Wifi Booster/ Wifi extender

[alzieboy]

Hi
Can anyone recommend a wifi booster /extender , we appear to have a dead zone in our kitchen, Bt have supplied us with a new Smart Hub 2 router but the problem still persists.

Are Wifi boosters/extenders any good

 

[grober]

Probably best to stick with a BT range extender to ensure compatibility
Wi-Fi Extender 300 | BT Help
or you can go to a wifi extender via the mains wiring route
Network Expansion | TP-Link United Kingdom
check any extender you buy is dual frequency 2.4/5 ghz
You may have a wifi range problem or a local harmonic interference source in the kitchen

 

[Wagon]

I have the same issue but with a Sky router which doesn't really get wifi any further than the office door , I went the homeplug wifi route using Devolo products , a standard homeplug behind the sky box (which is also a wifi repeater) , one in the garage for the garden and kitchen and one at the furthest end of the house for the girls bedrooms , works really well ,the plugs clone the wifi password as well so no connect and reconnect req

 

[fourwheels]

Hi
Can anyone recommend a wifi booster /extender , we appear to have a dead zone in our kitchen, Bt have supplied us with a new Smart Hub 2 router but the problem still persists.

Are Wifi boosters/extenders any good

If you have a BT Hub 2 I would have thought a BT Disk would offer the best extender.
We tried various extenders over the years with mixed results (incidentally I may stand corrected on this but I think they only extend the 2.4 GHz, not the 5.0).
Earlier this year we received a new Plusnet Hub 2 (poor relation to BT) and I found by raising it higher in the stairwell it serves the whole house, we have ditched the power line extenders. It’s a large house and it’s actually mounted on the woodwork level with the first floor.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I would get the BT extenders for simplicity.

A mesh wifi system designed to work with multiple access points would be your best bet. The Google/Nest wifi is very very straightforward to set up.

 

[Chrishazle]

I have BT 1Gig pass-through plugs (BT Mini Connector) where you put the first one behind your router (BT smart hub 2 in our case) and ethernet from the router into that, then put another one where you need to access the router - in our case 1 in the study for both PC's, one in the dining room for the BTTV box and, because we're 3 phase, we had to run an ethernet cable through the wall from where the router is to the living room and another one to plug it into, then a second one other side of the living room to plug the BTTV box into. Has worked really well for a few years now. The BT router gives good wireless upstiars although I did put another one in our bedroom for the Google smart speaker our daughter and SIL bought us a couple of Xmas's ago - but we seldom use that, the Google Nest hub in the kitchen works fine on wireless!

BTW, I got the first 2 mini connectors cheap as part of my BTTV set-up deal, the rest I bought much cheaper than from BT on Ebay! Be careful thought, there are 500Mb as well as 1Gb varieties!

 

[alzieboy]

A Big thank You to all who have responded with their help, much appreciated, given me plenty to think about

 

[ALFAitalia]

I tried a couple of range extenders....both were equally rubbish and sometimes I could not get online at all without turning it off! In the end I just extended the phone wires to enable me to put the router more centrally in the house but still well in range of the PC. Conveniently that also means it's now in the same room as the TV so streaming films etc has become much more reliable and smoother. Win win!

 

[Deleted member 126251]

@ALFAitalia @alzieboy

Typical range extenders (wi-fi>wi-fi) are not great. My son has mesh in his house (300 year old stone building) and it works very well but very expensive.

I’ve used the (much cheaper than mesh) EOP (Ethernet over power) kits for for about 20 years now and have never had a problem. Sends the wifi signal via your mains electricity wires to the next unit plugged in elsewhere.

Router with ethernet cable (using one of the spare ports in router)> host unit (plugged into a socket) . In the other room plug the other unit in (gets the signal from the household wires) & it emits a wifi signal from there.

We have one in our garage and one upstairs and no dead spots in the house. I’ve used various routers & suppliers and never had a compatabiliy problem. Very simple They also have a socket so that you do not lose the use that use of that particular wall socket.

The only problem people might have is if they have 3 phase electricity, then the units must be on the same phase at the one at the router.

This concept has been around for a long time. Almost 30 years ago, we had an intercom between my mother (different house but neighbours) and us that worked because we were on the same phase.

 

[Chrishazle]

Rory, with 3 phase you can have units on different phases to the router - we have 3 phase in the house and our living room power is on a different phase to the under stairs where the router lives. We simply ran an ethernet cable from the router through the wall to a unit on the closest power point in the living room, then put another unit on the power point behind the TV (plus BTTV box, DVDR, Portal and redundant Sky box!), works fine! Luckily all the other places where I wanted units (study, dining room and main bedroom) are all on the same phase as the router power! Thus eveerything is on ethernet connections not wifi, although we also have decent wifi all round the house.

 

[st13phil]

If you have a BT Hub 2 I would have thought a BT Disk would offer the best extender.

^ This.

See here for details. It is actually a wireless-based mesh solution (which admittedly won't have the absolute capacity of a mesh solution with wired access points, but will be perfectly adequate for home use) which means that any mobile devices you have will automatically and seamlessly move to use the access point with the best signal as you move around the house without worrying about different SSID's.

Ethernet over Power is often an OK solution (I used to use it), but some applications can have compatibility issues (such as the Sonos streaming speaker system - which is why I stopped using EoP) and it has the potential to drive local amateur radio enthusiasts mad as it can cause radio interference on some bands.

Personally, for the OP's purposes I would suggest adding one or more BT Complete WiFi discs to the Hub 2. Note that the older white BT WholeHome WiFi discs are not compatible with the Hub 2, so make sure you get the correct Complete WiFi disc(s).

 

[Larkone]

If you have a BT internet connection then there is this

What is Complete Wi-Fi? | BT Help

www.bt.com

 

[Wolfie1]

I have a netgear extender so the internet reaches outside the house into the workshop, it does 2 and 5ghz and works really well, the range on 5ghz from it isint great though but it is trying to go through a granite wall a foot thick, even on 2ghz i can still do wifi video calling so its really not an issue

 

[Wolfie1]

I didnt buy it from here but this is the 1 i bought https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...oi6jqH8AhXBglwKHcZEBxIQ5bgDKAB6BAgEEBo&adurl=

 

[NJSS]

I have installed Wi-Fi repeaters in the past, but quickly realised that a mesh is a much better solution.

A Wi-Fi repeater is often seen as a quick and inexpensive solution to coverage issues with your wireless network. But chances are unfortunately that a repeater does not solve the problem and thus is a waste of money.

This website gives you advice & five good reasons to steer away from Wi-Fi repeaters.

NJSS

 

[fabes]

Late to the debate but one additional comment on this subject

I went full Wifi6 Mesh in our house last summer and never looked back

Sold off the repeaters we had but kept a small Belkin plugin one we had for when we go away to AirBnB's in the UK or elsewhere....

Most hosts will provide Wi-Fi now but only off the single provider hub, and as a result the signal may not reach all the parts of the property (and the kids and missus notices this, expecting Wi-Fi to just work of course!)

So if you have one, hanging around, it is useful to have one in the suitcase to keep the family happy

 

[ChrisHGTV]

^ This.

See here for details. It is actually a wireless-based mesh solution (which admittedly won't have the absolute capacity of a mesh solution with wired access points, but will be perfectly adequate for home use) which means that any mobile devices you have will automatically and seamlessly move to use the access point with the best signal as you move around the house without worrying about different SSID's.

Ethernet over Power is often an OK solution (I used to use it), but some applications can have compatibility issues (such as the Sonos streaming speaker system - which is why I stopped using EoP) and it has the potential to drive local amateur radio enthusiasts mad as it can cause radio interference on some bands.

Personally, for the OP's purposes I would suggest adding one or more BT Complete WiFi discs to the Hub 2. Note that the older white BT WholeHome WiFi discs are not compatible with the Hub 2, so make sure you get the correct Complete WiFi disc(s).

+1 for this. We have two discs in the house and get perfect coverage. I just phoned up and they sent me a second one for free then I used the App to site them optimally. I also use a TP link extender that uses the mains to get to the shed and stable at the end of the garden. Only for my internet connected turbo trainer and for watching films on the iPad while on my rower etc. One weird thing is that I have another fuse box in the stable that also feeds power to the shed and the TP link works fine through it. A lot of people said the mains links wouldn’t work through a fuse box.

 

[as400]

2 story townhouse BT smart hub sitting on the floor in the lounge, office on top floor. BT disk works well in the office.

 

[190]

The BT hubs have better WIFI coverage than some other basic ISP provided routers. There is a reason, the latest BT Hub 2 uses 3 times as much electricity than a simple router of a few generations before. No free lunch then but it's only an extra £25 or so a year.