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I have a 100mbit connection.

When I do a speed test directly from my modem, using an ethernet cable, I get a speed of 110mbps / 8 mbps (download/upload).

With 2.4GHz WiFi, I get a speed of 80mbps / 8mbps.

With 5GHz WiFi, I get 110mbps / 8mbps.

All good so far. Yet the signal strength is not good enough for parts of the house, so I have a WiFi extender/repeater (D-Link DAP-1325).

Even when the extender is right next to the modem, in repeater mode (connecting to the modem with 2.4GHz wifi, and also connecting to my device with 2.4GHz wifi), I get a speed of 0.8mbps / 8mbps.

Yes, the upload speed is still 8mbps, but the download speed is incredibly low.

When I connect the extender to the modem with an ethernet cable, I get a speed of 80mbps / 8mbps (connecting to my device with 2.4GHz wifi). So it works perfectly fine this way.

So it seems that there is something that is severely limiting the connection speed when the device is in WiFi repeater mode.

Could it be something in the modem settings? Or could it be in the extender's configuration? I have gone through everything in both devices' admin panels yet couldn't find anything that might help.

I have dug around and found some related questions, but none of them have such a drastic (-99%) performance loss that I'm experiencing.

Oh, and I have two of these extenders, they both exhibit the exact same problem.

I'd appreciate any suggestions that might help me find the cause of the issue!

Thanks.

Edit: I have now tested the repeaters with a different modem, and it works fine with that one. So the problem must be with my modem, yet I can not find anything in its settings that would cause this.

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  • Strictly, if it's WiFi to WiFi, it's a repeater. If it's Ethernet to WiFi it's an extender.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 17:42
  • I see, sorry, I wasn't sure if I'm using the correct terminology. I thought they might have different hardware inside. It's called an extender, but it's running in repeater mode. So I guess it's a repeater (when it's wifi - wifi).
    – obuw
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 17:53
  • It just might help google searches if the 'correct' terminology is used. It's a common issue, so search terms have to be tight. I'd investigate bufferbloat.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 17:55
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    Thanks, I was actually using the term repeater until I posted this question, and saw an answer on a related question that said that repeaters and extenders are different. So I doublechecked and renamed everything to extender, since that's what the device is called in its product page. Now it's back to being a repeater! I'll look into "bufferbloat", thanks.
    – obuw
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 17:59

1 Answer 1

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Wifi extender take your existing WIFI signal and rebroadcasts that as it's own. Not only physicall placement of an extender itself is very important, but also it always cuts you'r speead potential at least in half. If you place extender itself in a place were signal from you'r router is very weak, extender will use a bunch of time communicating with router and little time communicating with you'r devices therefore achievable speeds are low (a bit lower as device at the very same place). Using a wired connection removes the need to rebroadcast everything between router and end devices hence better speeds (at least 2x if positioned optimally for extender operation, 80x/8x for you'r particular case)

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  • As I mention in the question, signal strength is not an issue as I was doing the tests with the repeater right next to the router. I understand that a 50% (1/2) loss is to be expected, but the losses I was experiencing were 99% (1/100). I have later tested with a different router, and there was no such issue in the latter's case, so I have pinpointed the source of the issue to be the router, not the repeater. Unfortunately I still can't find the reason.
    – obuw
    Commented Nov 12, 2022 at 8:03

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