WiFi Range Extender

1492 wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
We looked into getting a Netgear WIFI extender for the house. We went to Best Buy and talked to the folks there. The guy who helped us explained, that even though the range of WIFI is extended, the upload and download speed was considerably reduced ... like 50%. Thats no problem if you are using static web pages, but for streaming video or gaming, it could cause too much of a slow down.

Well, the guy is painting some broad strokes and leaving out some details? The speed reduction is the result of the "single-radio" having to do double duty by receiving and re-transmitting the signal. In fact, it will likely be even more than a 50% reduction in data thoughtput? It's very device dependent. Though claimed WiFi device bandwidth speeds tend to be already exaggerated.

Just note that the reduction is WiFi bandwidth. Not necessarily in internet access speeds. If your connection speed to the internet is already low, what you'll likely experience using a campground connection, then you may not experience any appreciable downgrade by using a repeater.

My internet bandwidth connection was so low at one point, about 4.8Mbps down connecting directly to my WiFi router, that when I connected to my WiFi repeater, my speed was still 4.5Mbps. Not a 50% reduction so many claim? My old repeater WiFi speeds was about 24Mbps max, so well above my internet connection speeds even if you take the 50%+ reduction in WiFi bandwidth into account.

BTW, they do make dual-radio repeaters that should result in minimal WiFi bandwidth loss. It all depends whether you would benefit from it as it is dependent on your internet connection speeds in the first place?

Thank you for the sane response!

The irony is that I don't see the OP has returned to this thread at all. :)


We really need to know what the OP wants to extend. Odds are they want to increase their ability to pull in distant WiFi signals.

We don't know for sure - as their post is ambiguous.