Proper way to setup BE88U and N66U to extend range. Daughter getting very poor signal in her room? WDS? Repeater Mode?

[Mognar]

Hi,

Hoping to get some advice on the proper way to extend the range on a wireless network using a BE88U and N66U.

So I finally upgraded my very out of date network and using the BE88U, I get excellent coverage in our home, other than my daughter's bedroom. I added the N66U to the network in repeater mode, figuring that would extend the wifi range, but it doesn't appear to be doing much if anything at all. The reason I say that, is that with the N66U powered on or not, it seems like my daughter may only be connecting to the BE88u with limited bandwidth. We've run speed tests with the N66u on and off and they are dismal with a 10/1 mb down / up (occasionally she will get 90/15 or so u/d. When we moved into another room (closer to the router), she will get 1gb down, 40 up with is out ISP cap. We had this issue prior to upgrading the rourte and I was hoping that the BE88U would cover her room fully.

Obviously I'm not a network expert, so I'm here hoping for help. I read into WDS and not sure if that would make any difference when connecting the N66u, compared to it being in repeater mode as it is now.

So, without having to buy new hardware, what is the best way to configure both routers to try and extend the range another 25 feet or so, so that my daughter has constant. The house on only had 3 coax connectors total... so moving the cable is not an option and being on a slab, trying to run cat6 from the attack down to the 1st floor (2 story house) or visa versa is not an option financially.

I'm sure there are settings that could and should be adjusted. I tried googling for a few hours, but haven't found any articles that helped, so here I am.

Currently, the BE88U is in the living room on the first floor and the N66U is in my daughter's room on the 2nd floor. Both routers are using Merlin, 3006.102.4 on the 88u and 3.0.0.0.4.374.33 on the 66U. Looking at the network map, it shows the 66U connected with 3 out of 4 bars.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Mog

 

[ColinTaylor]

Given your situation repeater mode seems the only viable option. As the N66U is only capable of 802.11n on either band you're going to be limited to a 450Mbps link speed at most, but more likely 216Mbps (check this on the Network Map). Maximum throughput is probably 66% of that, and halve that again if repeated on the same band.

An additional limitation is going to be your daughter's client devices. Most clients will have either one or two antennas. This effectively limits their maximum link speed (to an N66U) to 72Mbps, 144Mbps or 300Mbps (with the overheads mentioned above) depending on the band and channel width they're connecting to.

I would try and setup the repeater with the 2.4GHz band as the link to the main router as it will have the strongest connection. Then name the repeater's 5GHz band as something unique like RPT5G. Your daughter should connect to this SSID to avoid the halving of throughput problem. Ideally place the repeater at about 2/3 distance from the main router to your daughter's location.

If that doesn't help try the opposite. Factory reset the router and set it up again, this time with 5GHz as the link to the main router and RPT24G as the separate SSID for your daughter to connect to.

P.S. You might have to "forget" the main Wi-Fi network SSIDs on your daughter's client devices to stop them automatically connecting to them instead of the repeater.

 

[degrub]

How many walls does the N66U signal have to go through to reach your daughter's room from its current location ? Or do you have line of sight through a doorway ?
These are gypsum (sheetrock) panels over wood studs , typical US construction ?

 

[RMerlin]

Considering the age and the slow wifi it provides, it might be worth looking for an entry level AX router (or even AC) as an alternative expander. In the past I've frequently used TP-Link repeaters on customer networks, they are a good balance of price/performance.

 

[Mognar]

How many walls does the N66U signal have to go through to reach your daughter's room from its current location ? Or do you have line of sight through a doorway ?
These are gypsum (sheetrock) panels over wood studs , typical US construction ?

The N66U is in her bedroom, 10' from where she uses her laptop. That's what's confusing me... I powered the N66U off and she still had the same speeds, so I can't tell if she's connecting to the N66U or not. Tried disconnecting from the network, etc. The BE88U shows the N66U in the network map and shows 3 out of 4 bars. I figured she would at least get 200mb down. Her bedroom is on the 2nd floor, above the garage. So yes, there are several walls. Since I appears I have a decent signal from the N66U to the BE88U, thought we would be good, but that's not the case. If she walks outside her bedroom door, she gets 1gb down from the BE88u.

 

[Mognar]

Considering the age and the slow wifi it provides, it might be worth looking for an entry level AX router (or even AC) as an alternative expander. In the past I've frequently used TP-Link repeaters on customer networks, they are a good balance of price/performance.

Thanks. I'll take a look into them. Was hoping the N66u would be enough to get her by on the weekends she's with me.

 

[Mognar]

Given your situation repeater mode seems the only viable option. As the N66U is only capable of 802.11n on either band you're going to be limited to a 450Mbps link speed at most, but more likely 216Mbps (check this on the Network Map). Maximum throughput is probably 66% of that, and halve that again if repeated on the same band.

An additional limitation is going to be your daughter's client devices. Most clients will have either one or two antennas. This effectively limits their maximum link speed (to an N66U) to 72Mbps, 144Mbps or 300Mbps (with the overheads mentioned above) depending on the band and channel width they're connecting to.

I would try and setup the repeater with the 2.4GHz band as the link to the main router as it will have the strongest connection. Then name the repeater's 5GHz band as something unique like RPT5G. Your daughter should connect to this SSID to avoid the halving of throughput problem. Ideally place the repeater at about 2/3 distance from the main router to your daughter's location.

If that doesn't help try the opposite. Factory reset the router and set it up again, this time with 5GHz as the link to the main router and RPT24G as the separate SSID for your daughter to connect to.

P.S. You might have to "forget" the main Wi-Fi network SSIDs on your daughter's client devices to stop them automatically connecting to them instead of the repeater.

The network map does show the N66U at 216, so you're correct. My daughter is using a 3ish year old MS Edge gaming laptop, not sure of the specs.

The routers are probably no more than 40' apart, but several walls in-between them. The N66U is in my daughter's bedroom approximately 10' away from where she uses her laptop.

How do I set the band that the N66U connects to the BE88U with? All I did was log into the N66U and set it to repeater mode and connect to the SSID on the BE88U. Do I just change the SSID on the 5GHz in the "System Status" section of the network map to create a new SSID using the 5GHz? Once I set it to repeater mode, I lost a lot of the options I had previously. Sorry for the newbie question.