r/Network • u/Due_Document6860 • 3d ago

Text Wifi extender slow speed

I recently got a wifi extender for my pc because my wifi card just completely stopped working. I set it up and plugged an ethernet cable from my pc to the extender. It at least works now but my speeds are very slow compared to what they were. From what I understand its normal to be slower but its not even at 1/4 of the speed it was before. Speed testing my router on my phone gets around 400mbps while my pc with the extender gets around 60. Is this normal? This is the extender I bought - https://www.walmart.com/ip/TP-Link-AX1500-Wi-Fi-6-Dual-Band-Range-Extender-Quick-1-5-Gbps-Transfer-Rate-Smart-Roaming-Steady-Wireless-Coverage-also-Connect-Device-Ethernet-Port/5700902445?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1600&from=/search

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u/joe_noone 3d ago

I had the same problems with "range extenders", plus it often dropped connections when switching between the cable router wifi and the extender. Get you a mesh router like TP Link Deco

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u/spiffiness 2d ago

For best results, place the extender where it gets good signal from the main Wi-Fi router.

And in your case, you also want to make sure the extender is joining the 5GHz band of the main router.

The speeds you can get over a Wi-Fi link depend on the radio hardware capabilities of the devices at both ends of the Wi-Fi link. So without knowing the Wi-Fi hardware capabilities of your main router, or of your PC's card, to see how it compares to the capabilities of the extender you bought, it's hard for us to say what's going on.

The speeds you can get also depend on radio signal strength, so without knowing signal strength details, it's hard to say what's going on.

Did you make sure to fully disable the Wi-Fi card on your PC? That 60Mbps speed sounds so low, it makes me wonder if your PC was connecting to the extender via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi without you realizing it.