Better signal from extender than the router

[#1]

Hi (first post so apologies if I don't give the right level of detail!)

Our WiFi recently has been awful, and fluctuates massively during the day - as does the service from the hardwired devices - especially in the evening.

To help extend the WiFi signal upstairs I am using a plug-in extender, however oddly the signal from the extender seems to be stronger than the router itself?

Last night I rebooted the router, cleared all the devices connected and changed the 2.4GhZ to select best channel (I'd been advised by Plusnet to select channel 6 a few years ago) and the signal was immediately so much better. 

I was sat about 5ft from the router and went from getting 0.18Mbps to being somewhere 30+Mbps. I was happy, my family were happy.

Today however, if I am connected to the router wifi, I'm back to the 0.6Mbps, but if I switch to the wifi being broadcast by the extender (which is further away from router at the moment) I get 18Mbps?

So, this is the picture we've had recently - wifi broadcast from the router from 0 - 1Mbps, and Wifi broadcast from the extender 15-20Mbps.

How can the extender be stronger than the router?

Is the router broken somehow?

looking at the router through the 192.. page it seems to be getting 71Mbps download and 20Mbps upload

Spec details:

Router: PlusNet Hub One

[#2]

Hi @bshpjo  selecting the best wifi channel is a bit of a black art!. It's not helped by the fact that most routers tend to be set to auto and so they will try to change channel to select the one with least interference from other adjacent routers. So when you change your channel, the extender and other neighboring routers will see the change and may also change theirs! Ther are apps you can get to show all wifi networks in the vicinity. I use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en_GB on my android phone and tablet , but a google will show many other options. Using the analyser you will be able to see how other networks may be interfering with your router and extender and set your channel accordingly. Dont forget that your extender and router may be on different channels

The Hub one is a dual band router and it's also a good idea to split the bands so that the network name(SSID) is different for the two bands , see here https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/2-4ghz-and-or-5ghz-best-practice/m-p/1351966#M840

[#3]

ok that's very interesting. I've downloaded that app and will have a look - its not picked up anything as yet, but i guess it needs a bit of time.

I didn't realise that the extended would be on a different channel, I just presumed it was taking the signal from the router and kicking out the signal from there. 

I'll also give it a go splitting the naming of the bands as you suggest.

I know we're all hitting the Wifi extensively whilst we are trying to work from home, but 0.18Mbps is ridiculous, when you are sat a few m's away from the router. 🙂

[#4]

its not picked up anything as yet, but i guess it needs a bit of time.

Stange, It should show a display almost instantly, including your own wireless channels.

I didn't realise that the extended would be on a different channel, I just presumed it was taking the signal from the router and kicking out the signal from there. 

I was assuming that when you said 'plug in extender' you were referring to the ones that use the mains wiring to send data from the router. Is that not what you have ?

[#5]

I figured out I have to turn on my location services for it to work.

So its now picking up the Wifi's and I'm mesmerised with it!

The extender is just a plug in unit, it has its own SSID.

I'll monitor the signal though that app for a few days and see if I can pick up a pattern. The current channel is 11, and I see our neighbours are on ch6.

Thank you for this, I've not had chance to split the bands yet but will try over the weeken.

thank you

[#6]

@bshpjo 

I would guess that splitting the bands is key to this. A lot (but not all) dual band devices get screwed up with the default synchronised bands from a Hub One. If your extender is a simple single band plug in wireless extender then it will have no problem.