TP Link 300Mbps Wifi Extender - £16.49

Davy · 16-06-2014 12:33AM #1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AHXXJVW - £16.49

Today only, deal of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpULi2wBjz4

same ol sh1te · 16-06-2014 12:48AM

Davy wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AHXXJVW - £16.49

Today only, deal of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpULi2wBjz4

You are aware of the drawbacks of using a wifi extender or repeater on your network? They're never a good idea. Wireless is half duplex, unlike a cable it cannot send and receive traffic at the same time, either one direction or the other. Adding a wireless repeater halves the throughput of your wireless network. Better off to run a cable or use homeplugs to get a connection to the area and then adding an access point on another channel your original

The Ayatolla · 16-06-2014 08:51AM

£16.90 to Ireland inc VAT.

Greenmachine · 16-06-2014 08:56AM

same ol sh1te wrote: »

You are aware of the drawbacks of using a wifi extender or repeater on your network? They're never a good idea. Wireless is half duplex, unlike a cable it cannot send and receive traffic at the same time, either one direction or the other. Adding a wireless repeater halves the throughput of your wireless network. Better off to run a cable or use homeplugs to get a connection to the area and then adding an access point on another channel your original

Don't these plug in one not use you electric cable. One plug connected directly to the router and the other plugged in an area where a stronger signal is need which can also use a wired connection from the plugged unit.

carrotcake · 16-06-2014 09:10AM

I got one of these last year (same model), and it works great. The router is downstairs, and some of the rooms upstairs had very weak or no reception when the doors were closed. Now with the range extender plugged in on the landing, all of the upstairs rooms plus the attic have no problems with reception. Haven't noticed any issues with speed.

jamesd · 16-06-2014 09:21AM

Greenmachine wrote: »

Don't these plug in one not use you electric cable. One plug connected directly to the router and the other plugged in an area where a stronger signal is need which can also use a wired connection from the plugged unit.

No these just extend from the existing wifi.

Greenmachine · 16-06-2014 09:31AM

jamesd wrote: »

No these just extend from the existing wifi.

Image appears to show an rj45 connection. Is it a single box instead of a set. My understanding was that one was plugged into the wall next to the router connected by a Cat cable and then another box was placed in another room which could be connected by cable also if so desired.

What are the other alternative? Bridges? Anything else.

carrotcake · 16-06-2014 09:40AM

Greenmachine wrote: »

Image appears to show an rj45 connection. Is it a single box instead of a set. My understanding was that one was plugged into the wall next to the router connected by a Cat cable and then another box was placed in another room which could be connected by cable also if so desired.

What are the other alternative? Bridges? Anything else.

The RJ45 port is so that you can plug in something that doesn't have WiFi.

There's no set. You connect the extender to the existing WiFi network in the same way that you would with a computer. (Or, if your router supports it, WPS.) You can see more details in the OP's link.

same ol sh1te · 16-06-2014 09:48AM

Greenmachine wrote: »

Don't these plug in one not use you electric cable. One plug connected directly to the router and the other plugged in an area where a stronger signal is need which can also use a wired connection from the plugged unit.

No, it is not a homeplug, it's a standalone single unit that uses the same wireless frequency to link to your original wireless router as it does to connect your end devices. Now note I posted earlier about wireless only transmitting in one direction at a time (only one frequency) and you will understand that this is not the ideal situation where everyone is upgrading from 'G' to newer wireless 'N' and 'AC' standards to get more throughput, this cuts throughput in half just by being there.

Repeaters are never a good idea, it's best to link to another device by some other method, not wireless, then you can add another wireless access point that will run at full speed on another frequency (different channel)

Edit: I see mentioned you can use it a wireless bridge with the Ethernet port, this wouldn't that bad as long as you're receiving and not re-transmitting on the same frequency (repeating). That is if the software allows bridging without repeating

vibe666 · 16-06-2014 11:17AM

same ol sh1te wrote: »

Repeaters are never a good idea, it's best to link to another device by some other method, not wireless, then you can add another wireless access point that will run at full speed on another frequency (different channel)

there is absolutely nothing wrong with a repeater if all you want to do is extend your wifi to another part of your house so you can surf the net in a wifi dead spot without the hassle of running cables, and all for 20 quid and less than 5 minutes setting it up.

even if you're only realistically getting a real world throughput of a 3rd of that (supposed) 300Mbps and then only at half duplex it's still going to be significantly faster than a lot of peoples internet connections so it's plenty good enough for a lot of uses.

same ol sh1te · 16-06-2014 11:37AM

vibe666 wrote: »

there is absolutely nothing wrong with a repeater if all you want to do is extend your wifi to another part of your house so you can surf the net in a wifi dead spot without the hassle of running cables, and all for 20 quid and less than 5 minutes setting it up.

even if you're only realistically getting a real world throughput of a 3rd of that (supposed) 300Mbps and then only at half duplex it's still going to be significantly faster than a lot of peoples internet connections so it's plenty good enough for a lot of uses.

Agreed, as long as people are aware of the drawbacks of adding one. The nets & comms and wireless forums get continuous threads about wireless speed issues, everyone wants theirs as fast as possible. People aren't aware that wireless speeds are completely optimistic, if you get quarter the speed a device is rated for you are doing very well, and that's without introducing other device talking at the same time. As I said homeplugs with an access point are a much better solution.

Alanstrainor · 16-06-2014 11:39AM

Cheers for the BA. Might order one for home to get better WiFi in the front of my house.

Also, for people who need more of a home plug fix, these are a good price for a bricks and mortar shop:

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1914102/Trail/searchtext%3ELINKSYS.htm

Bought a set yesterday. Have yet to test it tho, hopefully I'll set it up this evening and I'll report back here with my opinions!

slave1 · 16-06-2014 11:43AM

same ol sh1te wrote: »

You are aware of the drawbacks of using a wifi extender or repeater on your network? They're never a good idea. Wireless is half duplex, unlike a cable it cannot send and receive traffic at the same time, either one direction or the other. Adding a wireless repeater halves the throughput of your wireless network. Better off to run a cable or use homeplugs to get a connection to the area and then adding an access point on another channel your original

Jibberish, put one in earlier in the year and no drop in wireless connection speeds

same ol sh1te · 16-06-2014 11:52AM

slave1 wrote: »

Jibberish, put one in earlier in the year and no drop in wireless connection speeds

What, the laws of physics are jibberish?

I suggest you read up on the science of them, you half the speed of your network. Of course if you have a very slow link to the internet you will not feel it as much but some folks in the cities have connections of 50-200mbit. As vibe666 said they are fine for general browsing but for high rate downloading/file transfer/streaming you are better off with a different solution like the homeplug one Alanstrainor posted

Marhay70 · 16-06-2014 12:10PM

I wouldn't write off the extender, I have both an extender and power line adapters and both serve a purpose for me.
My router is upstairs and my extender is downstairs because both the media centre and TV box I have are WiFi only, so I would have to install a wired repeater or reconfigured wifi router downstairs to use them. The power line adapter is used for a second desktop upstairs.

arikv · 16-06-2014 12:30PM

Davy wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AHXXJVW - £16.49

Today only, deal of the day.

Seems great for providing Wifi in blackspots.
Ethernet port only supports 100MBPS and not Gigabit so streaming HD over Wired connection would be a challange and would probably buffer a lot if streamer only have Wired conenction.

Would suit 90% of users.

Phantom99 · 16-06-2014 12:40PM

I have fairly slow O2 mobile broadband. It works best in one of the rooms at the top and front of the house.

It is quite poor in the kitchen/back of the house.

Should this extend this throughout the house for me if I plug it into a kitchen socket?

MaceFace · 16-06-2014 12:43PM

fwiw:

Wired connection to my router - best quality (by far) - 85Mbps
Wireless connection to router (within 5 feet) - 70Mbps
Wireless connection to wifi extender (within 5 feet) - 50 Mbps
Wireless connection to wifi extender (15 feet) - 27Mbps
Wireless connection to router (40 feet) - 21Mbps
Homeplugs - 17Mbps

Problem with homeplugs is it depends on the electrics in your house.

With the wifi extender (in my situation), I can browse throughout the house, watch netflix (HD works no problem).

sneachtaman · 16-06-2014 12:55PM

Thanks - great value. Just what I need. Very poor wifi in house. Cant get any upstairs in the bedrooms at all. Seen some very like these a few weeks ago in hardly normal, and they were about €70

Bargain

same ol sh1te · 16-06-2014 01:12PM

MaceFace wrote: »

fwiw:

Wired connection to my router - best quality (by far) - 85Mbps
Wireless connection to router (within 5 feet) - 70Mbps
Wireless connection to wifi extender (within 5 feet) - 50 Mbps
Wireless connection to wifi extender (15 feet) - 27Mbps
Wireless connection to router (40 feet) - 21Mbps
Homeplugs - 17Mbps

Problem with homeplugs is it depends on the electrics in your house.

With the wifi extender (in my situation), I can browse throughout the house, watch netflix (HD works no problem).

You're testing a single device, introduce another wireless device streaming a HD YouTube video or a media player streaming a HD movie from a network drive at the same time and see how it goes. This is the situation in people's homes with multiple users and the reason why people are upgrading to faster wireless devices as our bandwidth needs are exploding

Agreed, homeplugs don't work in every situation, depends on the electrical cabling. You'd be better off running a cable.

I have a 1080p encode of The Dark Knight that uses 35mbit when streaming from my nas to my media player

vibe666 · 16-06-2014 01:15PM

arikv wrote: »

Seems great for providing Wifi in blackspots.
Ethernet port only supports 100MBPS and not Gigabit so streaming HD over Wired connection would be a challange and would probably buffer a lot if streamer only have Wired conenction.

Would suit 90% of users.

it's 300Mbps wireless, which realistically is never going to give you a sustained transfer of more than about 100Mbps. Since any wired ethernet device you plug into that port on the bottom is only going to be transmitting over that wireless connection back to your router, a gigabit ethernet port would be pointless.

The Ayatolla · 16-06-2014 01:57PM

Not everyone needs HD devices streaming constantly. I've bought one of these, a cheap solution to bring faster Facebook browsing to the 3rd story of a house. Happy days.

Slipshaney · 16-06-2014 02:04PM

great bargain - thanks OP

Citizenpain · 16-06-2014 02:49PM

i have this ... great device but had a bit of trouble setting it up -- needed to connect directly to Router to pair it as WPS option didnt work ..

The Ayatolla · 16-06-2014 03:01PM

What happens after the setup? Would you have two wifi networks in the house with two different WPA keys?

eg; eircom1234_5678 & TP_Link_Wifi ?

MBSnr · 16-06-2014 03:09PM

The Ayatolla wrote: »

What happens after the setup? Would you have two wifi networks in the house with two different WPA keys?

eg; eircom1234_5678 & TP_Link_Wifi ?

No - it just repeats your own wifi SSID (name) but on another channel freq. As you walk about your device will transfer to the strongest access point (wifi) seamlessly. So if near the router connecting to that but as you move away it will jump and connect to the extender.

CL7 · 16-06-2014 03:14PM

Bought two for my parent's house. Cheers OP.

The Ayatolla · 16-06-2014 03:18PM

MBSnr wrote: »

No - it just repeats your own wifi SSID (name) but on another channel freq. As you walk about your device will transfer to the strongest access point (wifi) seamlessly. So if near the router connecting to that but as you move away it will jump and connect to the extender.

Perfection!

ThisRegard · 16-06-2014 03:19PM

MBSnr wrote: »

As you walk about your device will transfer to the strongest access point (wifi) seamlessly. So if near the router connecting to that but as you move away it will jump and connect to the extender.

If you have an android device that won't happen, it's a flaw in android as I think android also looks at the BSSID which will be different event if the SSID is the same, something like that anyway. You'll need a 3rd party app to do that for you.

MBSnr · 16-06-2014 03:26PM

ThisRegard wrote: »

If you have an android device that won't happen, it's a flaw in android as I think android also looks at the BSSID which will be different event if the SSID is the same, something like that anyway. You'll need a 3rd party app to do that for you.

You sure? I have 3 wifi APs at work on Ch 1 / Ch 6 / Ch 11 and as I walk about the building my phone re-authenticates with each.

I will admit it can take a few seconds for it to realise that there's another AP with the same SSID and password but that's a polling wifi issue I'd imagine. To say it doesn't work is incorrect in my experience.

same ol sh1te · 16-06-2014 03:28PM

MBSnr wrote: »

No - it just repeats your own wifi SSID (name) but on another channel freq. As you walk about your device will transfer to the strongest access point (wifi) seamlessly. So if near the router connecting to that but as you move away it will jump and connect to the extender.

Repeats on the same channel as it only has one radio

TP Link 300Mbps Wifi Extender - £16.49

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