DON'T Buy A Wi-Fi Range Extender!
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If you’re not getting a good Wi-Fi signal, you might be tempted to buy a range extender or repeater – but is almost certainly a bad idea. We’ll tell you why in this video.
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If you have bad WiFi then you probably can’t afford a 1000$ wireless thingy or a 5000$ thingy if you have bad WiFi just upgrade your plan or router there isn’t really much good cheap options and if you can’t then deal with it
45208 Kulas Villages
I just need to go back to cable
Extenders are fineeeeeee
Most range extenders suck for WiFi roaming (devices moving long distances/between rooms or stories , even if the path is covered by multiple extenders) . However for fixed-location devices (desktops, Chromecasts, security cams..etc) or devices moving in a confined space where the main router has weak signal , extenders work fine . I would have a different SSID for the extender in this case for sure.
My router is upstairs my fire stick is downstairs what should I buy?
I need help with gaming in the basment wifi sucks laggy gameplay tored of slow wifi i could just take the xbox upstairs but want it downstairs at&t fiber 🙁
2:52 if someone is debating whether to spend like 15 bucks on a wifi extender, they obviously can’t afford to get a really good wifi router. how out of touch can you be
So if I’m just trying to get wifi to reach my garage camera, I should ignore your advice and buy a range extender. Got it.
This dude literally here telling us that we should use direct Ethernet cables like what if your room is upstairs? I’m not gonna go rushing to Best Buy to get a 40 meter cable
Garcia Kenneth Thompson Brenda Wilson Mary
You have some good points… I have one for my Generator that needs a WIFI connection… All it does is to transfer information to me and the Generator company. The range and location makes it to where I would have to run a cable to setup another separate router, but the WIFI Extended allows me to have this in the continuous loop and is on a UPS (Especially since it is really need when the power is out waiting for the Generator to come on) it connects me to my regular wifi without any issues. The amount of data is not really time valued and if it takes a minute or longer (which it never would be near that long) it still wouldn’t hurt anything. While I agree that Range Extenders are not for every situation, it is a good item to have in other situations.!
TLDW pay a "little" more than a range extender to get better signal.
Mesh router, the big reveal, seems to get less time and fewer graphics than the stuff that’s purportedly bad. Maybe a focus on solutions…
I’m a year late here, but CSMA/CA plays a role in this that isn’t mentioned in the video or most of the comments. The CA portion is collision avoidance. Basically, devices wait their turn to communicate, so the more devices you have, the more traffic jams you have to wait through. Introducing an extender, especially a slower one, adds additional slower traffic to your intersections, and makes things even less organized. Think about pulling up to a 4-way stop and how aggravating that can be. Now add pedestrians on all the sidewalks that also want to cross. Now you’re waiting even longer for even more stuff to happen so you can hopefully get through without hitting something.
Since the extender is also not part of the main network, it can introduce what’s known as a "hidden node" problem. Since the extender is now listening to communication from the main network, and trying to manage devices on its extended network, the two sections of the network aren’t really part of each others’ conversations, so you sometimes get additional slowness introduced by having to wait while everyone sorts things out and makes sure they’re responding to all the requests.
Separate access points and meshes don’t run into these issues as often, because they each handle their own traffic themselves, and communicate back to a switch/router or they work TOGETHER to keep things more organized because they’re all monitoring the same "conversation."
Thank You. This helped me.
Buy the guac!
very informative, great video, simple, straight to the point. Been dealing with this exact issue for a long time
Was bout to watch the full video, then I checked comments.. YouTube comments never disappoints, disliked the video now going back to top 4 budget friendly wifi extendors
crazy bad video. 99.9% of usecases a range extender is plenty fine. Don’t use definite statements…
mine work incredibly well. coverage sucked previously
Instructions unclear! So don’t upgrade to $10 extender, spend a 1000 on upgrading your mesh network and put considerable amount of man power
This needs more downvotes… Dumbest take I’ve seen
For me the extender works wonders 😅
Thank you so much for this video!!! this is exactly what i was looking for. im actually trying to help a friend out with his wifi issues at his place. incase anyone wants to know: long story short hes having issues with his desktop wifi, doesnt want to hardline (not sure why) so i was looking into mesh as a good out-of-the-box solution. (isp speed 300mbps) any help would be very appreciated.
Literally I’m struggling with watching the vid 😭
nonsense…
I have one in my house because for some reason, bell set up our modem in the friggin basement. It’d make more sense to have it upstairs but there would have to be some rewiring done.
My extender is upstairs somewhere where the signal is still good so it can reach the rest of the house. I live in the basement, and the folks upstairs dont have a good reason to disconnect from their extender. I’d prefer to add access points but the extender works for what I need.
BS. Only requires a low level of knowledge. Purchased a Macard RE 1200 for 25 cents ($0.25) at a garage sale this morning. Read the manual and watched setup instructions on YouTube. Prior owner too lazy to read manual. Signal in the barn was too weak and would not connect my laptop or iPad. Hung the extender out the house window. Barn about 900 feet away. Works great. I and the horses can watch the news now. The big toilet guy probably correct on not best for phone use if user does not like to change signals walking around the house.Takes one second to switch wifi source on laptop or iPad.
I do have problems sometimes uploading while at the porcelain office unloading, its really a crappy problem, stinks every time
You are wrong, that is not the way an extender works. It is paired to the ethernet port on your modem/router. you are confusing a repeater with an extender. Learn then preach!
I would have great wifi if you didnt stand in front of it… PHATS
Basement pooper watching this now away from my terrible signal
Just a note: a simple and cheap range extender can be a _decent_ option if the goal is to extend your signal to a static, non-demanding (as in does not need snappy fast speeds) device, like f.ex. an outdoor WiFi camera that is just beyond decent range from your main router.
Sure you’ll get a delay of one, maybe a couple of seconds on notifications and live view if you can live with that, but at least the signal to the camera is good.
In my home this was the difference between a camera with, at best, a bad connection (always in red) + regular signal losses, and a camera with the connection now always in the green.
Motion detection is handled locally so there is no delay on recording and lighting.
Sure, an AP or a better router or mesh would still be preferred but hey, 47 bucks for a dedicated extender for 1 device if that’s all it needs is a good deal.
Wazzup Joel
I mean, AP for mobile devices will be the same as an range extender. You will need to manually switch to the extender ssid. So, there is no cheap solution to have Wifi to cover an entire place without manually connecting to AP if you don’t use mesh
Ill just hook everything up to ethernet.
That all presupposes that you want a range extender to use wifi on the move – around the house.
I think it’s fair to say that most people who buy them do so because their main router is at the front of the house and they have a TV or another wifi device at the back of the house, so the device they’re using is going to stay connected to the extender.
this would be nice if A i wasn’t renting and B i was looking for a ethernet setup
Deckow Village
Didn’t 4 years ago your company told us to buy a range extender
Is this problem of mobile phone of not changing networks automatically.
never thought a walrus would give good tips, thanks.
Thank you very much!
You literally have no clue, at all. So stop pretending you understand these devices, protocols etc.
I used a wifi extender to hardwire my outdoor tv and it works perfectly for that. No more reconnecting issues because its direct to Ethernet.
This is a good advice for senior citizens who got $$$ to spend and have no clue about computer tech stuffs…
They just dont know how to use wifi extender LMAO
They’re my only option
god this feels so scamy and paid off. I feel like this is a paid promotion or something but they won’t admit it.