M4-AC1...59&sr=8-3&th=1

I have been using below for a while, works great.
There are cheaper models as well with lower speeds which would still be suitable for vast majority.


TP-Link TL-WA855RE Wi-Fi Range Extender (White) https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00EYW1U68/..._-UgCEb61QKYC6

Your screenshot shows great upload and download speeds. May I know which provider is this and in which location of Pune?


Thanks. I have the same issue. Main modem cum router is in living room while my work setup is in bedroom which gets very poor reception. If I extend the wifi using this range extender, will there be two connections showing up - one from the original modem cum router and second from the range extender? Also while range extender extends the range, does it also reduce the bandwidth? I.e. if the main one has 20 mbps, range extender reduces it to 10 mbps?

Yes, it will show up as separate network, and many times when both are in range, you'll need to manually select the appropriate one. It doesn't reduce the bandwidth.

It you want a single SSID throughout like we have in offices, then you have to look for mesh routers, but they are on expensive side.

Tata Sky Broadband. Amanora, Pune.

Since I mostly work from home, range issue due to the primary router was a major concern. Hence, I picked a decent Range Extender from TP link and have been using this since the last 3 years with absolute satisfaction.



My work mostly involves long or frequent Skype/Teams meetings with screen sharing and my laptop which is always connected to the extender Network and this never failed to impress to meet my requirements.

We also installed TV in the master bedroom last year and my home office is in the same room. At times, we couple work from home and when our kid has holidays while we do not, the TV is also is in streaming mode, again connected to the extender network. Even during such cases, we never had issues with the bandwidth. This goes to show that simple extenders are mighty reliable to meet your requirements.

Whenever we aren't working, the extender network is connected to the TV and streaming.

When I purchased this extender, I had a Fiber connection from a local vendor and a single band router. Later, I moved to ACT and installed a dual band router. I realised then that the extender was single band and hence would connect to the 2.5G band of the parent WiFi (from the main router) and not to the 5G band.

So my suggestion is to go for a Dual band extender and make use of the 5G band and get even better throughput than the single channel actually manages to.

If I recollect, I spent around 2500 way back in 2017 for this extender. The dual band extender today costs as much. TP-Link is a popular brand. In my apartment, a particular configuration of flats have this range issue due to router termination point and the number of walls between the router and the master bedroom (4). I was the first one to pick this extender due to my work from home requirements and the location of my work desk. Others were suggested when they too faced this issue and everyone is satisfied with this simple set-up which is absolutely VFM.

You can have a single SSID with regular routers which are setup as repeaters over the main one. I have this setup at home. But then it won't have the intelligence like a mesh setup, to connect your device to the optimal source and channel.