I have a wifi extender and it is not running at full speed

[Sychicyuto]

I have a wifi extender the tp link ax 3000 wifi extender https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/range-extender/archer-air-e5/ and this is my modem https://ztemobiles.com.au/zte-h1600/ . Also sorry guys if this is a dumb question i know nothing about networking

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 minutes ago, Sychicyuto said:

I have a wifi extender the tp link ax 3000 wifi extender https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/range-extender/archer-air-e5/ and this is my modem https://ztemobiles.com.au/zte-h1600/ . Also sorry guys if this is a dumb question i know nothing about networking

My guess from a quick look at the specs pages is the repeater supports 2x2 MU-MIMO at 160Mhz (as it mentions it supports 2402 Mbps at 5 GHz and HE160) but your router doesn't specify what channel width it supports so I'd guess its only 80Mhz as it claims "Dual band concurrent Wi-Fi 6 up to 1800Mbps" and 2x2 MIMO.

So the repeater is going run half it rated speed and if its connecting via WiFi to the main router it will be halved again if you are connecting to it on the same frequency it is connecting to the main router (aka repeater, all data has to be transmitted twice).

The ideal way to hook up a repeater is to have it wired back to the main router then just acting as a seconds Access Point on its own channel different to the main router.

[Falcon1986]

8 hours ago, Sychicyuto said:

I have a wifi extender the tp link ax 3000 wifi extender https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/range-extender/archer-air-e5/ and this is my modem https://ztemobiles.com.au/zte-h1600/ . Also sorry guys if this is a dumb question i know nothing about networking

What do you mean by not running at full speed? What speeds are you referring to? What speeds are you paying your ISP for? If you were to connect to the ZTE's WiFi from the same location that you place the extender, what speeds do you get?

 

How far is the WiFi range extender from the ZTE gateway? Range extenders are not intended to be placed at the periphery of an existing wireless coverage area because they can only "extend" the quality of the signal that is being detected at that location. You have to place it where the WiFi signal strength from the source is still decent.

 

Would the signal have to pass through several walls/floors? Concrete (especially with steel reinforcement) will degrade any WiFi signal.

[Sychicyuto]

3 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

What do you mean by not running at full speed? What speeds are you referring to? What speeds are you paying your ISP for? If you were to connect to the ZTE's WiFi from the same location that you place the extender, what speeds do you get?

 

How far is the WiFi range extender from the ZTE gateway? Range extenders are not intended to be placed at the periphery of an existing wireless coverage area because they can only "extend" the quality of the signal that is being detected at that location. You have to place it where the WiFi signal strength from the source is still decent.

 

Would the signal have to pass through several walls/floors? Concrete (especially with steel reinforcement) will degrade any WiFi signal.

Sorry i was not really specific in that post. I was half asleep when writing it but i am paying for gigabit typically even when i connect with wifi (directly to the ZTE modem) i get 700 - 800mbps but now when i connect through the extender i only get 250mbps or highest 300mbps. Upload i am paying for 50mbps and I get that consistently 50mbps regardless of extender or directly to the modem. I was expecting that i would lose some speed from the extender but not this much speed. I was expecting to be sitting at the 600-700mbps range

[Falcon1986]

20 hours ago, Sychicyuto said:

Sorry i was not really specific in that post. I was half asleep when writing it but i am paying for gigabit typically even when i connect with wifi (directly to the ZTE modem) i get 700 - 800mbps but now when i connect through the extender i only get 250mbps or highest 300mbps. Upload i am paying for 50mbps and I get that consistently 50mbps regardless of extender or directly to the modem. I was expecting that i would lose some speed from the extender but not this much speed. I was expecting to be sitting at the 600-700mbps range

Getting just under half of what your ZTE gateway can provide, seems realistic for a wireless range extender.

 

First of all, you'll never get close to gigabit if the ZTE gateway isn't able to provide its own clients with that speed. Secondly, as alluded to earlier, the communication on extenders is at half-duplex speeds, further limiting the speed and increasing latency. Thirdly, like all wireless transmissions, it is subject to signal degradation and interference from the objects mentioned above, plus other WiFi in the neighbourhood, etc.

 

Wireless range extenders are not the ideal solution for extending a wireless signal and maintaining speed, despite it being in the name. If you're willing to accept the speed and latency issues, and your scenario won't be significantly affected by these things, then they do have use.

 

BTW, that extender has a unique mesh feature (i.e. EasyMesh) that might improve signal coverage and speeds, but you'd need a primary wireless device that also supports it to test if there are added benefits.