REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

see.lai · 03-09-2014, 01:35 PM

I didn't know if I should put this here or in the mobile section but, here goes.

--

2 weeks ago, I bought 2 WiFi extenders and put them around the house. Apparently these things make the WiFi signals stronger around the house. Now, I have noticed some problems.

1. When I have these plugged in, my computer or my brother's laptop cannot load any webpages, yet we are connected to the internet. It's weird because his other laptop loads while one doesn't.
- I have tried ipconfig /renew in "cmd" and I noticed that it fixes it temporarily (a good 10-15 minutes?). Then it goes back to "resolving host" as it tries to load webpages.
- After I unplugged the extenders, my internet was 100% fine again. Weird

2. With these extenders plugged in, my WiFi signal connects and disconnects quite often on my phone. This obviously shouldn't happen..

Fast-forward to today, I called Shaw and they told me that they can't really fix anything to make the signal better. I have looked online and it said something about computers having the same DNS or IP and that is what causes it to malfunction?

However, they told me that my WiFi extenders are out of date by 8 years and I should use the newer "Power-Line extenders". Apparently, the signal is stronger because the whole household is using the electricity in the house as a signal or something?

I want to know, if anybody have had any problems with WiFi extenders before. Should I return this product and buy a "power-line" extender?

pls respond

lilaznviper · 03-09-2014, 02:23 PM

wifi extenders are horrible. They never work

you should buy powerline technology as it works great, but also depends on how old your house is and how the electrical was wired. Most newer houses will not have issues with this.

bcrdukes · 03-09-2014, 03:29 PM

I have no experience with WiFi extenders, but I am a big believer of Powerline.

!MiKroft recommended me to try the powerline route several years ago and I have no regrets. I currently have one for our TV Pad and my stereo receiver to stream music over my network. Works like a charm and no problems!

nabs · 03-09-2014, 03:36 PM

Powerline is great. If your worried about it being hardwire only, just hookup a wifi router to the other end, and voila you have wifi in the other area.

Matlock · 03-09-2014, 03:36 PM

I had WiFi signal problems, so I just put in some switches and ran cat5s everywhere.
Posted via RS Mobile

!MiKrofT · 03-09-2014, 04:35 PM

Powerline is a great solution if you don't need really high throughput like transferring gigs and gigs of data really fast. I've setup 3 or 4 of these so far and they all work well. Even the one in a community center with more industrial type power.

Manic! · 03-09-2014, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabs

Powerline is great. If your worried about it being hardwire only, just hookup a wifi router to the other end, and voila you have wifi in the other area.

This!

FerrariEnzo · 03-09-2014, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabs

Powerline is great. If your worried about it being hardwire only, just hookup a wifi router to the other end, and voila you have wifi in the other area.

or just buy the wifi enabled powerline.. LMAO

SkinnyPupp · 03-09-2014, 06:21 PM

People like to shit on powerline (especially electrical engineers) but I think it's great. I have never had much success with wifi in the last few places I have lived, I assume due to the concrete construction.

I switched to 600Mbps powerlines, and the speed has been great. The only issue I have is that sometimes the connection drops while idle... It will take a while to reset on its own, or I have to disable and re-enable the ethernet adapter on my PC. I'm not sure if this is a powerline issue, or an ethernet issue, but it seemed to get better when I moved it from a powerbar to its own plug on a socket. (I tested 3 different powerbars, and some were better than others as well)

Totally recommend it, and if you need wifi as well (for phones and tablets), you can get adapters with built in wifi APs.

lilaznviper · 03-09-2014, 09:51 PM

^i thought it was recommended not to plug a powerline unit into power bars

SkinnyPupp · 03-09-2014, 10:03 PM

Not surge protected bars, these are normal ones. The worst was plugging it into a bar that was plugged into another bar.

If you have never used a UK/HK style plug, it is the most inefficient, annoying, fucking lame thing to deal with on a daily basis. Something that should be small and compact ends up being an enormous mess of giant plugs and cables

!MiKrofT · 03-09-2014, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

People like to shit on powerline (especially electrical engineers) but I think it's great. I have never had much success with wifi in the last few places I have lived, I assume due to the concrete construction.

I switched to 600Mbps powerlines, and the speed has been great. The only issue I have is that sometimes the connection drops while idle... It will take a while to reset on its own, or I have to disable and re-enable the ethernet adapter on my PC. I'm not sure if this is a powerline issue, or an ethernet issue, but it seemed to get better when I moved it from a powerbar to its own plug on a socket. (I tested 3 different powerbars, and some were better than others as well)

Totally recommend it, and if you need wifi as well (for phones and tablets), you can get adapters with built in wifi APs.

They have 600mbps powerline now? How much true throughput can you get on those?

SkinnyPupp · 03-09-2014, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by !MiKrofT

They have 600mbps powerline now? How much true throughput can you get on those?

Never did a test since my PC is the only one on ethernet besides media players and consoles. According to the utility though, it's connected at 241 Mbps. As long as it's enough for my 30 Mbps internet and streaming 720p or 1080p video, it's all good for me

This is the one I got. It wasn't much more than 500 or 300 Mbps, so I grabbed that one.

FerrariEnzo · 03-10-2014, 07:30 AM

I have the Trendnet TPL-401E.. the onyl issue I have is the adapter losses connection and I have unplug and plug it back into the socket.. its ok because its only an arms reach...

like Skinnypupp said, might be 1 of the issue with powerlines... but I still think it its was better then wifi, which also has many issues...

freakshow · 03-10-2014, 01:27 PM

Another vote for powerline here. set it up for my parents and two friends, no issues at all.

see.lai · 03-10-2014, 04:47 PM

Okay thanks guys! I will be purchasing powerline for my computers.

However, I forgot to mention that I need WiFi around the house as well (for phones and tablets). I'm guessing powerlines won't do that , correct?

SkinnyPupp · 03-10-2014, 04:55 PM

There are powerlines with built in wifi, or you can just plug a router into them

!Aznboi128 · 03-10-2014, 06:34 PM

I use a AirPort Express as a wireless extender to the Garage and it works pretty well I must say very happy with it.

Before at my old place I used a d-link powerline extender and that also was pretty good, I guess it depends on what your needs are.

bcrdukes · 09-11-2014, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

I have the Trendnet TPL-401E.. the onyl issue I have is the adapter losses connection and I have unplug and plug it back into the socket.. its ok because its only an arms reach..

Bumping an old thread here but I recently had two Trendnet TPL-401E2K units die on me. I was troubleshooting my original TPL-401E units and noticed a firmware upgrade that was available in August 2014. I've since upgraded the two units and the speeds are much greater and so far, no dropped connections.

SkinnyPupp · 09-11-2014, 06:48 PM

I should also update that the disconnection issues I had were related to the ethernet on my PC.. Since swapping motherboards, I haven't had the issue.

Zordon · 09-12-2014, 12:23 PM

Powerline is an excellent product. You can get it on sale at NCIX for under $30. Check often.