Netgear EX6150 WiFi Range Extender & Technicolor TC7200 router - a good combination?

Terpsichorean Master

Hey all, so I'm considering getting a Netgear EX6150 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V6B9XS2 to boost the ridiculously poor Wi-Fi signal in my living room in an effort to get proper use of my Chromecast and also to enable decent phone/tablet use there (older house, very thick walls and, of course, the paltry wi-fi capability of the TC7200 combine to make it a real dead zone); and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of how it works with the Technicolor TC7200.U router, if indeed it does - or how effective a device it would be overall?

Or, indeed, if there's an alternative, perhaps better or more compatible, device or arrangement that I should consider instead?


All and any responses and/or suggestions will be very gratefully received, so thanks in advance!

Also, I'm reasonably tech savvy, but far from expert; so please try to use layman's terms if possible, cheers.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Terpsichorean Master wrote: »

Hey all, so I'm considering getting a Netgear EX6150 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V6B9XS2 to boost the ridiculously poor Wi-Fi signal in my living room in an effort to get proper use of my Chromecast and also to enable decent phone/tablet use there (older house, very thick walls and, of course, the paltry wi-fi capability of the TC7200 combine to make it a real dead zone); and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of how it works with the Technicolor TC7200.U router, if indeed it does - or how effective a device it would be overall?

Or, indeed, if there's an alternative, perhaps better or more compatible, device or arrangement that I should consider instead?


All and any responses and/or suggestions will be very gratefully received, so thanks in advance!

Also, I'm reasonably tech savvy, but far from expert; so please try to use layman's terms if possible, cheers.

AFAIK, those will halve your Wi-Fi speeds because it has to take the existing wireless signal and fill it with pixie dust or something.:D

These babies are more like what you need. Plug one in beside your router and connect it by Cat-5e. Follow the instructions to clone your wifi with the other one and then plug it where you want your wireless signal broadcast from and jobs a good 'un. The second one will communicate with the router via the electrical wiring in your house rather than crippling your wifi.

Laymen's terms enough for you?

ItHurtsWhenIP

I don't know what happened there, I got the boards.ie captcha thingy and the formatting all went to hell. ... trying again.

AFAIK, those will halve your Wi-Fi speeds because it has to take the existing wireless signal and fill it with pixie dust or something.

These babies are more like what you need. Plug one in beside your router and connect it by Cat-5e. Follow the instructions to clone your wifi with the other one and then plug it where you want your wireless signal broadcast from and jobs a good 'un. The second one will communicate with the router via the electrical wiring in your house rather than crippling your wifi.

Laymen's terms enough for you?

Terpsichorean Master

ItHurtsWhenIP wrote: »

I don't know what happened there, I got the boards.ie captcha thingy and the formatting all went to hell. ... trying again.

AFAIK, those will halve your Wi-Fi speeds because it has to take the existing wireless signal and fill it with pixie dust or something.

These babies are more like what you need. Plug one in beside your router and connect it by Cat-5e. Follow the instructions to clone your wifi with the other one and then plug it where you want your wireless signal broadcast from and jobs a good 'un. The second one will communicate with the router via the electrical wiring in your house rather than crippling your wifi.

Laymen's terms enough for you?

Cheers for the replies, both of them!

Well, I had considered using one of those or something similar, but AFAIK the sockets in the room the router is in are on a different circuit than the sockets in the living room, where the signal is weak; so it wouldn't work?

Unless you know something I don't know; in which case, I'd love to hear it!


WRT the layman's pixie dust and its likelihood of the 6150 crippling my router, that's definitely all news to me - so if you could expand on why you reckon that may be the case, I'm all ears; because it seems in direct contravention to what I've been told and read myself before. (Not that that's necessarily the last word or anything; I'd much rather be wrong now and correct a misapprehension, than be out of pocket later after I purchase the wrong device! )

ItHurtsWhenIP

Terpsichorean Master wrote: »

Cheers for the replies, both of them!

Well, I had considered using one of those or something similar, but AFAIK the sockets in the room the router is in are on a different circuit than the sockets in the living room, where the signal is weak; so it wouldn't work?

Unless you know something I don't know; in which case, I'd love to hear it!


WRT the layman's pixie dust and its likelihood of the 6150 crippling my router, that's definitely all news to me - so if you could expand on why you reckon that may be the case, I'm all ears; because it seems in direct contravention to what I've been told and read myself before. (Not that that's necessarily the last word or anything; I'd much rather be wrong now and correct a misapprehension, than be out of pocket later after I purchase the wrong device! )

Different circuit won't matter, as long as all the sockets are connected back to the same consumer unit, you'll be grand. I have powerline adapters that give me a connection on the upstairs sockets from my study (where my router is). They are definitely on separate circuits.

OK so what is Pixie Dust? Have a read of this article.:D

Wi-Fi extenders catch a wireless signal and then rebroadcast it, helping to strengthen the signal from a router on a different floor of a house or on the opposite side of a building. It should be noted that they can also drag down your network's performance.

A repeater uses half its internal antennae to receive a wireless signal and the other half to transmit a new signal – effectively halving the potential speed of the device’s network connection.

This shouldn’t be that noticeable for light web browsing, email, etc, but can be felt when streaming video or moving files around the network. That’s why we prefer Powerline for the more demanding tasks.

Wi-Fi extenders share the bandwidth with the router. Wi-Fi speeds are slower because it’s sharing the data between the router and the extender, whereas the Powerline simply acts as a single device (not sharing the bandwidth) and so you get stronger signals.

ED E

Homeplugs work fine across ring mains, so if upstairs is on A and downstairs on B it shouldn't be a problem.

They must be on the same RCB/CU though. So if you have two "fuseboxes" then that's where there's trouble.

Terpsichorean Master

ItHurtsWhenIP wrote: »

Different circuit won't matter, as long as all the sockets are connected back to the same consumer unit, you'll be grand. I have powerline adapters that give me a connection on the upstairs sockets from my study (where my router is). They are definitely on separate circuits.

OK so what is Pixie Dust? Have a read of this article.:D

Thanks again, that sounds like it'll be a better solution alright.

The one you recommended can't be sent here from Amazon unfortunately, some vendor awkwardness I imagine.

So, I was thinking that I'd get this one instead https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-V1-20-Configuration-Smartphone-UK/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=dp_ob_title_ce?th=1
or perhaps spring for this https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-V1-20-Configuration-Smartphone-UK/dp/B019FM3FQY/ref=dp_ob_title_ce?th=1 - are you familiar with either of these?

Terpsichorean Master

ED E wrote: »

Homeplugs work fine across ring mains, so if upstairs is on A and downstairs on B it shouldn't be a problem.

They must be on the same RCB/CU though. So if you have two "fuseboxes" then that's where there's trouble.

Thanks dude, appreciate the info.
Only the one fusebox here, so we're ok on that score!

ItHurtsWhenIP

Terpsichorean Master wrote: »

Thanks again, that sounds like it'll be a better solution alright.

The one you recommended can't be sent here from Amazon unfortunately, some vendor awkwardness I imagine.

So, I was thinking that I'd get this one instead https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-V1-20-Configuration-Smartphone-UK/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=dp_ob_title_ce?th=1
or perhaps spring for this https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-V1-20-Configuration-Smartphone-UK/dp/B019FM3FQY/ref=dp_ob_title_ce?th=1 - are you familiar with either of these?

The first one will do you fine. Have fun!

Terpsichorean Master

ItHurtsWhenIP wrote: »

The first one will do you fine. Have fun!

Ordered it last night and should have it tomorrow, will do & thanks again!