Buying a Wi-Fi repeater is almost always the best way to expand the reach of our Internet connection without having to spend a lot of money. It is a very economical and easy-to-use solution, but we must be careful when choosing the repeater, since opting for a very cheap model may not meet our expectations, or even give us more than one headache.
I know that our most advanced readers will already be very clear about what a good Wi-Fi repeater must have, but for those who are not at that level, and who have doubts about what they should really take into account when choosing their new repeater, we have decided to give shape to this simple guide, where we are going to give you the three most important keys to make the right choice.
1.-Dual band Wi-Fi repeater
It is one of the most important aspects, although it is true that models that only work with Wi-Fi 4 in the 2.4 GHz band can be a good option to cover certain needs and profiles. All in all, the price difference that usually exists between these and the dual band models is not very big, so it is worth investing a little more and going for a Wi-Fi 5 compatible dual band Wi-Fi repeater.
The difference in terms of performance is very large, and it is important to also take into account that a dual-band Wi-Fi repeater will offer a cleaner and more stable signal in the 5 GHz band. Returning to performance, a FRITZ!Repeater 600 will be able to achieve A maximum of 600 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band, while a FRITZ! Repeater 1200 will be able to work at a combined speed of 1,266 Mbps, which is spread over 866 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and 400 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. You can also opt for a version with Wi-Fi 6, which will give you access to all the advantages of this standard.
2.-Gross yield and real yield
The speed of the repeater is another aspect to take into account, but you must know how to interpret it correctly, and this is not always easy for an average user. The values given by the manufacturers, when they talk about the speed of a Wi-Fi repeater, is the maximum possible under fully optimal conditionsand do not reflect the actual performance that we will obtain under normal use.
This means that a repeater like the FRITZ!Repeater 1200, which reaches a maximum peak of 1,266 Mbps, it will work normally at a lower speed. It is something completely normal that affects all Wi-Fi repeaters, and the final speed will depend on many things, such as distance, obstacles, and our own router can also influence it.
Buying a repeater that has a high maximum speed is usually a guarantee that the final performance will be good, but to be clear if it will meet our expectations, we must convert those Mbps into MBps. A good repeater to view 4K streaming content and to enjoy online gaming it should be able to maintain at least a speed of 50 MB/s, which is equivalent to 400 Mbps.
3.-Configuration and ease of use
The ease of use of a repeater and the configuration of the repeater are also important, because in the end affect the user experience And they can make a big difference. An easy-to-use repeater should allow easy and almost instantaneous pairing, in fact ideally it should be as simple as pressing a button if we use WPS.
There are also other details that are worth taking into account and that represent added value, such as the signal indicator light, that will help us find the best place to place our Wi-Fi repeater without having to stray too far from the router.
Content provided by AVM FRITZ!
