WiFi Repeater - WiFi 6?

[#1]

Hi, I recently upgraded to full fibre and retained original router.

Unfortunately the placement of cable and therefore router had to be in corner of home which means signal is poor or non-existent in certain areas of the house and so want to get a Wi-Fi repeater/booster.

Model Number of router is Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz and looking at connections I have some devices connected via 2.4GHz and others on 5GHz which suggests router is operating under WiFi 6 protocol.

However when I check device under Properties via settings the protocol listed is Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) which I believe is WiFi 5.

Can/should I get a WiFi 6 booster despite the conflicting information above or stick with WiFi 5 to be on safe side?

Thanks in advance for your help, George.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@George1968 

The Hub2 does not do WiFi 6. If you have a router capable of 6 then you also need devices that can receive it.

In the first instance is it possible to run ethernet cable? - guarenteed spped and future proof.

Brian

[#3]

@George1968 welcome to the forum.

You did not mention the model of router you are using a Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz is likely to be a PC network device.

If its a Hub Two

• Wi-Fi Standard: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)

• Dual-band: Supports simultaneous operation on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies.

• MIMO: 3x3 MIMO on 2.4 GHz (802.11n) and 4x4 MIMO on 5 GHz (802.11ac).

• Antennas: 7 internal antennas (3 for 2.4 GHz, 4 for 5 GHz).

• Smart Features: It uses smart channel selection to automatically connect devices to the least congested and fastest frequency band.

• Note: The router does not support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) or the ability to manually separate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks.

Most PC and smart devices will try and connect to 5 GHz signal, where as smart plugs/lights devices tend to be 2.4GHz only.

A PC or smart phone/tablet would always attempt to connect to 5GHz signal where possible, unless it is weak.

As to extending your wifi, you have a couple of options, move the router away from the corner using a CAT5e cable between the ONT and router or buy a WAP (Wireless Access Point) with a CAT5e interconnection link, extenders using WiFi are not recommended as the interconnecting signal needs to be strong to maintain fast speeds.

Powerline adapters with a WiFi access point are an alternative to running a cable between the router and WAP, but this also may also result in slower speeds.

[#4]

@George1968 just to give you some idea of what you might be able to achieve.

I have a laptop with the Intel AX201 wifi card and a FF900 connection. With a Wifi 5 capable router it was maxing out at around 450Mb. I recently changed to a Wifi 6 capable router and I can now get a max of around 800Mb when around 5m from the router.

[#5]

Thank you all for your quick help and advice - much appreciated. Will likely try move router to a more central location via Ethernet extension and see how it goes before considering a booster or Wifi 6 router and see how it goes for now. Thanks again!

George.

[#6]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to My Router

[#7]

Why not hardwire your spare router as a wireless point?