WiFi Extending Plug Sockets
Discussion
I've had to frequent Screwfix quite often over the last fortnight as I'm building a cabinet and keep running out of things, and while I wait to collect the goods I keep noticing their adverts for WiFi Plug Sockets. Here's a link to said item:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-922uwr-...
Has anyone - other than the reviews on the site - used these yet? What are they like? To me, it seems like the worst type of solution to a wifi extension problem, putting wireless signals next to something that generates EMF interferance?
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-922uwr-...
Has anyone - other than the reviews on the site - used these yet? What are they like? To me, it seems like the worst type of solution to a wifi extension problem, putting wireless signals next to something that generates EMF interferance?
mickmcpaddy said:
Are these just a wifi repeater or do they use the mains cables to transmit the interrnet signal like a pair of power line adaptors, if so you would need the other end to inject the internet signal into the wiring, instructions aren't very clear.
No idea how they work. It only got my attention as I thought I'm going to have to buy some sockets with USB ports in them for the living room, and I noticed the picture next to it.If it's just a glorified power line type of thing (probably will be!) then there's some advantage to it as you effectively free up one plug socket. But I think a dedicated repeater would be better in terms of speed.
I'm waiting for bigclivedotcom to do a tear down of one before I consider buying one.
Looking at the reviews that mention pressing the WPS button on the router I suspect they are repeaters with no powerline capability.
If that's the case they still need to actually pick up a WiFi signal in order to repeat it. If they use their own WiFi network that can work at the speed of whatever they are getting as the original. Some repeater schemes involve a 50% drop in throughput for the network though.
If that's the case they still need to actually pick up a WiFi signal in order to repeat it. If they use their own WiFi network that can work at the speed of whatever they are getting as the original. Some repeater schemes involve a 50% drop in throughput for the network though.
From the Q&A tab on the Screwfix product page (!!):
"Hi, thank you for your product enquiry.
This British General 13A 2G Single Pole Wi-Fi Extender Socket & 2.1A 1-Outlet USB Charger White works by receiving the Wi-Fi signal from your router and re-transmitting it up to 15m further in all directions from the socket, so it does not have any interaction with data over power-line signals."
"Hi, thank you for your product enquiry.
This British General 13A 2G Single Pole Wi-Fi Extender Socket & 2.1A 1-Outlet USB Charger White works by receiving the Wi-Fi signal from your router and re-transmitting it up to 15m further in all directions from the socket, so it does not have any interaction with data over power-line signals."
JonChalk said:
From the Q&A tab on the Screwfix product page (!!):
"Hi, thank you for your product enquiry.
This British General 13A 2G Single Pole Wi-Fi Extender Socket & 2.1A 1-Outlet USB Charger White works by receiving the Wi-Fi signal from your router and re-transmitting it up to 15m further in all directions from the socket, so it does not have any interaction with data over power-line signals."
That's just a socket, though. The OP is talking about "plug sockets" whatever they are."Hi, thank you for your product enquiry.
This British General 13A 2G Single Pole Wi-Fi Extender Socket & 2.1A 1-Outlet USB Charger White works by receiving the Wi-Fi signal from your router and re-transmitting it up to 15m further in all directions from the socket, so it does not have any interaction with data over power-line signals."
One thing to be aware of is that they you can approximately halve your broadband for each repeater you are using. E.g. to reach from our router to the other side of the house, we had one repeater in the middle, then another repeater at the other end of the chain. Any devices connected to that end of the chain get about 25% speed, 50% if they were using the middle, and full speed if they were connected to the router.
Pothole said:
The OP is absolutely correct with his use of the phrase "Plug Socket"; all you have done is shown yourself to be a petty failed pedant.
Alucidnation said:
Any form of WIFI repeater is going to be rubbish.
Dedicated AP are cheap enough to buy and install.
But then, it depends on what peoples expectations are.
We have a BT home hub in the middle of the house, with several thick brick walls to get to the TV room. The smart TV and PC's were very slow and struggled to connect from this room. We bought one of these for £25 which had mostly good reviews: NETGEAR 11AC 750 Mbps.Dedicated AP are cheap enough to buy and install.
But then, it depends on what peoples expectations are.
Set up took 5 minutes (including making a coffee). Placed the device half way between the router and the TV. We now have 4 bars in the TV room and the TV + all PC's work as well as if they were in the same room as the BT hub. We do get 50meg DL (measured) when in the same room as the BT hub, but I have not checked the speed in the TV room with the new WiFi extender, as everything runs fast enough.
Works as it said it would on the box.
We also have the Netgear 750 ones, as I could not be bothered to test every bloody unlabelled ethernet cable in every room that the last owners installed. These were on sale for £50 for a box of three (one bas station and two repeaters), so I bought two boxes to get us through Christmas. Big Victorian house, router in one corner of the ground floor, terrible wifi in anything except rooms adjoining and above the router.
Review:
- powerline capability good for our needs. Lady F uses a work VPN from home all day which needs good down and upload speed. It was a bit dodgy on wife even in the same room as the router. Works perfectly on ethernet in a loft bedroom, about as far from the router as you can get.
- TV streaming (standard HD). So far, faultless - no buffering or pixellated nonsense. But I am nbot sure how good it will be at 4k, should we go down that route
Caveats
- we have new (2014) wiring, and apparently quality of cabling is critical for these devices.
- I suspect that when we have a household using multiple mobile devices for streaming, I'm going to have to sort out the network cabling with proper wi-fi repeaters.
- our broadband is pretty good: new fibre optic installation on a London street.
- we're not gamers, so no idea how well this would work.
Conclusion? Cheap and cheerful fix for light use!
Review:
- powerline capability good for our needs. Lady F uses a work VPN from home all day which needs good down and upload speed. It was a bit dodgy on wife even in the same room as the router. Works perfectly on ethernet in a loft bedroom, about as far from the router as you can get.
- TV streaming (standard HD). So far, faultless - no buffering or pixellated nonsense. But I am nbot sure how good it will be at 4k, should we go down that route
Caveats
- we have new (2014) wiring, and apparently quality of cabling is critical for these devices.
- I suspect that when we have a household using multiple mobile devices for streaming, I'm going to have to sort out the network cabling with proper wi-fi repeaters.
- our broadband is pretty good: new fibre optic installation on a London street.
- we're not gamers, so no idea how well this would work.
Conclusion? Cheap and cheerful fix for light use!
gf15 said:
Alucidnation said:
Any form of WIFI repeater is going to be rubbish.
Dedicated AP are cheap enough to buy and install.
But then, it depends on what peoples expectations are.
We have a BT home hub in the middle of the house, with several thick brick walls to get to the TV room. The smart TV and PC's were very slow and struggled to connect from this room. We bought one of these for £25 which had mostly good reviews: NETGEAR 11AC 750 Mbps.Dedicated AP are cheap enough to buy and install.
But then, it depends on what peoples expectations are.
Set up took 5 minutes (including making a coffee). Placed the device half way between the router and the TV. We now have 4 bars in the TV room and the TV + all PC's work as well as if they were in the same room as the BT hub. We do get 50meg DL (measured) when in the same room as the BT hub, but I have not checked the speed in the TV room with the new WiFi extender, as everything runs fast enough.
Works as it said it would on the box.
Results amaze me. Off the WiFi extender, I get
Ping 27ms
DL: 46.95
UL: 19.51
The above speeds are 90% of what we get beside the BT hub.
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