Comments on: Wireless Access Point vs Range Extender / Repeater

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 22:37:14 +0000

I have a tp-link AC2600 MU-MIMO WI-FI Range extender,
If I plug this in via ethernet to my ISP router to use as AP will it turn off my ISP routers WI-FI. What I’m trying to do is connect another extender which is at the back of a very long garden to this tp-link as my ISP router is at the front of the house. (tp-link in a conservatory)

(Front of house)
ISP router
.
Distance roughly 20-25ft
.
(Conservatory)
Tp-link via ethernat
.
Distance roughly 30-40ft
.
(Summer house)
Netgear WiFi extender
Needs connecting to tp-link without compromising ISP router WI-FI

By: Dumaine

Dumaine — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:44:20 +0000

In reply to JIm Luckett.

If you were to connect it to that Ethernet port and flip the switch to AP then you would be getting 100% of the signal (through the Ethernet) to the AP. As you have it connected right now you are only transferring the signal that it is receiving, which depending on its location could be well below 100%. I would search Netgear for the manual for that device because you would want to configure it so the SSID names are the same on AP as the main router.

By: JIm Luckett

JIm Luckett — Sun, 03 Oct 2021 13:25:27 +0000

I appreciate your attempt to explain this, but you skipped the heart of the matter: What makes one thing an access point and another thing an extender? You talk about pros and cons, but you never say what is/are the essential intrinsic difference(s) that make one device an extender and another device an access point, and that is what I need to know. I have a $39 device from Netgear which is a mesh wi-fi extender, with a switch on the side that says “access point” for one position and “extender” for the other. I am using it in access-point mode and this picks up the wi-fi signal from the router and rebroadcasts it under the same network name and password, just stronger. That’s great. It also has an ethernet socket on it. Is this an input or an output? Or perhaps both? Or perhaps either, depending on the position of that switch? Where I have it plugged in, it is inches away from an ethernet port. Could it get its signal from the router by ethernet instead of by wi-fi and perhaps be faster and better? The instructions don’t say. What does moving that switch do? The instructions don’t say. But if I knew the essential distinguishing functional difference between the two words, the characteristic of a device that makes it fit one definition and not the other and vice versa, perhaps I could figure it out. I presume you know what characteristics make a devicce fall under one rubric or the other; it would be good to share that with the reader before delving into the finer points you discuss.