Best router to use as an Access Point for extending home WiFi range?

Riczter on 19/09/2016 - 20:22

I'm looking for suggestions on a router (or standalone Access Point) that would be suitable for use in extending the range of the wifi at home, either through a direct ethernet connection or via EOP.

The router should be cheap, but have rock solid reliability from a good brand and reviews to back it up, and be easy to setup.

Basically I want to know what the best and cheapest option is, as well as if there are any other considerations I should be looking at.

Also, I'm aware you can get EOP kits with a WiFi AP, is this solution better/worse/the same as having a decent router setup as an access point on the end of a standard EOP kit?
Finally, I'm aware you can get WiFi range extenders as a standalone unit, but that these are usually "signal repeaters" which lower the connection speed and therefore isn't an ideal solution.

Are there any forum posts (ie on whirlpool) that deal with this sort of stuff that I may have missed that you can link me to? I'm looking to learn and become more knowledgeable in this area so I can extend WiFi for friends and colleagues and know what I'm doing :)

Thanks.

Computing

Comments

  • raytriplej on 19/09/2016 - 20:38

    Following…

  • kipps on 19/09/2016 - 20:47

    Give up on consumer grade gear if you're after reliability. After having constant reliability problems, I'm now using Ubiquiti EdgeRouter & Ubiquiti UniFi Pro AC for router & AP respectively. Stable, and easily handles 100mbps Telstra Cable without struggling.

    • Riczter on 19/09/2016 - 20:48

      I've heard of Ubiquiti, but never seen them in store… Where do you buy them?

      • kipps on 19/09/2016 - 20:50
        +1

        I got mine from citytechnology.com.au (they came highly recommended by a mate of mine who regularly buys through them through his role in an IT department in a school). I'm pretty sure Static Ice has other Ubiquiti resellers though.

  • Riczter on 19/09/2016 - 21:02

    So Ubiquiti seems to be the go for top end reliability…
    How about middle of the road reliability at a budget under $150.
    Whats the best one to get?

    And what's the disadvantages of using say the cheapest $10 router on the market, exactly. I know its bad, but why?

    • kipps on 19/09/2016 - 21:15

      Cheap routers often have little memory for NAT tables and will continually restart under heavy load. They also might not be able to handle routing the max speed of your internet connection (hence my comment above about the routers being able to handle 100mbps download on Telstra Cable).

      Are you talking about a wireless AP for under $150, or are you talking about a router and AP combined for < $150? If router, what short of internet connection are you using? ADSL2?

      Whirlpool has a section dedicated to choosing hardware. They're generally good at identifying hardware.

      • Riczter on 19/09/2016 - 21:27

        I was hoping there would be something at a good price that would be suitable for every situation, but that may have been wishful thinking.

        Say for example a single person living in a big house, just uses internet to browse facebook and check emails on his/her phone and laptop. But has a dead spot up one end of the house. Would a cheap router used in AP mode linked to the main router with EOP be fine for his/her situation where speed and overloading isnt an issue? Or are there other factors at play that can cause problems with a budget router?

        I was talking about a router and AP combined, as most routers as far as I know can be configured to run in AP mode, and there are plenty of cheap routers out there. I don't often see Wireless AP devices on their own in retail stores, not that I've really looked… Can they be had at a better price than a router that does the same thing? Is there any advantage to using a dedicated AP device instead of a router in AP mode?

        Currently using ADSL2 so don't exactly have the concern of saturating bandwidth, but with the NBN slowly rolling out, it would probably be smarter to use a device that would still perform well after an upgrade to NBN…

  • websterp on 20/09/2016 - 06:24

    If you have no intention of streaming FHD+ movies or multiple streams of audio via WiFi then pretty much any consumer grade router with good reviews and range would do in your case. I'm telling this because your budget is restricting you from moving towards ubiquiti gear for which I too hold in high regard.

    Go here: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/
    The models they review are US based but most of the time you'll find the same or APAC/AU equivalent models in staticice. Spend some time researching and choose depending on your needs - range/price/stability/etc. My personnel experience is you'll end up paying more if you go for a AP only device rather than a router/AP for some reason. Doesn't really make sense considering you get more bang for buck with a wireless router compared to just an AP but could be due to lower cost of production as consumer grade routers sell in droves.

  • raytriplej on 20/09/2016 - 09:32

    https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/networking/netge…

    Gets good reviews on various sites.

    May be cheaper elsewhere.

    I am uneducated on these things but the video below shows receiving on 5Ghz and extending using 2.4Ghz which seems to be a nice feature.

    http://www.netgear.com.au/home/products/networking/wifi-rang…

  • fruit on 20/09/2016 - 14:42

    Ubiquiti

  • Riczter on 20/09/2016 - 16:01

    There seems to be little to no information about the downfalls of how a repeater works in the sense that it basically halves the speed. Is this still the case, and their advertising has just decided to skip over this important fact, or has the technology changed?
    Edit: I've just seen the setup screen for the Netgear EX200, it shows it can run on different bands, router to extender over 5GHz and extender to devices on 2.4 GHz. This means it doesn't halve the speed but its still not making the most of a dual band network… Wouldn't a router in AP mode still outperform such a device?

  • Riczter on 20/09/2016 - 16:33

    For anyone else who's following, this is what I'm talking about with Extenders/Repeaters: (copied from a whirlpool post)

    1. Whether you call it a repeater, extender, repeater-bridge or whatever, these devices widen a network by re-transmitting everything. There are literally heaps of usually unnecessary data packets that make the rounds between two points of presence. The old rule of thumb for these devices is 'double the range, half the speed.' And that's half speed for everyone – no matter how close you are to one unit or the other. A repeater halves the speed because it re-transmits wireless data from another wireless device using the same simplex radio over the same channel.

    2. Your wifi clients can get really choppy service, particularly mobiles or even stationary clients that sit on the border between one access point and another. They can't grab their signal from both devices. If you're thinking 2+2=4, forget it. It's 2 or 2. The client picks. Whenever the client changes its mind, you get interruptions. They may be small, but they're enough to e.g. drop a Skype call, or pause streaming video, or stop checking for email. Some commercial solutions get around this, but if you want something to seamlessly work with a cable modem – sorry!

    Though I'm guessing the second point there is also true of using an access point, and being on the fringe of both. The article was actually arguing that having a single strong router was the best option, but obviously that doesn't work in all scenarios.

  • raytriplej on 20/09/2016 - 16:43
    +1

    I agree. I had also read about the half speed using the repeater.

    I had to buy something to get signal to a wifi black spot.

    Will remain to be seen if this EX6200 does the job. I am sure my wife
    and kids will let me know pretty quick if not.

  • [Deactivated] on 20/09/2016 - 17:21

    I got cheapest I could find from MSY - $26 I think it was for a tplink. Been using it for about 2 years now, and it never caused any problems at all. Took about 10 minutes to setup following non-modem specific guides online.

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