How Far Do WiFi Extenders Reach? Coverage and Range

Is there a place in your home where the WiFi connection won’t reach? Or you’ve tried to use your laptop in the yard and found no connection. Don’t feel bad; you’re not the only one. Every day, A lot of people suffer from this problem. A WiFi extender can solve this problem. But how far do WiFi extenders reach?

The range of a WiFi extender is from 100 to 400 feet, depending on the layout of your home and the type of Extender you have. You will get the best results with your extension if you place your router in the center.

In this blog post, I’ll talk about how far a WiFi extender can be reached from the router and how to get the maximum performance from your Extender.

Why Do You Need To Extend Your WiFi?

A typical router is designed to send a WiFi signal up to 150 feet via an open area, so if you want your home internet signal to reach the corners of your house. Throughout your land, you’ll likely need to fiddle with it.

WiFi dead zones are an everyday occurrence when you live in a large home, an odd home plan with numerous floors, or an outbuilding. Building materials can interfere with WiFi signals. Walls made of stone or brick often create dead zones inside. Appliances, mirrors, walls, and floors can disrupt WiFi connections at home.

How Does WiFi Extender Work?

WiFi extenders function by connecting wirelessly to your network and replicating the signal. That’s why they’re also known as WiFi repeaters or boosters–in reality, the industry doesn’t distinguish between them all that much because they all have the same byproduct: they improve your WiFi coverage.

When WiFi extenders repeat your original router’s signal, the signal becomes stronger, allowing you to pick it up from a greater distance. It is common for extenders to impede the signal since it passes through another device before reaching you. That means you’ll be able to connect to the internet where you couldn’t before, but at a slower pace.

How to Choose the Right WiFi Extender For Your Home or Office?

Consider where you will utilize your WiFi extender while determining the best range. As previously said, WiFi extenders help to improve WiFi connections in the location you are in. Some types can even extend their range to the outside of your building.

Generally, reasonably priced extenders may provide coverage from one room to the next. You can, for example, use them to extend the signal from your living area to your bedroom. The typical range of these extenders is 150 to 200 feet.

Alternatively, WiFi extenders that cost a little more and cover a broader area are available. You can use these extenders to extend your signal to the outside of your building. You can, for example, extend your WiFi signal from the living room to the garden. These extenders usually have a range of roughly 300-400 feet.

However, the WiFi extenders described above are best suited for smaller spaces.

If you need to cover a larger area, you may need to invest in long-range extenders. Remember that WiFi extenders can be wired or wireless. Both types of extenders have advantages and disadvantages.

With wired extenders, you don’t have to worry about thick walls or other wireless devices. However, one downside is that you may have bulky cords at your house or business.

On the other hand, wireless extenders have the advantage of not requiring any wires. Most long-range WiFi extenders are wireless due to their wireless nature. They have the disadvantage of being prone to interference.

How To Place a WiFi Extender At Your Home?

How big your floors are and how far apart they are. If the distance between the router and any of the extenders is more than 300-400 feet, likely, the extension won’t make a big difference in how well your WiFi works. If this is the case, put one extension 100–200 feet away from the router and another 100–200 feet away from the first.

Multi-extension networks are sometimes called mesh networks because they work with the router to bring the internet to everyone in the house. This is a great way to set up a large home with multiple floors or a large home with a plan that makes it necessary to have a long distance between rooms.

What Factors Affect the Range of a WiFi Extender?

WiFi extenders have an established range. For example, you might come across a signal range extender with a predetermined range of 75 feet. However, the 75-foot range may not represent the true number in practice.

This is because various other factors influence the range. The design influences the range even before considering environmental conditions (such as their location). WiFi extenders are different from other signal boosters, such as repeaters.

WiFi extenders are available in both wired and wireless configurations. Their range is affected solely by their wireless or wired construction. Choosing the wired option ensures a more secure and reliable connection.

Wireless devices and thick walls are less likely to interfere with a connected connection. Alternatively, wireless extenders can be used for long-distance communication. Wireless extenders are a great long-range choice because they do not require any cumbersome chords.

Other factors influencing the WiFi extender range include:

The placement of the extension and router
Cable damage if you use wired extenders
Poor WiFi extender selection/inadequate extenders – you may have to connect one Extender to another.

Tips to Increase the Range of Your WiFi Extender

However, even with an extender, you may find that the signal doesn’t quite reach all areas of your house. Here are some tips to help increase the range of your WiFi extender:

Check Your ISP

A WiFi extender amplifies and rebroadcasts your router’s signal. Accordingly, a slow internet connection will remain sluggish even if you use a top-tier extender. Before purchasing another router or extension, check with your Internet Service Provider and upgrade your monthly plan if you require additional speed or data.

Upgrade Your Router

If you have the best ISP plans or bandwidth options, your router is the next issue to investigate. Users often stick with a single router for a few years on average. There may be better solutions than this because router manufacturers, like the internet, constantly upgrade their products.

Modern routers, for example, support a 5 GHz frequency far quicker than the old 2.4 GHz. If you can borrow a router and test it with your configuration, that would be a fantastic method to troubleshoot. If you observe a significant difference in performance, you should upgrade your router.

Use Of The “Midway” Approach

Netgear recommends placing the WiFi extender in the router’s center and the dead zone (or wherever you wish to extend the internet connection). If you’re too close to the router, your Extender’s range will suffer.

If your extension is too far from the router, it will take up weaker signals, lowering capacity. As a result, it’s critical to position your Extender between your router and computer (or the WiFi dead spot).

Check Your Router Speed

Wireless networks support 2.4GHz (ideal for general browsing) and 5GHz (excellent for streaming, gaming, or watching videos). If your network only supports 2.4GHz, you won’t get lightning-fast speeds.

Keep An Eye Out For Physical Impediments

The router should ideally have a direct connection to each Extender connected to it. This ensures that the flow is not impeded and that the maximum speed is received. You can also use a wired alternative for added stability.

Use Apps For Bandwidth Quality Control

WiFi leechers have been the bane of any wireless communication network since its beginnings. Unauthorized users will consume your network’s resources, sometimes making it slow and unworkable. You can combat this by using WiFi Quality Control software to monitor your bandwidth and block MAC addresses you don’t own. Use a strong password and mask your SSID.

Alternative Solutions for Extending WiFi Coverage

Antennas with a higher gain

Using greater gain antennas to push the signal further makes the most sense. It does, but there are a few things to consider because the improved performance may be far less striking than imagined. This is because the antennas will not enhance the power; it is the router’s or AP’s duty. Therefore, the antennas given by the manufacturer are most likely adequate for most used scenarios.

Typically, this indicates 360 degrees. There is a fixed limit (by the FCC), so you can’t go past it, but you can change how the signal is broadcasted. Higher gain antennas are typically more directional, so you will lose some range in certain directions while gaining more in others. If you correctly point it at the distant client device, it should connect to the router or access point because of the increased range.

More entry points

If your WiFi networks are properly configured and optimized, and greater power antennas won’t add much, then using some access points to reach a distant area is a good idea. There are a lot of wireless access points.

I investigated various scenarios in which an access point might add at least 70 feet to the network, depending on how far you’re prepared to run the Ethernet connection, and there was also the option of using outside access points to cover a patio or bigger areas. The signal travels much further in the open – some APs can reach 500 feet and still communicate with some client devices, which is incredible.

The obvious disadvantage is that the Ethernet and power lines must be positioned inside or outside the walls. PoE APs alleviate half the problem by being powered through an Ethernet cable, but it still needs to be more pleasant when compared to a WiFi extender, which doesn’t have similar concerns. Before cutting your bandwidth, remember that there are alternative options, and they, too, are wireless, like the extension.

Networks of meshes

While I don’t mind dedicated mesh networks, they went too far in their quest for simplicity and minimalism. And while I understand that many people like this method, the ability to control your gear and configure it the way you want it should not be taken away from the user. Using an AiMesh system, you can extend WiFi signals through walls.

That is why technologies like AiMesh and OneMesh are superior. Having numerous access points in a mesh design is the best method to cover a broad region with WiFi. Let’s start with AiMesh and OneMesh.

Asus designed the former, while TP-Link produced the latter, but the premise is the same: connect numerous routers of different models and generations to build a mesh network.

I prefer this strategy because you can keep your present router if you are lucky enough to find a compatible one and install a second unit near where you want the range to expand. And you’re done. Surprisingly, I recently ran a test to see how smooth the transition between nodes is while utilizing an Aimesh system, and it performed better than expected.

FAQ

Is it better to connect to 5GHz or 2.4 GHz?

If you need more range, try 2.4 GHz. Use the 5GHz band if you require more performance or speed. 5GHz cuts through network clutter and interference, maximizing network performance.

Compared to 5GHz, the newest band has fewer competing devices. By design, 5GHz cannot go as far as 2.4GHz. You can choose between 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands on newer routers.

Do WiFi extenders work through walls?

No. Wireless WiFi extenders are usually better for use outside because they can spread the signal without walls getting in the way.

Does a WiFi extender reduce speed?

When a WiFi extender is used, the speed slows down. Since they’re talking to the router over WiFi, the speed of your devices drops a lot if the extension talks to them on the same band it uses to talk to the router.

Final Thoughts

WiFi extenders are unquestionably life-saving gadgets for those who require them. These devices allow customers to easily increase WiFi coverage without making holes in their walls or installing additional routers.

A WiFi extender may typically be 100-400 feet from the router. However, this only sometimes ensures excellent internet coverage throughout your home. Understanding the distance between regions where you desire internet service and the compatibility of extenders with your router is crucial when determining which device to buy for your home.

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Author

Alex Parker

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