When a Wi-Fi repeater is useless
When we want to have higher Internet speed through the Wifi or we see that something is not working well in the connection, one of the things that comes to mind is to be able to use a wireless repeater. But keep in mind that it is not always going to be useful and it may even make the situation worse and everything works worse.
Too far
One of the situations in which a Wi-Fi repeater is useless or will not really do what we need is when we are too far away. For example, you may need to take the connection to a corner of the house that is too far from the router. The coverage is null and you choose to use a wireless repeater.
However that repeater it will not receive the signal well because you are going to have to put it also very far from the router. It may receive something and be able to offer a connection to other devices, but since you are going to connect from such a distant point, it will not be enough and you will continue with the same problem: you will be in a Wi-Fi dead zone.
In this case, it is best to look for an alternative. For example, PLC devices work very well when you have to take the connection from one point to another in the house, since they work through the power line. You can also use a Wi-Fi Mesh system, which gives better results when we are going to connect from further away.
limited receiver
Another reason why a Wi-Fi repeater may not be useful is when we are using a limited device. For example, a computer or a mobile phone that cannot have a high Internet speed, even if we are attached to the router. This can happen if, for example, a network card only works in the 2.4 GHz band and, therefore, the speed is going to be very limited.
Even if we buy a Wi-Fi repeater and install it as well as possible, we are not really going to have an improvement. That computer or that mobile will not have a faster Internet, since they will continue with the problem of having a limited network card and it will not mean anything to use this type of additional device.
poor quality repeater
Something similar can happen if we are using a repeater that is of poor quality. The goal is usually to have a faster internet speed. What happens if that Wi-Fi repeater we are using is limited? For example, a common limit is that it only works in the 2.4 GHz band. Again, we are not going to get any improvement.
If the problem is that the Internet speed is slow, in case of using a poor quality repeater we will not achieve an improvement. To avoid this, you should have a good Wi-Fi repeater that works as well as possible and has features that allow you to achieve high speed, as well as good coverage.
In short, as you have seen, it is not always a good idea to use a Wi-Fi repeater. Sometimes it may not help at all and you should look for other alternatives. You can always use tricks to improve the wireless network.
