Wondering why extenders or boosters might not be working for you? There are several reasons, but the main culprit is likely signal interference. This could be due to the construction of your building - thick walls or metal reinforcements, for instance. Interference can also stem from other nearby radio signals, such as competing WiFi networks.
The devices themselves can contribute to the problem. Many budget-friendly booster models include only one radio to both receive and transmit information. If you’ve ever used a walkie talkie, you’ll recall the need to take turns to listen and speak. WiFi range extenders experience a similar limitation. Data can only flow in one direction at a time, effectively halving your bandwidth.
And it gets worse as you connect more devices to the WiFi. The increased load on that single radio serves to further degrade the wireless performance.
But wait, there’s more…
Another drawback is that you can only use a single WiFi range extender in any given direction. It’s not possible to create a ‘chain’ of wireless extenders from your router. This means if your wireless router is located in a distant corner of your home or office, achieving full WiFi coverage becomes a challenge.
A common annoyance is that most wireless range extenders use a separate network from your router. This results in two or more different WiFi networks, one of which often ends with an irritating “_EXT”. Your WiFi devices are then forced to switch between these different networks as you move around your home or office. This can make certain tasks particularly frustrating, like printing to a printer connected to another network, or experiencing signal drops between networks during a VoIP call.
Lastly, be aware that adding too many boosting devices can actually exacerbate the problem. They all generate competing signals, taking up valuable bandwidth and interfering with each other.